Abstract: 2013 - 2014 Contact Center Workforce Management Market Report

DMG Consulting’s sixth annual Contact Center Workforce Management Market Report gives contact center, back-office and IT managers unparalleled vendor, product, functional, technical and pricing information. The 368-page Report provides analysis and insights about products, vendors, industry trends and challenges, as well as best practices to help users realize the greatest continuing return on their technology investments. The Contact Center Workforce Management Market Reportis designed to help organizations select the right solution, technology, functionality and partner to meet their current and future workforce management (WFM) needs.

The contact center WFM market has been enjoying a solid run for the last few years, and 2012 was no exception. WFM solutions are evolving, becoming more robust and easier to use. New vendors continue to enter the market, bringing with them new ideas and increasing pressure on incumbent leaders. Delivery models are becoming more flexible, enabling users to take advantage of WFM on-site or in the cloud with ease. And businesses are realizing how valuable and effective WFM solutions are when they’re in use and not sitting on the shelf.

Evolving organizational needs and a series of trends are converging, driving unprecedented interest and innovation in WFM solutions. Trends include the continued growth of cloud-based offerings, the increasing needs of back-office and branch operations, and the changing workforce that now includes Millenials who require a work/life balance that can be effectively addressed with a workforce management solution.

• The Cloud — Acquiring a WFM solution has become easier in recent years with the advent of the cloud. This lower-cost yet functionally sound delivery method is gaining ground among small and mid-sized businesses, as well as the larger organizations. The cloud may not be the right path for all organizations, but there are significant time, cost and flexibility benefits to be realized for the right users. Most WFM vendors claim to have cloud-based WFM offerings, but there is more to it than simply placing a solution in a cloud-based data center. DMG advises end users to make sure vendor claims are backed by a true cloud-based value chain, including architecture, provisioning, support structure and implementation model.
• The Back Office — Contact centers have historically used WFM to forecast interaction volumes and determine the proper number of resources with the necessary skills to achieve service level goals. Back-office managers, under pressure to reduce operating and staff-related costs, rework and backlog, are looking to the contact center for help. However, DMG cautions users that WFM solutions developed solely for contact centers are not designed to meet back-office needs today. DMG expects interest in and application of WFM solutions in back-office operating groups to grow substantially over the next five years, particularly as more solutions come to market that are customized to address these departments’ unique challenges.
• The New Workforce — The "always-on" American way of working does not sit so well with the next generation of employees now joining the workforce – the Millenials. They feel strongly that their work-life balance is as important as their paycheck. Most employers are hard-pressed to evolve and adjust their culture. Some of today’s WFM solutions include features and automation that support agent empowerment and satisfaction, helping supervisors balance productivity demands with agent expectations. An important module for empowering agents is the Web-based self-service portal, which allows agents to enter their schedule preferences and automate time-off management; prioritizing agent preferences in scheduling is a global trend that has been important in Europe for years and is now starting to catch on in North America. Most of these self-service modules are mobile-enabled, allowing tech-savvy agents to receive timely notification of schedule changes or responses to requests. DMG expects to see growing interest in the area of self-service scheduling and agent preference management in the next few years to address the demands of new workforce, or risk creating an unprecedented attrition challenge.

Vendors are responding to a multitude of opportunities to improve the effectiveness of workforce management solutions with new solutions or enhancements such as improved user interfaces (UIs) and new functionality with more flexible features to accommodate complex environments. End users have more choices, thanks to European market contenders and emerging US-based competitors who are introducing new approaches and cost-effective solutions for companies of all sizes. The challenge for current and prospective users is to find the application that will best meet their needs. Many of the "old faithfuls," though proven effective and packed with features, are increasingly perceived as unnecessarily complex and expensive. On the other side are the more nimble, less costly newcomers that offer a streamlined user experience but perhaps not the depth of functionality or referenceability of their larger competitors. DMG expects to see substantial investments from both emerging and existing competitors during the next few years, which will result in better WFM solutions coming to market. Today, however, there is something for everyone on the WFM menu. It is more important than ever for users to perform due diligence and assess the pros and cons of various offerings, as not all of the solutions are "ready for prime time."

Overall, the contact center WFM market is stronger than ever. 2012 was the best year in its history. The market is at the start of a refresh cycle that is expected to last for the next five years, so DMG expects WFM to attract replacements and new sales at unprecedented rates. DMG projects that the WFM market will grow by 10% in 2013 and 2014, and by 8% in 2015.

Report Highlights

• Contact center WFM is a hot commodity: Adoption of contact center and back-office WFM solutions increased to 47.2%. The market is changing, solutions are improving and users are realizing significant quantifiable benefits as well as a happier workforce.
• The cloud, the back office, and an evolving workforce spell change for WFM: Several factors, including changing user needs, are affecting this long-standing yet very dynamic sector.
• Lots of people want to leverage WFM in the cloud, and the available options are plentiful. Vendors that do not yet have a cloud-based offering are working feverishly to secure a spot in the cloud landscape, creating a highly competitive environment that can benefit users.
• The back office wants to realize the same staffing structure, economies and efficiencies that contact centers have enjoyed by applying workforce management to their environment. The opportunity to bring WFM solutions to the back office is enormous, but applying a front-office WFM application that has not been customized to meet the unique challenges of back-office operations is not the answer.
• Scheduling is a big deal to Millenials – they want to work when they want to work, and live when they want to live. Companies are trying to address this need with enhanced best practices and improved solutions. Vendors are helping by delivering WFM solutions that prioritize agent-scheduling preferences and come with Web-based self-service scheduling tools that are mobile-friendly for the tech-savvy worker.
• WFM is a two-way street: Vendors are responding to market opportunities in many ways, but the market is more bifurcated than ever. The incumbent market leaders are less flexible and more expensive than their newer competitors. There are real and serious trade-offs that users must carefully consider with regard to functionality, flexibility, ease of use and price.
• More market activity to come: The contact center WFM market is at the start of a refresh cycle that is expected to last for the next five years. DMG projects that the WFM market will grow by 10% in 2013 and 2014, and by 8% in 2015.

Key Reasons to Buy This Report

• State of the market: Overview of the contact center WFM market with a breakdown and review of the core, value-added and optional functional components (building blocks) that comprise a contact center WFM solution
• Competitive overview and market share analysis: High-level review of the competitive landscape, along with comprehensive corporate, technical, financial and functional side-by-side comparisons of 11 leading and contending vendors and their solutions, market share data, adoption analysis and projections
• Product comparisons: Company reports examining all aspects of generally available and upcoming WFM solutions, including differentiators, challenges and future research and development (R&D) plans, along with criteria for choosing a delivery model
• Insights into new and emerging functionality: A look at product innovation that has recently been introduced into the market, as well as what is expected over the next 12-18 months, including a preview of emerging back-office WFO solutions and their core and value-added modules
• Pricing and ROI: Detailed pricing comparisons and analyses for premise-based, cloud and managed service WFM solutions, and an examination of the ROI and benefits enterprises should expect to realize from a successful WFM implementation
• Best practices for end users and vendors: Review of operational best practices for contact center managers and agents, insight into what end users should expect from a successful WFM implementation, and vendor best practices for implementing WFM solutions
• End-user commentary: Comprehensive, independent vendor satisfaction analysis revealing end users’ opinions of each vendor’s products, implementation, training, professional services, support, innovation/responsiveness and pricing
• Comprehensive WFM Vendor Directory featuring 44 leading and contending WFM competitors

Table of Contents

Sample Figure: Workforce Management Market Projections 2012- 2015

Source: DMG Consulting LLC

Order Information
To order a copy of the 2013-2014 Contact Center Workforce Management Market Report contact Deborah Navarra at deborah.navarra@dmgconsult.com or 516-628-1098. You may also purchase the report online.

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