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EXPANDING THE ROI

BENEFITS OF NICE WFM

WITH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

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EXPANDING THE ROI BENEFITS OF NICE WFM

WITH EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Contact center leaders worldwide have long depended upon the robust capabilities of NICE WFM for accurately forecasting
contact volumes, efficiently scheduling agent resources and proactively managing intraday change. With the added intraday
automation capabilities of NICE WFM Employee Engagement Manager (EEM), businesses can achieve even greater levels
of efficiency and performance while simultaneously improving the customer (and the agent) experience.

THE CHALLENGE: INCREASED EXPECTATIONS

WHAT CHALLENGES
Automated WFM solutions deliver significant ROI rewards. The contact centers that use ARE TODAY’S CONTACT
them experience higher agent productivity, lower operating costs and better customer CENTERS STRUGGLING
service results than organizations still clinging to manual, spreadsheet-based tools. TO MITIGATE?
But today’s social-media enabled omni-channel world presents new challenges
for contact centers to overcome, creating the need for even more advanced WFM Customer demand for
capabilities. In addition to the challenge to become more customer-centric, or face better service (54%)
losing revenues, contact centers leaders must also find ways to become more
employee-centric, or risk losing the very front-line resources they rely upon to produce Unpredictable customer
those revenues. traffic resulting in over/
understaffing (34%)
As if these challenges weren’t enough, initiatives aimed at driving first-contact-
resolution (FCR) rates in order to improve the customer experience have caused many Ability to adapt to deliver
contact center organizations to relax their focus on efficiency metrics like average seamless customer care
handling time (AHT) and after-call-work (ACW). This strategy may lead to improved across multiple channels
FCR and quality scores, but the downside is that it also results in increased labor (32%)
costs, ultimately diminishing an operation’s ability to do more with less.
Regardless of customer service trends and contact center complexity, every seasoned Source:
workforce manager knows that the age-old imperative to balance customer satisfaction Aberdeen Group Survey
with operational efficiency never goes away. Recent survey results from Aberdeen Group
identify the need to improve customer service results and consistency, increase agent
performance and productivity and lower operating costs as the top three concerns
for contact center executives. To address these concerns, Aberdeen recommends a
balanced approach: “Companies must manage productivity and performance
to ensure they are aligned and supportive of the CEM (Customer Experience
Management) objectives.
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THE SOLUTION: NICE WFM EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

NICE Workforce Optimization solutions, including NICE WFM, have long played a critical role in helping the highest performing contact
centers balance customer service, agent productivity and operational efficiency objectives. Now, with the addition of the
NICE WFM Employee Engagement Manager (EEM), businesses can achieve even greater levels of efficiency and performance
while simultaneously improving the customer (and the agent) experience through the power of intraday automation.

Industry analysts like Aberdeen, Gartner and DMG endorse intraday automation technology as an effective strategy for improving
operational efficiency, agent productivity and customer experience results.

“Intraday automation users enjoy 75% greater customer retention rate compared to non-users
(and) decrease customer care costs by 3.5% annually…Leaders use intraday automation to
manage daily customer traffic and assign agent activities based upon fluctuating needs. This
helps firms address the challenge of managing customer traffic and needs across multiple
channels in a seamless manner.”

“Workforce Planners, Contact Center Architects, and CIOs should investigate the opportunity
to embrace a more automated and sophisticated approach to real time staffing and
performance management within their contact centers due to the operational efficiencies and
associated financial, compliance and customer satisfaction benefits it can bring.”

“The benefits of a highly responsive and effective intraday management module could be a
game changer for contact centers…DMG estimates that in contact centers with more than
300 agents, an effective and automated intraday management module, used properly, could
reduce staff-related expenses by anywhere from 2% to 6%.”

NICE EEM EXTENDS AND ENHANCES EXISTING WFM FUNCTIONALITY IN 5 KEY WAYS AND AUTOMATICALLY:

ANALYZES intraday data across contact types to proactively uncover staffing gaps caused by changes in
customer demand and/or agent availability

TARGETS specific agents for extra hours, OT or VTO based upon employee preferences, total work hours,
performance and other criteria

IDENTIFIES the optimal courses of action via its decisioning engine, which applies user-definable business
rules to current staffing conditions

ALERTS the right people (agents, supervisors, managers, etc.) of relevant information so they’re empowered to
take the right action at the right time

PROCESSES approved/accepted staffing changes to ensure agent schedules and intraday coverage lines
reflect the most accurate, up-to-date information

ANAYLZE TARGET IDENTIFY ALERT PROCESS

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The above capabilities dramatically streamline intraday processes and internal communications, enabling supervisors, workforce staff,
and operational leaders to execute intraday decisions with greater speed and precision than ever before. In addition to the efficiency
gains, EEM really lives up to its “Engagement Manager” name when deployed in conjunction with the optional employee smartphone
app giving agents the ability to view and manage work schedules anytime, anywhere.

The EEM smartphone app equips agents with a real-time mobile dashboard where they can manage preferences for voluntary time
off (VTO), over time (OT) and extra hours. The EEM mobile app also allows agents to view their current schedule assignments along
with personalized schedule change opportunities. Agents can add hours, remove hours, trade time with other agents, and even with
themselves. Furthermore, EEM’s configurable rules engine enables agents to make schedule changes with the assurance that the
majority of what they ask for will instantly be approved. With the EEM smartphone app, agents are engaged in the schedule change
process and empowered to easily manage their personal needs while automatically responding to the needs of the business. The
potential impact this kind of increased flexibility and empowerment can have on employee engagement, job satisfaction and agent
retention cannot be understated.

UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF NICE EEM

As is the case with most contact center technology investments, the business benefits of NICE EEM impact operational efficiency,
agent productivity and customer experience.

Our EEM customers should anticipate the agent-associated benefits of NICE EEM to impact each of these areas as indicated by
numerous studies led by Gallup and others linking employee engagement to increased customer satisfaction, improved performance
and reduced absenteeism and attrition.

INTRADAY AUTOMATION USERS REPORT THE FOLLOWING RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) RESULTS:

5-10% 12-20% 10-25% 70-85%

increase in reduction in reduction in reduction in
occupancy average handle average customer schedule change
time (AHT) wait time administration hours
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ROI IMPACT AREA

OPERATIONAL AGENT CUSTOMER

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF NICE EEM EFFICIENCY PRODUCTIVITY EXPERIENCE

Ensures optimal intraday staffing and performance through faster data

analysis and better decision-making

Drives greater work-life balance for agents resulting in reduced

absenteeism, lower attrition and improved customer satisfaction

Increases agent morale and engagement by making the schedule-change

process more employee friendly and flexible

Minimizes wait times by automatically aligning agent-initiated changes with

business needs improving customer experience

Improves efficiency and reduces operational costs by automating

repetitive workforce administrative tasks

Reduces idle time and staffing shortages through better management of

OT, VTO and extra-hour opportunities

Improves productivity by helping agents adhere to scheduled activities

and after-call-work thresholds via automated alerts

Eliminates subjective intraday decisions, streamlines communication and

makes real-time data actionable

Ensures timely delivery of relevant data personalized to the individual via

the communication method of their choice

GLOBAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS COMPANY (21,000 AGENTS ACROSS 35 CENTERS)

■■ Automated ad-hoc staffing changes, 100
absenteeism adjustments and
90
voluntary time off (VTO) administration
80 IMPR

80
% O
AU VE

■■ Reduced manual effort and WFM

70
TO ME

resource hours needed to manage

MA NT

the business 60
TIO
N

50
■■ Better VTO management also yielded
opportunities to maximize revenue 40
while reducing agent labor
30

■■ Improved internal communication and 20

made agents feel more empowered
10

■■ Savings of approximately $100 per 0

agent per month
DAILY TASK EFFORT (%) DAILY TASK EFFORT (%)
BEFORE AUTOMATION AFTER AUTOMATION

Mgmt\Agent KPI Monitoring\Analysis Mgmt Reporting

Communication

Intraday Staffing Change Requests Exception Mgmt

CONTACTS

Global International HQ, Israel, EMEA, Europe & Middle East,

T +972 9 775 3777, F +972 9 743 4282 T +44 0 1489 771 200, F +44 0 1489 771 665
Americas, North America, Asia Pacific, Singapore Office
T +1 201 964 2600, F +1 201 964 2610 T +65 6222 5123, F +65 6222 5459

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For the full list of NICE trademarks, visit http://www.nice.com/nice-trademarks.

All other marks used are the property of their respective proprietors.

DATE 12/2014 • WP- 35349 • CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE COPYRIGHT © 2014.

ABOUT NICE SYSTEMS INC.

NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE), is the worldwide leader of intent-based solutions that capture and analyze interactions and transactions, realize
intent, and extract and leverage insights to deliver impact in real time.
Driven by cross-channel and multi-sensor analytics, NICE solutions enable organizations to improve business performance, increase operational
efficiency, prevent financial crime, ensure compliance, and enhance safety and security.
NICE serves over 25,000 organizations in the enterprise and security sectors, representing a variety of sizes and industries in more than 150
countries, and including over 80 of the Fortune 100 companies. www.nice.com