CUSTOMER PROFILE
Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) required a centralised workforce optimisation solution that would support its rapid growth. NICE Workforce Management gave the organisation consistent, streamlined solutions for self-service scheduling as well as real-time, intraday service improvements —enabling SSCL to combine its bespoke contact centre solutions with the right tools and technology to capitalise on its market-leading performance.
01 THE BEFORE
Rapid growth and unprecedented challenges
SSCL delivers critical business support services to 22 government departments and agencies in the UK— specialising in service delivery and transformation. Over recent years it has experienced multi-sector rapid growth, reinforcing the need to constantly transform and increase its delivery capabilities.
As with many organisations, the COVID-19 pandemic brought its own unprecedented challenges. Many planning activities were manual and arduous. Limited capacity for capturing and sharing contact centre performance metrics including average handle time (AHT) and service level compliance resulted in reduced visibility of performance forecasts. The variables that changed as an impact of the pandemic required a solution that would address these new and existing challenges. SSCL needed a central specialist workforce management process that would allow for more efficient and effective service delivery within its contact centres.
“We had a workforce that was clearly passionate about delivering for our customers, but there was a lot missing in terms of enablement and visibility, specifically on performance metrics,” said Sumit Singh, SSCL’s Head of Resource Planning.
02 DESIRE TO CHANGE
A need for centralised planning
Singh joined SSCL in 2020 and quickly prioritised improvements in visibility and both tactical and strategic decision-making. As part of their new streamlined approach SSCL wanted to expand the workforce management function into a centralised planning role.
The benefits to implementing a workforce optimisation solution were quickly identified with improvements supporting employee engagement and reinforcing SSCL’s delivery of a bespoke, enhanced customer experience whilst building on their strong and consistent Net Promoter Score (NPR). “There was clear indication that we needed a market-leading workforce management tool to help us not just invest in delivering service to our end clients, but also invest in our employees.”
03 THE SOLUTION
A new look at workforce management
SSCL evaluated four leading WFM solutions, making the decision to implement NICE Workforce Management with Value Realisation Services (VRS). This brought industry best practices, visibility, and consistency to SSCL’s scheduling and intraday management processes. VRS facilitated fast and accurate deployment and agent adoption.
To drive value directly to agents, SSCL wanted to focus on streamlining employee self-service. Agents would no longer have to update multiple systems to record holidays and time off. Time savings and error reductions would help serve callers more effectively.
SSCL also tripled the size of the WFM team, allowing for more proactive intraday management. This shift was an important development as notifications for overtime and VTO can now be targeted at specific agent pools or sent to the general population, without waiting for email delivery. Agents know that their requests will be handled practically in real time.
04 THE RESULTS
A sharper focus on customer experience and efficiency
Management has enabled SSCL to combine its bespoke contact centre solutions with the right tools and technology to capitalise on its market-leading performance. Guidance from VRS before, during, and after deployment helped SSCL employ best practices to achieve results quickly.
For example, error-prone, overlapping, and multiple entries for time-off requests have been replaced by a single, consistent interface for all employees. Creating and publishing the schedule is similarly streamlined. Data on shrinkage is now more clearly visible and shrinkage is down as a result. SSCL is capitalising on these savings in additional training and development.
The WFM team is now actively engaged in both short-term and long-term planning while also implementing real-time adjustments to manage adherence and service level delivery.
05 THE FUTURE
A platform for growth
With several short-term successes logged since implementing NICE Workforce Management, SSCL hopes to continue its fast pace of growth and client onboarding with stable, scalable WFM discipline. “You need to have tools in place which enable efficient management of such services, and for us, that’s what the WFM tool is about,” Singh said.
