The Summit for Workforce Management Excellence: Standards and Strategies for Call Center Staffing Feb 21-23, Nashville, TN - $1095

Overview

The Summit for Workforce Management Excellence Conference will provide multiple educational sessions, facilitated discussions on relevant topics, and a vendor showroom, as well as great food, exciting entertainment, and spectacular fun! Learn from industry experts and your peers in 48 different sessions during this exciting event.

As an attendee you will:

• Learn about industry trends and hot topics from the experts.

• Improve your workforce management skills.

• Make important contacts and network with your peers.

• See the latest technology available to you.

Who Should Attend
Anyone in the workforce planning community can benefit from the informative workshops and opportunities to network with peers.

Agenda

Wednesday, February 21

7:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. - Registration

8:00-9:30 a.m. - Workforce Management Certification Workshop. What is CWPP Certification all about? What will it do for you in the workforce management field? What are the requirements for certification? How do you prepare? These and other questions are answered by SWPP Board members. This workshop gives information on the certification preparation and process to attain the title of Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP).

8:00-9:30 a.m. - How to Get the Most From Your SWPP Membership. Sometimes when you join an organization, you just don't have the time to explore all the great benefits that are provided. This session will show you what you're missing and what you need to do to take advantage of a membership in SWPP. You'll learn how to get feedback from other members, find an old newsletter article, locate specific information on a topic of interest, and post a job opening on the website - just to name a few. Hear how SWPP provides you with the most important education and networking opportunities for your career.

9:30-10:00 a.m. - Break

10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. - Meet the Board SWPP Meet. Join the SWPP Board of Advisors for a SWPP Meet, as they present issues and solutions in today's call center. You won't want to miss this opportunity to network with your workforce management peers and discuss your toughest workforce management problems. It's also a great time to meet the Board members and find out more about this group of industry leaders that directs SWPP's activities and programs. Speakers: SWPP Board

10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. - Dollars and Sense - Presenting the Case for WFM Software to the CFO. You're ready to purchase workforce management software. To increase your chances for approval, you'll need to communicate with the finance department or CFO in their language. In this session, you'll learn key financial terms and how they apply in call center situations. We'll discuss specifically how to evaluate a proposed workforce management investment in terms of ROI, payback period, and net present value calculations. Whether it's a new workforce management purchase, an upgrade, or an add-on system you'd like to acquire, learn how to "talk the financial talk" and present your proposal to the CFO armed with confidence. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. - Lunch on Your Own

1:00-2:15 p.m. - Welcome and Keynote Address. Work Like You're Showing Off! Deciding to go is the first step on the journey. Unfortunately, it's also the step usually not taken. Most companies and most people never decide to go. They never make the decision to become extraordinary. The decision they make is to talk about becoming extraordinary or to have meetings about becoming extraordinary or to write mission statements about becoming extraordinary. But they never "decide to go," that is, make the commitment that takes hold, drives action, and creates a new level of success. Market leaders and top performers are those who embrace new ideas, take risks, and constantly fight the trap of complacency. Learn how to take a constant, daily, joyful drive to take your performance to the next level. Speaker: Joe Calloway

2:30-3:45 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Forecasting Fundamentals. Review the most popular techniques used for forecasting and the advantages and risks of each. You will learn about the step-by-step approach used by most call centers called time-series analysis, including a case study and an exercise to complete after the class. Tips will also be provided on forecasting shortcuts and when to use them. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Advanced Track

Exploring Advanced Forecasting Techniques. This session provides numerous methodologies that can dramatically improve your daily call volume forecasts. Some of the ideas include using cumulative day of the month/day of the week history and ways to "bend the trend." Go beyond the traditional trend and seasonality numbers and explore how to use correlation analysis to not only improve future forecasts but as a means of measuring and evaluating the accuracy of past and existing forecasts. Speakers: Dick Bensinger, Bensinger & Associates, & Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Services

Special Interest Track

Finding the Best Structure for Your Workforce Management Team. There are many ways to set up your workforce management team, and it is definitely not a "one-size-fits-all" proposition. This session will help you think about the size, location, roles, responsibilities, daily tasks, and overall structure of your WFM team. Hear how other teams are set up, and how they found the right structure for their organization. Speakers: Kristi White, FedEx, Latesha Burke, Toyota, Financial Services, Susan Long, Accenture Business Services for Utilities, and Linda Betulius, RCI

Special Interest Track

From "Bodies in Chairs" to "Bodies in PJs." How do you make the jump from traditional contact centers to using teleworkers? Hear how UnumProvident successfully started this program, and how others are using remote agents. Learn about the various components that need to be considered in building a business case for a teleworking set-up and identify the benefits and challenges of initiating and maintaining a telework program to make it a WIN-WIN-WIN situation. Speakers: Phillip Nichols, UnumProvident, & Corina Rust, KP OnCall

Case Study Track

American Express Canada & SunTrust Bank: Improving Service While Reducing Costs. Hear how American Express Canada's business model has evolved and the steps that have been taken to improve the customer experience while maximizing efficiencies and reducing costs. Look at the changes that SunTrust's workforce management department has implemented over the last year, which enabled the call center to achieve service levels while reducing operational costs and turnover. Speakers: Christopher Watchorn, American Express Canada, & Julie Aronson, SunTrust Bank

Tools & Technology Track

Deal or No Deal? Agent Retention Rates at Stake. Learn how to offer your agents scheduling "deals" that no game show contestant could turn down. Improve retention with best practices in workforce management that make your contact center and your agents both winners. Take away real-world examples of how to enable flexible scheduling, automate shift trades, accommodate schedule preferences and educate and engage agents. Learn how to deal with your employees' job satisfaction requirements and meet your staffing needs without compromising service or racking up avoidable costs. Speaker: Aspect Software

3:45-4:15 p.m. - Break

4:15-5:30 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Calculating Call Center Staff. Learn how to fine-tune staffing requirements to get the "just right" number of resources in place. This session will discuss cost vs. service concerns, the impact of large groups and economies of scale, call arrival rate, and staff occupancy. You'll also learn about calculating staff for emails and outbound calling campaigns. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Advanced Track

Various Impacts of Forecasting Error. Most of the industry uses a standard metric to see if they are forecasting accurately. This session will show attendees which metrics to use where and when, as well as the impact of these metrics. During this case-study-based session, we will use a real cellular company's data and assess forecast error using different statistical techniques. Speakers: Rose Du Preez, Service Monitor, & Mike Bendixen, Nova South Eastern University

Special Interest Track

Measuring the Performance of Your Workforce Management Team. There are many ways to measure the performance of agents in the call center, but not much attention is paid to the measurement of our workforce management team. Hear how other companies are finding the right way to evaluate the workforce management group in their organization. Speakers: Amber Smalley, BECU, Christopher Watchorn, American Express Canada, & Kim Riddle, Citibank

Case Study Track

Alltel & Carnival Cruise Lines: The Evolution of the Workforce Management Team. Overhearing a contact center agent refer the workforce management team as the people "who do your vacation" was a wake-up call for the team at Carnival Cruise Lines. To get the message across that were more than just order takers who address schedule requests, the WFM team turned into CSI-style investigators who dig deep into workforce data and make smart decisions that improve contact center performance across lines of business. When Alltel deployed a new workforce management system, the company's workforce analysts suddenly had data that enabled analysts to focus on actual forecasting analysis, rather than merely updating schedule information. Hear how both companies prepared workforce analysts to take on the more strategic responsibilities of aligning workforce management with overall business goals. Speakers: Ken Pearson, Alltel, & Margarita Meneses, Carnival Cruise Lines

Tools & Technology Track

Skills-based Routing Benefits and Challenges. Skills-based routing, done right, minimizes overhead expenses, establishes an orderly career path for agents and improves customer service. During this session, we’ll show you how to overcome skills-based routing challenges using a well-designed queuing strategy powered by an advanced workforce management system. In this session, you’ll learn how to meet service goals and reduce abandon rates, lower organizational overhead costs with improved forecasting and planning, streamline time-consuming administrative tasks, and build an efficient staff plan that takes agent skills and preferences into account. Speakers: Nathan Stearns IEX, & Matt Marino, First Marblehead

Tools & Technology Track

Technology Traps: Avoiding Pitfalls When Implementing Your Workforce Optimization (WFO) Solution. Workforce management software is one of the fundamental building blocks of any effective WFO solution. Most contact centers have already started implementing additional WFO solutions such as automated agent coaching, real time performance management, focused quality monitoring, speech analytics and customer surveying, and those that haven’t will do so in the very near future. Many organizations, however, are cornered into purchasing an entire suite of expensive “one-size-fits-all” WFO technologies that they simply don’t need. In this session you’ll learn how to build the right WFO solution for your specific needs – without being forced to purchase every solution from the same vendor. By implementing modular, “best of breed” WFO solutions one step at a time, organizations can benefit from rapid implementation and easily measurable Return on Investment (ROI) – both of which make for much more attractive and effective initial purchase proposals to your budget committee. Speakers: Bob Webb, Pipkins, and Patrick Botz, VPI

5:30-7:30 p.m. - Opening Reception. Join us for a reception to get the conference started. We have some special events and mixer activities planned to help you get acquainted with your fellow attendees.

Thursday, February 22

8:00-9:00 a.m. - Breakfast and Presentation of the Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award

9:00-10:15 a.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Scheduling Principles & Problems. Learn the basics of scheduling your personnel to meet call center cost and service goals. This session outlines the most common scheduling problems call centers face and will provide some traditional solutions as well as some creative new ones to help with your scheduling dilemma. Enter the attendee contest for most creative scheduling idea! Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Advanced Track

Making the Transition to Performance Based-Scheduling. Learn how Toyota Financial Services and American Airlines Vacations have successfully transitioned to performance-based scheduling. Hear about the advantages and disadvantages of the process and what metrics you should include in the scoring plan. You'll also hear about ways to communicate the changes while protecting morale. Speakers: Debbie Davis, American Airlines Vacations, Rich Blankenship, American Electric Power, & Latesha Burke, Toyota Financial Services

Special Interest

Truths & Myths About FMLA. You deal with it everyday, but do you really know the truth about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Which employees are eligible to take FMLA leave? How much leave can eligible employees take? Can an employee be denied FMLA leave? Can an employee be fired for taking FMLA leave? Come to this session to learn what FMLA really means and what your role is in carrying out the provisions of this law. Speakers: Todd Gladden, BellSouth; Fred Bissinger, Wimberly Lawson PLLC

Special Interest

Finding the Root Cause of the Issue (Part I). How often has someone in another department proposed a change to a WFM practice for the sake of improving the operation? Or perhaps workforce management gets invited to participate in a Six Sigma project? In any call center operation, the workforce management team is often involved in (if not responsible for) the kind of analysis that leads to process and/or policy changes. One of the first steps in crafting elegant solutions to call center problems is identifying the root case of the issue. Combining Six Sigma techniques with good, old-fashioned workforce management analysis to identify problems and their root causes, this session uses an interactive approach with a variety of sample cases for attendees to roll up their sleeves and tackle. Speakers: Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Service, Dick Spearrin, The Call Center Consulting Group, and Michele Borboa, Call Center Resources

Case Study Track

Ford Motor Company, ICE Gallery & Nevada Power: Gaining Management and Union Buy-In for WFM Software and Creating a Workforce Management Model. Getting management buy-in on a workforce management system in an organization that's never used one before can be tricky. In this session, hear how the workforce management team "sold" management on the idea of investing in a system by giving a crash course on how improving adherence, optimizing schedules, and addressing intra-day performance would equal a large amount of savings and increased revenue generating potential. When contact center managers at Nevada Power Company wanted to invest in a workforce management system, they faced a double-edged challenge in getting the green light: not only did they need to convince budget planners whose primary concern is keeping costs down, they also needed to sell the system to the company's union, who has a strong say in what technology is utilized. Hear how Ford Motor Company created a centralized, automated workforce management "model" that could be deployed in all their North American contact centers. By benchmarking best in class operations and researching industry expert studies, Ford was able to develop and deploy the model across the country. Speakers: Ralph Venen, Ford Motor Company, Adelina Petrov, ICE Gallery, & Melissa Fernandez, Nevada Power

Tools & Technology Track

Bridging the Gap between WFM & Operations. Is your workforce management team tired of playing tug-of-war with the operations team? Do you have a difficult time getting your agents to adhere to published schedules? Would you like to find a way to work together to achieve common goals? If the answer is yes to any of these questions then this session is for you. Come to this fun and interactive session to learn how you can educate, calibrate, and communicate with your operations team to achieve higher service levels, adherence, and performance. Speaker: Katie Simons, Envision Telephony

10:15-10:45 a.m. - Break

10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Managing Daily Service Levels. Learn to track your forecasting and scheduling plan to ensure it's working every single half-hour of every day to ensure service goals are being met and employees are being utilized effectively. This session will outline the process of tracking performance within the day and provide overstaffing and understaffing reaction strategies should the plan go awry. Speaker: Pam Trickey, The Call Center School

Advanced Track

Advanced Scheduling Techniques: Strategies for Improving Coverage and Effectiveness. Workforce scheduling is becoming increasingly complex with the additions of skill-based routing, multi-media contacts, and multi-site call routing. This session includes scheduling optimization strategies including skill-based scheduling, scheduling for non-call activities, and scheduling in a union environment. Shift bidding and schedule trades/rotations will be discussed, along with complications of scheduling in shared-seating scenarios. You'll hear about tools that can support the process, along with how to work within your budgetary constraints to create the most acceptable and efficient coverage possible. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track

Visual Basic (VB)® for Workforce Management. This workshop will show you proven techniques to quickly and efficiently update data, formulas, and charts within Microsoft Access, Excel, and PowerPoint by utilizing the hidden power within - Visual Basic (VB)®. Bring your questions or actual problems and come away from this workshop with the solutions that will lessen your workload. This will be your session, but can include ideas such as - How do I quickly gather and summarize ACD reports? How do I quickly update my charts? What formulas can easily summarize my data? Can I update formulas systematically? Bring your notebook computer and you can work along with the discussion. Speaker: Eric Klein, CreditOne Bank

Special Interest

Presenting to Senior Management (Part II). Designed as a continuation from Part I - Finding The Root Cause of the Issue (but open to any and all attendees interested in the topic), this session explores the unique challenges of presenting esoteric workforce management issues to executives. Using the cases from the Part I session, and some perspectives from actual call center execs, Part II will focus on showcasing the right material in the right level of detail to clearly communicate the right message to a senior level audience. Like Part I, this session will combine presentations from the panel with attendee participation and interaction. Speakers: Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Service, Dick Spearrin, The Call Center Consulting Group, and Michele Borboa, Call Center Resources

Tools & Technology Track

Maximizing your Distributed Workforce for Maximum Return. This session will explore the methods, technology and advanced infrastructure behind the Distributed Workforce Concept created by Virtual Agent Services (VAS), which is a model for combining fully functional contact centers across geographies to form one large virtual operation. The session will show how the concept has enabled VAS to reach to an abundant supply of high quality labor in untargeted, highly skilled labor markets while maintaining the economies of scale associated with large consolidated operations. Learn how this concept can be applied in your own enterprise for significant benefits, including human resources advantages, as well as high quality, reliable and redundant telephony service regardless of call center size, distance, or location. Speakers: Neri Basque, Virtual-Agent Services, & Guillaume Perron, Spanlink Communications

Certification Track

Certification Prep - Overview. What is CWPP Certification all about? What will it do for you in the workforce management field? What are the requirements for certification? How do you prepare? These and other questions are answered by SWPP Board members. This workshop gives information on the certification preparation and process to attain the title of Certified Workforce Planning Professional (CWPP). Speakers: Todd Gladden, BellSouth, Kristi White, FedEx, & Katherine Beinecke, CCSG

12:00-1:30 p.m. - Lunch and Workforce Management Jeopardy

1:30-2:45 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Excel Essentials. This session will cover Excel essentials for workforce management personnel. Topics include using the Erlang add-in, using formulas and functions, managing and analyzing data, along with tips, tricks and shortcuts. Whether you use workforce management software or just use Excel alone, you'll come away with some great new ideas from this session. Speaker: Mike Andrews, Cincinnati Bell

Advanced Track

The Great Debate - Part I. There are two sides to every story - and we're going to explore them all! This lively session will showcase debates on several different workforce management issues, including specialized vs. universal agents, full-time vs. part-time staffing, service level vs. ASA as a service goal, and more. In the first part of this session, you will meet with your group and put together your argument, which will be presented in Part II later in the afternoon. Leaders: Dawn O'Connor, Sallie Mae; Jennifer Behrens, Thrivent Financial; Duke Witte, Wyndham Worldwide; Retha Deaton, Embarq; Kim Doody, America West Airlines; Liz Beardsley, Delta Air Lines; Kim Riddle, Citibank; Tammie Nichols, SMUD; Susan Long, Accenture Business Services for Utilities

Special Interest Track

The Scheduling Swap - Countdown of Scheduling Best Practices. If you're struggling with what else to try in order to match up your schedules to the forecast workload, this is the session for you. You'll hear about scheduling best practices from your workforce planning peers in a format that's organized and practical, yet fun and entertaining. Bring at least two proven ideas with you to the session. You'll have the opportunity to share ideas one-on-one with other participants and hear what's working best in their centers. We'll use a large group voting process to select the top five creative scheduling ideas with prizes for the winners. Whether you take home a top prize, or just a list of new scheduling ideas to try, everyone's a winner in this session - and we guarantee you'll have fun in the process. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Tools & Technology Track

You Can't Afford NOT to Have a Plan. Each year, you should create a planning document for your entire workforce management organization. Come and see how easy it is to create a process plan using CenterBridge, the leading integrated forecasting, staff planning, budgeting, and analysis system for large or complex customer contact center organizations. Learn how important it is to have your plan documented and updated. Speaker: Tommy Templin, Bay Bridge

Tools & Technology Track

Workforce Optimization Operationalized. No more theories. No more lofty marketing messages. This session will discuss and show how the key functional specialties in the contact center change after a workforce optimization initiative successfully occurs. The largest impact is upon the daily workflows of the front-line supervisor, with special ramifications for WFM and QM specialists. Speaker: Bill Durr, Witness Systems

Certification Track

Certification Prep: Planning and Strategy Test. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know for the first test in the CWPP certification process. In this session, you will review the competencies for the Planning and Strategy test, look at some sample test questions, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the test. Speakers: Corina Rust, KP OnCall, & Aaron Johnson, American Electric Power

2:45-3:45 p.m. - Ice Cream Social with the Sponsors

3:45-5:00 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Attendance & Adherence. One of the toughest jobs related to workforce management may not be the intricate calculations of forecasting nor the numerous iterations of coming up with the best schedule mix. The hardest part may come after the schedules are in place - simply ensuring there are frontline staff available when and where you need them to be. Some call centers are much more successful than others at this attendance and adherence dilemma. So how do you get staff to show up for work on Mondays and stick to their planned break times? This session will share proven practices on attendance and adherence that have resulted in increased availability. Speaker: Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School

Advanced Track

The Great Debate - Part II. For those who attended Part I of this interactive session, you will return for Part II to debate the issues. No matter what side of an issue you're on, you'll find the conversation stimulating, and the debate to be nothing but fun! Leaders: Dawn O'Connor, Sallie Mae, Jennifer Behrens, Thrivent Financial, Duke Witte, Cendant, Retha Deaton, Embarq, Kim Doody, America West Airlines, Liz Beardsley, Delta Air Lines, Kim Riddle, Citibank, Tammie Nichols, SMUD, & Susan Long, Accenture Business Services for Utilities

Special Interest Track

Don't Just Toss that Report -- Use it to Make a Difference in Your Center! It seems like we are inundated with all kinds of reports all day long, every day. But does anybody read them? Is the information relevant? What can we use those reports for to make a difference in our center? Come to this session to see what new and unique ways that workforce management is using reports. Speakers: Mike Sypek, Advanta, & Andy Wainwright, Toyota Financial Services

Case Study Track

Accenture Business Services for Utilities & Prudential Financial: Easier Scheduling for Off-Phone Activities & Time Off for Agents. When it came time for Accenture Business Services 800 agents to bid twice yearly for vacation time, part of the company's workforce management team prepared to be buried under paperwork as requests for time off were manually processed. See how Accenture has drastically cut administration time and costs, eliminated errors and improved workforce performance by implementing an automated, Web-based solution for vacation bidding and approvals. You will also hear how Prudential Financial - as part of its Business Operations Center's mandate to improve productivity, cost and time management - leveraged their workforce management system to more efficiently forecast and schedule off-phone activities. Speakers: Kristel Lord & Susan Long, Accenture, & Bill Kugler, Prudential Financial

Tools & Technology Track

Upgrade Yourself to "Hero" By Bringing WFM to the Rest of the Business. For many businesses, contact centers have been the “low-hanging fruit” of enterprise-wide workforce management. Now that they have gotten gains in service and controlled costs using workforce management in the contact centers, businesses are turning their attention to additional areas, such as back office. As a contact center workforce manager, you know more about workforce management than anyone else in the enterprise both in terms of principles and day-to-day management. Use this workshop to learn how the principles of workforce management as you know them apply to these areas — and learn how these areas are different. Then decide if you can leverage your expertise to become an enterprise-wide hero offering planning and consulting to departments outside the contact center — or become a high-visibility enterprise workforce manager. Speaker: Dave Marcus, GMT

Certification Track

Certification Prep: Staffing and Scheduling Test. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know for the second test in the CWPP certification process. In this session, you will review the competencies for the Staffing and Scheduling test, look at some sample test questions, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the test. Speakers: Dick Spearrin, The Call Center Consulting Group, & Colleen Foster, National City Mortgage

6:00 p.m. - Buses depart for Evening Event at BB King's Blues Club

6:30-9:30 p.m. - Party at BB King's. Get ready for a great evening of entertainment at one of downtown Nashville's hot spots. We'll have dinner and drinks, while enjoying our favorite band and all the atmosphere of this amazing club and Nashville's historic Second Avenue. If you attended in 2006, you know that Burning Las Vegas brought down the house, and they're ready to do it again in 2007!

Friday, February 23

7:30 a.m. - Continental Breakfast

8:00-9:15 a.m. - Behind Closed Doors. Want some time to hear from your workforce management software vendor? The SWPP Sponsors are holding group customer sessions to provide the latest information about upgrades, new releases, and new products. Meet other users in this group session led by your vendor.

9:15-10:30 a.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

WFM 101: How to Train Your Agents about WFM. Train your agents to use WFM in three easy steps: Define, Explain, and Demonstrate. Many sessions have discussed delivering The Power Of One training to agents. The information in those sessions explains some of the metrics in the call center world. Three easy steps educate the concepts of WFM, show the impact one person can make, and demonstrate the ease of using the system. Speakers: Colleen Foster, National City Mortgage, Todd Gladden, BellSouth, & Aaron Johnson, American Electric Power

Advanced Track

Skill-Based Routing Fundamentals - Part I. Skill-based routing is a powerful tool that can help call centers with many different call types handle them more effectively from both a customer and staff perspective. It can be equally powerful when applied to multiple contact channels - calls, emails, fax, and web chat - that most centers must handle today. This session provides a map to guide you through a process of applying skill-based routing fundamentals to the multi-channel environment. You'll learn how to determine and assign priorities in order to manage service differences and make the most of your staff skills. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track

Finders Keepers -- Fifteen Strategies for Improving Agent Satisfaction and Retention. One of the contact center manager's biggest challenges these days may be getting and keeping good employees. This session takes a look at the turnover problem running rampant in today's centers. We will discuss the main reasons employees leave and why they stay and which of these are actually under management's control. You'll hear at least fifteen proven ideas about how to create an overall call center, as well as an individualized plan to maximize retention of the employees you want to keep. Speaker: Pam Trickey, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track

Integrating Workforce Management with Your Payroll Interface. Getting your workforce management system to work with your payroll system sounds so easy to do, but ask most anyone who's tried it, and they'll tell you it's not. Learn the keys to success, and the issues that you need to address before you begin the process. Hear from several companies that have made it work, and others who are still struggling. Speakers: Gavin Chan, Rogers Communication, Corina Rust, KP OnCall, Kim Doody, America West Airlines, & David Olson, RCI

Tools & Technology Track

Workforce Management: The Contact Center's Easy Button. Achieving optimal results with a workforce management deployment takes a symbiotic relationship between the people, processes and technology in the center. When one of the elements is out of balance, efficiency and effectiveness inevitably suffer. Whether you're putting a WFM system in place for the first time, replacing an existing system or just trying to breathe new life into one that's in place, this session is for you. Learn how to: build a solid planning foundation, develop a workforce management team, get key stakeholders to embrace change, create a culture of continuous improvement, and much more. Speaker: Rick Seeley, IEX Corporation

Certification Track

Certification Prep: Managing Daily Staffing and Service. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know for the third test in the CWPP certification process. In this session, you will review the competencies for the Managing Daily Staffing and Service test, look at some sample test questions, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the test. Speakers: Michele Borboa, Call Center Resources, & Katherine Beinecke, CCSG

10:30-10:45 a.m. - Break

10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. -- Workshops

Basic Track

Power of One Activity Session. What other session utilizes a wading pool, tennis balls, and a bucket from your favorite fried chicken joint? Probably none, because this one is unique! Come to this session to find some proven techniques and activities to show agents how important they are - that one person really does make a difference! Leaders: Corina Rust, KP OnCall, Todd Gladden, BellSouth, & Aaron Johnson, American Electric Power

Advanced Track

Skill Based Scheduling Case Study - Part II. In Part II of this workshop, you'll see the basic skill-based routing principles applied using two case study examples. We'll review two different types of centers with varying sizes and mixtures of skills. These examples will demonstrate a variety of challenges and how they can be effectively met in the routing design and the schedule planning. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own SBR designs, plans and challenges for discussion in this problem-solving session. Speaker: Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School

Special Interest Track

Bringing Outsourcers In: Best Practices for Linking Partners into Your Workforce Management System. Real-time access to information on net staffing and performance statistics is integral to successful workforce management. Yet getting a clear, consistent picture of the workforce across a global customer service network that includes a number of outsourced partners can be a challenge - especially if outsourcers are used to using different processes and technologies. In this session, hear how AOL is working to integrate more than a dozen outsourcing partners into its workforce management software. Speakers: Rhonda Chandler & Jimmy Ditmore, AOL

Case Study Track

Avis/Budget Group & RCI: Making Strides towards Better Schedule Adherence & Forecasting. See how RCI used the Six Sigma process to address issues with schedule adherence using agent web tools along with training and education. You will also hear from Avis and Budget Car Rental, where the planning process involves significant scenario analysis. However, volume forecasting is only part of the game: it is as important to get the other elements of the forecast right as well; your shrinkage forecast, your attrition forecast, your handle time forecast, and your training forecast, to name a few. Avis/Budget uses CenterBridge to do its strategic planning, and with the new forecasting tools in its latest release, are able to look into the importance of getting the total forecast right. Speakers: Nate Harmon & David Olson, RCI, & Kristofer Juett, Avis/Budget Group

Tools & Technology Track

One Year Old; 30 Years WFM Wise: Aspect Software Shares Shortcuts. Aspect Software celebrated its first birthday in the fall of 2006, but beginning with the TCS brand, it actually has decades of workforce management experience and expertise to its credit. This is one old dog that doesn't just keep learning new tricks, but develops and teaches them too. If you know that you don't know it all, come to this session and listen while we share some of the shortcuts and cool capabilities of a system that goes beyond the basics of forecasting, scheduling and tracking. You can't truly optimize your staff until you optimize your software. Speaker: Aspect Software

Certification Track

Certification Prep: Final Project. Get an in-depth look at what you need to know to complete your final project in the CWPP certification process. In this session, you will review the approved sample projects, view some completed project data, and get feedback from your peers who have successfully completed the project. Speakers: Duke Witte, Wyndham Worldwide & Dick Spearrin, The Call Center Consulting Group

Registration Fees
The per student registration fee for this seminar is $1,095, and includes the seminar, course materials, and continental breakfast and lunch both days. Why not bring your associates?  Register three or more attendees from your company for the same seminar and receive 5% group discount.

To register, click on the "Book Now" button or please call (708) 246-0320

Seminar Schedule

No schedule at this time.

To learn about a seminar similar to this one,
Click here to learn about , dates & locations

Payment is due prior to the seminar.  If payment is not received, a credit card hold will be required for participation.  This card will only be processed if payment has not been received within two weeks following the seminar.

Cancellation Policy.  Registrants may cancel up to fourteen days in advance of the seminar start date for a full refund, less administrative fees of $300.  Or, you may transfer your registration to another member of your company at no additional charge.  Registrants canceling within fourteen days of the seminar will receive credit, less administrative fees of $300, toward any other Resource Center seminar.  In the unlikely event that a seminar must be cancelled, you will be notified at least one week prior to the seminar date. Seminar provider is not responsible for losses due to cancellation including losses on advanced purchase airfares.

Seminar agenda subject to change.

Contact Center Seminars
Telecom Seminars

Help Desk Books
Call Center Management
Tech Support Resources
Contact Center Technology
Online Support
Customer Satisfaction
Knock Your Socks Off
Help Desk Institute
Telecom Books
Communication Skills
Call Center Monitoring
Metrics & Benchmarking
CRM
Hiring, Training, & Retention
Outbound Telebusiness
Novelties, Gifts, & Humor
Bargain Books (50% off)

Subject Index
Catalog Index

Shipping Options
About Us
Contact Us