WFM application Question

[Alexandrino]

Has anybody used the Aspect eWFM or Blue Pumkin tool for Work Management? I´m evaluating both,Any comments? What does it do well and what are its limitations/drawbacks?

Thanks

[Shawn Livengood]

Really it depends on what functionality you are going to need. We use Aspect's eWFM, and it meets our requirements. I wish that it allowed easier flexibility in creating "what-if" scenarios from a forecasting side, and had a more dynamic long term planning tool. However, the scheduling & real time tracking modules are top notch. Hope this helps. Let me know if you would like more info.

ShawnLivengood@AFFINA.com

[healani]

We currently use Aspect eWFM and have had our challenges, just like any other software program. In a single skill environment there are some "tweaks" I've had to make regarding overnight staffing and weekend staffing, as volume is much lower and the pattern has much more variation.

In a multi-skill environment it appears to work great as long as you have a "true" multi-skill group as defined by Aspect. In our case, we have a multi-skill environment except for overnight and the weekends and the staffing requirements are buggy. We are currently working with Aspect for a work-around.

We are currently looking at multi-channel scheduling (email, chat & phone) and are finding that Aspect's software does not easily accomodate for those types of contacts. However, more research is necessary on our part.

One difficulty that we've been trying to work through is transitioning from Lucent's Centervu to a Genesys ACD. The data imports have been difficult and Aspect has not been generously helpful on this subject. They have instructed our eWFM admin to figure out how to get the Genesys data into the necessary eWFM format and they will import it. They have refused us assistance in resolving this issue.

Truthfully, I haven't had any experience with any other scheduling program, so I'm not qualified to evaluate Aspect's program in relation to others. What I've heard from other people in the industry is that Aspect's tool is one of the better tools for larger call centers.

Hope this helps.

[OPsMan]

I have expirience with Aspect. Though it is a good tool, I think Blue pumpkin has more to offer in the way of agent interactivity. We are currently in the middle of a new ramp for a new call centre and we decided to go with Blue Pumpkin. If offers a wide variety of modules that will make handling our business an easy taks. There are 4 different suites in BP. There is the director, where you schedule, forecast etc. There is the Activities Manager. This is where you monitor real time the agents schedule adherance. It also allows you to time off plan and do shift swaps online without human intervention. Ther is the Planner - allows you to look ahead and plan you future needs. Then there is the peroformance Manager. This alows you to track trend in each agents statisitics and focus directly on those to affect the greatest amount of positive change. All in all, I beleive it to be the best ool in the market. It may cost more, but it is well worth every penny.

Jason Coveney