Every workforce management (WFM) vendor has an AI Story now. We see countless blogs and podcasts about AI opening with a line like “In today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving digital landscape." Workforce professionals can be left searching for an AI philosophy that differentiates one solution from another, and exactly how these AI-powered workforce solutions will fit the unique needs of contact centers. These are important questions to ask, because in the workforce engagement world, it’s critical for AI and automation to support human users in meaningful ways that support the workforce process to whatever extent they choose.
Meeting Workforce users where they want to be
Choice has always been a core feature of Aspect’s WorkforceOS™ solutions. Since its beginning, Aspect Workforce™ has offered a broad (and ever-growing) range of flexible configuration and functionality options, allowing users to have as much or as little influence over workforce engagement processes as they choose. This flexibility has always been valued by our users, as they range from highly experienced workforce management professionals to newer team members or contact center supervisors who may be managing multiple responsibilities.
“AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours.” - Oren Etzioni
For seasoned Aspect Workforce™ teams, the ability to guide forecasting, scheduling, and other key processes is critical. These users leverage their expertise to make nuanced decisions that are informed by years of experience. Many users who are newer to workforce engagement or find themselves juggling many tasks may be looking for a solution to take a more active role in creating accurate forecasts and efficient schedules, reducing their workload while still producing high-quality results. The common thread in successfully integrating AI and automation in workforce management is providing choice: allowing human users to decide how much they influence the forecasts, schedules, and other outputs created by the system.
The art part of art and science
For years, we’ve heard people in the industry say that workforce management is both an art and a science. Any AI-powered, automated workforce engagement solution should recognize and celebrate this fact. The science side of the equation is an opportunity for AI to assist with data analysis, forecasting algorithms, and intraday management. But the art comes from the human touch—the creativity, intuition, and experience that workforce professionals bring to the table. AI must serve as a launching pad for the art part of workforce management, enabling humans to focus on creative problem-solving and strategic innovation.
Clear and intuitive benefits for workforce teams
The application of AI and automation should be clear and intuitively understandable, with benefits that are tangible and meaningful to every user role. Vendors must articulate precisely how AI will enhance the experience for agents, customers, and WFM teams alike. For example, AI can assist forecasters by recommending the best-fit algorithm based on historical data, current trends, and changing conditions.
An automated intraday performance module can monitor conditions throughout the day, alerting you to potential staffing issues, offering proactive solutions, and then automatically executing those solutions. And because AI can analyze large datasets, it can help users save time by finding emerging trends and hidden relationships in your large store of Workforce data. This is valuable enough for Workforce users, but even more so when data from Aspect Quality™ and Aspect Performance™ solutions are included.
AI can also provide deeper, more valuable insights by analyzing the treasure trove of WFM and Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) data. For example, it can detect shifting trends and hidden relationships that might not be immediately obvious. It can also automate routine tasks, reducing mental workload and manual clicks, while guiding employees toward greater levels of schedule flexibility.
These targeted deployments of AI and automation go beyond the hype cycle and address concerns for Workforce users and their stakeholders. But again, it’s crucial to maintain the element of choice— enabling human talent to use their experience and creativity to direct the process as much or as little as they want.
Making employees work lives better
A user-choice-driven deployment of AI and automation assists all types of users in an organization, especially individual employees. By taking over routine tasks and offering personalized support, AI frees up employees to focus on the more meaningful and engaging parts of their jobs. A workforce that is less stressed, more productive, and able to envision a long-term work relationship with their employer is the ultimate goal.
Assisting employees in finding better work-life balance
Employees are the largest audience of users that can benefit from the meaningful use of AI and automation. Employees are consistent in their desire for greater schedule flexibility and better work-life balance, and AI can play a huge role in successfully offering more flexibility in a way that doesn’t sacrifice customer service.
More personalized flexibility offers
Making the process of requesting vacation, additional work hours, or last-minute time off as frictionless as possible is a game changer for employees. Whether it’s offering an agent a preferred shift, allowing them to swap shifts, or making the voluntary time off request process as personalized as possible for each employee, making their lives better is a win-win for them, the customer, and the company.
AI as an ally to employees
When employees feel that AI is being used to assist them, not replace them, some of the anxiety about AI in the workplace is relieved. By automating routine tasks and offering personalized support, AI frees up employees to focus on more meaningful and engaging aspects of their work. The result is a more motivated workforce that is less stressed, more productive, and better positioned to provide exceptional customer service.
The impact of AI and automation on employee experience goes far beyond convenience; it directly contributes to making work lives better. Happier employees are more likely to provide better service to customers, and they’re less likely to quit. For years, Aspect WorkforceOS™ offered powerful functionality to increase employees’ investment in their work lives, but now these features will evolve a new level of personalized guidance, effectiveness, and ease-of-use.
New opportunities for growth and recognition
When WFM professionals are no longer bogged down by repetitive tasks or real-time firefighting, they can focus on more meaningful, rewarding work such as creative, strategic workforce planning. This shift can be more impactful for their companies, as it allows WFM teams to identify opportunities for growth, greater efficiency, and employee satisfaction in the contact center and beyond.
Workforce teams I have met and worked with are full of creative ideas for not only keeping business running smoothly, but also for driving innovation and change. With AI and automation freeing up more time, these teams can take on a more prominent role in their organizations, influencing not just contact center operations but even company-wide workforce engagement strategies.
After engaging in thought-provoking discussions about AI in the world of workforce management, we often hear WFM team leaders ask, “How much of my team are you going to replace?” But the real question is “Why replace your team when we can leverage their talent and help them grow?”
"Everyone will have access to amazing AI. Your vendor on that will not be a huge differentiator. Your creative talent though — that will be who you are. Instead of chasing that race to the bottom on labor costs, invest in turning your talent into a team of explorers who can solve amazing problems using AI as the tool that takes the busy work out." - Vivienne Ming, co-founder of Socos Labs
Aspect is a champion for talented Workforce explorers. We’re not replacing workforce professionals with machines— we support and strengthen them, enabling them to have greater impact and influence on efficiency and employee experience within their contact centers and even other parts of their organizations. Workforce management professionals are dedicated people with a particular set of skills acquired over very long careers, and their expertise can benefit the entire company if they have the right tools to support that effort.
WorkforceOS™'s future with AI is about partnership
In the past few years, we’ve all seen a lot of internet stock images of a person shaking hands with a robot, signifying they’re working together.
As corny as these can be, they’re not wrong, especially when AI is used in a clear, meaningful way for workforce engagement. When an example is needed to show the tangible benefits of AI and automation, the workforce engagement industry is a standout use case that can convince even the staunchest skeptic.
Aspect is back to continue the evolution and expansion of our powerful and trusted WorkforceOS™ solution set. We’re working to differentiate our deployment of AI and automation by maintaining our legacy of flexibility and choice for all types of Workforce users. By enabling our users to integrate their creativity, experience, and intuition into the process, we’re helping chart a course for workforce engagement where AI partners with humans.
We’re proud to be champions of the Workforce explorers, supporting them as they aim higher, expand their influence, and navigate the future of workforce management.
