The ONE benefit of a Workforce Management System and how to succeed with it

I have experience implementing workforce management systems for businesses of all sizes. During vendor presentations, it can seem like these systems can do it all, from real-time monitoring, scheduling to capacity planning. However, the main reason to invest in a workforce system is to gain insight into your department's current capacity. The better the system captures working and non-working time, the more valuable it becomes.

Aristotle once said, "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." Without understanding your operations, how can you improve them? A good workforce management system informs stakeholders about productive and non-productive time spent by associates each day.

Productive time answers how many hours frontline associates interact with clients during a full working day. Non-productive time answers how many hours they don't spend interacting with clients.

Once you have these answers, you're halfway there. You can then develop an action plan for these two categories.

Sounds simple, so implementing a system should be easy … right? It's not. Don't rely solely on vendors to do the heavy lifting during the implementation stage. While they have technical knowledge, you, as the business owner, must provide operational expertise. If you don't actively participate and give meaningful feedback on how the system should capture productive time and non-productive time of the associates, you might as well set 🔥💰 .

Additionally, as an operational leader, be prepared to implement change when the workforce management system provides insights. Without the courage to make changes then don’t waste time in purchasing a WFM system. One last tip, no system is perfect so don’t wait until everything is perfect. It is WAY better to act on 70% accurate data than waiting for a 100% accurate data (it doesn't exist).

In summary:

1. Deeply understand your business.

2. Choose a system that accurately captures productive and non-productive time.

3. Have the courage to implement effective changes based on insights.

Good luck, and stay focused on the ONE benefit of the WFM system!