Best Practice Events & Live Case Studies

We facilitate Live Case Studies and best practice days, to share learning from our Award winners and finalists over the summer months, especially from the Transformation & Innovation Awards. This is another great opportunity to learn about the fantastic things that these organisations have achieved. These are interactive events to allow plenty of time for questions with key stakeholders in the transformation and networking with other delegates focussed on the same challenges. 

As a member, you are not on your own but part of a community with others facing many similar challenges. We are here to help you to make a tangible impact in your organisation and show how developing the capability of each specialist professional function is fundamental to your business.

All Live Case Studies Videos are available to all Forum Members. You will need login to gain access or register if you don't have a login.

 Once logged in they will appear on this page. Click on Read More to view the video.

Free Webinar: Planning for COVID-19, How COVID-19 is impacting business culture, with guest speaker Lou Banks, Rising Vibe

Hosted on 23rd April 2020

Discover the impact of COVID-19 on your business culture and how to enable small shifts to tackle implications on employee mental health. Gain insight into social pain and how COVID-19 is exacerbating this. 

The World Health Organisation have issued advice and guidance on Mental Health Considerations during the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Rising Vibe understand the impact on both employees and leaders at this difficult time. Whether employees are feeling fear around catching the virus or economic implications on their life, or leaders are experiencing stress and anxiety around managing a business or keeping an SME afloat during this time, we are all experiencing some low vibe emotions in this current climate of uncertainty. 

Listen in and find out how you can learn from this and make changes in your business.

Free webinar: Trade secrets every planner should know about WFM reporting & analysis sponsored by injixo

27th May 2021, 17:00

Each time round the WFM cycle, high-performing planners analyse and report on what went right and what went wrong. The goal is that with each iteration, the forecast becomes more accurate, the staffing requirement includes the right shrinkage, the schedule efficiency is higher, the agent adherence is better, and so on. Continuous improvement is the name of the game.

Just as with every other part of the WFM cycle, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about reporting & analysis. What’s more, since late 2019 we’ve all been bombarded with numbers and charts in the daily news. Now everybody thinks they are statisticians. Join Ian Robertson of The Forum and Simon Waldron of InVision as they reveal some hot tips that work in 2021 and beyond. If you want to take your reporting & analysis to the next level, this webinar is a must-attend.

In this webinar, you will learn:
 - The most important KPIs
 - How to choose the right level of detail
 - The dos and don’ts of data visualization
 - About telling a story with your data
 - How to use your data to drive change
 

Free Webinar: Micro scheduling, peak shaving and split shifts: Innovations in Planning and the homeworking operating model. Sponsored by Sensée

Hosted on 16th July 2020

The switch from bricks & mortar to work-from-home contact centres during the current crisis has posed challenges for IT, HR and Operational Management. But it’s also proven to be hugely beneficial, delivering substantial benefits for organisations and work-life-balance benefits for employees.

In this webinar we examine innovations in Planning and the homeworking operating model - including micro scheduling, peak shaving and split shifts. As well as explaining the meaning of these terms we’ll show how, by applying these innovative techniques to example scenarios, organisations can boost productivity, cut costs and deliver improved work-life-balance.

Technology Showcase: Anaplan

Originally broadcast Monday 28th September 2020, 12:30

Planning for the Workforce of the Future Join Anaplan’s online session to hear how strategic workforce planning can provide much needed agility in the face of digital disruption, financial pressures and turbulent external market factors. During this session we will showcase how to quickly and strategically realign your workforce to shifting skill and resource demands. We will showcase workforce analytics, deploying initiatives to right-size the workforce and reconcile with financial targets, as well as explore capabilities in workforce talent management. Join us to discover how to improve collaboration across thousands of users and how you can realise a 10x return on investment through organisational right-sizing.

Keynote: Digital Acceleration - Planning

Originally broadcast Monday 28th September 2020, 14:00

The Great Digital Acceleration The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way that customers engage with organisations. Digital adoption has leapt forward by a decade and the contact centre is playing catch up. During this session Sabio’s Stu Dorman, will describe how deep integration between the contact centre and digital experiences and the use of the latest generation of AI to support customers and agents can be deployed quickly and scaled to meet the needs of a more digitally savvy customer.

Technology Showcase: Sabio

Originally broadcast Tuesday 29th September 2020, 12:30

How to deploy Google AI within 30 minutes in your Contact Centre. Sabio demonstrate how advanced AI from Google can be deployed on web, messaging and voice channels starting from scratch to go live within 30 minutes.

Keynote: Digital Acceleration - Insight

Originally broadcast Tuesday 29th September 2020, 14:00

The Great Digital Acceleration The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way that customers engage with organisations. Digital adoption has leapt forward by a decade and the contact centre is playing catch up. During this session Sabio’s Stu Dorman, will describe how deep integration between the contact centre and digital experiences and the use of the latest generation of AI to support customers and agents can be deployed quickly and scaled to meet the needs of a more digitally savvy customer.

Keynote: Planning for Wellbeing

Originally broadcast Wednesday 30th September 2020, 09:30

If the P in planning stood for People Following an extended period of accelerated change across our industry, Keir will explore some of the advantages to putting our people first in the planning process, potential barriers to success and what would need to change for this to be a reality for every customer-centric business. Keir Greenwood is VP & General Manager Customer Success at Arise.

Technology Showcase: NICE

Originally broadcast Wednesday 30th September 2020, 12:30

Hear how Skipton Building Society is on a journey to develop their planning capabilities by proactively collaborating with NICE across a number of initiatives to drive colleague and customer excellence.

Technology Showcase: Business Systems

Originally broadcast Thursday 1st October 2020, 12:30

Inspired People go above and beyond – so how can you inspire your employees to engage with your planning team to drive impressive ROI? Your employees need to work in a positive environment so they can continue to grow, remained inspired and be more productive. So how can WFM help with this?

Technology Showcase: Calabrio

Originally broadcast Friday 2nd October 2020, 12:30

The State of the Contact Centre: Embracing the Evolving World of Work Join Ed Creasey, Director of Pre-Sales for Calabrio, as we explore how leading contact centres are turning disruption to their advantage. From the rapid increase in importance of the contact centre, to changes in demands from employees and customers, we will be envisioning the contact centre of the future. Join us to discuss tangible ways to embrace this evolving world of work.

Technology Showcase: The Modular Analytics Company

Originally broadcast Monday 30th November 2020, 12:30

See how data, technology and empathy can manage the customer experience. TMAC demonstrates real-life examples of  next best action, speech analytics and data-led team coaching working in tandem to drive revenue and create positive experiences for customers and agents alike. 

Technology Showcase: Anaplan

Originally broadcast Tuesday 1st December 2020, 12:30

Agile & Reactive Modelling: the key to Modern Planning We must take into account not only future trends but unforeseen events and market conditions. The ability to make good business decisions is completely reliant on a plan that is adaptable and flexible enough to react with resilience and speed. In this session you will see how many scenarios can be created and compared to enable a decision to be made with good principles and alignment to strategy.

Technology Showcase: Aspect

Originally broadcast Wednesday 2nd December 2020, 12:30

Enabling Flexible Working Practices As organisations embrace flexible working strategies for their contact centre and back office workforce what working practices are going to change and how can technology enable these? Join Aspect Software to understand more.

Technology Showcase: Arise

Originally broadcast Thursday 3rd December 2020, 14:00

When People Do Your Planning Using a ‘live’ demonstration of their award-winning Starmatic scheduling tool, Arise will demonstrate how you could let your People do your Planning, exploring performance gamification, agent preference scheduling, intraday variation and meeting unplanned demand.

Conference Endnote

Originally broadcast Friday 4th December 2020, 09:15

Positive habits for a successful career With so much uncertainty in the world, it is important to take control of our conduct, behaviour and attitude. Developing simple positive habits can make a huge impact on how you learn, share ideas and ultimately transform yourself and our career. This endnote presentation will take a look at the role of professionalism, how to build positive habits and an opportunity to hear from members who have transformed themselves during 2020.

Free webinar: Simplified Workforce Management Sponsored by Eleveo

Hosted on 21st January 2021

Join Phil Anderson Director at The Forum & Dan Solomon & Liam Anderson of Eleveo, for a discussion on how we rethink the complexity of forecasting and scheduling to create a simplified and trusted plan which is understood by the business. Whether this is your first step into planning, or you are an experienced planning professional this webinar will be of interest. 

 - Understand key principles to forecasting and how to use these effectively
 - Simplified scheduling, providing choice and control for you advisors
 - How all levels in your organisation will benefit from a simpler approach to WFM
 - How to provide meaningful on-the-day insight
 

Free webinar: Harnessing AI & Automation For Seamless Customer Journeys Sponsored by Sabio

Hosted on 18th February 2021

Harnessing AI and automation for your customer journeys can do wonders. But how? Join us as we cover how you can fully harvest the ROI of technology: delivering better service and improving your operational efficiency. 18th February 2021 12.00.

According to Business Insider, everyone’s ‘freaking out’ about AI stealing jobs, while – according to new research – 46% of UK respondents actually still have no idea what AI is all about.

Harnessing AI and automation for your customer journeys can do wonders, offering a customer facing service 24/7, helping agents deliver a better service and improving operational efficiency. But in order to fully harvest the ROI of technology, companies must take the right approach, following a few simple steps.
Join Phil Anderson, Director at The Forum and Stu Dorman from Sabio as we highlight opportunities for automation and AI along the entire customer service journey. We will discuss the common pitfalls to avoid and some practical steps to identify their right place and role.

Free Webinar - How D&G transformed their contact centre using intraday automation. Sponsored by QStory

Hosted on 23rd February 2021

Domestic and General are the UK’s leading specialist warranty provider for over 100 years. Their contact centre serves 8 million customers, taking 9 million calls per year and authorising 2.4 million repairs.

D&G’s Planning and Real-Time teams wanted automation and support for their processes and systems:
 - They were swamped in admin work
 - Disparate data sources were creating internal stakeholder conflict
 - Duplication of work was creating inefficiency, confusion and complexity
 - Manual processes were time consuming and complex resulting in sub-optimal performance, inefficiency and demotivated staff

Mike Blewitt, Head of Planning led the project and selected QStory as the solution. He joins us along with Ben Harknett, CRO and Tony D'Cruze, Customer Success Manager at QStory to discuss how they implemented the software and achieved some amazing results for the team with a 2X ROI by Q3.
 - 400 hours per month of threat management used which has improved customer service by reducing wait time for customers
 - 3,300 hours per month of opportunity management ensuring agents are receiving their development training
 - Automated 575 hours per month of manual work
 

Free webinar: How to get out of your own way! Sponsored by Rising Vibe

Hosted on 25th February 2021

Why change doesn’t happen.

“Nothing in life is guaranteed except change, but I guess that could change”- Brent M. Jones

A considerable amount of investment is lost on change projects, change programmes and change initiatives, because barriers to change are rarely explored in enough detail, at individual level.

We need to be dissatisfied enough with where we are, and excited enough about where we’re going, to enable ANY change to happen.

In this webinar we will explore the Rising Vibe change equation which will help you identify and unblock (if you choose to!) your own barriers to change, which will also enable you to help others get out of their own way too.
 

Free Webinar: 2021 and beyond – how can we use data to help us plan as our working world continues to evolve? Sponsored by Calabrio

Watch at you own pace

The global pandemic has accelerated the shift of consumers away from traditional channels to a digital world where the vast majority of customer service staff are more remote than ever before.

At the same time, Data, Analytics, AI and ML capabilities are all accelerating rapidly – and each can bring a wealth of advantages which help organisations with their planning.

But sometimes, it can be a challenge simply to keep up with all of the various developments and changes.
 
The good news for all of us as humans beings is that many companies are placing great importance on both customer experience and employee wellbeing.
As digital transformation takes hold at pace, organisations continue to demonstrate that they care.
 
With all this change, two things have remained constant: the importance of good quality planning and the need to be agile and respond to changes rapidly.
 
In this webinar, you will learn:
 - How consumer channel selection is rapidly evolving
 - Some developing data and analytics capabilities which could help your planning
 - Some agility techniques to help you be more prepared for continued uncertainty
 

Free Webinar: The Rise of Digital Channels and the Challenges they Bring to Workforce Management - Sponsored by NICE

Hosted on 23rd March 2021

How people communicate is fundamentally transforming due to the rise in digital channels. These changes include how consumers interact with companies they choose to do business with. For the contact centre, this means challenging long-standing assumptions about contact interactions, how they are measured, and how WFM tools need more sophistication via machine learning to handle the rigors of forecasting and scheduling in a digital channel-driven world.

Some of the takeaways from this session will include:
 - The evolution of digital channels and its impact on customer services
 - Understanding the challenges digital channels present with respect to the WFM process
 - Gain a sense of the considerations to address challenges with digital channels
 

Free Webinar: What if we could deliver agile workforce planning and optimisation?

1st April 2021, 15:00

Agile – it’s an adjective we hear in the front of everything now in the world of business: agile project management, agile finance, agile supply chain, agile marketing, agile HR, etc. The important take is that the ability to rapidly adapt and pivot in response to significant events is a must across all functions in a business (especially after the year we have had!). And the common thread across the business is its people that perform the work – if your workforce is not agile, your business can’t be. 
 
Join us for an insightful conversation with Rupert Bader and Zoe Hruby from Anaplan and hear how we can become a strong business partner by establishing a Connected Planning culture and taking a proactive, continuous approach to aligning workforce capacity plans with business needs in the near- and long-term to maximize utilisation, and anticipate and close workforce and skills gaps.
 
In this webinar, we will discuss:
 - the opportunity to drive business impact
 - connecting workforce planning with financial and business planning
 - engaging stakeholders across the organisation
 - addressing common workforce planning challenges

Free webinar: Facilitation

Hosted on 17th April 2021 by Phil Anderson

Facilitation is a valuable skill for any professional. Learn how you can manage a session so everyone can be share and be heard.

Keynote: Unlocking Opportunities

Originally broadcast Monday 26th April. 2021, 09:30

Hear from Phil Anderson, Director at The Forum with the conference opening keynote. Understand how disruption can pave the way for new opportunities and how you can become key to unlocking change and development.

Technology Showcase: Anaplan

Originally broadcast Monday 26th April. 2021, 12:30

“My supply always meets my demand”. In reality this almost never happens – but how do you bridge the gap between the two? Demand is constant but it is not consistent, nor does it affect every department equally. So how do you optimise your talent pool not only to drive customer satisfaction but maximise your operational efficiency? Come and see how two conflicting constraints on the business can work in harmony by using a Connected Planning platform.  

Technology Showcase: NICE

Originally broadcast Monday 26th April. 2021, 13:15

Fear of missing out? New technological advancements in self scheduling and micro shifting. Planners and Schedulers are under increased pressure to provide hyper flexibility in the scheduling methodology and the general opinion is that micro shifting is too confusing and complex to manage. Life may have changed for all of us; for some, this means the ideal schedule is a couple hours early, a few hours midday and maybe a couple of hours later in the day. 

Technology Showcase: Calabrio

Originally broadcast Tuesday 27th April. 2021, 10:30

The Evolving World of Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) in the Cloud: Five Tactics that Help Keep Agents Engaged in a Modern Contact Centre It’s no secret the contact centre is forever changed. Moving to a cloud contact centre can prove valuable with virtually limitless resources; fast, cost-effective scalability to accommodate seasonal changes and sustained growth; and access to new or more robust technology. 

Technology Showcase: Intradiem

Originally broadcast Tuesday 27th April. 2021, 12:30

How to support your agents better in remote operations by optimising the delivery of coaching and training Want to find out how to support your agents better in remote operations by optimising the delivery of coaching and training? Hear how real time planning & operations teams at British Gas delivered this with the help of Intradiem’s award winning Intelligent Automation Technology solution. Join a panel of business leaders facilitated by Matt Rumins (Head of Customer Success) to discuss the engagement & effectiveness improvements and tangible results that leading organisations are experiencing with Intelligent Automation.

Technology Showcase: Sabio

Originally broadcast Tuesday 27th April. 2021, 13:15

AI & Automation Following on from Sabio’s session earlier in the day, Stu Dorman, Chief Innovation Officer at Sabio will showcase the use of AI, Automation and Intent Capture and Analysis in more detail and explore how and why these are so rapidly evolving. Join us to learn how different approaches fit together in organisations that are making best use of these technologies.

As a member, you are not on your own but part of a community with others facing many similar challenges. We are here to help you to make a tangible impact in your organisation and show how developing the capability of each specialist professional function is fundamental to your business.

Book for one of our events to experience our exceptional community or get in touch to talk about how we can help you and your teams to be fully effective in adding value to your business. Email advice@theforum.social, call 0333 123 5960 or contact any of The Forum team