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: 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.

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 - 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: 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: 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 – Top Challenges contact centres face around scheduling & forecasting and how to overcome them. Sponsored by Business Systems

22nd June 2021, 12:00

Forecasting and scheduling accurately within a contact centre is key to a successful operation.

However, many contact centre leaders and workforce planners face challenges with their forecasting and scheduling accuracy, with these challenges ranging from hybrid working, historical data, agent engagement and the rise of digital channels. 

Join Phil Anderson, Director at The Forum, he will be discussing how contact centres can address their top scheduling and forecasting challenges with Scott Budding and Neil Draycott of Business Systems.

Our webinar will cover:
 - How to forecast with historical data which may be skewed 
 - Top tips on addressing a hybrid workforce in 2021 and beyond
 - Top tips on how to address employee wellbeing and agent engagement
 - How to position your contact centre with the transition to self-service and digital channels while providing an exceptional customer service

Free Webinar - Critical Workforce Planning: Getting the Right Care to the Right Place at the Right time. Sponsored by Anaplan

24th June 2021, 15:00

How to Leverage Workforce Planning to Build Resilience and Organizational Agility 

To save lives and help people access appropriate care within 7 minutes across a 3,500 square miles area, 24/7 is no easy feat. It requires finely tuned operations that are accurately staffed and coordinated, whilst serving the community with optimal deployment of ambulances and paramedics. 

Join us on Thursday 24th June for a conversation with Steve West, Director of Planning and Performance Forecasting at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), on the growing importance of having a robust workforce plan to deliver safe and reliable care for patients. Hear how Connected Planning has improved SCAS’s ability to plan against the realities of the pandemic, and their ability to meet key KPIs.

During this webinar, you’ll discover how your organisation can become more agile by:
 - Building a planning model that links from the demand through to resource needs
 - Integrating models to see direct impact of extra demand, and 
 - Driving and improving everyday operations with continuous planning.

Free Webinar: Contact & Call Centres Re-imagined - Planning Flexible Workplace Strategies for the traditionally non-flexible business. Sponsored by Anaplan

23rd September 2021, 12:00

Remote and hybrid work was historically seen as only for the lucky few, and certainly never for the likes of contact or call centre workers. That all changed when the pandemic sent all non-essential workers around the world home. It not only worked – many businesses saw productivity increases.  Twelve+ months later, with lessons learned, the question on many leaders’ minds for their business critical contact centres, is should we bring them back?

The right decision is not obvious, and must be anchored to the business goals and strategy. We will spend this session sharing approaches and highlighting some of the dependencies and variables to consider as you navigate the future of work for your organisation.

Free Webinar: Planning For Covid Series 3 What are the top challenges organisations face right now?

Hosted by Phil Anderson

The Planning for Covid-19 series 3 will again share real-life examples of the challenges along with practical ideas to limit the impact and even prevent these from happening.
 - Understand the current top challenges from across the industry.
 - Hear how different organisations are approaching these with new and innovating ideas.

Free Webinar: How your business can fight back against volatile demand. Sponsored by QStory

Hosted on 30th September 2021

Traditional forecast models and techniques have been undermined by changes in customer behaviour as a result of the pandemic which have made demand levels increasingly volatile. Instead of being a cause for concern, is this an opportunity for Planning teams everywhere to change their focus?  Is it time that the focus was placed on flexibility and the ability to respond to volatility? In this webinar, David Preece from QStory and Dave Vernon Director at The Forum will discuss the drive for accuracy vs the drive for agility and highlight the key role that Intraday Automation can play in helping planners to adapt to 'the new different'.

Free Webinar: Contrasting worlds at British Gas before and after the implementation of ‘Intelligent Automation’ from Intradiem

Hosted on 21st October 2021

Hear from Matt Rumins (Intradiem) and Scott Watkin (British Gas) as they reflect on the current challenges being faced by real time and planning teams and what a tough environment it is to operate in. Featuring the contrasting worlds of operating before and after the implementation of ‘Intelligent Automation’ from Intradiem, Scott & Matt will explain what life was like before features like real time task management, flex staffing, call handling support and dynamic coaching were available and cover some of the key benefits these are now bringing to agents, team leaders and planning teams. 

Planning for Covid-19 Series 3: Part 3, shaping the future

Hosted by Phil Anderson

There feels to be an endless list of challenges, from high attrition, unpredictable customer demand and pressure to deliver against old targets, so how can we lift our heads out of the detail and think strategically? This live webinar will look at practical ways of keeping one eye on today, with another on the future, helping you to gain confidence with your forecasting as you shape the future.
 - Understand the top challenges and practical ideas to manage these better.
 - Learn engagement techniques to drive understanding and learning.
 - Hear the latest thought leadership from across the industry

Free Webinar: Enabling your business to deliver workforce agility with Anaplan

Hosted 27th January 2022

The ability to attract and retain qualified talent remains a top concern for most business leaders and executives, but these challenges have been compounded by the pandemic, causing shifts in the workplace, people moving between and out of jobs, and rising salaries and wages.

Join our webinar to discover the best way to eliminate siloed planning and foster real-time collaboration across your business functions. Phil Anderson and Anaplan Vice President, HR Practice Rupert Bader will discuss how you can:  

 - Save time and costs by eliminating cumbersome spreadsheets
 - Bring transparency to your workforce and manage key metrics for talent costs
 - Create a comprehensive, up-to-date digital model of your organisation to streamline workforce planning and increase business impact and resilience
 - Drive engagement and collaboration on talent and budget decisions that are aligned with business strategy and priorities

Talent continues to be one of the biggest risks and costs to many organisations today, with all eyes on HR to effectively utilise data to ensure the workforce aligns with objectives for business growth and success. HR and workforce planning must become dynamic, continuous, and an extension of strategic, operational, and financial plans.

Free Webinar The Changing Interdependencies within Contact Centre Stakeholders with NICE Systems

Hosted 3rd February 2022

Customer + Colleague + Corporate - The Changing Interdependencies within Contact Centre Stakeholders

Customer + Colleague + Corporate: Over time, each of these constituent parts of the contact centre ecosystem have traded focus. We are now in an age where colleagues and staff are seen as the key component to success. The "Great Resignation" is being driven by a highly competitive job market, with organisations competing for staff. What can contact centre managers to do combat this?

 - Drive up employee engagement
 - Offer effective development plans for staff
 - Understand and map out the Employee Journey
 - New definition of Hybrid Working
 - What role does WFM play?

Free Webinar: Agent Mental Health: How Behavioural Data Science Can Improve Wellbeing in partnership with Sabio

Hosted on 10th February 2022

Phil Anderson, Director at The Forum will be joined by Scott Budding from Sabio and Phoebe Asquith of People Matter to discuss the importance of monitoring and supporting the mental health of contact centre agents.

This session will focus on how psycho-social research has presented new ways for us to surface tailored insights and understand root causes of poor mental health. 

Free Webinar: How NatWest has transformed contact centre productivity & adherence whilst improving colleague engagement at scale with QStory

8th March 2022, 12pm

NatWest has been live with QStory, the pioneers of intraday automation for 12 months. The initial roll out was to 2,500 agents in Customer Contact. Other departments rapidly came on board, taking the total deployment to 4,000 agents.
 
Hear how this implementation has helped to;
 - Deliver the NatWest colleague agenda and associated cultural change
 - Enable the reinvestment of time back into agent professional development and engagement
 - Transform productivity and schedule adherence

Free Webinar: Winning Employee Engagement In Times Of Uncertainty! with Centrical

Watch at your own pace

We are operating in very stressful and uncertain times. State of turmoil, the cost of living keeps rising and companies are under pressure as the economy is in turmoil.
How are these issues affecting employees?  Companies continue to hear discontent as employees struggle -- feeling underpaid, undervalued, over-worked, and stressed.
And even with all this uncertainty, companies are still struggling with attracting and retaining quality employees. Therefore, we need to focus on the employee experience more than ever.

Free Webinar:Can Contact Centres ever become an employer of choice? in partnership with QStory

Watch at your own pace

Dave Vernon, Director at The Forum is joined by Nerys Corfield, Injection Consulting & Rhea Hall-Spencer, QStory for a lively and informative chat about why contact centres are failing their agents.
 
Staff turnover in contact centres is up to double the national average. Their reputation for being inflexible and unrewarding places to work not only has an impact on recruitment and retention but also on customers. Companies need to create environments where agents can thrive, and they need to do it now.
 
We will discuss how a focus on engagement, enablement and empowerment of agents, supported by technology can be a game-changer for your business.

Free Webinar: More than the Great Resignation in partnership with Davies

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The continued challenge of recruitment and retention is nothing new for the contact centre industry, with increasing levels of staff turnover and the challenge of retaining knowledge. The potential impact on costs, service and customer experience are clear – but what are the underlying reasons for this and what should organisations be doing to tackle this problem head on?
 
A broad range of initiatives are being adopted, some of which previously may have been restricted to start-up and high-tech organisations. Unfortunately, there isn’t a “one size fits all” silver bullet and the broadening chase for talent means that a range of dimensions needs to be continually reviewed and addressed.

Join Philip Michell, Consulting Director at Davies on the 08 September for The Forum’s webinar, as he reveals insights into the issues and explores the underlying reasons why the “Great Resignation” is impacting contact centre teams disproportionately, and what employers should be doing to address these reasons to return to stability.

Free Webinar: Learning from the 2022 Finalists

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Learning from others is at the centre of our ethos. Each year our members share their stories across Planning, Insight, Quality, Knowledge Management, Partnership and Innovation. Learning how other approach challenges along with the solution they choose, as well as don’t choose helps us to make better decision and less mistakes. This webinar will:
 - Showcase the winners from the 2022 Awards and identify key trends and challenges
 - Help you to become more effective in your role
 - Learn how to access over 100 inspiring case studies

Free Webinar: Sickness, Presenteeism and Shrinkage

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Wouldn’t it be great if we all understood Shrinkage! The 3A’s of Absence, Attrition and Annual Leave will remain problems until we truly understand these and learn how be manage and plan more effectively. In addition, we now have Presenteeism to add another layer of complexity. Fortunately, this webinar will:
 - Explain and define these commonly used terms to gain a shared understanding
 - Introduce the Shrinkage Wheel to effectively benchmark and deepen understanding
 - Become more confident in setting and describing these key assumptions

Free Webinar: Budgeting

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How to create an enjoyable budget process in 3 easy steps! It may take a few extra steps, however we need to start working towards an ongoing, collaborative budget cycle which drive accountability and shared responsibility. This webinar will:
 - Look at different approaches to budget and how these can be used to gain different perspectives
 - Focus on what matters and understand the difference between diagnostic measures and targets
 - Create a “Best-in-class” budget process which is enjoyable!

Free Webinar: Focus on what matters most

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The true success of any metric lies in the behaviour that it drives, so choose wisely what you report or target, and build a strong foundation of diagnostic measures first. Great performance doesn’t happen by chance. This webinar will:
 - Help you to understand how a metric can serve many purposes
 - How you move away from average and understand variability and change
 - Learn to influence and drive better decisions

Free Webinar: Outsourcing

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What are the key ingredients for a Outsource partnership? This webinar will explore the advantages of working with a strategic partner to support and help you realise your goals.
 - Hear how you can stay in control and drive even better results
 - Learn best practice principles to build a great partnership
 - Gain valuable insight into the advantages of outsourcing

Free Webinar: 2023 Best Practice Programme

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On the 31st January The Forum will be launching our 2023 best practice programme, which includes: virtual networking, learning from our award finalists, our customer strategy & planning conference, along with the community connection conference later in the year.

For those who follow The Forum, you will know that each year we reframe our thinking with an annual theme.

This year’s theme is designed to frame our thinking around the importance of numbers, people and relationships. When these come together, we are energised to drive action, bring the best out on each other and have the courage to innovate and improve. We are only as strong as the weakest link, fortunately almost 25-years of raising standards means our collective strength and health has never been better.

Join us for another year of improving, growing as a person and professional feel the value of the community.

Free Webinar in partnership with NICE: KPIs and how they drive the narrative of performance

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In this session we will look at the relationship between KPIs and how they are influenced by the context that they are measured in. Join Graeme Gabriel, WFO Solutions Consultant from NICE and Phil Anderson Director at The Forum for a lively and interesting discussion touching on;

- KPI Interdependence
- OKR to KPI
- Context is everything
- KPI Matrix

Free Webinar: Strength in Numbers – Best practice for your planning function! in partnership with CCMA Ireland

4th May 2023, 12pm

Join Phil Anderson and Dave Vernon, Directors at The Forum for a lively discussion about:-
 - Preference and choice, an introduction to our 8 key considerations for a workforce strategy
 - Forecasting and shaping the future, how to create a strategy which offers the flexibility and agility to respond to changes, known and unknown.
 - The value of shrinkage and the power of playbooks – how to be more forward thinking and engage with your stakeholders.

Learning from the 2023 Awards

Watch at your own pace

The Forum is always looking for new and inspirational examples of organisations, teams and people raising standards and this year’s awards again demonstrated best-in-class examples of organisation innovation & transformation. This webinar will help you to learn more about the awards programme, including how to access the 68-short-listed finalists stories and hearing from the judges who supported the programme. As a learning organisation our responsibility is to make learning easy for you, and these award case studies provide practical ideas and solutions alongside their inspiring stories.
 
The 2024 Awards submission is open now, so why not get involved? Hear from this years participants on what it is like to be a finalist and what is involved in the process, alongside hearing what its like to be a judge.

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