Forecasting: Embrace the Unpredictable

Effective contact centre forecasting is often about eliminating uncertainty but it doesn’t have to be; it can be about deliberately planning for it. By viewing demand as a probability rather than a promise, you have the option to transform ‘residual noise’ from a source of failure into a strategic buffer that stabilises your operations.

Webinar: The Manager's New Toolkit: Closing the Action Gap in the AI Era in Partnership with Centrical

Frontline managers have never had more performance data, and never had less time to act on it. Signals are scattered across QA, WFM, LMS, CRM, and a growing stack of dashboards. Now AI agents are joining the workforce as a new layer to oversee, and the gap between performance insight and performance change is widening fast.

This is the action gap. Closing it is the defining challenge facing frontline leaders this year.

Join Ian Chappell, Director of Consulting, EMEA at Centrical, for a practical follow-up to The Forum's Best Practice Showcase. Ian opens with a look at why most platforms are widening the gap rather than closing it, then previews three Centrical capabilities built for the manager's job in a hybrid human-AI workforce.

Partnerships

Technology is the key enabler for success in our industry and it is key that relationships between end users and technology providers continue to improve, so raising standards in customer operations. 
NCFE x SVL were totally aligned in the requirements from a new CCaaS implementation and how this delivered a seamless journey to delivery of a truly omni channel platform. 
NatWest wanted to offer more than just the minimum for their vulnerable customers, so worked with National Support Network to offer trusted support that went beyond just banking.

Awards Panel Discussion

Hear best practice from a panel of individual and team award winners across Planning, Insight and Learning/Knowledge. Featuring SSCL, LNER, OVO Energy and HGS.

Shaun Jardine, SSCL

Shaun Jardine, Planning Manager of the Year, SSCL describes how he has rebuilt the foundations of planning, introducing new techniques, tools and thinking to build trust ensuring Planning have a seat at the Leadership table

BT Group

BT Group explain how they connected governance, planning, technology, and leadership into a joined-up operating model. 

Innovation of the Year, NFU Mutual

Innovation of the Year Award winner, NFU Mutual, tell their award winning story of how they connected governance, planning, technology, and leadership into a joined-up operating model that demonstrates how to deliver strategic transformation at enterprise scale. 

Webinar: See the WFM AI Assistant in Action in partnership with Sabio

WFM AI Assistant: Real-Time Intelligence for Smarter Workforce Decisions
Spot problems early. Understand the cause. Fix them immediately.
Managing workforce performance in real time has never been more complex. Volumes spike unexpectedly, AHT drifts, shrinkage creeps up — and by the time daily reports arrive, the damage is already done. The Sabio WFM AI Assistant changes that.

The WFM AI Assistant is a platform-agnostic AI solution that draws real-time data from:
 - Contact centre platforms
 - WFO and analytics platforms
 - HR systems
 - CRM solutions

Sabio's Vendor Spotlight Series - Transform Workforce Planning with Amazon FCS

Join Sabio for a concise, insight-packed webinar on how Amazon Connect Forecasting, Capacity & Scheduling (FCS) is transforming contact-centre planning. Built on Amazon Web Services, FCS uses AI-driven forecasting, intelligent scheduling, and real-time intraday management to help organisations plan with confidence, adapt faster, and improve both service and employee experience.

Technology Showcase: Route 101

Originally Broadcast Thursday 16th October, 12:30

Join Route 101 for a dynamic session exploring how Zendesk can revolutionise back-office operations through intelligent omnichannel routing and email management.Discover how unstructured inboxes can be transformed into structured workflows, enabling smarter task planning, queue categorisation, and actionable analytics. With insights from Route 101’s systems integration experts, this showcase will highlight real-world examples and integrations - bridging the gap between back-office tasks, CCaaS, WFM and QM to unlock new efficiencies. 

Technology Showcase: National Support Network

Originally Broadcast Wednesday 15th October, 12:30

Compassion fatigue and how to help your teams to care without burning out. Every day, our colleagues are expected to show up with empathy for customers in vulnerable circumstances. But what happens when empathy itself becomes exhausting? That’s compassion fatigue. It’s not burnout - yet - but if ignored, it can take us there. Join Helen from the National Support Network in an interactive session. 

Technology Showcase: Verint

Originally Broadcast Monday 13th October, 12:30

Smarter. Faster. Stronger: How Verint Co-pilot Bots Supercharge Contact Centres. In today’s fast-paced customer experience landscape, efficiency and personalisation are no longer optional- they’re essential. Join us for an exclusive session as we reveal how Verint’s Co-pilot Bots are reshaping contact centres by automating micro-workflows, reducing average handling times, and significantly increasing agent capacity.

Opening Keynote #RaisingStandards

Originally Broadcast Monday 13th October, 10:30

Reset, Redefine & Raise Standards
This keynote launches the week by challenging us to turn intent into action. Explore how learning, reflection and ownership drive personal growth and organisational progress. Discover how tools like the Learning Tracker, Reflective Method, and the Learning Pyramid support continuous improvement. We'll explore how to break out of firefighting, align strategy with daily action, and shift from “being busy” to “making a difference”. It's time to reset habits, redefine success, and commit to doing things differently. Because done will always beat intended.

Bad Habits That Kill Your WFM Strategy

Workforce management has evolved far beyond simple schedule creation.

Modern WFM strategies must balance complex variables including customer expectations, agent wellbeing, operational costs, and regulatory compliance whilst adapting to increasingly volatile demand patterns. Yet despite significant investments in sophisticated forecasting tools and analytics platforms, many contact centres continue to struggle with fundamental execution.

The Evolution of Planning

Some things will always matter. Businesses will always need to balance customer demand, employee needs, and business goals. Planning will still rely on data, but how that data is used will keep evolving.

Technology will continue to speed things up. AI and automation will take over more of the routine tasks, but that doesn’t mean planners will become less important.