Member Resources & Library

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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: A culture is only as strong as its weakest leadership from Rising Vibe

Watch at your own pace

Your organisation is passionate and committed to creating a high performing culture. You invest in your people, and focus on leadership development to grow both the business and nurture your talent. BUT. All it takes is one leader who is not role modelling, leading by example or walking the walk to blow it up. Unfortunately we are hard-wired to scan for danger and look for threat on a ratio of 5:1. In simple terms this means it takes 5 effective leadership interactions to negate the impact of just one ‘weak’ leadership interaction. 

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 – 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: 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.

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: 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: 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: 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 - 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
 

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