Telco Spark selects Calabrio’s cloud-based WFM solution

Customer experience intelligence company Calabrio has been chosen by Spark, New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company, to supply a cloud-based workforce management (WFM) solution.

The move is part of Spark’s Unified Front Line initiative where employees are cross-skilled across multiple customer touchpoints, with resources flowed to contact centres, retail stores and at-home customer visits as demand requires.

The Calabrio WFM, with embedded Data Explorer reporting, replaces an on-premises platform and will manage the workload of frontline staff to accommodate peaks and troughs in customer demand across omni-channel touchpoints including voice, digital and in-person. 

The Calabrio ONE platform covers some 1,500 Spark employees in more than 80 locations. Calabrio’s self-service mobile app, MyTime, will provide advanced employee engagement options – including shift preferences, shift swap and holiday/leave requests. This gives staff more control of their work/life balance. WFM reporting capabilities will also provide team leaders with up-to-the-minute key performance metrics, providing real-time visibility of the workforce.

Importance of rethinking WFM when replacing or upgrading

“The Unified Front Line (UFL) is a new way of working at Spark, based on simplification, mobility and flexibility,” says Daniel Cooper, Digital Lead – Consumer Channels, Spark.

“Using Calabrio workforce engagement management (WEM) software enables powerful multi-channel agility to meet customer demand. Investing in the right tools is an important part of improving both the customer journey and the employee experience.”

Peter Farnsworth, Regional Director – APAC, Calabrio added that companies should resist the temptation to simply replicate processes that “worked yesterday not what is best for tomorrow, or even today” when replacing or upgrading their WFM.

Calabrio’s scalable cloud platform allows for quick deployment of remote work models – giving customers control over operating costs and customer satisfaction levels.