A differentiated customer experience (CX) is at the heart of service delivery in the contact center industry. Businesses are acknowledging that one of the best ways to achieve this ideal end state is to create an engaged and happy workforce. This has resulted in a surge in the demand for performance management (PM) solutions that can help agents better serve customers, increase customer satisfaction, and enhance brand loyalty.

Frost & Sullivan's unique thought leadership paper, Performance Management for Everyone, examines the impact of PM and workforce management (WFM) applications on contact center management. The brief analyzes the gains for enterprises in terms of CX and employee experiences (EX) and recommends plans of action. Performance management is no longer just a tool for medium to large enterprises and can bring a higher level of contact center optimization to organizations of all sizes with a quick return on investment.

To download the complimentary brief, please visit: http://frost.com/performancemanagement

"When PM is at the core of the contact center, advanced analytics that improves outcomes is no longer optional," explained Nancy Jamison, ICT Industry Director at Frost & Sullivan. "It allows companies to release clear, relevant data to executives, managers, and front-line teams in ways that reflect current conditions as well as help them shape the future. Modern PM tools not only offer visibility into the customer journey, but also provide the metrics and real-time insights needed to course correct, fix performance targets, and achieve those targets."

Ric Kosiba, Chief Data Scientist at Sharpen Technologies, added, "Contact centers of all sizes are embracing both PM and WFM solutions because of the benefits they bring. These applications eliminate manual processes and take the guesswork out of 'managing.' They also address a core challenge of workforce engagement and improving EX. For instance, powerful game-like attributes embedded in affordable PM solutions such as performance tiles provide immediate feedback to agents on how they measure against themselves and others, incentivizing them to improve."

The new processes enabled by PM are an improvement on the traditional "action to reporting" workflow as PM makes it easier for contact center agents to convert insights into improved action. To achieve higher uptake among contact center organizations, PM vendors have been adopting diverse strategies, such as:

• Educating potential customers on the affordability of their solutions.
• Demonstrating how performance management is a key component of workforce engagement strategies.
• Providing easy proof of concepts that show a quick return on investment.
• Offering full-featured PM solutions for organizations across the spectrum.