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The disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted virtually all businesses within all industries, of all sizes, and all around the world. The impact varies across all businesses depending on their unique dynamics; however, many contact centers were caught unprepared by the pandemic’s economic fallout and continuously struggled to adapt—with many still struggling to do so. The reality is, COVID-19 is hardly the only disruption firms have faced (or will face) during their existence.

Attended Automation bots are software robots that reside on call center agent’s desktops and are designed to work collaboratively with people in real-time. These desktop bots can automate certain tasks on behalf of the agent, freeing them up and increasing their capacity to take on more complex, higher value work. They can also guide the agent in real-time with next best action advice, enabling agents to perform better and reach their KPI’s.

Great customer service hinges on having the right people in place, at the right time, with the right skills to handle customer issues. But if agents aren’t where they need to be – where they were scheduled to be – the best workforce planning processes are all for naught.

First let me tell you a little bit about St. Luke’s. St. Luke’s is the only Idaho-based, not-for-profit, community-owned, and community-led health system. St. Luke’s has eight medical centers and about 300+ clinics throughout Idaho. At St. Luke’s I work in a department called St. Luke’s Connect. Connect supports our patients with myChart support, Patient and Family relations, registration for community classes, after-hours nurse triage, appointment scheduling, and more. My job within this system is two fold. I have an IT aspect where I support the maintenance of our applications. On the Analyst side, I support the Workforce Management application, workflow development, ticket submission, and Go-Live support for new onboarding clinics.

Workforce planning has come a long way from the days when employees were recruited based on gaps in the company organization chart. Successful organizations are making workforce planning a strategic process – one that is based the business strategy of the company and supports both short-term and long-term goals.

Absenteeism is a not-insignificant challenge for the typical contact center. Unplanned absences are a constant plague, with 29% of managers naming them as their greatest challenge in workforce management.

It's tempting to put 2020 behind us and move on, but before you get out your shovel and put it in the ground, you should do some honest lessons learned about the past year and use the information to guide your 2021 contact center investments.