What is Workload Management?

In contact centers, workload management is the process of allocating, monitoring and reporting on inbound and outbound customer contacts (phone calls, emails, etc.) and any peripheral work done in support of those contacts.

Workload management is closely related to workforce management. In fact, workforce management teams typically forecast expected workloads, also known as contact volumes, and calculate overall staffing needs as well as agent schedules designed to handle workloads effectively and efficiently.

Beyond forecasting and scheduling, workload management also involves making sure the right contacts are going to the right agents, and that individual agent teams aren't being overwhelmed. Techniques like skills-based routing can be used for the former. And when agent teams have too much work in the pipeline, additional agents can be temporarily assigned to help them out.

Workload management practices in contact centers require close monitoring and creative, proactive solutions. Contact centers that don't manage their workloads risk inefficient labor use, agent burnout, and degradation of the customer experience.

How NICE can help

NICE CXone is the market leading contact center software in use by thousands of customers of all sizes around the world. Our solutions are designed to help optimize workload management. CXone is a cloud native, unified suite of applications designed to help a company holistically run its contact (or call) center operations. CXone includes:

Omnichannel Routing – routing and interaction management. These solutions include an automatic call distributor (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), interaction channel support and proactive outbound dialer.

Workforce Optimization – unlocks the potential of your team. These solutions include workforce management (WFM), quality management (QM), recording and performance management (PM).

Analytics – turns insights into results by making data relevant, easy to consume and actionable. These solutions include interaction analytics, customer surveys, reporting and performance management.

CXone also includes pre-defined CRM integrations and UCaaS integrations with most leading solutions on the market. These integrations provide a holistic contact center software solution capable of elevating customer experiences for companies of all sizes.