\n"Workforce management is a very mature market with forecast and scheduling tools..." said Jim Davies, principal analyst with Gartner. "It\'s the same for quality monitoring... workforce optimization is bringing those together with other components." WFO suites allow businesses to optimize the performance of employees, technology and underlying business processes in a single, unified system. As the popularity of WFO suites increases, the call center market consolidates, with call center vendors coming together to provide best-of-breed WFO offerings.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'True or False? ...When building a business case for WFO, many companies focus on how WFO will reduce agent recruitment costs, training costs and head count.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'True', 'False' ], answer : 0, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nAccording to Richard Snow, Vice President and Research Director at Ventana Research, most organizations structure their business case for WFO around how the technology will save them money in the long run by reducing agent recruitment and training costs and decreasing the overall agent head count. Since WFO suites typically reduce call center agent turnover, organizations often see a reduction in the amount of money spent on recruiting and training new agents. And since WFO increases call center agent utilization by matching the number of agents needed more closely with demand, the overall cost associated with having agents available is likely to go down as well.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'Verint Systems acquired ____ in 2007, putting the combined company atop the WFO technology market.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'etalk', 'Witness Systems', 'NICE Systems', 'Oracle' ], answer : 1, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nVerint Systems acquired Witness Systems in early 2007, bringing together Verint\'s business intelligence and speech and data analytics technology with Witness\' WFO technology. According to Donna Fluss, founder of DMG Consulting, the acquisition put the combined companies on par with then-market leader Aspect Communications, narrowing the competition at the top of the WFO market.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'WFO suites can be useful for:', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'Small businesses', 'Midmarket companies', 'Larger enterprises', 'All of the above' ], answer : 3, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nSmall businesses, midmarket companies and large enterprises can all reap the benefits of a fully-unified WFO suite. In the past, many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) opted for individual WFO tools, implementing them based on need, but as WFO gains in popularity, many vendors are coming out with products that work for SMBs as well as larger enterprises. For example, Interactive Intelligence\'s Interaction Optimizer call center product now comes equipped with workforce optimization functionality that is well-suited for SMBs.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'Complete WFO suites include these eight modules: recording, quality assurance, WFM, coaching, surveying, performance management, eLearning and ____.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'Text analytics', 'Sales forecasting', 'Speech analytics', 'Online chat' ], answer : 2, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nA WFO suite is made up of eight functional modules: recording, quality assurance, WFM, coaching, eLearning, surveying, performance management and speech analytics. According to Fluss, recording and quality assurance are the core modules of a WFO suite, with the other six modules offering advanced functionality. These additional modules are playing a large role in the emergence of WFO suites in the enterprise. Speech analytics, performance management and surveying applications are becoming increasingly popular with call center managers and enterprise executives as they look to cut costs, enhance productivity and improve the customer experience.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'According to experts, which of the following is not a benefit of implementing a WFO suite?', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'Better customer service', 'Increased up-selling and cross-selling', 'Lower costs for agent recruitment and training', 'All of the above' ], answer : 1, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nA WFO suite can provide an enterprise with a variety of benefits, some of them immediate. According to Snow, better customer service, reduced personnel costs, faster reaction to changes and increased acceptance from unions are just some of the immediate benefits of WFO. After Asurion Corp. deployed WFO, they immediately recognized some major advantages to having a unified WFO system. "Having a common database where -- when you enter an employee once and it\'s in the quality, reporting, workforce and e-learning systems and you only have to do it once -- is important," said Loren Dennis, director of workforce management at Asurion. "There is a huge problem in all the contact centers I\'ve ever worked in that you never have the same data."', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'True or False? ...WFO technology does not bring together call center and back office processes.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'True', 'False' ], answer : 1, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nOne of the main benefits of WFO is that it brings together an organization\'s multiple departments around common goals. WFO suites foster communication between departments that in the past had never talked to each other or considered each other\'s needs. For example, after implementing WFO, managers from the call center, human resources and workforce departments at Asurion Corp. began meeting regularly to come up with common goals, policies and practices that would help them increase customer satisfaction across the organization.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'According to a 2007 report, sales in the WFO technology market are expected to increase by __% in 2008.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ '10%', '50%', '3%', '25%' ], answer : 0, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nThe 2007 Quality Monitoring/Liability Recording Product and Marketing Report estimated the market for WFO technology in the call center at $2.3 billion in sales in 2007, and predicted it will grow another 10% in 2008. According to Fluss, the WFO market is mature, but still growing due to recent mergers and acquisitions, resulting in the consolidation of the WFO market. The market\'s growth is also due to demand from a sizeable midmarket, which, according to Fluss, was underestimated by many analysts and industry observers.', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'The global market for WFO includes more than __ competitors.', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ '100', '15', '75', '45' ], answer : 3, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\nAccording to Fluss, the global market for WFO now includes over 45 competitors. Verint and NICE Systems are the current market leaders, but other vendors are remaining competitive by producing differentiated WFO products designed for a variety of call center sizes and types. "By the end of 2007, the overall WFO market had reached $2,389 million in revenue, and growth has continued in 2008 despite the economic slowdown," said Fluss. "With $982 million of revenue directly attributable to call centers, this remains one of the fastest-growing technology sectors."', moreInfo : '' }, { text : 'The WFO market is changing primarily due to:', img : 'http://media.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/spacer.gif', responses : [ 'Vendor consolidation', 'Innovation', 'Globalization', 'All of the above' ], answer : 3, score : 1, expandedAnswer : '
\n"The WFO competitive landscape continues to change," said Fluss. "Driven by industry consolidation, ongoing globalization, new entrants and innovation." The call center market consolidation is a testament to the value of WFO. Call center suite vendors are looking to buy best-of-breed systems, knowing that in the future, more and more customers are going to want the unified approach WFO provides. According to Davies, the consolidation is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.', moreInfo : '' } ] };