Calabrio has announced that Ascensos, a contact center operator, is employing Calabrio ONE to manage the scheduling of 2,500 agents across seven locations in the UK, Romania, Turkey, and South Africa. By implementing Calabrio's automated workforce management (WFM) technology, Ascensos has improved resource planning efficiency, leading to substantial time savings of 375 hours per week.
Founded a decade ago, Ascensos, has experienced remarkable growth and emerged as a prominent European contact center outsourcing provider for consumer retail. Handling around 170,000 customer interactions per week, the majority of these interactions are through voice channels (59%), followed by email (20%), live chat (10%), social media (10%), and WhatsApp (1%).
As its workforce expanded, Ascensos opted for Calabrio ONE due to its user-friendly interface, scalability, and ability to automate time-consuming manual processes.
“Along with increased operational efficiencies, we have noticed dramatic improvements to employee engagement thanks to the flexibility of the Calabrio ONE solution. Recent feedback from staff reveals how having a 12-month forward view of schedules is ‘brilliant’. Using self-scheduling, agents can easily create their ideal work-life balance, booking a long weekend away or swapping shifts with a colleague instantly. Meanwhile, automatic notifications for opportunities such as overtime give everyone a level playing field that is transparent and fair,” said Paul Pearson, Head of Resource Planning at Ascensos.
Using Calabrio's self-service app, agents at Ascensos schedule 4,700 breaks and submit 1,100-holiday requests every week. On the other hand, team managers leverage the WFM software to organize 1,700 offline activities such as meetings, one-on-one sessions, and 'return to work' coaching sessions. These offline activities are crucial for supporting employees who have taken parental leave or a career break, ensuring a smooth transition back to work. The use of Calabrio's tools has significantly streamlined the process of managing breaks, holidays, and various offline activities, making scheduling and coordination more efficient for both agents and managers.
“For outsourcers, like Ascensos, with multiple clients and client Service Level Agreements (SLAs), robust, flexible workforce solutions are an absolute must-have. Our true-cloud technology is designed to tackle the major challenges that contact centers face today, including the rising demand for multi-channel service and hybrid working models. Meanwhile, our collaborative approach to working with partners guarantees that Ascensos will always benefit from the latest technological innovations that flex as their business grows,” said Dave Orstad, SVP of Professional Services and Support at Calabrio.
The implementation of Calabrio WFM at Ascensos has led to a significant transformation in resource planning efficiency. Prior to using the WFM software, most scheduling and forecasting tasks were done manually. With the introduction of automation, the company now saves 375 hours per week, which is equivalent to having 13 additional full-time employees.
