Losing your best agents too often?
Manual scheduling and outdated tools often lead to agent burnout. This makes it impossible to keep your people or control operational costs effectively.
The real problem is when you can’t align schedules with demand. This chaos directly hurts your customer satisfaction scores and your bottom line.
According to the US Bureau of Labor, employees waste an average of 4.5 hours weekly due to inefficiencies. This lost time adds up, driving costs and attrition.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of best contact management software helpful for improving customer relations.
But the right software helps you tackle these inefficiencies head-on. It automates scheduling and provides insights to boost agent performance and morale.
In this guide, I’m going to review the best workforce optimization software that helps you curb attrition and cut unnecessary operational expenses.
You’ll discover tools that provide actionable insights, streamline scheduling, and help you allocate resources more efficiently, keeping your team productive.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NiCE → | Contact center managers | |
| 2 | Verint → | Insurance & enterprise teams | |
| 3 | Calabrio → | Contact center operations | |
| 4 | Genesys → | Mid to large enterprises | |
| 5 | UKG → | Growing enterprises |
1. NiCE
Struggling with fragmented systems and manual workforce adjustments?
NiCE CXone offers AI-powered experiences to simplify your operations, connecting every workflow, agent, and answer seamlessly.
This means you can optimize every workflow so customers get what they need, and your teams stay a step ahead, enhancing efficiency and profitability.
Here’s how NiCE helps.
NiCE provides a unified platform where every team, workflow, and touchpoint connects, offering one seamless experience.
You can empower your agents in real-time with instant guidance and knowledge, so they handle anything with confidence, and build automation that drives real results.
Additionally, NiCE’s AI platform allows you to simplify your tech stack and scale AI-powered customer experiences without complexity, delivering global reach with local precision for experiences that resonate.
The result is smarter, more efficient, and more loved customer service.
While we’re discussing optimizing workflows for customer experiences, understanding how marketing analytics tools can boost ROI is also beneficial.
Key features:
- AI-powered experiences: Create no-code AI agents instantly, built on your data, for deployment across all customer touchpoints.
- Workforce engagement management: Elevate employees and adapt to flexible work environments while ensuring customer expectations are consistently met.
- Automated agent notetaking: Instantly summarize customer interactions, accelerating resolution times and improving agent efficiency.
NiCE features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: NiCE’s robust AI-powered platform makes it a top contender for the best workforce optimization software, especially for contact center operations managers. Its ability to automate agent tasks and unify workflows can significantly reduce operational costs and improve customer satisfaction, demonstrated by a 75% increase in customer satisfaction for Toyota Group.
2. Verint
Struggling to optimize your contact center operations?
Verint offers an open, cloud-native platform designed to increase CX automation. This means you can significantly lower costs while elevating the customer experience.
Here’s how Verint directly addresses challenges like outdated scheduling and manual adjustments, helping your team achieve AI business outcomes, now.
Transition from experiments to proven results.
Verint’s AI-powered solutions, like the Agent Copilot, dramatically increase agent capacity by providing real-time guidance and knowledge. This helps you boost productivity and reduce the need for constant manual oversight.
The platform includes robust forecasting and scheduling tools, accurately predicting demand across channels so you can schedule the right employees for the right tasks at the right time. Additionally, features like Quality Bot automate performance evaluations, which saves immense time, as demonstrated by Fiserv, who went from evaluating 1% of calls to 96% with the bot.
Plus, the Coaching Bot creates positive outcomes for your customers by providing employees with the answers and guidance they need precisely when they need it.
While optimizing operations, don’t overlook quality. My guide on CAPA systems for quality offers a comprehensive approach.
Key features:
- AI-powered automation: Increase agent capacity and self-service rates with intelligent virtual assistants and Agent Copilot, leading to significant cost savings.
- Precise workforce forecasting: Accurately predict demand across all channels and efficiently schedule your workforce for optimal coverage and productivity.
- Automated quality and coaching: Ensure consistent high-quality interactions and improve agent performance with automated evaluations and real-time coaching bots.
Verint features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Verint stands out as a top contender for best workforce optimization software by delivering immediate AI business outcomes. With capabilities like TimeFlex Bot reducing attrition by 30% for insurers and its Quality Bot automating evaluations that would otherwise require 1200 employees, Verint empowers your team to lower costs and elevate customer experience.
3. Calabrio
Struggling with outdated scheduling and fragmented systems?
Calabrio ONE is a unified, cloud-based platform for workforce optimization that addresses these pain points.
This means you can say goodbye to manual adjustments and limited real-time tracking, because Calabrio provides a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools to accelerate performance and elevate experiences.
Here’s how to modernize your workforce management.
Calabrio ONE empowers your contact center to deliver seamless, hyper-personalized experiences, helping you meet demand with maximum efficiency.
It features highly agile, scalable workforce management software with capabilities like forecasting and scheduling, real-time adherence, and self-scheduling for greater agent influence. You can accurately forecast and streamline scheduling with AI, detecting and correcting problems immediately.
Additionally, with conversation intelligence solutions like Quality Management, Interaction Analytics, and Bot Analytics, you can unlock the deep value of your voice-of-customer data. This helps you identify pain points and opportunities, building better brand experiences and boosting chatbot performance for your customers.
The result: empowered agents and maximized coaching impact.
Key features:
- Unified cloud platform: Calabrio ONE integrates workforce optimization, agent engagement, and AI-fueled business intelligence into one cohesive suite.
- AI-powered workforce management: Benefit from accurate forecasting, streamlined scheduling, real-time adherence, and agent self-scheduling tools enhanced by AI.
- Comprehensive conversation intelligence: Gain actionable customer insights through quality management, interaction analytics, and bot analytics across all communication channels.
Calabrio features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Calabrio offers a robust, cloud-based solution that makes it an excellent choice for the best workforce optimization software, especially for contact center operations managers. Its AI-driven forecasting and scheduling, combined with comprehensive analytics, directly address the challenges of attrition and cost reduction, helping you achieve more efficient resource allocation.
4. Genesys
Struggling with fragmented workforce management tools?
Genesys Cloud EX delivers a standalone Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solution, driving efficiency.
It helps you unlock employee potential with built-in AI, simplifying management and driving impact and retention. You can really cut down on staff turnover.
How can you boost employee productivity?
Genesys addresses these challenges head-on with AI and automation, helping you realize value faster. This means purpose-built AI that’s easy to deploy and optimize.
You can optimize with intelligent automation and embedded AI, delivering value from day one. Additionally, its workforce engagement management capabilities simplify management, directly addressing attrition by boosting employee potential and retention. This also connects data silos to orchestrate end-to-end customer and employee experiences, improving customer satisfaction scores while reducing operational costs.
Elevate your team’s performance today.
If you’re also exploring solutions for cloud infrastructure, my guide on best cloud management software might be useful.
Key features:
- AI-Powered Experience Orchestration: Delivers personalized experiences at scale with comprehensive contact center solutions, streamlining customer journeys and boosting loyalty.
- Workforce Engagement Management (WEM): A standalone solution that unlocks employee potential through built-in AI, simplifying management and driving retention and impact.
- Cloud Architecture & Open Platform: Innovate continuously and scale globally, allowing you to build any customer experience while integrating seamlessly with existing systems.
Genesys features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Genesys stands out as a strong contender for the best workforce optimization software, offering AI-powered tools that directly tackle attrition and cost challenges. With its robust WEM capabilities, proven integrations, and customer success stories like the City of Clearwater reducing staff turnover from 40% to zero, it clearly supports desired outcomes of reduced operational costs and improved employee retention.
5. UKG
Struggling with outdated workforce management tools?
You’re not alone; many operations managers face similar issues with fragmented systems. UKG helps you drive great workplace experiences by automating administrative and HR tasks.
This means your teams spend more time with customers and less on manual adjustments, ultimately streamlining workforce management and human capital management. Imagine cutting PBJ reporting time by 99%.
Ready for a better way?
UKG offers comprehensive HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions, inspiring your people to grow and thrive. This helps you transform complex processes into intuitive actions, automating tasks and providing actionable performance insights.
You’ll discover how timely insights help your managers and HR leaders turn data into action, improving productivity while reducing operational costs. The Dallas YMCA saved over 600 hours annually by leveraging UKG’s AI-first suite, enabling efficient resource allocation. UKG is built to guide and empower your growing organization, whether you are a small business or an enterprise.
A brighter workplace is yours to create.
Key features:
- AI-powered solutions: Leverage decades of data to provide a culture-driven, AI-guided Human Capital Management (HCM) solution that puts your people first.
- Comprehensive suites: Streamline HR, payroll, talent, and time management in a single intuitive solution designed to scale and meet all your employee needs.
- Actionable insights: Turn workforce intelligence data into impactful actions, helping managers and HR leaders improve efficiency and decision-making.
UKG features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: If you’re looking to reduce agent attrition through personalized coaching and minimize operational costs through efficient resource allocation, UKG stands out as a best workforce optimization software. Its AI-driven capabilities and proven customer success, like the Dallas YMCA saving over 600 hours annually, make it a powerful choice for your organization.
6. Five9
Are manual adjustments and fragmented systems holding you back?
Five9 offers an Intelligent CX Platform with workforce engagement capabilities. This helps you move beyond outdated scheduling tools.
You gain advanced orchestration across the entire customer journey, meaning your team gets insights for proactive, personalized customer experiences. This allows your contact center to be reimagined.
What if you could simplify operations?
Five9 leverages AI & Automation, including AI Agents and AI Agent Assist, to empower your remote workforce. This means you can handle routine inquiries efficiently while freeing up live agents for complex, loyalty-building interactions. The platform provides engagement workflow and integrates with your existing CRM systems, ensuring a unified view. Additionally, it offers comprehensive reporting and analytics to track performance and optimize resource allocation, ultimately drive growth through seamless customer care.
The result: lower operational costs and happier customers.
While we’re discussing optimizing operations, you might also be interested in my guide on best janitor software for facility management.
Key features:
- AI & Automation: Empowers agents with AI Agent Assist and handles routine inquiries with AI Agents, ensuring efficient and personalized customer interactions.
- Workforce Engagement Management: Provides tools for quality management, workforce management, and performance management to optimize agent productivity and satisfaction.
- Intelligent CX Platform: Delivers advanced orchestration across the customer journey with robust CRM integrations and a secure, scalable cloud environment.
Five9 features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Five9 stands out as a strong contender for best workforce optimization software, especially for contact centers. Its AI-driven solutions, like those that helped Exact Sciences cut patient scheduling time by 60%, address critical pain points by boosting efficiency, empowering agents, and providing actionable insights for improved customer satisfaction.
7. Playvox
Struggling with outdated workforce management tools?
Playvox simplifies workforce management and enhances agent satisfaction, offering solutions that streamline operations.
Their Workforce Management (WFM) and Quality Management (QM) tools help you set exceptional service standards, moving beyond fragmented systems. This means more precise staffing and higher quality interactions.
Here’s how to transform contact center operations.
Playvox integrates AI-infused solutions for real-time forecasting and insights, crucial for modernizing your workforce management. This combination delivers benefits like a 10X reduction in forecasting and scheduling complexity.
You can forecast staffing precisely without sacrificing service levels, thanks to smarter, simpler forecasting, scheduling, and reporting. Plus, Playvox leverages AI to simplify scoring and automate coaching feedback, creating stronger customer experiences.
Additionally, Playvox helps you track the KPIs that matter most, ensuring you meet customer needs and financial goals. You can easily infuse AI into the scoring and feedback process to surface problems quickly and take the right action faster, making it easier to manage remote teams too.
The result is exceptional experiences for your customers.
Key features:
- AI-Infused Forecasting & Scheduling: Delivers real-time insights for precise staffing, reducing complexity and ensuring optimal service levels for your contact center.
- Quality Management & Automated Coaching: Simplifies scoring and automates feedback using AI, allowing you to quickly identify issues and enhance agent performance.
- Deep Integrations with CRM: Seamlessly connects with platforms like Salesforce and Zendesk, embedding forecasting and experience insights directly into your agents’ familiar consoles.
Playvox features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Playvox stands out as the best workforce optimization software for contact center operations, leveraging AI and seamless CRM integrations to deliver tangible benefits like 1M saved in annual costs and a 20% improvement in CSAT scores, addressing your core pain points of cost and customer satisfaction.
8. Alvaria
Struggling with outdated workforce management tools?
Alvaria offers a full-stack contact center platform with best-of-breed compliance and omni-channel campaign management. This means you can integrate it into your existing AI and voice solutions.
You’ll find it easier to manage demanding enterprise requirements, ensuring your operations are not just efficient but also adhere to critical regulations like TCPA.
The future contact center is here.
Alvaria empowers you with its Intelligence Platform™ to reach the right customers at the right time, through the right channel. This ensures you can scale effectively without hiring more staff.
For example, a government collections unit boosted outbound calls by 85% and RPCs by 61% using their predictive analytics solution and campaign management tools. Additionally, their easy-to-use graphical application builder reduces campaign build times from over an hour to just 10 minutes. This platform also helps improve agent productivity by over 50%.
With Alvaria, you can ensure the right integrations, automations, security posture, and data access.
Your contact center deserves the best.
Key features:
- Compliance and AI Orchestration: Integrates leading compliance and AI solutions for robust omni-channel campaign management and adherence to regulations.
- Full-Stack Contact Center Platform: Provides a comprehensive, end-to-end solution designed to meet demanding enterprise requirements for your operations.
- Predictive Analytics & Campaign Management: Boosts outbound calls and Right Party Contacts (RPCs) while significantly improving agent productivity and efficiency.
Alvaria features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Alvaria stands out as a strong contender for the best workforce optimization software, especially for contact center operations managers aiming to reduce attrition and cut costs. Its focus on compliance, AI orchestration, and proven results in improving agent productivity and campaign efficiency makes it a reliable choice for organizations seeking to modernize their workforce management.
Conclusion
Losing good agents is expensive.
Manual scheduling and outdated tools lead to agent burnout and high turnover. This constant churn directly impacts your operational costs and overall customer satisfaction.
HDInResearch reports that workforce optimization software reduces time waste through automation and predictive analytics. This directly curbs attrition-related costs, letting you reinvest that saved money back into your team.
Here is what I recommend.
From my personal experience, NiCE stands out. Its AI-powered platform tackles these inefficiencies head-on, which is why it’s my top choice.
Its success with Toyota Group, boosting customer satisfaction by a massive 75%, shows its power. It is truly the best workforce optimization software for unifying your entire operation.
I highly suggest you book a free demo of NiCE to see exactly how it can transform your contact center operations.
Your team’s efficiency will skyrocket.
