Working Smarter: Presented by Calabrio

In this episode, Dave Hoekstra of Calabrio sits down with Jinesh Nair, Head of Service Planning & Performance at Hargreaves Lansdown, to discuss how one of the UK’s leading financial services organizations transformed its approach to workforce planning. Jinesh shares how a 350-agent operation spanning 25 departments tackled declining schedule adherence, 43% shrinkage, and highly manual real-ti...

In this episode of Working Smarter , Dave Hoekstra speaks with Dan Eddie , Customer Services Director at Simplyhealth - loyal Calabrio customer -  about the evolution of customer service in the healthcare sector. Together, they explore Simplyhealth’s mission to improve access to healthcare in the UK, the shift from voice to digital contact channels, and how AI is being integrated to enhance the cu...

AI is saving contact centers time, but is it actually making life better for agents? In this episode of Working Smarter , Dave Hoekstra chats with Steve Morrell from ContactBabel about new research into agent burnout, the evolving role of the agent, and what really happens when productivity goes up but KPIs don’t change. From AI-powered self-service and agent assist to analytics that tell us why c...

In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra is joined by Martin Teasdale, Founder of Get Out of Wrap, to unpack the findings from our latest Voice of the Agent research. This year, 540 frontline agents opened up about the realities, challenges, and hidden truths of working inside today’s contact centers. Last year’s report was groundbreaking, revealing that while agents were largely satisfie...

In the first episode of Women, Working Smarter , host Jennifer Docken (Product Marketing Manager, Calabrio) welcomes Ritu Maheshwari (VP of Product Management, Calabrio) to talk about her journey from engineering to product leadership. Ritu shares how mentors shaped her path, why building strong teams matters most, and what excites her about the future of AI in the contact center. From leadership...

Get ready for an all-new series from Calabrio’s Working Smarter podcast! Hosted by Jennifer Docken, this series celebrates women leading the way in tech, contact centers, and customer service. In the preview episode, Jennifer teams up with Ritu Maheshwari from Calabrio to kick things off and share what’s to come.

Hot off the press from Calabrio’s largest annual user conference, C3 in Dallas, comes the launch of Calabrio Workforce Intelligence - the next evolution of Workforce Management. With AI at the core, not bolted on, Calabrio Workforce Intelligence introduces capabilities like Predictive Actions, Agent Assist, and more to help organizations make smarter, proactive decisions at scale. In this episode,...

Dan Smitley is a WFM Guru - You may have seen him posting Will Ferrell gifs on LinkedIn every Friday, but for this episode he joins Calabrio to talk about AI in WFM and how we might get real-world, practical uses out of AI and what that means to the average user. Topics include how WFM can benefit from AI, especially in the "Art vs. Science" front, and what we as humans need from AI assistants.  W...

Ericc Whetstone joins the pod to talk about the importance of understanding what APIs can do for your contact center, use cases of great API development, and how important it is to have the skill set of API development available to a contact center staff.  APIs are no longer just for the IT department. The more you understand how an API can be used, the more productivity savings and budget relief...

Spend a little time with the Amazon Web Services team as we talk about the future of reporting, especially around AI.  How will AI help us find data faster?  Listen and find out!

Working Smarter is joined by Martin Teasdale, the founder of Get out of Wrap, a UK-based podcast and consulting firm that specializes in contact centers...or is that centres?  Martin talks about his career, the challenges of finding a vendor, and the Calabrio "Voice of the Agent" survey results that were recently published.

Irina Hollatz stops by the podcast to explain what RightWFM does, and why it is important to challenge the norm.  The discussions also leans towards how software development takes place, and how Calabrio approaches the multiple demands of creating dynamic software that people actually want to use.

Klaus Bang, otherwise known as the Danish WFM Ninja, shares his thoughts on a long career in WFM, his approach to determining a Service Level target, and how he used Calabrio WFM to consolidate several contact center practices into one.

Virtual Agents, Chatbots, Bots...whatever you call them, they need love too.  Calabrio is excited to welcome Wysdom into the portfolio to help customers of any size make their bots better.  How does it work? What kind of KPI can be delivered on your virtual agents? Join Tariq from Wysdom as we understand how conversational AI assists in making your virtual and human agents better at servicing your...

Have you ever wanted to enable agent self-scheduling, but are afraid of the process?  Never fear, Precious Bucher from Zappos is here.  Precious covers in detail Zappos' agent scheduling process and how they have significantly reduced attrition in doing so.  Spend some time as Precious also recounts her career and how she came to lead the scheduling team at Zappos.

Bryce Ackerman from Roche Diagnostics joins Dave to discuss the role of WFM in CX, some of the biggest myths about WFM and how important honesty and transparency are when dealing with the workforce.  Bryce shares some history of his journey in WFM and some of the life lessons he has learned along the way.

Trent Ryan from Netflix joins the podcast to discuss how he got into WFM, what processes Netflix does well, and what he has learned over the years as the "key" to a sucessful WFM professional.  Fresh off his nomination to SWPP's Workforce Management Professional of the Year, Trent gives great insight into how running the WFM practice for one of the most successful digital companies in the world.

Join our discussion with Daniel Acosta, a healthcare workforce management expert, in an eye-opening journey through the world of Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) in healthcare. In this thought-provoking podcast, Daniel shares his expertise and insights on optimizing patient access centers, revolutionizing call menu strategies, and leveraging data-driven decision-making to improve patient outc...

With years of combined experience in WFM Management, this panel of experts dispenses wisdom and expertise on what to pay attention to when building a WFM team.  Questions answered, amongst others, are: What is the proper ratio of WFM staff to agents?  How does someone get into WFM and succeed?  How to prep for a WFM interview and what pitfalls to watch out for?  How to have tough conversations wit...

What is the difference between Customer Service, Customer Experience and Customer Success?  Join Chris Warticki, VP of Customer Experience at Epicor as we discuss how organizations can differentiate their customer service from their customer experience and truly impact the customer journey.  

There are so many different technologies out there that are designed to make the CX process better for you and your customers.  But, before you invest in another technology that will make your lives easier, shouldn't you take a moment to evaluate what you currently have and how it can be improved? Sometimes going back to the basics can yield better results than making another move.  Join Jim Davie...

Join Dave and Kyle Smaagard for a discussion of what machine learning and artificial intelligence are, and how it could possibly impact contac center operations going forward.  How can AI&ML help CX organizations be better at their jobs?  Listen on to find out!

Transforming your contact center starts with strengthening your frontline team. But how do you close information gaps and make your agents care? It starts with seeking out those empathetic qualities in contact center candidates. Leaders need to ensure their team understands the brand promise and how to protect it. In this episode, CX expert, Nate Brown, uncovers the best ways to instill a customer...

Contact centers use advanced technology like AI and machine learning—not to replace human interactions, but to enhance them. Dave is joined by Amazon Web Services’ Shalima Bhalla to discuss how Calabrio, AWS, and Amazon Connect work together to improve the agent experience. The result? Easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable contact center experiences for everyone.

Calabrio recently released a report on the State of the Contact Center, where we surveyed 250 consumers and contact center managers to understand where the contact center sits in their minds and ours.  Listen in as Dave and Shep discuss some of the key insights revealed and some things your contact center can do to close the gap.