In today's contact center, you need to deliver an appropriate and timely service to customers, whether they are prospective customers, new customers, mature customers, or evangelists. And yes, you need to be prepared for the possibility that customers may think of leaving you, too. These different stages in the customer lifecycle are known collectively as the customer journey.
Customer journey based workforce management (WFM) is a strategy that aligns staffing calculations and schedules with the needs and expectations of customers at each stage of their journey with your organization.
Journey-based WFM focuses on understanding and optimizing the resources required to deliver exceptional customer experiences throughout that journey. It covers all types of interaction, from signup to support requests, from renewal to complaint. You need to cover all the channels, from phone calls to web chats, emails, and social media posts.
This requires a different approach to traditional WFM, which places each step of the customer journey in a different ‘silo.’ The over-reliance on functional silos, like routing all Sales or Customer Service contacts to one single staffing group, is like trying to navigate modern-day London with a map from the 1800s. The traditional WFM approach fails to deliver the optimal customer experience and productivity needed in today's digital-first world.
Moving from siloed teams to journey-based staffing isn't just about reorganization; it's about strategic resource allocation that delivers real results. Think of it as assembling a world-class football team: you wouldn't put your star striker in goal, for example.
Moving from siloed teams to journey-based staffing can deliver substantial productivity improvements through strategic resource allocation. Here's how:
The efficiency gains are compounded over time as teams develop deeper journey-stage expertise.
When customers with complex issues connect with subject matter experts, magic happens. First-contact resolution rates climb, and CSAT scores follow suit. For example, Specialists trained in handling sensitive situations like billing disputes or service cancellations will demonstrate higher empathy levels and better de-escalation skills. This targeted approach reduces customer effort and frustration during emotionally charged interactions.
The key is matching the right expertise to high emotional or technical complexity moments. This ensures customers receive expert guidance when needed, building trust and loyalty through superior issue resolution.
Start by diving deep into your contact patterns. Map volumes and handle times to specific journey stages, like how a chess master studies game patterns. Track contact patterns across different touchpoints while considering channel-specific behaviors.
Your analysis should capture the following:
For example, if your contact center deals with retail-related contacts, you will want to map all interactions from pre-purchase research to post-purchase support. This isn't just about counting contacts but understanding customer behavior patterns.
A comprehensive skills inventory assessment is fundamental to journey-based WFM success. The process requires a systematic approach to mapping your talent pool against evolving customer needs. A detailed skills matrix should encompass the following:
Structure your workforce into focused specialist groups. Here are some examples of how you could do this:
Move beyond basic scheduling to create dynamic patterns that match customer journey touchpoints. This isn't just about coverage… it's about optimal coverage that aligns with customer needs and agent skills.
Stay ahead of the curve by anticipating volume and average handling time (AHT) patterns and preparing accordingly. Focus on these key metrics:
Modern WFM requires modern tools. Here's what you need.
The foundation of journey-based workforce management lies in accurately understanding why customers reach out. Let me share two approaches to capturing customer intent effectively:
A straightforward IVR system with clear menu options lets customers self-identify their needs. Structure your menu to mirror common journey touchpoints… for example, "Press 1 for pre-purchase questions, 2 for order status, 3 for technical support." Keep it simple with no more than 4-5 options at each menu level to avoid customer frustration.
Modern AI-powered intent detection takes customer understanding to the next level. By analyzing customer messages across channels, voice, chat, and email, natural language processing (NLP) systems can:
The beauty of NLP is that it learns and improves over time, continuously refining its understanding of your unique customer journeys.
Let technology do the heavy lifting. Automated skill-matching ensures you're not just filling seats… you're positioning the right talent at the right touchpoints. Create flexible routing mechanisms that adapt to volume spikes and changing customer needs by overflowing contacts from one agent group to another. This critical functionality ensures that you hit your service level goals while enjoying workforce economies of scale. It also ensures you do not burn staff out by overworking some agent touchpoint groups while underutilizing others.
The foundation of effective journey-based staffing relies on sophisticated WFM tools that can handle complex routing and forecasting scenarios.
Your WFM platform must support the following:
The future of contact center WFM isn't just about having warm bodies in seats. It's about having the right skills available at the moments that matter most.
As someone who's implemented these changes across multiple global organizations, I can tell you that the results are worth the effort. When you get this right, your metrics improve, your agents are happier, your operation runs more smoothly, and the bottom line gets better, too.