Workforce Management Solution w/ 3CX

[Reece Cawthorn]

Hi all,

I hope you’re well.

We’re currently working on a large-scale opportunity for a customer that requires both a hosted telephony platform and a Workforce Management solution.

I was wondering whether anyone has experience with a WFM platform that integrates with 3CX, or where raw 3CX data can be automatically passed into a WFM solution to support more advanced contact centre functionality, such as forecasting, scheduling, intraday management and analytics?

The wider solution also includes Freshdesk as the customer’s centralised ticket management platform, so any experience with WFM solutions that can also integrate with Freshdesk would be very useful.

We’re currently awaiting confirmation from Verint, formerly Calabrio, but would be very open to any recommendations, experiences or suggestions from others who may have worked on something similar.

Thanks in advance!

All the best,

Reece

 

[Evolute IT]

What kind of data would be needed in WFM?

 

[Reece Cawthorn]

Thanks for coming back to me!

In short, we’re looking to understand whether 3CX contact centre data can be passed into a WFM platform to support forecasting, scheduling, intraday management and analytics.

The main data points would likely include call volumes, call arrival patterns by queue/skill/time period, answered/missed/abandoned calls, average handling time, wait times, SLA performance, agent status, login/logout times, breaks, idle time and occupancy.

Ideally, the WFM solution would use historic data to forecast demand, schedule agents accordingly and compare forecasted activity against actual performance throughout the day.

The wider solution also includes Freshdesk, so it would be useful to understand whether ticket volumes, categories, response times and resolution times could also be incorporated (though appreciate this would sit outside of the 3CX remit).

We have now had confirmation from Verint that our user requirement is too small for them (as it's sub-300 users) so we will need to explore alternative WFM options.

Any guidance or experience around suitable platforms or integration methods would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Evolute IT]

Thanks for coming back to me!

In short, we’re looking to understand whether 3CX contact centre data can be passed into a WFM platform to support forecasting, scheduling, intraday management and analytics.

The main data points would likely include call volumes, call arrival patterns by queue/skill/time period, answered/missed/abandoned calls, average handling time, wait times, SLA performance, agent status, login/logout times, breaks, idle time and occupancy.

Ideally, the WFM solution would use historic data to forecast demand, schedule agents accordingly and compare forecasted activity against actual performance throughout the day.

The wider solution also includes Freshdesk, so it would be useful to understand whether ticket volumes, categories, response times and resolution times could also be incorporated (though appreciate this would sit outside of the 3CX remit).

We have now had confirmation from Verint that our user requirement is too small for them (as it's sub-300 users) so we will need to explore alternative WFM options.

Any guidance or experience around suitable platforms or integration methods would be greatly appreciated!

I wonder if the external data connector could help here, as it provides most of the required data.

 

[VoIPTools]

I think we all have to remember that this is going to be a substantial effort to build this 3-way integration both to implement and support into the future.

To set expectations from the start, your customer has to realize that 3CX, Freshdesk, and the WFM product are all going to change. Maybe infrequently, but my guess is at least one of them is going to change every year. That means this integration is going to require the developer to stay up to speed with all three platforms, and perhaps more if you look at reporting through Grafana, or something similar.

This customer better have some deep pockets because this is not going to be a one-time development cost. This is going to require on-going funding. I think people often forget about that fact when estimating the total project costs.

That said, perhaps the integration work will be the least expensive part of the project. Long ago I worked for a accounting firm where my role was to help migrate customer's existing data and reports to the new accounting system. I watched one customer spend the next 2+ years recreating their business processes in the new platform (you would recognize the new accounting system). For projects like this, your customer not only has to consider the software costs, they have to account for their staff staff time in meetings and lost productivity. THAT is likely the largest expense.

Evolute IT is where I would start for CRM integration. We can help with making the raw 3CX data accessible via our 3CX Exporter add-on and our 3CX REST/events APIs, and we can recommend others for other parts of the puzzle.