For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

IT Staff Augmentation Trends: Hiring Plans Show Signs Of Life, VMS Adoption Is On The Rise  (680 KB PPT)

by Patrick M. Connaughton, October 16, 2009

Results from a survey of 89 firms that use IT staff augmentation services.

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Road Map: Workforce Resource Management — A New Market For Project Portfolio Management

PPM, BPM, And Web 2.0 Collaboration Are On A Collision Course

by Tim Harmon, May 4, 2009

Users have to employ a plethora of software tools to effect a comprehensive workforce resource management capability, including project portfolio management (PPM), business process management (BPM), and human capital management (HCM) products. PPM vendors, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Filling The Store Labor Productivity Gap

How Can Retailers Deploy Technologies That Boost Store Labor Productivity?

by George Lawrie, April 23, 2009

Labor costs run at between 10% and 13.5% of retailers' revenues, but store labor workload is soaring to accommodate more product introductions and promotions. At the same time, store associates must cope with much better informed consumers, shorter product . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Selecting Vendor Management Systems: Differentiating Criteria

by Patrick M. Connaughton, April 14, 2009

Companies looking for a new vendor management system (VMS) have a wide variety of software solutions to choose from that on the surface appear to have very similar functionality. With so much commonality across the leading solutions, sourcing and vendor . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Forrester's Rapid Decision Tool For VMS RFPs  (183 KB XLS)

by Patrick M. Connaughton, April 14, 2009

Rapid decision tool using the criteria outlined in the report, "Selecting Vendor Management Systems: Differentiating Criteria"

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Simplifying Staff Augmentation With Contingent Workforce Management Solutions

by Patrick M. Connaughton, March 20, 2009

Contingent workforce management (CWM), the strategic procurement process for temporary staff, is getting a lot of attention these days. This is surprising given the tough market conditions, since in a recession, nonpermanent staff is often the first to . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Human Resource Management

by Zach Thomas, Paul D. Hamerman, Claire Schooley, January 21, 2009

The most important investments that businesses and government organizations make are in their people. In addition to direct expenditures on compensation and benefits, organizations invest in technology, outsourcing, professional services, and learning . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Improving Contact Center Performance

Workforce Optimization Suites Reduce Operational Complexity

by Elizabeth Herrell, November 16, 2007

Contact center managers are dealing with more challenges today than ever before — managing a multichannel contact center, coordinating a distributed workforce across several sites, supporting at-home workers, and anticipating the needs of customers with . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Hosted Contact Centers: Benefits And Risks

What To Consider When Evaluating Hosted Contact Centers

by Elizabeth Herrell, November 7, 2006

As companies migrate to converged voice and data networks, many also consider hosted or leased solutions to provide advanced networking capabilities and technical expertise for implementing IP contact centers. Hosted solutions allow customer service executives . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

HR/HCM Applications: Strategic Processes Move To The Forefront

by Paul D. Hamerman, January 23, 2006

Human resources and human capital management (HR/HCM) applications span a broad range of administrative and strategic applications to hire, manage, and retain employees. Overall, this $3 billion software market — based on licenses and software-as-a-service . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Grading Work Force Management Vendors

by Jennifer Chew, Laurie M. Orlov, Liz Herbert, Ryan Hudson, September 3, 2003

Although they have relatively few customers, best-of-breed work force management vendors offer stronger functionality today but will struggle to outpace ERP vendors long term.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Enterprise Help Desk Footprint Expands to Include Workforce Management

by John Ragsdale, June 19, 2003

The next one to two years enterprise help desk vendors will include workforce management components in the help desk suite, eliminating the need for third-party products and making automated staffing plans a common practice for help desks.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Workforce Scheduling Solutions: Evolving From Specialized Domains to General Interest

by Paul D. Hamerman, September 16, 2002

The concept of workforce optimization for labor efficiency and productivity is applicable to most businesses, and we believe scheduling support will increase among large enterprise application vendors.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Workforce Management Essential Software Tool for Managing Contact Center's Complexity

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 5, 2002

Multiple channel contact centers that develop processes using workforce management solutions for scheduling, forecasting, reporting and budgeting will markedly improve customer service levels and increase agent productivity.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Work-Force Management Tools Must Address Diverse Requirements

by Elizabeth Herrell, September 6, 2001

Work-force management tools need to address an integrated environment for forecasting and scheduling call center personnel across multiple customer touchpoints, such as e-mail and the Web.