Alvaria Workforce (formerly Aspect Workforce Management), is a suite of software which combines call center workforce management with advanced analytics features like call recording, speech analytics, eLearning for training, data sharing for schedule optimization across call center or branch locations, and desktop analytics for monitoring and analyzing discrete actions like employee keystrokes and application usage. The Basic, Advanced, and Enterprise tiers include…
N/A
Calabrio ONE
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
Calabrio One is a workforce optimization (WFO) platform for call centers, combining workforce management with call recording and analytics, from Calabrio headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.
I have approximately a decade of experience using the aspect Workforce management software package. aspect has many power user functions that are not available in Calabrio. The strength of aspect is that is has extensive power user options. The drawback to aspect is that to be …
Easy workforce management tool and the dashboard is well designed with multiple accessible functionalities. This platform allows easy data collection across other project management systems and the analytics which the tool provides are excellent and very reliable project planning and easy scheduling with effective and excellent management functionalities and initial implementing is also an easy process.
Calabrio has been great for our education environment. We have the ability to access live calls, recorded calls and evaluate based on the duration of calls. I would like to see the Reporting tab transformed and allow for more customizable reports. Overall, we have had success with Calabrio and we look forward to our partnership.
Quality Management (call recordings, evaluations of said calls) is an area where Calabrio has done a particularly good job. It is a solid product and they continue to refine it.
Customer Service - since we purchased the product, customer service has always been spot on for Calabrio - they have worked hard to ensure their existing customers remain happy while continuing to evolve and bring on new customers.
Innovation - with their ear to the ground, so to speak, Calabrio forges ahead and does a great job of implementing features per customer requests and makes every effort to ensure the needs are taken care of either via API or upgrade feature.
The configuration of the system is quite complex and very difficult to administer.
Initial training on the product is simply focused on the product and it typically not done using a customers real data. Since many customers do not have a strong background in WFM to begin with, the training should focus more on the fundamental of WFM before it dives into how to use the tool. You have to learn more about how it is best to use the tool for real world environments and not just how to click here and go there.
RTA has not been updated in years. It does not offer real-time schedule adherence scores and the reporting is terrible. Reporting is specific to each workspace and you lose data each time you close a workspace.
The shrinkage calculator feature that was added a few years ago is a great feature but very difficult to reconcile. If you are not an extreme expert with the very confusing superstate philosophy in eWFM it can be disastrous.
Calabrio's scheduling module has room for improvement. I recommend adding options that will allow you to quickly add or delete multiple exceptions for a group or an individual.
Calabrio should add an option the will automatically optimize existing breaks and lunches based on the schedule rules and updates to schedules since they were initially published.
I'd like to have a feature in Calabrio that will automatically approve or deny employees requests for vacation based on the staffing number and other staff rules that are set.
For shift bidding, I'd like to have the option to create several schedule types and have Calabrio create the best coverage based on the available staff and the existing forecast.
In my practice, I have found that some reports have stats that should be weighed but are presented as a standard average (arithmetic mean) instead.
I'd like to have granular reporting on staff shrinkage that has occurred in the past so that I can use that data for future staff planning.
While I support other customers who utilize the software, the response from our customers is over-whelmingly positive. Many customers who have not had any type of workforce management software in the past use spreadsheets to schedule and forecast agents. This can be extremely complicated and a nightmare to control. The time saved by having a product that can quickly complete these functions for you is worth the investment. Also, we have several customers who had no way to track what their agents are doing and have found many problems in their call-center with the software. After rolling out a program where their adherence was tracked and actually 'mattered', they were able to see increased efficency from their agents.
Once the initial set up of the software is complete and/or you are familiar with the software, it is easy to use and runs like a dream. However, if you are unfamiliar with the software or have used a competitor's product, some features can seem difficult to learn or get used to.
It would've been a higher rating if they're able to partner up with other platforms like Liveperson chat support and have a better sense of urgency when it comes to resolving issues
I was impressed with the support I received. There were never any long delays when I had issues and the representatives that I worked with were always patient and eager to fully understand not only my problem but our business processes surrounding the problem.
Because, it took them time to coordinate back some updates for us when we had to report a few major issues. ie Volume data feed for our Email support/channel. I like the webinars, however to keep the community alive. I hope they improve the training modules too and how they training new WFM guys as part of their package
Implementation of the software was not difficult but it was tedious for us due to the fact that our processes had not kept up with the times and we had to make a large number of process changes along with setting up the software.
I have used NICE IEX Workforce Management in addition to Aspect Workforce Management, both tools are great at what they do. Aspect however builds its forecast model continuously, adding more information to the model everyday, where are with IEX, the model has to be built each and every time from used selections each week. IEX does not have a historical base model to reference, where Aspect does.
It was better and more reliable/resilient then both of the products stated above. It is in-house though while the competition was cloud-based. Both of the platforms mentioned above had more problems and more failed screens then Calabrio.
The workforce management team was able to decrease the cycle time forecasting, staffing and scheduling staff; resulted in higher employee engagement
The scenario based planning enabled us to develop a more accurate call volume forecast thus staffing the contact centers appropriately; approximately $500k savings realized in labor expenses (reduced FTE headcount, while meeting the same level of service level measures)
Improved customer experience due to staffing the call center properly (answered 80 percent of our calls within 20 seconds)
Negative: I've had to create more workarounds and scheduling seems to be more time consuming. However, it has had a positive effect in that some processes have been improved because of the workarounds.
Positive: Our former WFM software was not upgraded regularly. We have planned upgrade(s) for Calabrio. I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements made with the newer version.
Positive: Calabrio's customer service has been a plus. I believe they listen to what their customers are saying, even when it may be painful, and seem to always be striving to improve their product, and maintain good customer service.
