Recognizing that the company lacked the necessary tools and processes to measure and effectively
manage its pool of agents, ICE embarked on a key initiative in 2006 to ensure optimal performance
and maximize the contact center’s revenue-generating potential. The contact center staff had been
using Excel spreadsheets to schedule agents, which was an inefficient and difficult practice. Since the
agents are the primary drivers of the company’s sales, ICE recognized that a robust workforce
management tool, as well as a solid performance optimization strategy, was necessary to achieve
higher closing percentages and average sales margins.

The key decision-makers at ICE were sold on workforce management tools and their potential impact
on revenue. The company decided to implement the workforce management capabilities from
PerformanceEdge. Aspect®eWorkforce Management™ helps companies accurately plan, manage and
optimize performance for their multi-skilled and multi-site staffing resources. ICE is using the product
to forecast and schedule agents, and is leveraging the Real-Time Adherence module to track
adherence and learn how agents are performing against targeted goals. In addition, the company is
utilizing the Aspect eWorkforce Management – Analyze II enhancement package, a pre-packaged
performance management feature that provides a coaching form, dashboards and out-of-the-box key
performance indicators (KPIs).

Aspect® eWorkforce Management™ helps ICE forecast the level of resources that will be required in the
contact center on an intra-day basis. This means ICE can predict, with a much greater degree of
accuracy, the staff required to manage both incoming and outgoing calls throughout the day. The system
is also used to test various “what-if” schedule and staffing scenarios and then execute schedules to the
forecast. The result has been reductions in under and over-staffing, as well as the elimination of
overtime costs