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| Home - Industry Article - Jan 06 Issue |
The Prospects for 2006 Look Favorable |
By David Gould, CEO and Chairman, Witness Systems
In January 2005, the merger of Witness Systems and Blue Pumpkin Software was completed. As a combined organization, the company is evolving the workforce optimization (WFO) market with its seamless solution Impact 360 to help customers maximize their contact center performance and to bring solutions to market faster.
In 2005, Witness Systems led a transformation of the contact center market with the introduction of the market's first workforce optimization (WFO) solution that delivers quality monitoring/full-time recording, workforce management, performance management and e-learning, along with services, as a single solution. It has redefined the market landscape for WFO technology by enabling global organizations to deploy a holistic and streamlined framework accompanied by a feature-rich solution set with more speed and confidence than any combination of point systems in the market today. Organizations now have an end-to-end WFO solution that removes the barriers between siloed customer service functions so businesses can capture, analyze and act on cross-functional information concerning workforce performance, customer interactions and customer service processes.
Lesson Learned
While Witness Systems has conducted successful acquisitions in the past, there are always lessons learned on how to improve and further refine the process of bringing two organizations together. Our executive team applied best practices from its 2003 combination of U.K.-based Eyretel to rapidly integrate Blue Pumpkin, leveraging each company's "personal best" into the newly combined organization. In the case of Blue Pumpkin, the two companies integrated so quickly that the teams hit the ground running and started working on the next big thing - readiness and the launch of the our workforce optimization (WFO) solution. Witness Systems is now ranked the fifth largest technology company in the state of Georgia and is positioned among the top 200 worldwide software companies.
Strategies That Did Not Work
Last year, Witness Systems introduced the market's first back-office performance management initiative. The solution was designed to improve the quality and productivity of back-office functions to help organizations better understand the inter-departmental impact the back office has on customer service/satisfaction. This real world benefit provides much needed insight into how to reduce unnecessary calls and minimize customer frustration. Forward thinking companies/early adopters continue to invest in the solution and derive great benefit and ROI. On the flip-side, it is ahead of its time for use in other organizations - but holds the assurance that when they are ready to kick-off such an initiative and focus, we will be there, ready to support them in doing so.
As the company continues to grow and expand on a global level, it becomes more challenging to maintain consistency across the domestic and international offices. The executive team alternates their time among the company's headquarters and regional offices in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. For some, a typical week may include a trip to England, Vietnam and Japan. The commitment and focus helps emphasize balance and alignment among offices, ensures all teams are focused on the same goals and reinforces the value placed on the company's most strategic assets - its people, customers and partners.
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