Right person, right place, right time: The forces changing WFM

The contact center is changing drastically and rapidly but workforce management (WFM) isn't always able to keep pace. In need of leaders who can "think big", it's an area with masses of unrealized potential. 

During All Access: Future Contact Centers 2026, Bryce Ackerman  (pictured below), internal WFM consultant for Roche, will share his first-hand experience of leading and motivating teams, while challenging WFM professionals to burst out of the workforce "bubble" and embrace the changes their organizations need.

Ahead of his session, Ackerman tells CX Network how AI is changing operations for WFM professionals but why forecasting and scheduling tools are still far from perfect.

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CX Network: Your session promises to challenge and motivate WFM professionals to burst out of the workforce "bubble". Without giving too much away, how can they do this?

Bryce Ackerman: Workforce Management has always been about staffing the right person, right place, right time.  And for years WFM has stuck to that expectation through forecasting, scheduling, and reactive real-time processes.  We forecast well, we analyze schedules and make recommendations, and we fight fires the way we always have.  We've been labeled the data nerds, the introverts, the traffic controllers, and "the person behind the curtain."  I've found myself saying, "I'm a workforce guy."  We're proud of those stereotypes.

Unfortunately, those stereotypes are keeping us from pushing out of our important, but protected and insulated bubble.  There are some ridiculously smart, personable, strategic, big idea people within WFM.  But it's up to us to create those bigger opportunities.  I will talk a lot about this in my presentation, and how there's not a map, specific directions, or one size fits all to push WFM outside of that bubble.  But I promise to share a bunch of entertaining stories and tips on what has worked and what has not in my career in WFM.

CX Network: When CX Network conducted its annual research into the state of CX in 2026, AI for operations emerged as the top CX trend for the second consecutive year. How is AI changing operations for WFM leaders?

Bryce Ackerman: WFM is fortunate in that the large majority of us are using WFM vendor software all day every day.  Our vendor partners are well aware of the CX trend that you mentioned and are actively working to incorporate AI into all things WFM as well.  So instead of being tied up developing internal AI tools, little by little there are new features that we begin to rely on more and more.  

Secondly, long-term capacity planning has reached a new level of importance.  AI is creating a lot of opportunities that require scenario modeling.  What is the impact of chatbot deflection?  What does that mean for our call center handle time?  What will happen to call volume?  So it's essential to have a solid WFM team that understands the opportunities, how to model all of the different 'what if' scenarios, and explain and analyze the data for our operations leaders.

CX Network: Many CX experts agree that real, human emotions and empathy cannot be replaced by AI. How is WFM adapting, knowing there could always be a place for the human connection?

Bryce Ackerman: Vendor AI forecasting and scheduling is far from perfect at this point.  In the meantime, WFM professionals have quickly become 'friends' with the large language models that we all know and love. These tools are acting like a colleague…a tool that you can bounce ideas off of or ask what you're missing or doing wrong.  I'm not sure if that's a great thing.

I can share a personal example. Covid hit, and I began working from home like almost everyone else in the contact center industry. That changed our work relationships. It took effort to reach out to people.  No longer could you lean over to your work friend or walk up to someone's desk to talk strategy. And unfortunately, many of us (especially the introverts amongst us) began to do more and more working alone. I know because I am one. But I missed being able to bounce ideas off work friends. I loved those close relationships, and I wasn't myself without them.

Then AI bursts on the scene! Instead of the face-to-face conversations, we can work with AI as our work colleague. So on the positive side, we are able to run more scenarios, do deeper analysis, and provide insight much more quickly. But on the negative side, we are much less dependent on and working much less with our colleagues to brainstorm and make progress.

We also must appreciate that frontline agents and supervisors are our customers as well. They also need that human connection. Can a WFM chatbot be empathetic and understanding of a death in the family that requires an agent to miss work? Unlikely. So it's important not to lose sight of the benefits of human connection for our customers but also for ourselves.

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