Salesforce Announces New Service Cloud Workforce Planning Tool

As a global pandemic continues to impact numerous regions, many organizations now have customer service teams working remotely, presenting significant workforce management difficulties. Managing and directing inquiries was challenging even when customer service agents (CSAs) were located in a central office; the situation is considerably more complex with a dispersed, work-from-home team.

Salesforce is addressing this challenge with the development of a new offering called Service Cloud Workforce Engagement. Bill Patterson, Executive Vice President and General Manager for CRM Applications at Salesforce, emphasizes the substantial difficulties management faces in allocating work and maintaining service levels with geographically distributed teams, particularly given the increased shift to online customer interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Service Cloud Workforce Engagement will provide contact centers with a unified solution—all within a single platform—enabling our clients to maintain operational strength and adaptability, regardless of future circumstances,” Patterson stated.

Consistent with other Salesforce offerings, this product comprises several core elements designed to provide a comprehensive solution. Initially, there’s Service Forecast for Customer 360, a feature that leverages artificial intelligence to forecast staffing needs and intelligently route customer service requests. This capability is particularly valuable for planning around anticipated surges in service demand, such as during events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, or responding to unforeseen increases in volume.

Additionally, the system includes Omnichannel Capacity Planning, which enables managers to allocate CSAs across various communication channels—including phone, messaging, and email—based on real-time demand within each channel, regardless of agent location.

The solution also incorporates a training element designed to guide customer service agents in providing accurate and appropriate responses to specific situations. “To enhance agent engagement and productivity, organizations will be able to rapidly onboard and continuously train agents through concise, step-by-step learning modules delivered directly within the agent’s workspace during their shift,” the company noted.

Salesforce anticipates that Service Cloud Workforce Engagement will become available during the first six months of the coming year.