About
Olivier Pesce is the Site Manager in Strasbourg, with 15 years of experience at Terre d'Appels. In that time, he has seen remarkable progress in the business, where he started as a call advisor. He now oversees all operations on the Strasbourg site, including budget management and employee safety while also being responsible for defining and achieving the call center's strategic objectives.
Challenges before Peopleware
Before implementing Peopleware, Terre d'Appels faced major difficulties in planning and managing its staff. The previous solution, which depended heavily on Excel, showed its limitations in the face of increasing complexity in customer service. Benjamin Chevalon recalls: "We found the limits of the previous solution quite quickly. The creation of schedules became problematic, both in terms of effort and efficiency of the results obtained."
The main challenge with the old approach was its inability to efficiently manage key performance indicators. These included meeting clients' service level goals, for example, answering 80% of calls in less than 20 seconds. It was also weak regarding collaboration between teams across the operation. "The old approach was not up to the job, especially in the face of requirements like 24/7 availability," explains Olivier Pesce.
The situation before Peopleware was characterized by inflexible scheduling that was not aligned with fluctuating customer demand. This made it difficult to meet the service quality commitments given to customers. It was clear that Terre d'Appels needed an optimized, efficient, and demand-oriented solution.
“We found the limits of the previous solution quite quickly. The creation of schedules became problematic, both in terms of effort and efficiency of the results obtained.”
Introducing Peopleware
Faced with the need for an advanced WFM solution, Terre d'Appels embarked on a selection process and finally chose Peopleware in 2014. This decision was driven by the need for an efficient tool that precisely met the complex planning and resource optimization requirements of a BPO.
Peopleware not only offered the opportunity to overcome the day-to-day challenges of the old approach but also to significantly improve Terre d’Appels' planning outcomes and efficiency.
"We chose Peopleware because the solution met our complex and multidimensional needs, including precise calculation of staffing, multichannel management, accurate tracking of service quality goals, and easy adaptation to varied service quality objectives."
The Peopleware journey
The implementation of Peopleware at Terre d’Appels benefitted from the attentive and responsive training and support from Peopleware's experts. This ensured an optimal onboarding process and laid the foundation for an enduring and efficient partnership, which has now lasted for more than ten years!
"I am sincerely impressed (and delighted!) with the responsiveness and efficiency of the Peopleware team. Whether it's a strategic issue, a technical problem, or a new feature to explore, the team always strives to provide me with the optimal response, in record time. Their accessibility by email, phone, or video conference is a real plus."
Value and achievements
For the business
- Growth and customer retention — Peopleware played a crucial role in retaining Terre d'Appels' largest client. Peopleware enabled Terre d'Appels to meet its customer service commitments, particularly in consistently achieving the contracted service level goal, while being extremely efficient. This performance strengthened the client's trust, leading to the acquisition of that company's entire outsourced business. Previously the client outsourced to multiple providers.
- Enhanced recruitment — Peopleware enables Terre d'Appels to offer greater flexibility to its advisors and gives them a better work/life balance. This is highlighted in the company's job postings and gives the company a real edge in the job market.
"Peopleware allows us to offer more flexibility to advisors, which makes us more attractive in a particularly tight job market."
For clients
- Increased satisfaction — Peopleware enabled Terre d'Appels to consistently deliver against its clients' needs by being both more proactive and more responsive to changing demands.
"We earned the trust of our clients by effective call management, precise team sizing and efficient scheduling. We've built lasting, high-quality partnerships with our clients, built on our ability to meet their long-term expectations"
For employees
- Focus on the well-being of advisors — Peopleware offers great flexibility in scheduling, promoting better work/life balance for advisors. This, together with self-service for things like shift swaps, contributes to agent well-being without creating a burden for the planning team or impacting business efficiency.
For the planning team
- Faster and more efficient — The solution has transformed the planning process into something significantly more efficient.
- Better KPI tracking — Planners now have the means to monitor KPIs and other metrics, including shrinkage. The tool has made planning dynamic, with better schedule adherence monitoring and workforce optimization.
The future
Terre d'Appels aims to extend its use of Peopleware by adopting the Time-Off module. The goal is to make Peopleware the central tool for time and absence management. Having already adopted Peopleware for all its advisors, Olivier Pesce explains: "We are exploring how to adopt Peopleware Time-Off to optimize our time management. Our goal is to streamline the number of tools and eliminate any margin for error by making Peopleware our centralized, unique, and efficient tool, which communicates directly with our payroll system."
This ambition reflects lasting confidence in Peopleware, not only as a scheduling solution but also as an integral part of HR processes.
"What can be achieved with Peopleware isn't to be found in other solutions. That’s why we have worked with Peopleware for more than 10 years and we have no plans to look anywhere else for WFM software."