Frost & Sullivan: ac2 Solutions Stands Out in the Hosted WFM Market with a Truly Differentiated Product

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the hosted workforce management (WFM) market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes ac² Solutions with the 2012 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Excellence. The company devised a sophisticated set of WFM solutions that align with the market zeitgeist, more so than other applications that have been built on older, less effective and versatile models and methodologies.

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"ac²'s WFM technologies, many of which are patented, enable organizations to handle customers that are more demanding, multichannel growth, and a complex work environment," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Brendan Read. "Rugged and secure hosted delivery make these tools affordable and scalable without consuming costly and scarce IT resources."

ac² Solutions' signature product, the Advanced Workforce Optimization (AWO) portal, has standout features that attract and retain customers. Highly intuitive, the software removes the complexities of traditional WFM solutions to optimize performance.

The AWO portal received perfect 10's when assessed for its unique features/functionality, and quality/complexity.

The AWO incorporates advanced time series forecasting and staffing models that allow for hitherto unachieved levels of comprehensive strategic planning. Along with regular time series, special event forecasting, and "what if" forecasting, the system offers automated forecast accuracy tracking and concurrent optimal scheduling. It allows forecasting and scheduling for multiple skills, sites and channels, and creates agent and supervisor schedules to include exceptions, shift swapping, overtime, vacation planning, and volunteer time off. It can also schedule assignments by agent availability, preferences, and bidding. The system facilitates home agent schedule management as well as real-time adherence and contact traffic tracking, agent workstation, plus dashboards and scorecards.

"WFM software must be built with sophisticated and adaptable technologies to successfully execute its functions, and to allow for future upgrades and new features," noted Read. "AWO has been written with advanced technology, which makes it reliable and secure. The system has achieved availability/uptime statistics for the past 24 months of 99.97 percent. It supports system security, compliance and standards/certifications, with SSL and one-way hash-encrypted passwords."

AWO utilizes powerful forecasting algorithms, including Box-Jenkins ARIMA, exponential smoothing, Seasonal Regression, and Transfer Function Method to provide superior accuracy. The portal's artificial intelligence (AI)-based system enables users to select a best-pick module to automate model fitting and selection, forecasting and scheduling. The portal also captures service levels, call abandonment rates, customer impatience (abandonments), average speed of answer (ASA) and agent occupancy to determine staffing levels and efficiency. Finally, the firm delivers AWO securely through the cloud and allows for customization, which adds tremendous customer value to the solutions.

AWO's attributes stem from ac² Solutions' background and management. The firm was founded by professionals from Bell Laboratories, IBM Global Services, and Rutgers University. Its president, Dr. Turgut Aykin, and his peers pioneered new forecasting and staffing optimization methods that were engineered into AWO. As such, the firm has a unique and strong value proposition built on feature and technology excellence.

ac² Solutions is providing a powerful alternative against the convenience of workforce optimization (WFO) suites and all-in-one platforms, as inferior as they may be in WFM solutions.  With its unique and powerful workforce management technologies, and professional services team with advanced degrees in forecasting and optimization, ac2 Solutions is also providing workforce management outsourcing services to complement its software offering and hosted solution services.

"With its focus on continued innovation, the company is expected to drive home the message to organizations that it can help optimize valuable resources (i.e., agents) by means of an advanced solution that is affordable and flexibly cloud-delivered," concluded Read.

In recognition of the innovation, customer value and strong potential ac² Solutions offers through its products and services, Frost & Sullivan is pleased to present the company with the 2012 Product Differentiation Excellence Award in the North American hosted WFM space. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with unique features/functionality as well as high quality for customers with complex needs. The award lauds the degree of the product's customization and the fit for evolving market trends, which ultimately results in a strong brand perception of the product as being unique.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About ac² Solutions

Founded in 2001 by experienced and highly skilled professionals from Bell Laboratories, IBM and Rurgers University, and propelled by more than 20 years of scientific research on contact center and supply chain optimization, ac² Solutions is the leading provider of advanced contact center workforce optimization (WFO) technologies.  ac2's patented products and services are empowering its clients with the Next Generation workforce management solutions with its proprietary forecasting, strategic planning, optimal scheduling and performance optimization technologies.  They provide a differentiating and sustainable cost and service quality advantage.

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan