Delivering exceptional customer experiences is more critical than ever in today’s competitive business landscape. Contact centers have evolved into hubs for not only providing support but also gathering insights, fostering customer loyalty, and driving revenue. However, without the right technology supporting the vital work done across the modern contact center, businesses risk missing out on key insights, efficiencies, and opportunities for growth.
Because of the power that today’s tools can bring to the contact center, a team’s choice of workforce engagement management (WEM) or workforce management (WFM) solutions can be truly make-or-break.
Many contact centers turn to a solution like Aspect Workforce, formerly known as Alvaria WFM—a recognized name in the WEM market that provides scheduling, forecasting, and productivity-focused capabilities. Comparing WEM options, though, it’s clear that a number of teams find themselves in search of an alternative to Aspect Workforce.
To help in your search for a solution that truly empowers your workforce and enhances your customer experience, we’ve pulled together this guide to Aspect alternatives. Below, we dig into some of the common issues that Aspect users face and showcase the solutions on offer from the top Aspect competitors.
Why Deploy an Aspect Workforce Alternative?
While Aspect Workforce Management software remains a significant player in the space, several common pain points drive organizations to seek alternative solutions. These issues often revolve around usability, support, integration, and overall flexibility.
Admin and Support Issues
Ongoing reliability and lackluster customer support are among the top issues reported by Aspect users. In reviews, users have expressed frustration with the responsiveness and helpfulness of Aspect’s support channels, as well as the lack of input customers have on future capabilities.
Limited Integration Options
In today’s interconnected technology landscape, seamless integration with existing systems is crucial. Some Aspect users have experienced difficulties integrating the platform with other essential business tools, such as CRM or HR systems. This lack of smooth data flow can lead to data silos, manual data entry, and a fragmented view of the customer and employee experience.
Difficult Setup and Customization
Implementing and customizing Aspect Workforce software to align perfectly with unique business needs can be a complex—and costly—undertaking. Users have noted that the initial setup process can be lengthy and require significant technical expertise—and this is reflected in data that suggests Aspect’s average time to ROI lags behind competitors like Calabrio. As one user describes:
“Any time we want to build our own automation, we generally have to work with Aspect to build it, and pay for the improvements.”
Steep Learning Curve
For both admins and frontline users, ease-of-use issues may extend beyond implementation, as mastering Aspect’s full range of features and functionalities can require a significant time and effort, potentially impacting user adoption and overall productivity. Some users have suggested that the user interface isn’t intuitive, making it difficult for employees to quickly complete essential tasks like schedule swapping, time-off requests, and performance tracking.
The 5 Best Aspect Workforce Alternatives
All told, Aspect Workforce’s most common issues add up to customer satisfaction metrics that lag significantly behind its competitors, according to recent reports. Who are those top Aspect Workforce competitors? Dig into the best of rest below.
1. Calabrio
Calabrio ONE stands out as a premier alternative to Aspect Workforce, delivering a robust, fully integrated set of workforce engagement management solutions to help you understand the true voice of your customer, engage and retain your agents, and optimize contact center operations. Calabrio ONE uniquely unifies workforce optimization (WFO), agent engagement, and powerful AI-driven insights into a single platform architected for flexibility and growth.
Key Features & Differentiators
- Fully integrated suite: Calabrio ONE offers a comprehensive suite of applications within a single, intuitive interface. This allows for streamlined contact center workforce management that’s supported AI-powered conversation intelligence solutions, like quality management, interaction analytics, and more—all within a unified platform.
- True-cloud technology: Built from the ground up in the cloud, Calabrio leverages cutting-edge technology to provide exceptional speed, dependability, scalability, and agility. This cloud-native approach also simplifies administration and ongoing development.
- Focus on employee empowerment: A robust set of agent-centric features—from a mobile self-scheduling app to custom dashboards—enable contact centers to maximize workforce potential, leading to improved agent and customer experiences.
Pros
- Intuitive User Experience: Calabrio consistently receives high marks from users and industry analysts for its ease of use and exceptional reliability.
- Lower long-term total cost of ownership: With all the WEM tools you need in a single suite, there’s no need for costly add-ons or complex arrangements of multiple platforms.
- Integrations and flexibility: Calabrio ONE seamlessly integrates with your technology ecosystem, whether that includes CCaaS, CRM, HR and payroll systems, and more.
- Powerful interaction analytics: From sentiment analytics to speech and text analytics, Calabrio ONE provides a full slate of solutions to easily uncover your customers’ biggest concerns—and help fuel improved service and sales strategies.
2. Verint
Verint is a well-established player in the customer engagement market, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions that includes workforce management as a key component. Verint Workforce Management aims to provide organizations with the tools they need to forecast demand, optimize scheduling, improve employee engagement, and enhance overall contact center performance, especially for its native CCaaS users.
Key Features & Differentiators
- Comprehensive solution: Verint offers a wide array of workforce optimization tools within its broader suite that includes customer engagement solutions and a CCaaS platform.
- Advanced analytics: Verint emphasizes data-driven decision-making, providing tools for analyzing workforce performance and identifying areas for improvement.
- Quality management focus: Verint’s platform places a strong emphasis on quality management, with a range of features for monitoring interactions, evaluating agent performance, and ensuring compliance.
Pros
- Established brand: Verint is a recognized name in the industry with a long history of providing customer engagement solutions.
- Feature-rich platform: Verint WFM offers a wide-ranging set of features to address various workforce optimization needs.
- Scalability: Verint’s solutions are designed to scale with businesses of different sizes, from small contact centers to large enterprises.
Cons
- Ease of use: Some users find Verint’s interface to be complex and outdated, potentially hindering user adoption and efficiency.
- Customer Support: Verint has faced criticism for its customer support, with reports of slow response times and limited assistance.
- Pricing: Verint’s pricing model can be complex and may involve additional costs for add-ons to achieve full functionality.
- Reporting limitations: Users have reported that reporting functionality can be inflexible and difficult to navigate.
3. NICE CXone
NICE is another leading provider of CX and WFM solutions designed to optimize staffing and improve operational efficiency. Their primary WFM platform, NICE IEX, provides a full suite of tools, while their cloud-based CXone platform includes a more streamlined WFM feature set.
Key Features & Differentiators
- Market presence: NICE is a market leader with a large global customer base.
- Comprehensive CX Portfolio: NICE boasts an extensive suite of solutions designed to address virtually every aspect of customer experience analysis and enhancement.
Pros
- Ease of use: The NICE CXone platform was given high scores in ease of use in recent reports; however, the NICE Workforce Management tool was given significantly lower scores.
- Robust Features: Similar to its overall CX-focused offerings, the NICE IEX product features an expansive set of features for workforce engagement management.
- Focus on AI Innovation: NICE is actively developing and integrating AI-powered capabilities, such as intelligent forecasting and automated scheduling.
Cons
- Customer Support Challenges: Some users have reported delays in receiving support and limited opportunities to influence product development.
- Complexity and Costs: The breadth of NICE’s offerings can introduce complexities, potentially requiring costly add-ons and sometimes favoring on-premise solutions over cloud-based deployments.
- Integration Limitations: Integration with external systems can be challenging, often requiring reliance on NICE’s own add-ons and services—at an extra cost to contact centers.
4. Talkdesk
Talkdesk is a cloud-based contact center software platform that incorporates WFM functionality as part of its suite. Talkdesk’s approach centers on delivering a seamless solution for orchestrating both customer interactions and agent performance. Its WFM tools are designed to streamline scheduling, boost agent engagement, and offer real-time visibility into contact center performance.
Key Features & Differentiators
- All-in-one CCaaS + WEM: Talkdesk aims to provide an integrated solution for both contact center communications and workforce engagement management.
- Unified Omnichannel Platform: As a CCaaS provider, Talkdesk is recognized for its comprehensive omnichannel support, encompassing a broad spectrum of digital communication channels.
Pros
- User-Friendly Experience: Talkdesk’s dashboards and overall interface are routinely praised for their intuitiveness and ease of navigation.
- Robust Training and Enablement Support: Talkdesk provides strong support for user onboarding and continuous learning, including a built-in knowledge base and remote onboarding programs.
Cons
- No CCaaS Choice: Unlike more flexible solutions like Calabrio ONE, Talkdesk requires users to commit to its CCaaS platform.
- Less Advanced WFM Functionality: Talkdesk’s forecasting and scheduling features may not be as sophisticated or comprehensive as those found in dedicated WFM solutions, potentially impacting accuracy and advanced optimization.
- Reporting Customization: Despite its modern interface, Talkdesk’s reporting capabilities offer limited customization options and overall functionality compared to standalone alternatives.
5. Genesys
Another leading CCaaS provider, Genesys is renowned for its expertise in customer experience solutions. Beyond its core communication platform, Genesys now offers WEM and WFM capabilities. In 2023, Genesys launched Genesys Cloud EX, a dedicated solution centered on enhancing employee engagement.
Key Features & Differentiators
- AI-Powered CX Orchestration: Genesys leverages conversational AI to deliver highly personalized and automated customer experiences.
- Strategic Investments and Acquisitions: Genesys has recently prioritized WFM, making significant investments and strategic acquisitions to enhance its capabilities.
Pros
- User-Friendly Design: Genesys is consistently praised for its intuitive interface and ease of use.
- Extensive Integration Ecosystem: A broad application marketplace allows users to seamlessly connect with a wide array of external solutions, including options like Calabrio ONE, to augment its CCaaS functionality.
- Agile Updates: Genesys employs a continuous delivery model, providing regular updates with minimal disruption.
Cons
- Relatively New WEM Offering: While a CX leader, Genesys’ enterprise WEM tools are still relatively new to the market and haven’t been as extensively tested as more established solutions.
- Less Mature WFM Functionality: Compared to dedicated WFM platforms like Calabrio, Genesys may offer less robust features in areas such as self-scheduling, intraday management, and adherence monitoring.
- Focus on Enterprise Clients: Genesys primarily targets larger organizations, potentially resulting in less personalized support for smaller teams under 100 seats.
Find the Right Alternative to Aspect Workforce—and Supercharge Your Contact Center Performance
Modern contact center workforce software can make all the difference—as long as it’s the right choice. We think Calabrio ONE stands out as a top Aspect Workforce competitor, delivering innovation along with ease of use.
Of course, the suite’s flexibility also enables seamless integration with other leading platforms, creating a comprehensive ecosystem. So, you might consider leveraging the combined power of Calabrio ONE with the top Aspect competitors Talkdesk or Genesys. These strategic partnerships create comprehensive, synergistic platforms, bringing together leading CCaaS options with Calabrio’s WEM expertise.
Explore more about Talkdesk + Calabrio and Genesys + Calabrio and see how these integrated solutions can transform your contact center and drive superior performance.
