Today’s contact centers can’t afford to settle for “good enough” when it comes to their workforce management (WFM) software. WFM tools are key to not only delivering winning customer experiences but ensuring that the frontline agents that provide service are engaged, educated, and empowered to do so in the first place.

NICE CXone has long been a recognized name in the contact center space, but today, it’s far from the only solution equipped to solve contact centers’ management and engagement needs.

So, whether you’re struggling to keep up with ever-evolving omnichannel customer demands, dealing with agent turnover, or simply curious what other technologies are available to help your cause, this guide is for you. Dig into some of the challenges NICE users face here—and explore some of the top NICE WFM competitors and alternatives.

Why Search for a NICE CXone Alternative?

While NICE CXone offers a wide range of contact center and CX solutions, its WFM solutions have faced criticism in several key areas. From complex setup and integration processes to concerns about pricing, reporting limitations, and customer support challenges, organizations may find themselves seeking alternatives that better address their workforce management needs.

Below are some of the most common NICE WFM issues—if you’re experiencing these yourself, it may be a sign you need to look for an alternative solution.

Setup and Integration Complexity

NICE CXone is positioned as a “complete” solution. And there’s no doubt that the platform offers a wide array of solutions for contact center teams. However, NICE WFM may seem to many users like a collection of distinct solutions, rather than one seamless and integrated whole. Ultimately, this can lead to headaches when trying to integrate the necessary tools that go beyond basic WFM functionality.

As a result, customer reviews of the NICE WFM setup process leave much to be desired. In a 2024 G2 report based on input from real users, NICE WFM’s “Ease of Setup” score was the lowest among leading contact center workforce software providers. As one G2 User puts it:

 “Set up and implementation is time-consuming and can be confusing (we are a company that specializes in this and still struggled).”

Pricing

The complexity of bringing together NICE WFM’s various parts doesn’t just occasionally translate to difficult setup.  For many organizations, it adds up to high prices.

“Many tools out of date or way too expensive,” according to one NICE WFM user, who reports that even those capabilities they do like are expensive.

Reporting Issues

Those contact center workforces that do persist with NICE WFM software occasionally report another crucial problem: contact center reporting capabilities that are hard to use. Some of the ways users describe their frustrations include: “Reports are difficult to create.” “Reports were not user friendly.” “Too much manual work. And the reports are not flexible.”

Customer Support

Another common and long-term issue cited by unsatisfied NICE WFM customers is relatively poor customer support. In the 2024 G2 Grid® Report for Contact Center Workforce products, NICE WFM users ranked the platform’s quality of support, along with Verint WFM, among the lowest of any market leaders.

NICE customers have regularly reported issues with support, during the implementation process and beyond. Here are some of the things they’ve had to say:

• “The support staff has been less than stellar…The training provided to support the back end such as script building and maintenance wasn’t sufficient. It will require dedicated time and support to learn it efficiently enough to be able to maintain it without disrupting anything.” – Capterra user
• “ The customer support is the worst I’ve ever dealt with.” – Capterra user
• “We have had the software go down in the past quite a few times and the resolution is not always quick from support. Most of the time they blame our end or something on our end when it is not on our end at all.” – Capterra user

The Top 5 NICE Workforce Management Alternatives

NICE has long been a major player in the workforce management space, but it’s clear that NICE CXone WFM solutions may not be the perfect fit for every contact center. If you’re exploring other options, here are five compelling alternatives to NICE WFM:

1. Calabrio ONE
2. Verint
3. Aspect Workforce (Formerly Alvaria Workforce)
4. Talkdesk
5. Genesys

1.      Calabrio ONE

Whereas using the NICE CXone suite for contact center WFM feels for some like using a variety of disconnected solutions, Calabrio ONE stands out among NICE competitors thanks to its fully integrated, unified suite of powerful contact center workforce management tools. Only Calabrio ONE combines workforce optimization (WFO), agent engagement, and powerful AI-driven business intelligence within a single platform that’s built to adapt and scale with your business.

Key Features & Differentiators

·      Unified suite: Calabrio ONE integrates WFM seamlessly with quality management, business intelligence, and more, all within a single, intuitive workforce engagement management platform.

·      True cloud foundation: Built on a cloud-native architecture, Calabrio ONE offers scalability, agility, and faster processing, simplifying administration and development.

·      Emphasis on agent empowerment: Features like mobile self-scheduling, automated quality management, and intuitive AI-powered BI tools empower agents, boosting engagement and job satisfaction.

Pros

• Reliable, user-friendly tools: Calabrio is consistently recognized for its intuitive, user-friendly interface and reliable performance.
• Flexible integrations: Calabrio ONE integrates seamlessly with various CCaaS, CRM, and HR systems, providing flexibility and choice while delivering leading workforce optimization.
• Powerful automation and analytics: AI and machine learning are embedded throughout the suite, not just powering sophisticated customer interaction analytics tools but also driving more accurate forecasting and easier quality management.
• Lower TCO: Get the full range of WEM solutions you need, delivered as a single, seamless solution—without the complexity, costs, and silos that can be created by solutions like NICE.

2.      Verint

Verint is another popular CX management platform that offers a robust WFM solution designed to help organizations optimize their workforce and improve customer experience. It provides tools for forecasting, scheduling, performance management, and workforce engagement, catering in particular to the needs of larger enterprise contact centers.

Key Features & Differentiators

• Comprehensive WFM capabilities: Verint offers a full range of WFM features, including forecasting, scheduling, adherence monitoring, and performance management.
• Focus on enterprise-scale deployments: Verint’s solutions are often geared towards large enterprises with complex workforce management needs.
• Strong analytics and reporting: Verint provides robust reporting and analytics tools to help organizations gain insights into workforce performance.

Pros

• Mature, feature-rich platform: Verint has a long history in the WFM space and offers a comprehensive set of features.
• Scalability: Verint’s solutions are designed to scale to meet the needs of large organizations.
• Strong industry expertise: Verint has deep expertise in the contact center industry.

Cons

• Complexity: Verint’s platform can be complex to implement and manage, especially for smaller organizations.
• Cost: Verint’s solutions can be expensive, particularly for organizations with limited budgets.
• Customer Support: Some users have reported challenges with Verint’s customer support.

Learn more about how Verint WFM compares with Calabrio ONE.

3.      Aspect Workforce (Formerly Alvaria Workforce)

Aspect Workforce, formerly known as Alvaria Workforce, focuses on helping large contact centers optimize employee scheduling, forecasting, and performance management. It emphasizes automation and efficiency, providing tools for automated scheduling, adherence monitoring, and performance tracking.

Key Features & Differentiators

• Enterprise focus: The Aspect Workforce Enterprise solution offers a feature set geared toward enterprise workforce management for distributed global teams.
• Flexible deployment: Aspect offers both cloud and on-premises deployment options, providing flexibility for organizations with different IT infrastructure preferences and security requirements.
• Advanced forecasting and scheduling: Aspect emphasizes sophisticated forecasting algorithms and automated scheduling tools. These capabilities are designed to optimize staffing levels, minimize overstaffing or understaffing, and ensure service level targets are met.

Pros

• Shift scheduling and planning tools: Aspect is perhaps best known for its robust shift scheduling capabilities, allowing for the creation of complex schedules that accommodate agent preferences, business rules, and legal requirements.
• Robust “What-If” Analysis: These tools include sophisticated “what-if” analysis capabilities, enabling planners to simulate different scenarios, such as the impact of unexpected events or changes in demand, and adjust schedules proactively.

Cons

• Lower customer satisfaction, poor support: Recent industry-wide evaluations give Aspect relatively low marks for overall customer satisfaction, ease of admin, and quality of support.
• Limited customization and connections: Compared with other NICE WFM alternatives, Aspect Workforce offers few connections with commonly used CCaaS platforms and other tools.
• Steep learning curve: Complexity, lack of customization, and outdated UI mean that many users may require lengthy training to get a handle on Aspect Workforce tools—and this may lead to less-than-optimal adoption.
• Limited performance management tools: Compared with other leading WEM solutions, users have rated Aspect’s skills management capabilities significantly lower.

Learn more about how Aspect Workforce compares with Calabrio ONE.

4.      Genesys

Genesys is a prominent CCaaS provider with a strong presence in the world of customer service and experience management. Beyond its robust communications and routing platform, Genesys offers its own WEM and WFM solutions. In 2023, Genesys began offering the standalone Genesys Cloud EX solution focused on employee engagement.

Key Features & Differentiators

• AI-driven CX orchestration: Unique conversational AI-backed tools drive greater personalization and automation.
• Variety of recent acquisitions and investments: In recent years, Genesys has stepped up its investments in WFM, making a number of strategic acquisitions.

Pros

• Intuitive interface: Genesys has been ranked among the easiest to use platforms in recent industry reports.
• Integration options: A large application marketplace enables teams to connect seamlessly with a wide range of external solutions, including Calabrio ONE, to supercharge its CCaaS capabilities.
• Continuous delivery model: Genesys users can typically rely on the platform with consistent updates and only rare interruptions.

Cons

• New to WEM: Though Genesys is a major name in the CX space, their enterprise WEM tools are relatively untested.
• Limited scheduling and forecasting capabilities: Compared with a dedicated WFM solution like Calabrio, key features in areas such as self-scheduling, intraday management, and adherence are less powerful—or unavailable.
• Limited mobile access: Users gave lower marks to Genesys’ mobile offerings, which can hamper adoption and overall impact.

5.      Talkdesk

Talkdesk a leading cloud-based contact center solution that also integrates with Calabrio ONE, includes its own WFM capabilities. Talkdesk aims to supplement its CCaaS leadership with a unified solution for managing both customer interactions and agent performance, focusing on simplified scheduling, improved agent engagement, and real-time insights.

Key Features & Differentiators

• All-in-one CCaaS + WEM: Talkdesk offers a solution including both contact center communications and workforce engagement management tools.
• Omnichannel communications: As a CCaaS provider, Talkdesk is noted for its omnichannel integration and support for a wide variety of digital communication channels.

Pros

• Ease of use and setup: Users give high grades to dashboards, Talkdesk’s overall usability, and the speed of setup time.
• Strong learning and coaching support: Talkdesk is known for its strong support team. A built-in Knowledge Base and remote onboarding tend to support better experiences than other leading alternatives like NICE WFM and Verint.

Cons

• Locked into Talkdesk CCaaS: Whereas other WEM and WFM solutions like Calabrio ONE give flexibility, users must rely on Talkdesk for CCaaS needs.
• Limited forecasting and scheduling: Talkdesk’s forecasting and scheduling capabilities may be less robust compared to dedicated WFM solutions, potentially limiting accuracy and advanced optimization features.
• Lack of reporting customizability: Despite a sleek interface, reporting offers little customizability and overall functionality relative to more established alternatives.

Looking for a NICE CXOne Alternative for Your Workforce Management Needs?

Getting workforce management right is critical for today’s contact centers. Teams need solutions that support much more than accurate forecasting and accelerated scheduling: they need tools that enhance both agent and customer experiences.

Calabrio ONE develops its innovative tools with this idea front and center, delivering intuitive solutions that facilitate agent self-service, deliver personalized insights, and help streamline workflows—all while supercharging performance with the help of data-driven intelligence.

Opt for a modern workforce engagement management solution that enhances your contact center communications strategy—and meanwhile, deploy the technology you need to empower your managers, planners, and frontline agents to perform at their best and deliver efficient, elevated customer experiences.

Learn more about the power of Talkdesk + Calabrio as well as Genesys + Calabrio to turn your contact center into a growth center, and book a demo to see Calabrio’s leading solutions today.