CommunityWFM’s Acquisition was Inevitable

Author

Jim Davies

Analyst and Executive Partner

With over 20 years of experience, Jim is a visionary analyst who has shaped markets and provided strategic advice to thousands of organizations. As the founder of groundbreaking frameworks such as the VoC and Workforce Engagement magic quadrants, and through his role as agenda manager for Gartner’s customer service research team, Jim has championed the elevation of customer experience and employee engagement. As an Executive Partner for Actionary, he continues his mission of driving impactful change in the industry.

Back in 2021 I retired the WEM Magic Quadrant because there simply weren’t enough vendors with viable solutions. Since then, WEM has steadily grown into a critical capability earning a higher percentage weighting in both the CCaaS and CRM CEC Magic Quadrants.

Now, putting all the AI hype and media analyst coverage aside, I wanted to share a few quick observations as the beleaguered founder of WEM.

WEM is dead, for now.
Yes, you can still buy QM and WFM from the same provider and yes there are a few standalone but not well known vendors out there, but in most cases these functions now exist only as checkbox compliance features designed to boost quadrant placement rather than deliver real, integrated value.

• Buying QM?
  Just go with your core CEC/CCaaS platform of choice. It may not be as strong as a standalone, but the gap usually isn’t big enough to matter. As CEC and CCaaS vendors look to justify their huge investment in AI, auto QM is an easy category to go after – and they are aggressively doing so.
• Buying WFM?
  Your platform provider likely has a “lite” version, but the chances are it won’t meet your needs and you might as well stick with Excel (yes, its still a widely used WFM “tool”). Alternatively, align with your platform provider’s preferred WFM partner because odds are that’s who they’ll acquire next.
• Already using a standalone WFM?
  Expect it to get acquired eventually. Look at its partner network for hints about where it’s headed. That could work in your favor, but if it’s bought by a competing CEC/CCaaS platform, you’ll need to start planning an exit. And if it doesn’t get acquired, you should probably be asking yourselves why not and start looking elsewhere anyway.

Where does that leave us?
No matter who you source QM and WFM from, it’s time to start demanding more. These capabilities should be more than checkboxes. Push your vendors to deliver on WEM’s original promise. My original promise: incremental value through the seamless integration of QM and WFM.

Ask yourself are your shiny new “auto-QM” scores influencing schedules? Probably not, but they should be.

So yes, WEM is dead, for now. But the ball is in your court. If we hold vendors accountable, we can push them to make WEM live up to its potential, beyond nudging a dot a few millimetres on the infamous 2×2.