The Service Vertical and Workforce Management
Posted by Andrea Kayal on Thu, Nov 17, 2011 @ 04:11 PM
According to the Service Annual Survey (2009) published this year by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Economics and Statistics Administration), the total revenue for employer firms in selected service industries was well over 10 trillion dollars. The number is unfathomable. Not only because it’s unequivocally a lot of money, but because according to the World Bank, 10 trillion is 70% of the US’s gross domestic product ($14.119 trillion) and 20% of the world ($58.26 trillion).
Admittedly, that data is from 2009, but the fact remains- America’s role as a global provider of services is significant.
While this data demonstrates the true revenue generating power of the indusry, it doesn’t explicitly state how companies have utilized resources to close the gap between this exponential number and their expenses. As the Human Capital Management Institute notes in their brief, Managing an Organization’s Biggest Cost: The Workforce, 70% of the total operating costs are allocated to the workforce.
The service industry is especially prone to workforce management costs. After all, the value and competitive advantage experienced in a service-oriented organization is generated, for the most part, by the knowledge and expertise of their people.
When digging in to this article a little deeper they state that, “simply put, organizations lack tools with which to surgically manage, tune or optimize their workforce.” After shuttering at this notion a bit, considering our (TimeLink’s) livelihood is in part built around the optimization of an organizations workforce, the fact of the matter is that this statement may be true.
As such, here is a quick list of the ways in which an Enterprise Workforce Management (EWM) solution can be used as a tool to help reduce labor costs:
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Automation of workforce scheduling leads to reduction in time required to manage staff
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Budgeting and Forecasting tools help to identify labor supply and demand
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Planned vs. Actual schedules reduce overtime and annual payroll expenditures
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Increased reporting capabilities make it easier to review important data used to make strategic payroll and budgetary changes
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Increased communication across channels enable the streamlining and dissemination of vital information- allowing for quick and easy decision making
Andrea Kayal - Director of Marketing
Ms. Kayal joined TimeLink in 2011 as Director of Marketing. Prior to joining TimeLink, Andrea worked at Octagon Marketing where she managed global marketing portfolios for clients such as BMW of North America and MasterCard. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan and an MBA from American University.