Software Enhancements Automate Workforce Scheduling and Planning, Simplify Workload Management and Support Quality Citizen Service Focus

Verint and Partner Goserco Help Denver 9-1-1 Automate Forecasting and Scheduling to Optimize Workforce Efficiency and Effectiveness
APCO International Annual Conference
George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas
Booth #1006
HOUSTON, TEXAS and MELVILLE, N.Y., August 2, 2010 — Verint® Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT) today announced the availability of new forecasting and scheduling functionality to its Impact 360® for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog™ solution.  The workforce optimization software is designed for today’s public safety answering points (PSAPs), command and control, and emergency communications centers. 

Staffing effectively in mission-critical and 24×7 environments translates into a need to understand call volume trends and manage multiple shifts, posing a challenge for even the most experienced manager.  Until now, public safety operations have relied on manual and time-consuming staff scheduling methods that often lack the ability to leverage historical call volume patterns, telecommunicator skills and available hours and workload requirements. 

To counter these very real challenges, Verint has added new functionality to Impact 360 for Public Safety that automates workforce forecasting and scheduling, and introduces capabilities that enable monitoring schedule adherence in real time.  Helping emergency communications and dispatch center management plan and appropriately staff to meet their workloads and requirements, the Verint solution can produce optimal schedules by balancing defined shift rules, work patterns, breaks, off-phone times, and individual skills, proficiencies and preferences. 

Other enhancements include intra-day management capabilities that provide visibility into operational metrics, enabling managers to track and compare actual and forecasted volume and performance against plan and/or forecasts; assess trends and historical data; identify and proactively resolve variations to plan; and take appropriate and rapid action in routine, as well as unanticipated emergency and disaster situations.  Impact 360 for Public Safety now also automates such routine tasks as time off management and shift swapping, and includes out-of-the-box reports that provide managers with insight into individual and group performance and the ability to perform activity analysis.

Denver 9-1-1 recently collaborated with Verint and Goserco Inc., a Verint Premier partner, on its forecasting and scheduling technology initiative.  “Automated forecasting and scheduling is helping Denver 9-1-1 take intelligence from the phone switch and use that information to build optimal staff schedules and deliver better, more efficient service to our citizens,” shares Christine Bradshaw, performance manager, Denver 9-1-1.  “Conceptually, it’s like using the dashboard in your car to gather data to make better driving decisions.”

“When every second counts, it’s critical to have a program grounded in quality, accuracy and timeliness—and committed to high-caliber performance, citizen service, liability reduction and NG9-1-1 requirements,” adds Nancy Treaster, senior vice president and general manager, Verint® Witness Actionable Solutions®.  “These latest enhancements to Impact 360 for Public Safety incorporate critical forecasting and scheduling capabilities that align the most appropriately skilled call takers at the most opportune times, enabling agencies to better manage workload, control costs, and excel in citizen support and service.”

Impact 360 for Public Safety’s forecasting engine pulls in historical weeks of call statistics from the phone system that can be altered and weighted for forecasting future weeks.  The solution’s forecast profiles enable PSAPs and other agencies to select and save a set of contact behavior to quickly and accurately model for storms, large public gatherings, and other seasonal and recurring events, for example.  It can then project staffing needs for each queue down to the 15-minute level.   

About Impact 360 for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog
Verint’s Impact 360® for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog™ is designed to help support PSAPs and emergency services organizations in enhancing performance and responding to new challenges arising from Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).  The solution brings together a unique set of functionality that when combined assists in achieving high quality and accurate call handling and dispatching, liability reduction, immediacy of incident data and efficient incident-based recording retrieval, citizen surveys and staff training.  Having successfully introduced workforce optimization technology from mainstream business operations into the rapid-pace, mission-critical, public safety communications world, Verint is again extending the technology’s potential and reach—this time with workforce forecasting and scheduling.  With Verint solutions, PSAPs can better achieve accuracy and completeness of records, immediacy of incident data, reductions in liability, and improved quality and employee retention—helping them accomplish more with limited resources.

For more information about Verint and its public safety solutions, visit www.verint.com/publicsafety.