Working Smarter: Presented by Calabrio

In this episode, Dave Hoekstra of Calabrio sits down with Jinesh Nair, Head of Service Planning & Performance at Hargreaves Lansdown, to discuss how one of the UK’s leading financial services organizations transformed its approach to workforce planning.

Jinesh shares how a 350-agent operation spanning 25 departments tackled declining schedule adherence, 43% shrinkage, and highly manual real-time management by building a service planning function from the ground up. With Calabrio at the center, the team introduced greater agent autonomy, meaningful adherence and performance KPIs, and a data-driven real-time approach that shifted planners from manual adjustments to proactive insights.

The results speak for themselves: schedule adherence increased from 82% to 91%, multiskilling became a strategic advantage, and the contact center evolved into a more resilient, connected part of the organization.

The conversation explores why investing in the right people and processes matters more than tools alone, and why Net Promoter Score remains the ultimate pulse of the organization, reflecting customer experience, brand, and revenue in a single metric.

In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra speaks with Dan Eddie, Customer Services Director at Simplyhealth - loyal Calabrio customer -  about the evolution of customer service in the healthcare sector. Together, they explore Simplyhealth’s mission to improve access to healthcare in the UK, the shift from voice to digital contact channels, and how AI is being integrated to enhance the customer experience.

Dan shares practical insights on the importance of business readiness, employee satisfaction, and the real-world challenges of implementing AI in the contact center. The conversation highlights why having a clear purpose and strategy is essential when adopting new technologies, and how Simplyhealth’s focus on “Speed to Happiness” is shaping its CX transformation.

AI is saving contact centers time, but is it actually making life better for agents? In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra chats with Steve Morrell from ContactBabel about new research into agent burnout, the evolving role of the agent, and what really happens when productivity goes up but KPIs don’t change. From AI-powered self-service and agent assist to analytics that tell us why customers are calling, they explore whether time saved is being reinvested wisely, or quietly driving new pressures. The conversation also digs into manager empathy, agent empowerment, and why up to 25% of call time is still spent hunting for information, proving that the data is there, but we may be asking the wrong questions.

In this episode of Working Smarter, Dave Hoekstra is joined by Martin Teasdale, Founder of Get Out of Wrap, to unpack the findings from our latest Voice of the Agent research. This year, 540 frontline agents opened up about the realities, challenges, and hidden truths of working inside today’s contact centers.

Last year’s report was groundbreaking, revealing that while agents were largely satisfied and proud of their work, major gaps remained around AI readiness, training support, and overall enablement. 

This year, we dig even deeper. From evolving expectations and shifting workforce dynamics to surprising new trends that leaders can’t afford to ignore - this conversation pulls back the curtain on what it really means to be an agent in 2025.

Tune in to uncover what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what every contact center leader needs to know next.

In the first episode of Women, Working Smarter, host Jennifer Docken (Product Marketing Manager, Calabrio) welcomes Ritu Maheshwari (VP of Product Management, Calabrio) to talk about her journey from engineering to product leadership. Ritu shares how mentors shaped her path, why building strong teams matters most, and what excites her about the future of AI in the contact center. From leadership lessons to the power of Excel, this episode is full of insights on how women are shaping customer experience today, and how AI and technology will help us all work smarter tomorrow.

Get ready for an all-new series from Calabrio’s Working Smarter podcast! Hosted by Jennifer Docken, this series celebrates women leading the way in tech, contact centers, and customer service. In the preview episode, Jennifer teams up with Ritu Maheshwari from Calabrio to kick things off and share what’s to come.

Hot off the press from Calabrio’s largest annual user conference, C3 in Dallas, comes the launch of Calabrio Workforce Intelligence - the next evolution of Workforce Management. With AI at the core, not bolted on, Calabrio Workforce Intelligence introduces capabilities like Predictive Actions, Agent Assist, and more to help organizations make smarter, proactive decisions at scale. In this episode, Magnus Geverts, VP of Product Marketing, explores the history of WFM and explains why Calabrio Workforce Intelligence is more than just an upgrade - it’s the evolution that outpaces change and redefines the future of the industry.

Dan Smitley is a WFM Guru - You may have seen him posting Will Ferrell gifs on LinkedIn every Friday, but for this episode he joins Calabrio to talk about AI in WFM and how we might get real-world, practical uses out of AI and what that means to the average user. Topics include how WFM can benefit from AI, especially in the "Art vs. Science" front, and what we as humans need from AI assistants. 

Want to be a guest on the Calabrio podcast?  Send us an email! [email protected]

Ericc Whetstone joins the pod to talk about the importance of understanding what APIs can do for your contact center, use cases of great API development, and how important it is to have the skill set of API development available to a contact center staff.  APIs are no longer just for the IT department. The more you understand how an API can be used, the more productivity savings and budget relief will be available to you. 

Spend a little time with the Amazon Web Services team as we talk about the future of reporting, especially around AI.  How will AI help us find data faster?  Listen and find out!