Those who run customer contact centers are constantly challenged with scheduling scores of agents to handle calls. While they may have a good idea of how many agents they'll need tomorrow, most can't predict with any accuracy how many they will need a week or two from now.
WorkFlex Solutions has developed software to do just that, says Larry Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of the Montgomery-based firm.
Schwartz formed the company last year with Mitesh Desai, two years after leaving Convergys to open a consulting firm.
The company's signature product, WorkFlex Manager, is based on the manufacturing industry's concept of real-time supply chain management. The turning point in forming the company was the convergence of Schwartz's idea with an application built earlier by Desai that was helping the hotel industry schedule rooms and rates. WorkFlex Manager is now in service with a major outsourcer, and a number of other clients are preparing to implement it, Schwartz says.
WorkFlex's potential has been recognized by the venture capital community, which has invested $1.5 million in the young company.
CincyTech, which invested $250,000, led the round, making WorkFlex its 16th portfolio company.
The company currently employs two in North America, and another dozen in India. But as it grows, Schwartz says the company will add business development and marketing jobs, primarily in the Cincinnati area.
There also is the potential to leverage the company's workforce solution to create more call-center jobs here in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, he says.
Source: Larry Schwartz, WorkFlex SolutionsWriter: Gene Monteith