What’s Happening With Forecasting Right Now?

Forecasting has always been at the heart of effective contact centre planning, but rapid shifts in customer behaviour and channel usage are testing traditional models. Not only that, but new tools and data sources are reshaping how leaders approach the challenge.

So, what’s really happening with forecasting right now? We asked the experts to find out.

Matching Expected Traffic With Workforce Availability Has Never Been More Complex

The task of matching expected traffic with workforce availability has never been more complex than in today’s omnichannel environment.

Responding to this challenge, smart real-time forecasting matches current and expected activity across all channels of contact against available agent skill sets. This empowers contact centres to stay agile and prevents operational bottlenecks before they escalate.

Omnichannel working also keeps agents productive during quieter periods by shifting them to slower channels such as email. The focus is on maintaining efficiency: ensuring everyone is working to an optimal state of flow while keeping wait times acceptable. 

Contributed by: Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO, Content Guru

Bot Deflection Is Making Historical Trend Analysis Less Reliable

As conversational AI and self-service solutions handle a growing share of enquiries, traditional volume-based forecasting models no longer apply.

Bots deflect or resolve interactions that would have previously reached an agent but not always consistently, making historical trend analysis less reliable and planning more complex.

To keep pace, contact centres need to evolve from simple volume prediction to truly data-driven forecasting.

This means selecting applications that generate the right data: not just activity counts, but insights into where bots succeed or fail, when interactions escalate to humans, and how customer sentiment shifts along the journey.

With robust analytics, leaders can test automation flows, measure deflection accuracy, and model demand more realistically.

Contributed by: Lisa Orford, VP for Contact Centre, 8×8

Forecasters Are Having to Shorten Planning Cycles and Build Multiple “What If” Scenarios

For contact centre leaders, the real advantage today is in agility, since forecasting isn’t just about getting the numbers right, but also about responding quickly when those numbers shift.

Even traditional seasonal patterns are less reliable, and factors like economic uncertainty, social trends, or sudden product changes can throw plans off course overnight.

Forecasters are having to shorten planning cycles and build multiple “what if” scenarios rather than relying on one long-range prediction.

Flexibility has now become as valuable as precision, and contact centres that can pivot staffing and resources in near real time are more able to stay ahead of volatility while keeping service levels steady. In many cases they are supported by AI-driven workforce management.

Contributed by: Mark Ligi, Virtual Agent Product Manager, Enghouse

A More Holistic View Is Needed to Meet Demand in an Omni-Channel, Omni-Skilled and Omni-Agent World

Forecasting remains the foundation of effective workforce management, but today, it’s needing more agility than ever before.

We are seeing the need to blend in forecasts across channels and skills to provide a more holistic view of the resources needed to meet the demand in an omni-channel, omni-skilled and omni-agent world.

Forecasting isn’t an operational necessity, but it’s a strategic capability that enables contact centres to stay prepared and ahead whatever comes next.

Contributed by: Florian Garnier, Product Marketing Manager, Calabrio

The Use of Virtual Agents Is Changing Demand Faster Than Ever

Accurate forecasting is critical for effective operations, but the game is evolving… And fast.  Customer behaviour, digital channel preferences and even the use of virtual agents can change demand faster than ever, meaning traditional forecasting approaches might struggle to keep up without lots of rework.

Personally, I see the latest wave of AI and machine learning tools helping to reshape forecasting, in particular by incorporating far broader datasets across organizations, and far more easily. 

It becomes less about contact volumes (and things like ‘Weather APIs’) and more about understanding the impact on forecasts of digitizing interactions alongside your CRM activities. These new layers of insight will give leaders much sharper visibility. 

Forecasts become less static and more adaptive, helping operational teams predict service delivery more intelligently. Planning teams can then blend their expertise with even smarter forecasting engines, turning complex data into actionable insight to keep service delivery consistently high.

Contributed by: Lewis Gallagher, Senior Solutions Consultant, Netcall

Rolling, Real-Time Forecasts Are Helping Manage Demand Across Multiple Channels

According to Peopleware’s WFM Benchmark Report 2025, live chat (58%) and social media (48%) are the fastest-growing channels, reflecting changing customer preferences and the need for real-time, omnichannel engagement.

To keep up with this change, many contact centres are replacing traditional long-term forecasts with rolling, near real-time forecasts to manage demand across multiple channels, such as chat, email, social media, etc. This enables contact centres to respond quickly to demand shifts and unplanned events.

Contributed by: Zainab Ahmed, Marketing Manager, Peopleware

New Forecasting Tools Are Helping Leaders Predict Demand at a Far More Granular Level

Major technology providers are rapidly moving beyond simple interaction volume predictions by pioneering true ‘predictive staffing models’. This advanced methodology tightly integrates forecasting with the optimization of multiskilled agent pools and scheduling.

Critically, this integration allows for granular planning at micro-intervals, such as 15 minutes, enabling organizations to seamlessly merge compiled forecasts from disparate teams and multiple lines of business into one cohesive, enterprise-wide capacity plan. This ensures resource alignment is strategic, boosting efficiency and overall financial performance.

Contributed by: Matthew Clare, VP, Product Marketing, UJET

Yet Many Forecasters Are Still Clinging On to Their Excel Spreadsheets

The key skill of a forecaster isn’t necessarily being right, it’s about being prepared.

Being able to understand the source of variance, and act accordingly, is a skill trained through hours of model development and tweaking, understanding the multifaceted cogs in your business, blood, sweat and tears.

Black-box forecasting tools will likely elicit a ‘you can pry my Excel sheets from my hands’ response, but the tools empowering forecasters with insight into key drivers, propensity against their internal business data, and contextual reporting may yet break through these barriers and elevate the value added by forecasts rather than seek to replace them.

Having seen a few leading WFM providers’ roadmaps recently, watch this space!

Contributed by: James Knight, Technical Consultant, Route 101

Forecasting Is Undergoing a Profound Transformation

Forecasting in contact centres is undergoing a profound transformation. Once defined by historical data and static projections, it is now a dynamic, data-rich process shaped by AI, automation, and cross-functional collaboration.

Today’s forecasters therefore must balance precision with agility – building flexible “what if” scenarios, adapting plans in near real time, and integrating insights from across the business.

All to drive a more resilient, connected, and customer-focused organization – where forecasting drives not just operational efficiency, but strategic advantage.

For more great insights and advice from our panel of experts, read these articles next:

• Stay Ahead in QA and Call Recording
• How to Nail Your Outbound Strategy
• The Secrets to Scheduling Multiskilled Agents

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Jo Robinson