Resources

A practical discussion on why workforce plans fail in execution and how standardizing processes brings control and predictability back to operations. What You'll Learn Even the best workforce plans can fail in execution. Forecasts are accurate, spreadsheets look sound, yet service levels still slip and teams end up firefighting.   In this webinar, Cinareo’s Mark Alpern and industry advisor Daniel Piper explore why this happens and how standardized workforce management pract

A leader-level discussion on uncovering the hidden risks in your staffing plans, cost forecasts, and service commitments. What You'll Learn Shrinkage is one of the most influential drivers of contact center performance, yet it is often treated as a single, blended assumption. For senior leaders, this simplification quietly introduces risk into staffing plans, cost forecasts, and service commitments. When assumptions don’t match reality, the gap creates immediate exposure: sta

Most contact center leaders believe they understand their labor model. Headcount is approved. Salaries are budgeted. Capacity is forecasted. And underneath it all sits a quiet assumption: 40 paid hours equals 40 productive hours. That assumption deserves scrutiny. As Mark Alpern , Co-Founder and COO at Cinareo, explained, “ When we talk about shrinkage, it’s really a generic term for non-productive time… it is as simple in principle, but complex in execution. ” The complexity

By Mark Alpern, COO, Cinareo. This article reflects patterns we see repeatedly when reviewing real-world staffing models across contact center environments.   In many of these environments, the largest source of staffing error is not forecast accuracy, but how abandonment and retries are treated, or ignored, in the underlying model. Despite decades of technological change in contact center operations, Erlang-based staffing models remain the de facto standard for determining f

By Karen Elliott, CEO, Cinareo. In capacity planning software, complexity has become a proxy for credibility.  It seems like more exposed variables and more buttons and functions sends the message: if it’s complicated, it must be accurate. After years of building a planning system, I’ve come to believe the opposite. Complexity is the easiest thing to promote. Clarity is the hard part. And when complexity becomes the interface, planning slows, trust erodes, and decision-making

Shrinkage remains one of the most misunderstood yet impactful metrics in contact center management. While often viewed as a simple Workforce Management (WFM) percentage, miscalculating it leads to significant inefficiencies that affect customer experience, employee engagement, and financial performance

Key Insights from Cinareo’s Recent Conversation with Industry Experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper This article is the fourth and final part in our series exploring key themes from Cinareo’s recent conversation with workforce planning experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper. CFOs, operations executives, and budget holders often find themselves at a critical juncture where workforce planning succeeds or stalls. WFM teams build credible forecasts and thoughtful capacity plans. How

Key insights from Cinareo’s recent conversation with industry experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper This article is the third in a four-part series exploring key themes from Cinareo’s recent conversation with workforce planning experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper. Workforce planning often breaks down not because the work is done poorly, but because the connection between planning and execution is weak or inconsistent. In the earlier parts of this series, we explored how unrel

Key insights from Cinareo’s recent conversation with industry experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper This article is the second in a four-part series exploring key themes from Cinareo’s recent conversation with workforce planning experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper. Even accurate forecasts can collapse once they reach the operation floor. That paradox – doing everything right and still missing the mark  – was at the center of Cinareo’s recent discussion on why workforce plans

Key Insights from Cinareo’s Recent Conversation with Industry Experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper This article is the first in a four-part series exploring key themes from Cinareo’s recent conversation with workforce planning experts Mark Alpern and Daniel Piper. Even the best workforce plans can fail if they start with unreliable data. That was one of the first realities acknowledged in a recent webinar , Why Workforce Plans Breakdown , where industry experts Mark Alpern a

Why Complex Tools Miss the Mark and How to Find What Works , a thought leadership paper by  Karen Elliott . Unnecessarily complex...

Simplicity in WFM Software Isn’t a Flaw… It’s What Sets the Best Apart By Karen Elliott, CEO, Cinareo You know the feeling. You’re...

By David Penn Posted on August 22, 2025 Introduction to Cinareo Solutions This week’s edition of Finovate Global features an interview with Karen Elliott, CEO and Co-Founder of Cinareo Solutions . Cinareo Solutions is based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2022, the company enhances workforce management platforms. It helps streamline contact center operations and mitigate risks. This is achieved by enabling precise resource allocation and data-driven decision-making.

In today’s fast-moving contact center world,  Workforce Management (WFM) maturity  is the difference between firefighting daily problems...

Many contact centers struggle with capacity planning. They often rely on outdated methods and reactive decision-making. While the...

Manual capacity planning using Excel is costing you money. Every day that you delay adopting an automated capacity planning solution will result in operational, financial and reputational costs.  Can you afford to wait? While Excel is a powerful tool with a wide range of capabilities, here are 8 reasons why it may not be the best option for capacity planning for your contact center:   1.    Lack of Automation Excel requires manual data entry and updates, which can lead to hu

If you’ve been following the rapid advances in AI, you’ve probably heard about how chatbots and automated systems are bound to wipe out...

Ah, the contact center—where "Your call is important to us" often feels like the world's longest-running joke. But fear not! The days of endless hold music and robotic responses are disappearing faster than a voicemail icon when you finally check it. As we wrap up 2024, it's clear that the contact center industry has undergone significant transformation. The convergence of advanced technologies and evolving customer expectations has reshaped how businesses approach customer s

"The strategic role of multi-skilling in contact centers: opportunities, challenges and implications"  by  Dr. Mark Alpern . Contact...

Unlock the keys to contact center success with Cinareo’s latest thought leadership paper, Mastering the Art of Capacity Planning in Multi-Channel, Multi-Skill Contact Centers by  Dr. Mark Alpern . Contact Center Capacity Planners play a pivotal role in ensuring operational excellence. In dynamic environments with diverse skills, channels, and languages, effective capacity planners must smartly navigate complexity. They cater to diverse stakeholder needs while optimizing reso