Resources

By Karen Elliott, CEO/Cofounder, Cinareo AI is starting to show up more in workforce management and capacity planning. As new capabilities emerge, it is clear that the industry is exploring how these technologies can enhance planning workflows in practical ways. This is an exciting development. At the same time, capacity planning sits in a unique category of decision-making, one where precision, transparency, and repeatability are essential. Planning models inform real-world

Small changes rarely break a plan. It is how they accumulate and surface that creates the real problem. The plan did not fail overnight. It stopped holding quietly. Nothing obvious broke. Forecasts were still within range. Staffing looked reasonable. Service levels had not collapsed. On paper, everything still appeared under control. But something had shifted. A small change in demand. A slight increase in handling time. A hiring delay that did not seem urgent at the time. In

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

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. Workforce plans often lose traction the moment they reach executive leadership. Not because the work was wrong, but because leaders are being asked to make decisions on information that does not clearly tran

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 plans rarely break because the work was done poorly. They break when decisions made after the plan slowly pull operations in a different direction. Not all at once, but through small, everyday choices that

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. Most workforce plans do not fail because the forecast was wrong. They fail because something changed after the plan was set, and no one saw the impact early enough. By the time results start to drift, the decision

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. Workforce plans often fail before they even reach execution. Not because the logic is wrong, but because the data they rely on does not reflect what is actually happening in the operation. By the time the plan is bu

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.

Manual capacity planning using Excel is costing you more than time. It is usually not obvious at first. The model works, the numbers look right, and planning gets done. But as demands increase, faster updates, more scenarios, and greater visibility into decisions, the same spreadsheet starts to feel heavier. What used to be manageable becomes slower and harder to validate or explain. That is when teams start feeling the strain. While Excel is a powerful tool with a wide range

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

Capacity planning remains relevant in contact centers even if AI is involved, and it can take on a different but crucial role.

Effective capacity planning is instrumental in modeling the Return on Investment (ROI) of improvement opportunities within your contact...

Hiring ahead of attrition in a contact center can offer several benefits...

Capacity planning involves multiple stakeholders across various departments and functions working together to assess, forecast,...

Shrinkage is a crucial factor to consider when developing a capacity plan for a contact center. What is Shrinkage? Shrinkage refers to...

An accurate and optimized capacity plan is essential for effective contact center operations.