MSC Cruises’ latest partnership optimises workforce management

Software provider Peopleware to modernise its service quality

MSC Cruises, the world's third-largest cruise company, has teamed up with software provider Peopleware to radically modernise the workforce management (WFM) for its global contact centre organisation.

The aim is to meet growing customer demands, standardise internal processes and ensure consistent service quality across all channels and regions.

Before the introduction of Peopleware, MSC did not have a professional system for staff scheduling.

Rosters were maintained locally in spreadsheets, processes were not standardised, forecasts were based on empirical values, and the contact centres reached their limits during seasonal fluctuations and peak periods, for example, during the introduction of new ships or marketing campaigns.

With the WFM suite from Peopleware, MSC Cruises has now combined transparency, flexibility and control in one global system.

In addition to the technological implementation, the accompanying change management was particularly crucial. “It wasn’t just about teaching people how to use the software,” says Michele Pepe, Corporate Workforce Planning Manager at MSC Cruises.

“We needed everyone - from operations managers to team leaders - to truly understand the value of WFM and Peopleware.”

Today, MSC Cruises benefits worldwide from the advantages of professional workforce management:

·Better customer service thanks to demand-oriented forecasts, reduced waiting times and cross-channel planning.

·Significantly lower abandonment rates and higher schedule adherence, as KPIs are integrated into planning from the outset.

·More autonomy for employees thanks to an intuitive self-service portal for schedules, shift swaps and vacation requests.

·More efficient internal collaboration through dashboards that visualise performance metrics for internal teams and external BPOs in real time.

·Strategic importance of WFM: Workforce management is now an active driver of customer service, sales and business decisions at MSC.

Pepe adds: "We were asked to consider another workforce platform, but in the end, we refused because of the usability Peopleware provides. It’s simply the best we’ve seen."