Webinar Recap: A Tactical Guide to Seasonality & Scaling

It’s that time of year when organization across a variety of industries are ramping up for seasonal spikes. Black Friday for retailers, open enrollment for healthcare insurers, and tax season are all prime examples of seasonality. Dizzion hosted a recent webinar featuring four industry experts who discussed the challenges and best practices associated with seasonality and scaling to meet demand. “A Tactical Guide to Seasonality & Scaling” included insights from:

• Michael Brady – EVP & Chief Information Officer at LeaderOne
• Devlin O’Neil – Manager, Contact Center Information Systems at an Internationally Recognized Retailer
• Loren Kennedy – Vice President, Human Resources at World Travel Holdings
• Chris Dobson – President at Mindseeker

The experts addressed a few key areas including forecasting seasonal demand bursts, just in time hiring of staff, and provisioning and engaging a remote workforce. Best practices and lessons learned were shared within each area:

Forecasting Demand Bursts & Seasonality

Chris Dobson highlighted the importance of intimately understanding customer needs and growth plans to forecast accurately. In a business providing professional services like Mindseeker, this is critical. Mike Brady discussed his experience in the mortgage space and some of the macroeconomic factors that can impact demand trends. He emphasized the value of historical data as well as funding ratios, credit pulls, and geographical nuances in predicting seasonal demand. Devlin O’Neil provided examples from the retail industry as to scaling more effectively using cloud and SaaS based technologies to handle seasonal spikes. Leveraging systems and tools based upon utility can improve the ability to handle unforeseen demand and be more agile as an organization.

Just in Time Recruitment, Hiring & Training of Staff

Loren Kennedy of World Travel Holdings brought a human resources perspective to the discussion and provided several valuable insights related to hiring within a seasonal, work at home environment. Casting the widest net possible in recruitment is critical to her strategy of just in time hiring and training. She also explained how the World Travel Holdings team has to account for attrition within their environment and uses over-hiring to combat turnover.

Provisioning & Engaging a Remote Workforce

The final topic our experts covered was the use of technology to get new hires onboard and realize time to value quickly. Loren Kennedy discussed the tactical hurdles of shipping equipment such as computers, headsets, routers, and more in a work at home environment. Devlin O’Neil again highlighted the advantages of cloud systems and tools. For example, cloud-based CRM platforms, softphones and workforce management tools. These tools have enabled his organization to better leverage work at home models and expand operations internationally with ease. Finally, Mike Brady described the BYOD approach he has taken with teams at LeaderOne in combination with cloud applications. Getting loan officers and sales professionals up to speed quickly is vital to value creation in his business and saving time is a competitive advantage.

For more learnings from our recent webinar, listen to the entire session!