About the Webcast
This roundtable on workforce optimization brought together Aya Tzarfati (NiCE), Ric Kosiba (Real Numbers), and Dave Hoekstra (Verint) to explore how AI and human agents are increasingly working side by side in contact centers. Aya opened the discussion by noting that AI agents now co-pilot customer journeys alongside humans, yet most performance management systems were built for an all-human workforce. She pointed out that only 13% of leaders currently have full visibility into combined human-AI performance, even though 65% expect unified measurement approaches to become essential for future operational efficiency. The panel agreed that new metrics need to capture AI-specific measures like containment and fallback rates alongside traditional human performance indicators, with particular emphasis on the quality of handoffs between AI and human agents.
On the operational planning side, Ric Kosiba laid out the distinction between capacity planning (determining how many agents are needed) and workforce management (scheduling existing staff), stressing that accurate forecasting and validated simulation models are the backbone of effective planning. He shared several best practices: never flatline shrinkage assumptions since they vary seasonally, keep stretch goals separate from realistic operational plans, review capacity plans weekly to catch changes early, and run risk and sensitivity analyses to anticipate the impact of volume or attrition swings. Dave Hoekstra built on this by explaining how hybrid workforces complicate forecasting further — with AI potentially handling 65-75% of routine interactions by 2025, planners now have to predict not just overall volume but how that volume splits between AI and human handling, all while finance and leadership still expect reliable long-term plans.
The conversation also turned to coaching and performance management. Panelists saw AI as a way to scale personalized coaching, using data to flag coaching needs, deliver feedback closer to the actual interaction, and let agents rehearse scenarios through simulation before facing them live. Dave emphasized giving agents real-time visibility into their own KPIs through dashboards and scorecards, arguing this transparency encourages self-correction and can be reinforced through team gamification. He also made the case for breaking down the traditional silos between workforce management, quality management, and analytics — recommending that organizations co-locate these teams and cross-train staff into broader "CX analyst" roles rather than narrow specialists, since integrated data platforms and shared priorities lead to better decision-making than siloed functions.
Throughout the session, the panel consistently framed AI as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement for human agents. Simple, routine conversations are shifting to AI, while complex interactions requiring empathy and professional judgment remain firmly in human hands — meaning agents need continuous coaching to stay ahead of AI's growing capabilities. On emerging metrics, the group didn't identify entirely new categories so much as an adaptation of existing ones, with end-to-end journey quality and AI-human handoff performance rising in importance. Ric closed with a cautionary example involving AI replacing 911 operators, underscoring the risks of leaning too heavily on automation in situations where human judgment is critical.
About the Presenters
Aya Tzarfati, Senior Product Marketing Manager, NiCE Performance Management
Aya brings over 18 years of experience in B2B product marketing, specializing in high-tech and medical devices. She excels at developing go-to-market strategies, crafting compelling product messaging, and creating impactful sales enablement tools. With a strong background in cybersecurity and international marketing, Aya leverages deep market insights and competitive analysis to drive innovation and elevate customer experience through performance management.
Ric Kosiba, Managing Partner, Real Numbers
Ric is an engineer, who tripped into the contact
center industry about 25 years ago (and honestly loves it!). He started a
contact center planning company, called Bay Bridge Decision Technologies in
2000, and has worked at several CCaaS companies (Interactive Intelligence,
Genesys, and Sharpen), always doing contact center planning and analyses. He
holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research and Engineering from Purdue University(Go
Boilers!).
Ric resides in Indiana with his wife, Karin, and four kids.
He loves being a dad.
Dave Hoekstra, Product Evangelist, Verint
When it comes to Contact Centers, Dave has seen it all. He started his journey in the 90’s as an agent and continued through every role a contact center has to offer, eventually finding his way into his current role. Dave enjoys nothing more than sharing his knowledge and experience with other folks in the industry. And yes, being a father, grandfather, bassist, and photographer (and Texan), he uses words like “folks”. Combining 20+ years of experience in the industry with the rest of his life experience, Dave has a unique perspective of the tools, technology and challenges faced by today’s modern CX organizations and he looks forward to each and every interaction.