Workforce administration software program has been out there to companies for many years. But in accordance with current analysis from Name Centre Helper, round 60% of organisations nonetheless depend on spreadsheets as their major scheduling instrument.
Adoption has grown, from roughly 30% of organisations utilizing devoted WFM instruments a decade in the past to 64% at present. However a good portion of the market, significantly smaller operations, stays locked out. Licensing prices and implementation necessities have made the enterprise case tough to shut for organisations beneath a sure dimension.
This week, 8×8 confirmed that 8×8 Workforce Administration is now included as normal in each Contact Middle bundle. The providing covers forecasting throughout voice and digital channels, real-time adherence, shift templates, and agent self-service scheduling, at no extra licence price.
Why Workforce Administration Software program Has Been Laborious to Entry
Most workforce administration software program options have been designed for giant, specialist groups. They require devoted implementation tasks and ongoing administration that smaller organisations typically can not useful resource.
8×8 CEO Samuel Wilson made this level straight on the corporate’s Q2 FY2026 earnings name. The common US contact heart runs 73 seats, he famous, and the bulk schedule on Excel.
He stated:
“Merely having a product to interchange Excel provides great extra worth to our prospects.”
Hunter Middleton, Chief Product Officer at 8×8, described the problem when the corporate first introduced native WFM inclusion in November 2025:
“Workforce administration has too typically been handled like a luxurious add-on, leaving the overwhelming majority of contact facilities to depend on spreadsheets and workarounds.”
AI in Workforce Administration Software program: Adoption Lags Behind the Expertise
There’s a secondary hole value noting. Name Centre Helper’s 2026 analysis finds that just below 60% of organisations aren’t at the moment utilizing AI inside their workforce administration software program. That is even supposing AI-driven forecasting and optimisation have been normal options in trendy WFM platforms for a while.
Many organisations could not recognise that the forecasting algorithms already operating of their platforms are, in follow, AI. It notes:
“AI has been a quiet presence in WFM for years, delivering worth with out all the time being labeled as such.”
However for organisations nonetheless on spreadsheets, the query of AI-powered forecasting doesn’t but come up. The extra speedy barrier is getting onto a devoted platform in any respect. Wider adoption of workforce administration software program would, as a facet impact, carry extra organisations into contact with AI capabilities they’re at the moment not accessing.
Workforce Administration Software program and the Worker Expertise
WFM discussions are likely to give attention to operational effectivity. However workforce administration software program additionally has a direct influence on workers.
Name Centre Helper’s 2026 analysis identifies a shift in scheduling expectations. Staff are in search of extra versatile preparations: condensed work weeks, equitable distribution of unsociable shifts, and lodging of hybrid working. These are variables that spreadsheet scheduling can not handle successfully at scale.
Sheila McGee-Smith, founder and principal analyst at McGee-Smith Analytics, highlighted the worker influence when 8×8 first launched native WFM inclusion:
“8×8’s new WFM functionality permits brokers to entry their schedules, monitor shift adjustments, and handle availability straight — a win for brokers, supervisors and call heart managers.”
Self-service scheduling entry — giving workers direct visibility of their rotas and the power to handle shift adjustments with out going via a supervisor — is a sensible change with significant implications for retention. In sectors the place turnover is excessive, that issues operationally in addition to culturally.
What This Means for the Wider WFM Market
8×8 has been clear that it is a play for the SMB phase. Wilson has explicitly acknowledged that the corporate just isn’t competing with enterprise WFM distributors similar to Calabrio, Verint, or NICE. The usual providing is scoped accordingly.
That stated, as No Jitter famous when the November announcement landed, the transfer can also be about constructing platform stickiness. A premium WFM tier with enhanced analytics, improved forecasting, and multisite assist is deliberate for organisations that want greater than the usual bundle gives.
What the bundling mannequin addresses straight is a selected failure: workforce administration software program has by no means efficiently translated to smaller operations as a result of price and implementation complexity made it impractical. Eradicating each obstacles inside a platform organisations are already paying for is a extra focused repair than something the market has beforehand supplied at this degree. Whether or not the usual providing is genuinely enough to interchange spreadsheets for many SMB groups is the query value watching.
