JDA announces new capabilities in JDA Workforce Management

Integration with Microsoft Teams empowers the workforce to self-manage their schedule and be proactive with upcoming changes they may need, reducing absenteeism, said JDA Software in a press release. Retailers can tap into JDA Workforce Management through Microsoft Teams to easily connect and collaborate with managers and coworkers through a unified platform via desktop or mobile. Microsoft Teams brings together people, conversations and content built into Office 365 and Microsoft’s global secure cloud. The latest version of JDA Workforce Management leverages the Azure platform and by opening up connectivity to Teams, customers can unite their teams across the workforce in one place, to easily swap shifts, make time off requests and more. This integration is made possible by JDA’s new Microsoft Azure-based SCM platform, with an API-led architecture.

“As the gig economy grows, so does the importance of giving retailers speed and agility in which to respond to their most strategic asset – their workforce – with the powerful tools they need day-to-day to communicate, plan their schedule and proactively address upcoming time off needs. We continue to add new capabilities in JDA Workforce Management portfolio to increase employee productivity and efficiency,” said Jim Prewitt, group vice president, product management, JDA. “Integration with Microsoft Teams is the latest proof point to our partnership with Microsoft and the enhancements we continually are making to JDA Workforce Management to align this solution with retailers’ other collaboration tools.”

As continuous functionality is released based on user persona for JDA Workforce Management, the overall workforce is becoming more efficient and empowered to make better decisions based on changing information in real-time on their own mobile devices. This reduces unnecessary costs and ultimately provides a better shopping experience for customers. New mobile capabilities based on worker persona – employee, site manager, or district manager is simple, elegant and fits each user’s needs exactly. For example, employees can enter in their time off requests and collaborate with their coworkers which give them more autonomy at their fingertips and reduces associate turnover. In addition, workers can post and swap shifts and receive scheduling updates on their mobile device and access their schedule on the fly. This reduces unplanned absences while increasing employee satisfaction.

JDA has expanded its partner ecosystem as part of its Autonomous Supply Chain VisionTM to deliver customer value across the end-to-end supply chain network. New partnerships include Shyft and WorkJam.

In January, JDA and Shyft announced their integration partnership to optimise workforce scheduling for mobile devices. The joint solution connects Shyft’s mobile-first workforce management app to JDA Workforce Management. Customers are able to engage frontline workers on mobile and strategically flex their workforce - while leveraging the robust capabilities of an enterprise workforce management system. The JDA-Shyft partnership progresses workforce management with new mobile capabilities and supports a company’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality employees in a competitive job market.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with JDA to present a new market opportunity for customers in last-mile staffing,” said Brett Patrontasch, CEO of Shyft. “Shyft’s mobile-first application enables customers to broadcast extra shifts and voluntary time off opportunities at scale to adjust staffing and react to ever-changing customer demand in real time.”

In May, JDA and WorkJam announced a partnership to empower employers to manage, optimise, engage and evolve their front-line teams from both the top down and the bottom up. Through the seamless integration of WorkJam and JDA Workforce Management, not only will hourly employers be able to create optimised schedules against advanced forecasting and workforce management capabilities, they will also be able to close their availability and coverage gap. Additionally, customers will be able to leverage tools they need to deliver communications, micro-learning, gamification and agile staffing — all while complying with ever-changing labour regulations and union work rules. (PC)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India