Years ago, when banks operated on a standard 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday schedule, predicting customer traffic flows did not pose a problem. But as many banks extended their hours to meet customers' changing schedules, their staffing issues became more complex as well.  

For SunTrust Banks, the expanded hours of operation meant increased challenges in forecasting traffic surges and scheduling employees to accommodate demand at individual branches. In the past managers used spreadsheets to plan schedules, but they didn't take into account foot traffic or employee preferences, says Jane Barringer, group vice president of retail staffing at SunTrust Banks. "We didn't feel that we were always using our employees as efficiently as we could, or were meeting their needs as fairly as we could," she says.

SunTrust implemented tools from Verint Witness Actionable Solutions to monitor traffic by day and time at individual branches so it can schedule employees based on seasonality and trends. The solution is designed to predict how many customers will walk in the door at a given time. "We have a lot of audit and compliance problems in the industry, so we want to be sure to have the optimal staff so we're not taking away from clients," Barringer says.

So far SunTrust has rolled out the scheduling solution to 120 branches and plans to include the entire footprint-1,700 branches-by August. Barringer hopes this will help deliver a good client and employee experience. "We hope to minimize the client issues that arrive from not staffing correctly," she says. "That doesn't always mean having enough people there, but also having the right people there."