JDA Software is addressing the challenges retailers face in an ever-changing economy and a workforce that demands more agility and autonomy.
The company has announced new capabilities in JDA Workforce Management, including integration with Microsoft Teams, persona-based enhancements for mobile users and an expanded partner ecosystem including Shyft and WorkJam that empower the workforce and increase engagement across mobility and enterprise platforms.
“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,” says Jim Prewitt, group vice-president: product management at 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 a retailers’ other collaboration tools.”
Integration with Microsoft Teams empowers the workforce to self-manage their schedule and be proactive with upcoming changes they may need, reducing absenteeism. 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 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Platform, with an API-led architecture.
As continuous functionality is released based on user persona for JDA Workforce Management (Mobile and desktop), 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 users’ 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.