Digital Workforce Management: It’s All About Data

Whether we’re talking about big data, artificial intelligence, or predictive analytics – one thing is certain: There are true treasures of knowledge hidden in the almost infinite world of digital data. According to Statista, the volume of data created and replicated on the internet in 2025 will amount to 181 zettabytes. Thanks to modern cloud infrastructures, managing such huge volumes of data is usually no longer a problem. The focus is therefore shifting from the quantity to the quality of the analyzed data volumes.

Generate value

Consequently, the way companies obtain information and use it for decision-making is increasingly coming into focus. In times of a shortage of skilled workers and the dawn of New Work, this is particularly true for the increasingly valuable resource of personnel and associated strategic workforce planning. Based on real-time data on employee numbers, qualifications, absence rates, time balances, and staffing requirement forecasts, companies can make well-founded decisions on how many skilled employees can be optimally deployed when and at which workplace.

If companies want to generate added value from the available information around staff deployment and working hours, they must take the entire data value chain into account. At the beginning of this chain is the extraction of high-quality information from time management data. This includes, for example, time and vacation balances, attendances and absences, availabilities, working time models, and employee preferences. All time data that are digitally recorded via terminals, PCs, apps, or self-services, for example, are stored in the software correctly, without gaps, in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and in an audit-proof manner.

Integrated platform

In order to leverage the full potential of workforce management, it is important that time management and workforce scheduling represent an integrated platform. If this is not the case, there is a lack of information relevant to planning, such as the short-term absence of a skilled worker due to illness. By the time this important information reaches the planner, valuable time has already been lost that could have been used in the search for a suitable replacement. With professional solutions, the protection of all personal data is ensured by multi-level authorization processes. At the same time, country-specific working time laws, pay scales, and internal company guidelines are automatically complied with. So compliance is built in from the start.

At the push of a button

Workforce management systems use this high-quality data pool for flexible workforce scheduling that is geared towards staffing requirements that fit the business model. At the push of a button, an automatic duty roster is created that meets all the desired criteria and priorities. A discount retailer without a consulting business, for example, can enter the specification “Use the available personnel budget as economically as possible”. A premium retailer, on the other hand, places service quality at the top of its operational staff planning list. Long-term capacity planning can also be carried out efficiently with the help of a precise personnel requirements assessment.

At the end of the data value chain are rosters that meet the interests of all stakeholders. This leads to more economical, flexible use of valuable working time and, at the same time, to a more motivated workforce. Such a win-win situation helps companies meet the challenges of the working world of today and tomorrow.