Channel Management in Workforce Optimization for Customer Service

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
  • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Channel Management in Workforce Optimization for Customer Service

    Channel Management in Workforce Optimization enables ServiceNow customers to monitor and manage customer service operations across multiple communication channels and queues in real time. It provides visibility into key metrics such as agent availability, workload, and pending work items, allowing supervisors and managers to efficiently allocate resources and collaborate with agents to resolve complex customer issues.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Real-time performance monitoring: Track team and agent performance with key performance indicators (KPIs) across service channels and queues as work is actively being processed.
    • Work item management: Drill down into specific tasks or chats to offer timely assistance, add work notes, or manually assign tasks to agents.
    • Agent availability and workload tracking: View the real-time presence of agents and their current workload to optimize routing and task distribution.
    • Support for multiple consumer messaging channels: Monitor customer service on platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, LINE, Amazon Connect, and SMS.
    • Supervisor collaboration tools: Utilize Help Request functionalities that integrate chat and voice escalations, allowing supervisors to monitor live calls, coach agents privately, or barge in to assist customers.
    • Administrative capabilities: Create and configure service channels and queues, assign routing rules, set KPIs, manage supervisor lists, and customize the Channel Management interface using the UI Builder.
    • Assignment Group filter: Filter channels, KPIs, work items, queues, and agents by assignment groups to focus on relevant subsets of data.

    Practical Use and Benefits

    ServiceNow customers can leverage Channel Management to ensure that incoming customer work is efficiently routed to appropriate teams, improving response times and customer satisfaction. Managers can monitor live operational data to identify bottlenecks, reassign tasks, and support agents directly within the platform. The integration with CCaaS systems and real-time interaction data enhances supervisors’ ability to respond promptly to agent help requests, providing consistent multichannel support and improving the overall agent experience.

    For example, a manager overseeing multiple teams can configure Advanced Work Assignment to automate routing, add KPIs to track performance, and intervene in ongoing cases by joining chats or assigning tasks manually. This comprehensive visibility and control help maintain high service levels and streamline workforce optimization efforts.

    Channel management lets you monitor important metrics across different channels and queues, manage the work being done by your team members, and collaborate with them to solve complex issues for your end-customers.

    Monitor the real-time health of your channels and queues by reviewing waiting customers, available agents, the work being done by your team members (or agents in your teams) and collaborate with them to solve complex issues faster.

    The following channel management snapshots provide you with a quick overview of the real-time performance monitoring and drill-down capabilities.

    GIF displaying various pages in Channel Management Drill Down Metrics and real-time performance monitoring capabilities.

    As a channel management user, you can:
    • Track real-time performance of your teams using key performance indicator reports in service channels and queues.
    • Review real-time performance as the team is actively working on tasks across channels and queues.
    • Drill down on work items and jump in to provide timely help to team members via chat whisper or by adding work notes to a task.
    • View agents' availability and their workload.​
    • Monitor pending work items in the queue and act when required.​
    • Assign work items manually to agents.
    • Filter the applicable channels, KPIs, work items, queued work, and agents using the Assignment Group filter functionality.
    • Track real-time performance of customer service on consumer messaging channels including WhatsApp, Facebook, LINE, Amazon Connect, and SMS.
    • Track and change real-time presence of agents so that work items are routed more efficiently.
    • Drill down the channel specific KPIs for further analysis.
    As a channel management administrator, you can:
    • Create service channels and queues.
    • Associate assignment rules to queues.
    • Configure KPIs for service channels and queues.
    • Configure the supervisor lists.
    • Customize the channel management page according to your requirements using the UI Builder.

    Help Request on the Channel Overview page

    Help Request on the Channel Overview page helps the agents to raise requests both via chat and voice interactions directly. Display voice‑based escalations from the NVC Active Call Component alongside chat requests to give supervisors a unified, real‑time view of agent needs.

    Supervisors can open any active voice request to review context and take action, including:

    • Monitoring the live call
    • Coaching the agent privately
    • Barging in to speak with both the agent and customer

    Each help request includes metadata such as agent name, interaction type, and duration, and updates automatically as new requests are raised. This capability requires CCaaS integration, appropriate supervisor permissions, and access to real‑time interaction data, enabling faster response times, consistent support across channels, and an improved agent experience.

    Example

    Understand how you can monitor important metrics (or key process indicators) across different channels and queues. Manage the work being done by your team members (or agents in your teams) and collaborate with them to solve complex issues for your end-customers.

    The example employee manages Customer Service operations for a large organization and has 12 teams. Each team has anywhere from 8 through 15 agents. The employee must ensure that incoming work gets effectively routed to the right groups across all channels. This can be done by setting up Advanced Work Assignment as per the business requirement.

    Once the employee has configured Advanced Work Assignment (AWA) appropriately, they can add key performance indicators (KPIs) to the channels and queues, and monitor the operational performance of the teams in real time.

    The employee in this example can then keep a track the teams' ongoing work, assign pending work items manually to agents, and join chat conversations to assist agents.

    Get an overview on how you can monitor teams by looking at the real-time data in service channels and queues.

    Get an overview on how you can manually assign work items, monitor ongoing cases, and join the chat conversations.

    Get an overview on how managers can add service channels, queues, and configure KPIs.