Oh, I understand more now.
This goes back to an earlier reply: Genesys does not support forecasting for outbound. It is on the long term road map; you can follow the idea here: https://genesyscloud.ideas.aha.io/ideas/WEM-I-32
If you are looking for any kind of forecasting, if your outbound volume is relatively consistent--run on the same day of the week every week, same approx. number of contacts, same time of day, etc.--then you can reasonably forecast for the conversations that make their way into queue. These conversations are essentially treated as an "inbound" when they make it into queue. Create a planning group for the outbound queue volume, and see what it presents and how close it is to your offline forecasting.
What the system still doesn't do, though, is calculate anything based on answer rate and/or manual dial outs.
And if your outbound campaigns are highly variable: run on different days, different times, different number of contacts, different campaigns into a single queue etc. Then I wouldn't expect the comparison between Genesys Forecasting and Manual forecasting to be at all close. It does at least get the data into your automatic best forecast, and you can modify the forecast to better align with your manual data.
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Shelby
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-01-2026 02:07
From: Heather Henderson
Subject: Forecasting Outbound Calls
Thanks @Shelby Cronk, but I don't think I was clear enough with my question. The queues and planning groups are separate for inbound and outbound.
We forecast inbound demand in ABM, but outbound demand is forecast outside the platform. Since the same agents handle both workloads and can only be associated with a single forecast within the business unit, how are these forecasts managed today?
Is the ABM forecast exported, combined with the outbound forecast externally, and then re-imported as a single forecast, or is a different approach used?
Thanks, Heather
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Heather
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-31-2026 10:59
From: Shelby Cronk
Subject: Forecasting Outbound Calls
It is strongly recommended that inbound volume and outbound campaign volume are separated into two different queues for clarity. That said, if there is some skill/language differentiator between them, you could create different planning groups: 1 for the Inbound Volume Path and 1 for the Outbound volume path. For as long as they are combined, the system will essentially treat them the same.
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Shelby
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-31-2026 03:24
From: Heather Henderson
Subject: Forecasting Outbound Calls
Does anyone have any experience of forecasting for inbound voice and outbound voice together where the agents deal with both, and outbound isn't exclusive? I am looking to understand more about how you manage the forecast for this - do you have to combine them outside of the system and then import?
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Heather
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-28-2026 08:19
From: Cesar Padilla
Subject: Forecasting Outbound Calls
Hi @Melissa Palmer,
As Shelby mentioned, Genesys Cloud WEM currently does not provide native outbound forecasting capabilities in the same way it does for inbound interactions.
In my experience, most organizations handle outbound forecasting using a combination of historical campaign performance and manual planning. We typically analyze metrics such as:
- Contacts loaded into the campaign
- Contact and answer rates
- Right-party contact rates
- Average Handle Time (AHT)
- Conversion or completion rates (when applicable)
- Expected campaign dialing windows
For recurring campaigns with stable behavior, it is possible to build a fairly reliable forecast model outside of Genesys (Excel, Power BI, or other workforce planning tools) and then translate the expected workload into staffing requirements.
Another approach I have seen is forecasting the workload that actually reaches agents, using historical outbound conversations as the demand source. This works reasonably well when campaign parameters and dialing strategies remain consistent. However, it does not account for sudden changes in answer rates, contact quality, campaign mix, or manually initiated outbound calls.
It would certainly be valuable if Genesys enhanced WEM to support outbound-specific forecasting models that incorporate dialing rates, answer probabilities, and campaign characteristics rather than relying solely on agent-handled interactions.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone in the community has integrated Genesys data with external forecasting platforms or AI/ML models to improve outbound volume predictions.
Regards,
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Cesar
INDRA COLOMBIA
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