Once viewed as a back-office exercise, workforce planning has become, for Vanguard’s personal investor division, a critical driver of exceptional client experiences.
Rising client service demands, new engagement channels, and an increasingly complex mix of employee and contractor roles were straining their legacy workforce planning processes. The old methods were slowing decisions, limiting agility, and putting both service quality and operational efficiency at risk. Data silos, fragmented tools, and manual workflows were slowing the pace of decision-making and increasing risk.
Vanguard needed a smarter way forward. One that could unify data, help them model scenarios in real time, and keep pace with change.
When spreadsheets can’t keep up
Before Anaplan, workforce planning at Vanguard was a patchwork of homegrown Excel models. Each analyst owned their own model for a specific part of their client journey. Over time, these models became increasingly customized and divergent.
Data collection and analysis were labor-intensive:
- Analysts pulled metrics from a “web of dashboards” scattered across systems
- Figures were manually entered into individual models
- Reports were recompiled for weekly, monthly, and quarterly deliverables in Excel and PowerPoint
Not only was this time-consuming, but it opened the door to error. “Any time you have a manual process, you open yourself up to risk,” said Alex McElwee, capabilities leader, workforce planning at Vanguard. “A transposed number in one report could snowball into bigger mistakes.”
While the process was already cumbersome, the operating environment within their contact center was also becoming more complex:
- New contact channels like chat and email were expanding customer engagement beyond traditional phone support
- Diverse worker types, including contractors and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO), added variables to staffing models
- Specialized roles created more granular planning requirements
Vanguard’s contact center operations were evolving faster than their planning process could adapt. Without a better way to integrate data and model scenarios holistically, Vanguard risked declining service quality and operational efficiency — which could drive dissatisfied clients and investors to move their assets elsewhere.
How Anaplan transformed Vanguard’s workforce planning
Vanguard began by consolidating its data into a single repository in AWS S3. Then, they needed a next-gen planning solution to integrate with their new repository in AWS S, handle complex workforce models, support real-time scenario planning, and remain scalable and adaptable to handle future use cases.
Anaplan provided the ideal balance: a low-code platform that combined Excel-like formulas with configurable modeling, scalability, ease of maintenance, and ideal user experience. Partnering with Deloitte, Vanguard took ownership from day one, training its power users alongside consultants to ensure the team could confidently manage and evolve the solution on their own after their initial implementation.
For businesses like Vanguard, Anaplan delivers immediate benefits:
- Automation saves hours by replacing manual data collection and spreadsheet upkeep with direct data feeds
- Real-time operational visibility lets your team monitor key drivers and KPIs instantly to spot trends and adjust forecasts proactively
- Instant scenario modeling answers your “what if” questions on the spot, enabling faster, more confident decision-making
- Analysts focus on strategic planning, relieves users from administrative tasks so they can explore opportunities, address risks, and drive long-term workforce strategies
Anaplan has become more than a workforce planning tool — it’s a strategic platform enabling agility, scalability, and continuous improvement across planning domains.
We’re making better, faster decisions — with confidence.
Alex McElwee, capabilities leader, workforce planning at Vanguard
