WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
10 REASONS WHY WFM DESERVES A BETTER NAME
WFM DOESN ’ T TELL WHAT IT REALLY IS OR DOES .
BY TIFFANY LAREAU , HUMAN NUMBERS
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE IMAGES Workforce management ( WFM ) software was developed in the 1970s . It grew from a mainframe product into computer software and eventually became a cloud service .
Over the past 50 years we improved features , streamlined functionality , and perfected the user interface , but it always kept that same old name , and that naming convention comes with some baggage .
1 . WE ’ RE NOT THE KIND OF MANAGERS YOU THINK WE ARE .
Workforce Management can include running forecasts , generating schedules , and tracking real-time adherence , but those roles manage data and people ’ s time , not the people themselves . Unless we also happen to be managing other Workforce Managers , but that ’ s an entirely different skill set and should be reserved for “ WFMMs .”
18 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
EVEN WFM SOFTWARE VENDORS AND INDUSTRY EXPERTS HAVE A HARD TIME BEING CONSISTENT WITH THIS NOMENCLATURE .