BACK OFFICE WFM
BY BRENDAN READ, CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE; Q & A WITH TIFFANY LAREAU, HUMAN NUMBERS
MANAGING THE BACK OFFICE WORKFORCE
HOW SCHEDULING BACK OFFICE STAFF IMPACTS CONTACT CENTERS.
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE IMAGES
Back offices provide several critical business functions, among them: accounting, billing, claims management, IT, and order processing. Tasks whose delivery and quality of performance affect those of front offices, like contact centers when they engage with customers.
So, it stands to reason that how back offices schedule their staff and ensure their adherence will impact contact centers.
To learn more about back office workforce management( WFM), we had a virtual chat with Tiffany LaReau, Founder and Certified Workforce Manager at Human Numbers and a member of our Advisory Board.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF, INCLUDING YOUR STRONG INTEREST IN WORKFORCE MAN- AGEMENT( WFM) AND WHAT DRIVES IT.
TIFFANY LAREAU
A: I started work as a temp in a call center in 1988, the week after I graduated high school. They made me permanent and I jumped around in various roles, including a front line phonebank agent and a back office business analyst.
In 1994, I was in the role of software engineer, writing automated scripts for repetitive tasks like issuing routine customer refunds( an example of“ AI” in its earliest form) when my manager asked for a volunteer to learn a brand new software called workforce management.
16 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE