Consecutive Contacts or Back-To-Back

Back to Back describes a situation where interaction or contact volume is so high that there is zero "Available Time" between interactions.

In technical terms, this means there is a Queue: More customers are waiting on the line than there are agents available to answer. The moment an agent hangs up with one customer, the ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) immediately forces the next call into their system.

A Back-To-Back environment has a direct impact on company-wide metrics as Service Level, Occupancy, and Utilization. On the other hand, it tends to affect agents in the form of tiredness and reduced time to "breathe" in between interactions.

However, this is a prevalent scenario among call centers, regardless of the client; agents are hired to manage those kinds of situations and "clear" the queue. There is a combined effort between Operations and Workforce to ensure there is a balanced amount of agents available to handle the forecasted influx of customers.