Dynamic Agent Invitation Routing for Contact Centers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Contact centers face challenges in efficiently routing transactions to agents, particularly special agents who may not be constantly available due to varied responsibilities and schedules, leading to potential customer drop-offs and service level objective issues.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for mapping ready agents to incoming transactions by placing them in queues, issuing invitations, and adjusting the number of invitations based on queue dynamics to balance transaction flow and agent availability, using algorithms that account for average transaction rates and abandonment rates without prior knowledge of call arrival rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If special agents are not tightly monitored and are allowed to operate independently with varied schedules, then agent flexibility and autonomy are improved, but routing reliability and service level objectives deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where agents provide presence information and acceptance status to the routing system. The routing system monitors agent availability and adjusts routing decisions based on real-time feedback from agents about their current state and willingness to accept transactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by sending invitations to agents before actual routing occurs. This allows agents to indicate their availability and acceptance intent in advance, enabling the system to make informed routing decisions while maintaining agent autonomy.
2Reliability
If the system waits for special agents to be available before routing transactions, then routing accuracy is improved, but customer wait time and potential drop-offs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system sends invitations to potential agents in advance of the actual routing decision. This preliminary action allows the system to identify and secure agent availability before the customer transaction requires completion, reducing wait time while maintaining routing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts routing based on real-time agent availability and acceptance status. Rather than static waiting, the system continuously monitors and adapts routing decisions as agents become available or indicate acceptance, balancing speed and accuracy.
3Reliability
If the system sends many invitations to agents, then the probability of finding available agents increases, but system complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system sends a determined number of invitations that is sufficient to achieve the desired service level but not excessive. This partial action approach sends enough invitations to ensure agent availability while avoiding the complexity and resource consumption of sending unlimited invitations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adjusts the number of invitations sent based on changing conditions such as transaction volume, agent availability patterns, and service level requirements. This dynamic parameter adjustment optimizes the balance between finding available agents and maintaining system simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for mapping ready agents to incoming transactions has steps for (a) placing incoming transactions in a first queue managed by software executing from a machine-readable medium on a computerized appliance; (b) issuing a determined number of invitations in a period of time to agents known to be available to consider an invitation to interact with an incoming transaction; (c) placing identification of ready agents, who have accepted an invitation to interact, in a second queue managed by the software; (d) mapping transactions from the first queue to agents from the second queue; (e) monitoring changes in state of both the first and the second queues in the time period; and (f) adjusting determined number of invitations in step (b) in a manner to drive a chosen system performance metric toward a desired target value.