Attribute-Based Routing for Contact Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current contact center systems lack the ability to dynamically match customers with ideal agents based on a variety of attributes, often relying on static data and limited configurability, which can lead to suboptimal compatibility and customer experience.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that enables dynamic attribute-based routing by intersecting customer and agent attributes, calculating affinity scores, and routing communications to the most compatible agent, allowing for real-time adjustments based on multiple factors, including binary and non-binary attributes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple attributes are used for compatibility computation, then customer-agent matching quality improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the compatibility computation into two distinct phases: a first affinity score based on mandatory attributes, and a second affinity score based on optional attributes. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple attributes systematically, improving matching quality while managing complexity through structured processing stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a dimensional approach by evaluating attributes across different dimensions (mandatory vs. optional) and combining scores from multiple dimensions. This transforms the complex multi-attribute problem into a structured multi-dimensional evaluation framework, enabling comprehensive matching while maintaining computational manageability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic attribute-based routing is implemented, then customer experience improves, but computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary computation by calculating the first affinity score based on mandatory attributes before the actual routing decision. This preliminary action filters and pre-ranks agents, reducing the computational burden of the final routing decision while maintaining dynamic adaptability across multiple attributes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous compatibility computation by dynamically calculating affinity scores as agents become available or attributes change. This continuous evaluation enables real-time routing adjustments without requiring complete re-computation, balancing adaptability with computational efficiency.
3Measurement precision
If affinity scores are calculated for all available agents, then routing accuracy improves, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by calculating affinity scores in stages rather than computing all scores simultaneously. The first affinity score based on mandatory attributes serves as a partial evaluation that filters the agent pool, allowing the system to achieve accurate routing without the computational overhead of evaluating all optional attributes for all agents at once.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for routing customers to an agent include receiving a communication from a customer; assigning or retrieving a plurality of mandatory and optional customer attributes; matching the plurality of mandatory and optional customer attributes to a plurality of attributes of available agents; calculating a first affinity score for each available agent that possesses the mandatory customer attributes; determining for each available agent a number of attributes matching the optional customer attributes; ranking the available agents based on the number of matched optional customer attributes; selecting a predetermined number of available agents from the ranked available agents; calculating a second affinity score for each of the selected predetermined number of available agents; combining the first affinity and second affinity score; determining which available agent has the highest combined first affinity and second affinity score; and routing the communication to the available agent having the highest combined score.