Call Occupancy Management for Contact Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contact centers face inefficiencies in managing low call occupancy periods due to manual and time-consuming processes for identifying and reallocating idle agents, leading to potential mistakes and missed opportunities, which can negatively impact key performance indicators (KPIs).
Innovation Solution
A call occupancy management system that applies business rules to data from historical call databases, work force management applications, and automatic call distributors to identify agent groups with low call occupancy, assign productive tasks, and dynamically reallocate agents to handle incoming calls in real-time, using a productivity engine and task adaptors to monitor and control task completion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual processes are used to identify and reallocate idle agents during low call occupancy periods, then agents can be assigned to productive tasks, but the process becomes time-consuming and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service through automated detection and reallocation of idle agents. The automatic call distributor continuously monitors call occupancy levels and autonomously identifies when agents become idle, triggering the reallocation process without requiring manual intervention from supervisors or managers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical processes with an automated electronic system. The productivity engine uses software algorithms to analyze call occupancy data, identify idle agents, and execute reallocation decisions, substituting the manual mechanical process of supervisor intervention with an automated computational system.
2Productivity
If manual reallocation processes are implemented, then agents can be reassigned to productive tasks, but mistakes and missed opportunities increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where the automatic call distributor monitors actual call occupancy levels in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the productivity engine to adjust reallocation decisions based on actual performance data, ensuring accurate identification of idle agents and optimal task assignment.
Solution Approach 2:
By replacing manual reallocation with an automated electronic system, the patent eliminates human errors such as mistakes and missed opportunities. The system consistently applies defined criteria and rules to identify idle agents and assign tasks, ensuring reliable and reproducible results without the variability inherent in manual processes.
3Reliability
If safety margins are added to staffing forecasts, then call handling capacity is ensured, but operational efficiency decreases during low occupancy periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces dynamic adjustment capabilities that allow the contact center to adapt staffing levels in real-time based on actual call occupancy. During low occupancy periods, the system automatically reallocates agents to productive tasks, maintaining operational efficiency. During high occupancy periods, the system ensures sufficient call handling capacity by deploying agents as needed, replacing static safety margins with dynamic responsiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of staffing allocation from fixed to variable. Instead of using static safety margins in staffing forecasts, the system dynamically adjusts the number of agents assigned to call handling based on real-time occupancy data, allowing the contact center to optimize efficiency while maintaining reliability through parameter changes rather than fixed buffers.
Data Source
AI summary
A device may receive a history of call volumes and statistics for a call queue. The device may also receive, for each of a number of agents that are associated with the call queue, a work schedule. The device may determine a projected call occupancy for the call queue based on the history of call volumes for the call queue and the work schedules; select a subset of agents, among the number of agents that are associated with the call queue, that are not needed to handle calls in the call queue during a time for which projected call occupancy is below a first threshold; and assign tasks, for the time, to the subset of agents.