Contact Center Routing Algorithm for Agent Preference Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current contact center systems lack the ability for agents to express real-time preferences regarding the types of activities they want to handle, capacity, and routing parameters, which can lead to suboptimal job satisfaction and service quality.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow contact center agents to express their preferences in real-time, using a processor to select and match activities with agents based on skill, availability, upsell/cross-sell ability, and individual preferences, employing algorithms like the Gale-Shapley algorithm to prioritize preferences and accommodate agent and activity surpluses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional administrative routing is used to assign activities to agents, then routing efficiency is maintained, but agent job satisfaction and service quality deteriorate due to lack of agent preference consideration
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts routing decisions by incorporating real-time agent preferences and availability. Agents can express their current preferences for handling different activity types, and the routing system adapts to these dynamic preferences rather than relying solely on static administrative assignments, thereby improving job satisfaction while maintaining efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where agents provide preference information about their availability and preferred activity types. This feedback is continuously incorporated into the routing algorithm, allowing the system to learn and adapt to agent preferences over time, balancing administrative control with agent autonomy.
2Ease of operation
If agent preferences are incorporated into real-time routing, then agent job satisfaction improves, but system complexity increases due to additional preference collection and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The routing system is designed to handle multiple functions simultaneously: traditional administrative routing based on skills and availability, plus preference-based routing. The system integrates these approaches through a unified algorithm that can process both administrative constraints and agent preferences, avoiding the need for separate complex systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system manages complexity by treating agent preferences as adjustable parameters in the routing algorithm. Rather than fundamentally changing the routing architecture, the system incorporates preferences as additional variables that can be weighted and processed alongside traditional routing criteria, allowing flexible adjustment without system overhaul.
3Productivity
If concurrent selection of multiple activities and agents is performed, then routing optimization improves through batch processing, but processing time increases compared to sequential routing
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic batch processing to concurrently evaluate multiple activities and agents. By grouping routing decisions into periodic batches rather than processing each activity individually in real-time, the system achieves better optimization through bulk processing while managing computational load through controlled batch intervals.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification and filtering of candidate agents and activities before the actual matching process. By pre-processing and narrowing down the candidate pool, the system reduces the computational complexity of the concurrent matching process, enabling optimization without excessive processing time.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for routing activities in a contact center to contact center agents includes: concurrently selecting, by a processor, N activities, wherein N is an integer greater than 1; concurrently identifying, by the processor, N contact center agents; identifying, by the processor, one or more sets of preferences associated with the N activities and the N contact center agents; matching, by the processor, the N activities and the N contact center agents based on the one or more sets of preferences; and routing, by the processor, one or more of the N activities to the matched contact center agents.