Contact Center Routing System Using Real-Time Agent Preferences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contact center agents lack the ability to express their preferences in real-time for handling activities, leading to potential mismatches between agent capabilities and task assignments, which can affect service quality and job satisfaction.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow contact center agents to express their preferences for handling activities, skills, and capacities in real-time, using interactive voice response systems and agent preference aggregators to route activities based on these preferences, while also considering administrative settings and performance metrics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If activities are routed based on administrative settings and agent skills, then routing efficiency is improved, but agent preference alignment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts routing parameters by incorporating real-time agent preferences into the routing algorithm. Agent preferences are continuously updated and integrated with administrative settings, allowing the routing system to adapt dynamically between efficiency-driven and preference-driven routing based on current conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The routing system changes its operational parameters by introducing agent preference data as a new routing criterion. The system modifies traditional routing parameters (skills, availability, capacity) by adding a preference alignment parameter, thereby transforming the routing decision-making process to balance both efficiency and agent satisfaction.
2Ease of operation
If agent preferences are incorporated into routing, then job satisfaction is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary preference aggregation module that collects, processes, and normalizes agent preferences from multiple sources. This intermediary layer simplifies the integration of preferences into the routing system by providing a standardized interface, thereby reducing overall system complexity while still capturing nuanced agent preferences.
Solution Approach 2:
The routing system is designed with multi-functionality to handle both traditional administrative routing criteria and agent preference criteria through a unified routing algorithm. This universal approach allows the same system infrastructure to serve multiple routing objectives, reducing the need for separate complex subsystems.
3Measurement precision
If real-time preference updates are allowed, then routing accuracy is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and caching agent preference data before routing decisions are required. Agent preferences are collected and validated in advance, and the routing algorithm uses pre-computed preference scores to quickly match activities with agents, thereby reducing real-time processing overhead while maintaining high routing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements partial preference updates by selectively refreshing preference data based on change detection rather than continuous full updates. The routing system monitors for preference changes and only re-processes data when necessary, balancing routing accuracy with processing efficiency by avoiding excessive unnecessary computations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for routing activities in a contact center to contact center agents includes: identifying an activity to be routed to a contact center agent; identifying one or more parameters for handling the activity; identifying one or more contact center agents; retrieving preference settings for the identified one or more contact center agents; routing the activity to one of the identified contact center agents based on the identified one or more parameters and the retrieved preference settings.