Cost-Based Call Routing for Contact Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional contact centers incur significant costs and customer dissatisfaction due to long waiting times for incoming calls, as they occupy resources without considering the financial impact of queueing, leading to potential financial losses.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that calculates the expected wait time and associated cost of queuing for incoming calls, allowing for selective handling modes based on profit potential, using historical data to determine whether to prioritize immediate handling or alternative, less resource-intensive methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If calls are queued while searching for available agents, then all incoming calls can be handled eventually, but resource occupation increases and operating costs rise
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of call handling by introducing cost-based decision making. Instead of uniformly queuing all calls, the system calculates expected queueing costs and selectively routes calls based on profitability parameters, transforming the call handling approach from resource-intensive to cost-optimized
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial action by not queuing all calls equally. Instead, it selectively queues only those calls with acceptable expected costs while immediately routing profitable calls, performing a subset of the full queuing action only where economically justified
2Stability of the object's composition
If calls are queued for long periods, then agent availability can be matched, but customer satisfaction degrades and financial loss occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by calculating expected wait times and costs before actually queuing calls. This advance computation allows the system to pre-determine whether a call should be queued or immediately routed, preventing unnecessary waiting time while maintaining matching quality
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from historical contact information to continuously improve routing decisions. By analyzing past wait times and costs, the system refines its expected cost calculations, creating a feedback loop that optimizes both matching quality and waiting time reduction
3Productivity
If conventional routing algorithms are used, then all calls are handled, but the cost of queueing is ignored leading to reduced profit
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the call handling process into distinct evaluation stages: cost calculation, profitability assessment, and selective routing. This segmentation allows the system to incorporate cost information at specific decision points rather than treating all calls uniformly, enabling profit-optimized handling while maintaining high call volume processing
Data Source
AI summary
System and method to select a contact handling mode in a contact center, the method including: receiving, by a communication interface, a contact from a customer; calculating, by a processor of the contact center, an expected wait time by the customer based upon historical contact information stored in a memory of the contact center; calculating an expected cost of queueing the customer for the expected wait time; and selecting the contact handling mode based upon the expected cost of queueing the customer.