L3 Pairing Delay Mechanism for Contact Center Assignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contact center pairing strategies, such as FIFO and PBR, often result in inefficient agent and contact assignments due to limited choice during periods of surplus or shortage, leading to suboptimal performance and increased idle or waiting times.
Innovation Solution
The L3 pairing method introduces a delay mechanism to postpone assignments, allowing for additional agents or contacts to become available, thereby transitioning the contact center into an L3 environment with multiple choices, where more optimal pairings can be made, using an L3 pairing module to identify contacts and agents and compare information to determine the best pairing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a contact center uses a pairing strategy that chooses among multiple possible pairings to improve efficiency, then agent and contact assignment quality improves, but contact hold time and agent idle time increase due to delay periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification and comparison of contacts and agents before final assignment, maintaining a pool of pre-evaluated candidates. This allows the system to have assignment decisions ready when delay periods end, reducing actual hold time while maintaining quality pairing standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The pairing strategy dynamically adjusts delay periods based on real-time conditions such as contact priority, agent availability, and queue depth. High-priority contacts receive shorter or no delays, while lower-priority ones can tolerate longer delay periods for optimized matching, balancing assignment quality with time loss.
2Productivity
If a contact center uses a pairing strategy that chooses among multiple possible pairings to improve efficiency, then agent and contact assignment quality improves, but agent idle time increases due to delay periods
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-identifies and compares multiple agent candidates for each contact before the delay period expires, maintaining a ready pool of suitable assignments. This ensures agents are quickly assigned when delay periods end, minimizing idle time while preserving the ability to choose optimal pairings.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of delay duration based on agent availability and contact characteristics. When multiple suitable agents are available, delay periods are shortened or eliminated, reducing agent idle time. When fewer options exist, longer delays are applied to maintain pairing quality.
3Loss of time
If traditional pairing strategies like FIFO or PBR are used, then contact hold time and agent idle time are minimized, but assignment quality and performance efficiency deteriorate due to limited choice
Solution Approach 1:
The pairing process is segmented into distinct phases: identification phase (quick FIFO-style assignment to minimize wait time), comparison phase (evaluating multiple candidates for quality), and final assignment phase. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both rapid response and high-quality matching by applying different strategies at different stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary comparison mechanism that sits between the initial contact-agent identification and final assignment. This intermediary layer quickly evaluates multiple candidates and selects the optimal pairing, maintaining the speed of traditional strategies while adding the quality improvement of choice-based pairing.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for L3 pairing in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for L3 pairing in a contact center system comprising identifying a first contact, identifying a first agent available for assignment to the first contact, comparing information about the first contact with information about the first agent, and postponing, by a first period of delay, assignment of the first agent and assignment of the first contact based on the comparison.