Occupancy-Based Routing for Contact Center Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic call distributors (ACDs) face challenges in balancing call center loads across geographically dispersed locations, leading to uneven call distribution among agents, resulting in either unanswered calls or underutilized agents due to inadequate agent allocation based on time or call queue metrics.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that determine the largest relative difference between target and actual occupancy of agents for each contact type across multiple ACDs, transferring this information to a network router to route contacts to the ACD with the greatest relative difference, ensuring equitable distribution based on agent loading.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If calls are routed based on time of call in queue or call abandonment rate, then call distribution is simplified, but load balancing among call centers becomes ineffective leading to overloaded or idle agents
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the routing parameter from time-based metrics (call queue time, abandonment rate) to occupancy-based metrics (actual occupancy, target occupancy, relative occupancy difference). This parameter transformation enables effective load balancing while maintaining routing automation, directly resolving the contradiction between routing simplicity and agent utilization efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring actual occupancy versus target occupancy at each ACD, calculating relative occupancy differences, and using this feedback information to dynamically route calls. This closed-loop control ensures calls are routed to centers with appropriate available capacity, improving agent utilization while maintaining automated routing
2Adaptability or versatility
If calls are routed to geographically dispersed call centers, then toll charges are reduced and local labor availability is exploited, but uneven call flow causes some centers to be overloaded while others have idle agents
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces occupancy-based parameters (actual occupancy, target occupancy, relative occupancy difference) that enable centralized load balancing across geographically dispersed ACDs. By using these parameters, the system can dynamically route calls to appropriate geographic locations based on real-time agent availability, maintaining geographic distribution benefits while achieving balanced load distribution
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal routing mechanism that works across multiple geographically dispersed ACDs handling different contact types. The occupancy-based routing system provides a multi-functional solution that balances load across locations while adapting to different contact types and agent capabilities, resolving the contradiction between geographic adaptability and distribution balance
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus are provided for routing a contact with a client to one of a plurality of automatic contact distributors, each having a plurality of agents, by a network router. The method includes the step of determining by each automatic contact distributor of the plurality of automatic contact distributors a largest relative difference between a target occupancy and actual occupancy of each agent among the plurality of agents of the automatic contact distributor and for each contact type processed by the automatic contact distributor. The method further includes the steps of each of the plurality of automatic contact distributors transferring a value of the determined, largest relative difference for each contact type to the network router, the network router detecting a contact, the network router determining a contact type of the detected contact and the network router routing the detected contact to an automatic contact distributor of the plurality of automatic contact distributors that provided a largest relative difference for the determined contact type among the plurality of automatic contact distributors.