Queue Call Waiting Deflection via Parallel Self-Service
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Solution Overview
Problem
Long wait times in customer service queues lead to user frustration, decreased customer satisfaction, and increased contact center costs due to inefficiencies in managing high call volumes, as existing solutions fail to effectively deflect interactions while users are already waiting.
Innovation Solution
A method that identifies triggers, such as excessive wait times, to offer self-service options on alternate communication channels while users are in a queue, allowing them to resolve issues independently and potentially shift to parallel queues for faster resolution, thereby reducing hold times and prioritizing users for reconnection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users are placed in a queue to converse with a customer service representative, then they receive personalized human assistance, but they experience long wait times causing frustration and abandonment
Solution Approach 1:
The system offers self-service options to users while they are waiting in queue, allowing them to independently resolve their issues through automated services, knowledge bases, or chatbots. This deflects potentially resolvable interactions from the human agent queue, reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction without sacrificing the quality of human assistance when needed.
2Productivity
If contact centers increase staffing to handle higher call volumes, then customer service capacity increases, but operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By implementing self-service options that deflect appropriate interactions before they reach human agents, the system reduces the overall volume of calls requiring human handling. This decreases the staffing requirements and associated operational costs while maintaining or improving service capacity through automated systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary deflection actions by offering self-service options to users while they are still in queue, before they actually consume human agent resources. This preliminary intervention prevents many interactions from progressing to full human agent engagement, optimizing resource utilization and reducing costs.
3Loss of time
If users are offered self-service options while in queue, then wait times are reduced and customer satisfaction improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system integrates multiple functions into a unified queue management platform: traditional queue management, automated self-service option delivery, deflection routing, and coordination with parallel communication channels. This multi-functional approach manages complexity through consolidation rather than proliferation of separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary layer between users and both human agents and self-service systems. It manages the queue, evaluates user needs, and intelligently routes users to appropriate resolution paths, simplifying the overall architecture by centralizing decision logic rather than distributing it across multiple independent systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, computer program product, and computer system for placing, by a computing device, a user into a first queue on a first communication channel to converse with a second user. A trigger may be identified for the first communication channel. The user may be sent a self-service option based upon, at least in part, identifying the trigger for the first communication channel, wherein the self-service option is sent on an alternate communication channel while the user is in the first queue.