Pacing Text Messages for Agent Availability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Debt collectors face challenges in efficiently pacing limited-content text messages to ensure that the identified agent is available to handle incoming calls from debtors, as existing methods lack a systematic approach to determine the optimal timing and agent allocation for maximizing response rates and minimizing agent downtime.
Innovation Solution
A computer program and system that calculates an expected response time for debtors based on the timing of outbound text messages, identifying available agents who can handle incoming calls by considering their current availability, shift schedules, and communication capabilities, and routing calls to ensure optimal agent utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If limited-content text messages are sent to debtors to prompt them to call the contact center, then the likelihood of generating inbound communications is improved, but the complexity of coordinating agent availability and message timing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by calculating expected response times before sending messages, and pre-identifying available agents based on shift schedules and current availability. This advance preparation ensures that when a debtor responds to a message, an appropriate agent is already ready to handle the call, resolving the coordination complexity between message timing and agent availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback mechanisms by monitoring actual response times from debtors and using this information to refine expected response time calculations. This feedback loop allows the system to continuously improve its message pacing strategy, optimizing the timing of messages to coincide with periods when identified agents are available, thereby increasing inbound communication generation while managing system complexity.
2Quantity of substance
If multiple limited-content text messages are sent to multiple debtors simultaneously, then the volume of inbound communications increases, but the difficulty of determining optimal message timing and agent allocation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the message sending process by calculating expected response times for each individual debtor and identifying specific agents for each message based on their availability. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple messages simultaneously while maintaining precise control over timing and agent allocation for each individual interaction, making the overall process more manageable and measurable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting message timing parameters based on calculated expected response times and agent availability parameters. By changing these parameters systematically across multiple debtors, the system optimizes the volume of inbound communications while maintaining control over the complexity of timing and allocation decisions through standardized parameter management.
3Reliability
If the identified agent is reserved to ensure availability when the debtor calls, then the reliability of agent availability is improved, but the agent utilization efficiency may decrease due to potential idle time
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies dynamics by making agent reservations flexible rather than rigid. Agents are identified and reserved based on expected response times, but the system can adjust these reservations based on actual call patterns and agent availability. This dynamic approach ensures reliable agent availability when debtors actually call while minimizing idle time by allowing the system to reallocate agents if reservations become unnecessary, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and utilization efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for sending an outbound communication to a party to generate an inbound communication from the party for a contact center. An expected response time is derived identifying a time the inbound communication is expected to be received from the party after sending the outbound communication to the party. In particular instances, an agent is identified who is expected to be available at the expected response time to handle the inbound communication when it is received by the party at the contact center. In addition, the content of the outbound communication may be composed to identify the agent to the party. Accordingly, the outbound communication is sent to the party so that the inbound communication can be routed to the agent upon being received.