Dynamic Wait Queue Positioning via Incentive Negotiation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current contact center systems do not allow callers to negotiate their position in a wait queue, nor can contact centers offer incentives to move forward or backward in the queue, limiting flexibility and efficiency during heavy load periods.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where contact centers can offer users various incentives, such as money, frequent flyer miles, or advertisements, to change their wait time or position in the queue, allowing users to interactively adjust their wait time by accepting or declining these offers, and enabling service agents to bid on servicing communications in the queue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If callers are placed in a wait queue based on traditional criteria, then queue management is simple and automated, but callers cannot negotiate their position and must wait passively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static wait queue into a dynamic negotiation system where positions can change based on real-time offers and acceptances. The queue management system continuously evaluates and adjusts caller positions through automated bargaining, allowing the system to adapt to changing conditions while maintaining operational efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where the queue management system monitors wait times, agent availability, and caller responses to offers. This feedback mechanism enables the system to learn from interactions and optimize negotiation strategies, improving adaptability without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Reliability
If the contact center offers commodities to move callers forward in queue, then caller satisfaction improves, but system complexity and negotiation overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the queue management system to automatically generate, evaluate, and execute negotiation offers without requiring constant human intervention. The system autonomously manages the complexity of negotiations by implementing self-service algorithms that handle offer generation, tracking, and position adjustment, reducing the operational burden while maintaining service reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts negotiation parameters such as offer amounts, commodity types, and acceptance thresholds based on real-time conditions including wait queue length, agent availability, and historical data. This parameter flexibility allows the system to maintain reliability across varying operational conditions without requiring complete system redesign.
3Adaptability or versatility
If callers can negotiate their position in real-time, then wait time flexibility increases, but processing overhead and system resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic negotiation cycles where offers are made at structured intervals rather than continuously. This periodic approach allows the system to maintain wait time flexibility by enabling negotiations at multiple stages, while preserving processing efficiency by batching evaluations and avoiding constant system reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial negotiation actions by offering position changes to only those callers whose requests can be accommodated with available resources. Rather than processing every possible negotiation request, the system selectively acts on feasible offers, maintaining flexibility for approved negotiations while preserving overall system productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A contact center establishes a communication with a user. The communication is placed into a position in a wait queue that has other position(s) with other communication(s) that are waiting to be serviced by contact center agents. An offer is made to the user to change an amount of time to wait in the wait queue before being connected to a contact center agent. The offer can be based on a commodity such as money, frequent flyer miles, willingness to listen to an advertisement while holding, completing a survey, and the like. In response to the user accepting the offer, the position of the communication in the wait queue is changed to a different position. This allows the user to interactively adjust their wait time.