Call pacing method
First Claim
1. A method for determining a number of calls to dial in order to connected answered calls to available agents while maintaining a ratio answered calls for which no agent is available to answered calls or which an agent is available (the abandon rate) at a predetermined value, comprising the steps of:
- predicting a number of agents that will be idle at the end of a future time interval;
predicting a number of calls to be dialed that will be answered based on data relating a number of past answers to a number of past dialed calls;
predicting a number of calls that have been dialed that will be answered;
calculating a projected abandon rate using an incremented number of abandoned calls;
comparing the projected abandon rate to said preset value to determine whether said look ahead abandon rate will exceed said preset value;
reducing the number of calls predicted to be answered in said predicting step if said projected abandon rate exceeds said preset value by a predetermined amount.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A "look-ahead" calculation projects what would be the effect on the abandon rate if several additional abandons happened to occur. The method uses the result of this "look-ahead" calculation of a projected abandon rate to modify its estimation of the number of ringing dials that will or will not result in an answer. If the projected abandon rate indicates the abandon rate is sensitive to an increase in the number of abandons, the method increases the estimate of those ringing calls which are likely to answer by up to two and one-half times the "average", depending on the degree of sensitivity. If the sensitivity forecasts little danger of exceeding the set abandon rate, the method decreases the estimate of ringing calls that will answer by up to one-half. In the former case, dialing is slowed down and in the latter, dialing is speeded up. Both cases have the advantage to "looking ahead" rather than simply reacting to events that may not be quickly correctable once they have occurred.
207 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for determining a number of calls to dial in order to connected answered calls to available agents while maintaining a ratio answered calls for which no agent is available to answered calls or which an agent is available (the abandon rate) at a predetermined value, comprising the steps of:
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predicting a number of agents that will be idle at the end of a future time interval; predicting a number of calls to be dialed that will be answered based on data relating a number of past answers to a number of past dialed calls; predicting a number of calls that have been dialed that will be answered; calculating a projected abandon rate using an incremented number of abandoned calls; comparing the projected abandon rate to said preset value to determine whether said look ahead abandon rate will exceed said preset value; reducing the number of calls predicted to be answered in said predicting step if said projected abandon rate exceeds said preset value by a predetermined amount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification