Outbound effectiveness through management of idle agent pool

• US 9,253,310 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Christensen, Tore, Eicholz, Alan David, Flockhart, Andrew D., Sobus, Katherine Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): ZENATI, AMAL S
• Application Number:
  US13/396,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20130208883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/265.01
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/00 Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

A contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, establish and maintain a pool of idle agents so that when an outbound call attempt is successful, the agent which is assigned to the successful outbound call attempt can be selected from a plurality of agents based on the agent'"'"'s superior efficiency rather than being based on the fact that the agent is the next in line to be assigned to such a contact.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an outbound dialer in a contact center, comprising:

establishing a pool of idle agents in the contact center;

forcing agents in the pool of idle agents in the contact center to remain idle for a predetermined amount of time even though the agents in the pool of idle agents are prepared to receive a contact;

moving a plurality of agents from the pool of idle agents to a pool of available agents after each of the plurality of agents have been idle for the predetermined amount of time;

determining that a first contact from first customer is ready to be assigned to an agent;

identifying a first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents as best-suited to handle the first contact, wherein the first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents is identified as best-suited based on a comparison of a first agent'"'"'s call-processing attributes and a first customer'"'"'s processing requirements;

assigning the first of the plurality of agents to the first contact;

adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents;

analyzing a performance metric of the contact center after the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted;

comparing the analyzed performance metric to a value of the performance metric before the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted; and

correlating a change in the performance metric to the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents, and wherein the correlation between the change in the performance metric and the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents is used to determine a preferred size of the pool of idle agents for a contact center condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlation between the change in the performance metric and the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents is used to determine a preferred size of the pool of idle agents for a contact center condition.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a current condition of the contact center;

mapping the current condition of the contact center to a first size of the pool of idle agents; and

adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents to substantially correspond to the first size of the pool of idle agents.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first contact is a first outbound contact attempt and wherein adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents comprises changing the predetermined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the current condition of the contact center is determined by one or more Key Performance Indicator metrics for the contact center.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of agents are moved from the pool of idle agents to the pool of available agents at substantially the same time and before performing the identifying and assigning steps.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adjusting the predetermined amount of time by random amounts at regular intervals, wherein the predetermined amount of time leads to increases or decreases in the number of well-matched agents corresponding to the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein an average of the predetermined amount of time is less than an average of all corresponding call handling times.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a computing system to execute a method of controlling an outbound dialer in a contact center, the instructions comprising:

instructions configured to manage a pool of idle agents in the contact center, wherein agents in the pool of idle agents are forced to remain idle for a predetermined amount of time even though the agents in the pool of idle agents are otherwise prepared to receive a contact;

instructions configured to move a plurality of agents from the pool of idle agents to a pool of available agents after each of the plurality of agents have been idle for the predetermined amount of time;

instructions configured to determine that first contact from a first customer is ready to be assigned to an agent;

instructions configured to identify a first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents as best-suited to handle the first contact, wherein the first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents is identified as best-suited based on a comparison of the first agent'"'"'s call-processing attributes and the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements;

instructions configured to assign the first of the plurality of agents to the first contact;

instructions configured to adjust the size of the pool of idle agents;

instructions configured to analyze a performance metric of the contact center after the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted;

instructions configured to compare the analyzed performance metric to a value of the performance metric before the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted; and

instructions configured to correlate a change in the performance metric to the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the correlation between the change in the performance metric and the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents is used to determine a preferred size of the pool of idle agents for a contact center condition.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions configured to determine a current condition of the contact center;

instructions configured to map the current condition of the contact center to a first size of the pool of idle agents; and

instructions configured to adjust the size of the pool of idle agents to substantially correspond to the first size of the pool of idle agents.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first contact is a first outbound contact attempt and wherein adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents comprises changing the predetermined amount of time.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the current condition of the contact center is determined by one or more Key Performance Indicator metrics for the contact center.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions configured to adjust the predetermined amount of time by random amounts at regular intervals, wherein the predetermined amount of time leads to increases or decreases in the number of well-matched agents corresponding to the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements.

15. A contact center, comprising:

an outbound work assignment engine including;

an outbound dialer configured to dial calls from a campaign list according to rules contained in a pacing algorithm of the outbound dialer; and

an outbound workflow controller configured to manage a pool of idle agents in the contact center, wherein agents in the pool of idle agents are forced to remain idle for a predetermined amount of time even though the agents in the pool of idle agents are otherwise prepared to receive a contact, move a plurality of agents from the pool of idle agents to a pool of available agents after each of the plurality of agents have been idle for the predetermined amount of time, determine that a first customer has answered a first outbound contact attempt, identify a first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents as best-suited to handle the successful first outbound contact attempt, wherein the first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents is identified as best-suited based on a comparison of the first agent'"'"'s call-processing attributes and the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements, assign the first of the plurality of agents to the first outbound contact, adjust the size of the pool of idle agents, analyze a performance metric of the contact center after the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted, compare the analyzed performance metric to a value of the performance metric before the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted; and

correlate a change in the performance metric to the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents.

16. The contact center of claim 15, wherein the outbound workflow controller is further configured to determine a current condition of the contact center, map the current condition of the contact center to a first size of the pool of idle agents, and adjust the size of the pool of idle agents to substantially correspond to the first size of the pool of idle agents.

17. The contact center of claim 16, wherein adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents comprises changing the predetermined amount of time.

18. The contact center of claim 16, wherein the current condition of the contact center is determined by one or more Key Performance Indicator metrics for the contact center.

19. The contact center of claim 15, wherein the predetermined amount of time is adjusted by random amounts at regular intervals, and wherein the predetermined amount of time leads to increases or decreases in the number of well-matched agents corresponding to the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements.

20. The contact center of claim 19, wherein an average of the predetermined amount of time is less than an average of all corresponding call handling times.

21. A contact center, comprising:

a pool of idle agents;

a pool of available agents; and

a work assignment engine configured to perform operations including;

establish the pool of idle agents;

force agents in the pool of idle agents to remain idle for a predetermined amount of time even though the agents in the pool of idle agents are prepared to receive a contact;

move a plurality of agents from the pool of idle agents to the pool of available agents after each of the plurality of agents have been idle for the predetermined amount of time;

determine that a first contact from first customer is ready to be assigned to an agent;

identify a first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents as best- suited to handle the first contact, wherein the first of the plurality of agents in the pool of available agents is identified as best-suited based on a comparison of a first agent'"'"'s call- processing attributes and a first customer'"'"'s processing requirements;

assign the first of the plurality of agents to the first contact;

adjust the size of the pool of idle agents;

analyze a performance metric of the contact center after the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted;

compare the analyzed performance metric to a value of the performance metric before the size of the pool of idle agents has been adjusted; and

correlate a change in the performance metric to the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents, wherein the correlation between the change in the performance metric and the adjustment of the size of the pool of idle agents is used to determine a preferred size of the pool of idle agents for a contact center condition.

22. The contact center of claim 21, wherein the work assignment engine is further configured to determine a current condition of the contact center, map the current condition of the contact center to a first size of the pool of idle agents, and adjust the size of the pool of idle agents to substantially correspond to the first size of the pool of idle agents.

23. The contact center of claim 22, wherein adjusting the size of the pool of idle agents comprises changing the predetermined amount of time.

24. The contact center of claim 22, wherein the current condition of the contact center is determined by one or more Key Performance Indicator metrics for the contact center.

25. The contact center of claim 21, wherein the predetermined amount of time is adjusted by random amounts at regular intervals and wherein the predetermined amount of time leads to increases or decreases in the number of well-matched agents corresponding to the first customer'"'"'s processing requirements.

26. The contact center of claim 25, wherein an average of the predetermined amount of time is less than an average of all corresponding call handling times.