Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-25
2001-10-30
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S269000, C379S309000, C705S014270
Reexamination Certificate
active
06310951
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-automated process for periodic reassignment of agents to campaigns in a call center based on a determination of an agent's recent performance. In particular, the process takes into account the staffing requirement of campaigns, and other campaign specifications such as a daily limit on overall reassignments, a maximum number of reassignments per agent, a minimum number of consecutive agent performance results, provision for disabling either upward or downward reassignment, maximum number of campaigns that can be skipped in the reassignment; and other user-specified criteria.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a call center employs automatic call distributor systems to direct inbound calls to agents and/or outbound predictive dialing systems to place calls and connect agents to coupled calls.
Currently, there is no systematic procedure for reassignment of agents in a call center. Initial assignment is usually done by taking into account the skill and the past performance of the agents. But once the agent is assigned to a campaign (inbound or outbound) any change to the assignment is not evaluated or accomplished by an automated routine. A supervisor may manually reassign the agent to a different campaign based on needs of the campaign or needs of the agent but there is no process for periodic evaluation and reassignment of agents based on performance.
Agent labor cost in a call center is in excess of 50% of the total cost. The agent turnover rate is very high but can be lowered by an increase in agent motivation. There is a wide range of variation in the rate at which the call center bills for different campaigns. The performance of the agent varies with the time of the day, the nature of campaign, the degree of fatigue, and the like. If the performance of an agent would be enhanced by a change in his/her assignment, then it would be a win-win opportunity because a more productive assignment would improve the overall performance of the campaign and hence that of the call center.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is the process for periodic reassignment of agents based on their performance over a preceding performance-interval, where the interval is chosen by the call center.
Another object of the invention is to satisfy a number of possible constraints on staffing of a campaign, conditions on reassignment of agents, provision for disabling upward or downward reassignment, and provision for introducing additional criteria for reassignment.
A third object of the invention is a reassignment process that is applicable regardless of the number and the characteristics of campaigns. Characteristics include inbound and outbound, and the objective of the campaign.
A final objective of the invention is its applicability to other industries employing a large number of workers on an hourly basis for a variety of assignments.
Briefly, this invention contemplates a process for reassignment of agents based on their performance in the last performance-interval. If the performance of an agent is superior, then he/she is moved to a higher campaign. “Higher” refers to a campaign for which the call center receives a greater remuneration whether or not the call center in turn increases the rate of pay of the agent. Similarly, if the performance is inferior, then the agent is moved to a lower campaign, i.e., one for which the call center receives less remuneration. If the performance just meets the objective, then the agent's assignment stays the same. There can be many levels of superior or inferior performance but the basic principle remains the same.
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Pundit Neil D.
Ravichandran Arunachalam
Wineberg Jonathan M.
Aitken Andrew C.
Bui Bing
Matar Ahmad
SER Solutions, Inc.
Venable
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