Techniques for Benchmarking Performance in A Contact Center System

Content Provider	The Lens
Abstract	Techniques for benchmarking performance in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for benchmarking contact center system performance comprising cycling, by at least one computer processor configured to perform contact center operations, between a first contact-agent pairing strategy and a second contact-agent pairing strategy for pairing contacts with agents in the contact center system; determining an agent-utilization bias in the first contact-agent pairing strategy comprising a difference between a first agent utilization of the first contact-agent pairing strategy and a balanced agent utilization; and determining a relative performance of the second contact-agent pairing strategy compared to the first contact-agent pairing strategy based on the agent-utilization bias in the first contact-agent pairing strategy.
Related Links	https://www.lens.org/lens/patent/010-116-620-631-59X/frontpage
Language	English
Publisher Date	2019-03-28
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Patent
Jurisdiction	United States of America
Date Applied	2018-11-21
Applicant	Afiniti Europe Tech Ltd
Application No.	201816198419
Claim	A method for pairing contacts and agents in a contact center system comprising: determining, by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the contact center system, a first amount of performance suppression of a first contact-agent pairing strategy by a second contact-agent pairing strategy; adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, a target agent utilization of the first contact-agent pairing strategy to compensate for at least some of the first amount of performance suppression; and pairing, by the at least one computer processor, at least one contact to at least one agent in the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy according to the adjusted target agent utilization, wherein the compensating for the at least some of the first amount of performance suppression optimizes performance of the contact center system. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating, by the at least one computer processor, a representation of a relative performance of the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy compared to the second contact-agent pairing strategy based on the first amount of performance suppression. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first amount of performance suppression is attributable to a first amount of agent-utilization bias in the second contact-agent pairing strategy. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first amount of performance suppression comprises: determining, by the at least one computer processor, an average available-agent performance of a plurality of agents during at least one transition from the second contact-agent pairing strategy to the first contact-agent pairing strategy. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first contact-agent pairing strategy is a behavioral pairing strategy, and wherein the adjusting the target agent utilization biases the first contact-agent pairing strategy toward a performance-based routing strategy. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second contact-agent pairing strategy is a performance-based routing strategy. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the target agent utilization further comprises: adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, a Kappa parameter for a hybrid behavioral pairing strategy. A system for pairing contacts and agents in a contact center system comprising: at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the contact center system, wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to: determine a first amount of performance suppression of a first contact-agent pairing strategy by a second contact-agent pairing strategy; adjust a target agent utilization of the first contact-agent pairing strategy to compensate for at least some of the first amount of performance suppression; and pair at least one contact to at least one agent in the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy according to the adjusted target agent utilization, wherein the compensating for the at least some of the first amount of performance suppression optimizes performance of the contact center system. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to: generate a representation of a relative performance of the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy compared to the second contact-agent pairing strategy based on the first amount of performance suppression. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first amount of performance suppression is attributable to a first amount of agent-utilization bias in the second contact-agent pairing strategy. The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the first amount of performance suppression comprises determining an average available-agent performance of a plurality of agents during at least one transition from the second contact-agent pairing strategy to the first contact-agent pairing strategy. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first contact-agent pairing strategy is a behavioral pairing strategy, and wherein the adjusting the target agent utilization biases the first contact-agent pairing strategy toward a performance-based routing strategy. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second contact-agent pairing strategy is a performance-based routing strategy. The system of claim 8 , wherein adjusting the target agent utilization comprises adjusting a Kappa parameter for a hybrid behavioral pairing strategy. An article of manufacture for pairing contacts and agents in a contact center system comprising: a non-transitory computer processor readable medium; and instructions stored on the medium; wherein the instructions are configured to be readable from the medium by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the contact center system and thereby cause the at least one computer processor to operate so as to: determine a first amount of performance suppression of a first contact-agent pairing strategy by a second contact-agent pairing strategy; adjust a target agent utilization of the first contact-agent pairing strategy to compensate for at least some of the first amount of performance suppression; and pair at least one contact to at least one agent in the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy according to the adjusted target agent utilization, wherein the compensating for the at least some of the first amount of performance suppression optimizes performance of the contact center system. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further caused to operate so as to: generate a representation of a relative performance of the contact center system using the first contact-agent pairing strategy compared to the second contact-agent pairing strategy based on the first amount of performance suppression. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the first amount of performance suppression is attributable to a first amount of agent-utilization bias in the second contact-agent pairing strategy. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein determining the first amount of performance suppression comprises determining an average available-agent performance of a plurality of agents during at least one transition from the second contact-agent pairing strategy to the first contact-agent pairing strategy. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the first contact-agent pairing strategy is a behavioral pairing strategy, and wherein the adjusting the target agent utilization biases the first contact-agent pairing strategy toward a performance-based routing strategy. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the second contact-agent pairing strategy is a performance-based routing strategy. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein adjusting the target agent utilization comprises adjusting a Kappa parameter for a hybrid behavioral pairing strategy.
CPC Classification	INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE; COMMERCIAL; FINANCIAL; MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES;SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE; COMMERCIAL; FINANCIAL; MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION; COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION; TRANSMISSION; DISTRIBUTION; MANAGEMENT OR USAGE; i.e. SMART GRIDS
Extended Family	153-282-817-893-488 115-833-457-126-700 169-029-719-008-635 072-927-520-299-129 138-258-427-276-878 067-630-548-742-702 018-166-997-815-811 166-148-983-507-102 138-520-711-216-769 148-612-113-537-731 004-930-635-113-874 072-662-304-718-148 187-596-186-124-345 077-950-712-598-833 010-116-620-631-59X 175-954-727-298-244 002-896-207-451-931 186-419-289-350-042 146-481-296-236-332 195-228-850-070-850 102-926-960-322-398 082-476-780-814-230 012-154-598-760-861 043-481-133-299-684 043-115-554-931-246 059-332-317-707-197 156-558-304-235-66X 090-944-135-629-344 184-826-535-095-231 044-254-874-850-070 043-898-211-015-653 046-622-773-821-843 160-868-994-890-423 174-952-120-273-109 106-890-353-247-350 058-334-175-503-342 028-266-430-095-316 199-288-842-766-268 088-601-600-696-918 191-996-954-364-577 066-470-125-942-140 198-244-620-359-172 105-295-938-479-859 038-830-270-569-769 079-750-915-516-179 046-372-272-438-409
Patent ID	20190098134
Inventor/Author	Chishti Zia
IPC	H04M3/51 G06Q10/06 H04M3/523
Status	Active
Owner	Afiniti Ltd
Simple Family	153-282-817-893-488 115-833-457-126-700 169-029-719-008-635 072-927-520-299-129 138-258-427-276-878 067-630-548-742-702 148-612-113-537-731 166-148-983-507-102 138-520-711-216-769 018-166-997-815-811 004-930-635-113-874 072-662-304-718-148 187-596-186-124-345 077-950-712-598-833 010-116-620-631-59X 175-954-727-298-244 002-896-207-451-931 186-419-289-350-042 146-481-296-236-332 195-228-850-070-850 102-926-960-322-398 082-476-780-814-230 012-154-598-760-861 043-481-133-299-684 043-115-554-931-246 059-332-317-707-197 156-558-304-235-66X 090-944-135-629-344 184-826-535-095-231 044-254-874-850-070 043-898-211-015-653 046-622-773-821-843 160-868-994-890-423 174-952-120-273-109 106-890-353-247-350 058-334-175-503-342 028-266-430-095-316 199-288-842-766-268 088-601-600-696-918 191-996-954-364-577 066-470-125-942-140 198-244-620-359-172 105-295-938-479-859 038-830-270-569-769 079-750-915-516-179 046-372-272-438-409
CPC (with Group)	G06Q10/06393 G06Q10/04 H04M3/5175 H04M3/5191 H04M3/5232 H04M3/5233 G06Q10/06 Y04S10/50
Issuing Authority	United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Kind	Patent Application Publication