[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ skip to main content
10.5555/3242181.3242513acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PageswscConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Beyond calls: modeling the connection center

Published: 03 December 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Call centers have been the subject of many simulation studies and the challenges and successes of modelling these environments have been widely published. Call centers have however evolved significantly in the last decade or so, as new communication technologies have become available, customer expectations have increased, and the value of customer experience has been recognized and prioritized. While the single-channel call centers proved complex to analyze and worthy of the advanced analytical power of simulation, the modern multi-channel connection centers bring new levels of complexity to managerial decision making. This paper presents research into the modelling challenges posed by these evolving environments and illustrates how simulation is now more beneficial than ever to organizations aiming to understand and quantify the impact of change in their customer support business.

References

[1]
Abdullateef, A. O., S. S. M. Muktar, R. Z. Yusoff, and I. S. B. Ahmad. 2014. "Effects of Customer Relationship Management Strategy on Call Centre's Employee Intention to Quit: Evidence from Malaysia Call Centers." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 130: 305--15.
[2]
Adetunji, A., and H. Larijani. 2008. "Enhanced Bandwidth-Delay Based Routing Algorithm for a Packet-Switched Virtual Call Centre Environment." In Proceedings of the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S J Mason, R R Hill, L Mönch, O Rose, T Jefferson, and J W Fowler, 2891--2900. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[3]
Aksin, Z., M. Armony, and V. Mehrotra. 2007. "The Modern Call Center: A Multi- Disciplinary Perspective on Operations Management Research." Production and Operations Management 16 (6): 665--88.
[4]
Avramidis, A. N., and P. L'Ecuyer. 2005. "Modeling and Simulation of Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2005 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by M. E. Kuhl, N. M. Steiger, F. B. Armstrong, and J. A. Joines, 2005:144--52. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[5]
Bapat, V., and E. B. Pruitte. 1998. "Using Simulation in Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 1998 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by D.J. Medeiros, E.F. Watson, J.S. Carson, and M.S. Manivannan, 1395--99. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[6]
BearingPoint. 2012. The Digital Evolution Journey of the Contact Centre. https://www.bearingpoint.com/files/BEUK1206_Digital_Contact_Centre.pdf.
[7]
Brigandi, A. J., D. R. Dargon, M. J. Sheehan, and T. Spencer. 1994. "AT&T's Call Processing Simulator (CAPS): Operational Design for Inbound Call Centers." Interfaces 1: 6--28.
[8]
Buuren, M. V., G. J. Kommer, R. van der Mei, and S. Bhulai. 2015. "A Simulation Model for Emergency Medical Services Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2015 Winter Simulation Conference, 844--55. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[9]
Call Centre Helper. 2016. Webchat Service Quality Becomes Compromised After Two Sessions. https://www.callcentrehelper.com/poll-at-what-point-is-webchat-quality-compromised-79671.htm.
[10]
Chokshi, R. 1999. "Decision Support for Call Center Management Using Simulation." In Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by P. A. Farrington, H. B. Nembhard, D. T. Sturrock, and G. W. Evans, 2:1634--39. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[11]
Dimension Data. 2016. 2016 Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report. https://www.dimensiondata.com/Global/Global-Microsites/CCBenchmarking/Pages/Homes.aspx.
[12]
Ding, S., G. Koole, and R. Van Der Mei. 2013. "A Method for Estimation of Redial and Reconnect Probabilities in Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by R. Pasupathy, S.-H. Kim, A. Tolk, R. Hill, and M. E. Kuhl, 181--92. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[13]
Fonolo. 2014. Why 80/20 is Probably the Wrong Service Level for Your Call Center. https://fonolo.com/blog/2014/06/why-8020-is-probably-the-wrong-service-level-for-your-call-center/.
[14]
Franzese, L. A. G., M. M. Fioroni, R. C. Botter, and P. J. De Freitas Filho. 2009. "Comparison of Call Center Models." In Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference, 2963--70. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[15]
Gans, N., G. Koole, and A. Mandelbaum. 2003. "Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review, and Research Prospects." Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 5 (2): 79--141.
[16]
Ibrahim, R., N. Regnard, P. L'Ecuyer, and H. Shen. 2012. "On the Modeling and Forecasting of Call Center Arrivals." In Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by C. Laroque, J. Himmelspach, R. Pasupathy, O. Rose, and A. M. Uhrmacher, 256--67. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[17]
Ibrahim, R., and W. Whitt. 2008. "Real-Time Delay Estimation in Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S J Mason, R R Hill, L Mönch, O Rose, T Jefferson, and J W Fowler, 2876--83. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[18]
Kantsperger, R., and W. H. Kunz. 2005. "Managing Overall Service Quality in Customer Care Centers Empirical Findings of a Multi-Perspective Approach." International Journal of Service Industry Management 16 (2): 135--51.
[19]
Klungle, R. 1999. "Simulation of a Claims Call Center: A Success and a Failure." In Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by P. A. Farrington, H. B. Nembhard, D. T. Sturrock, and G. W. Evans, 1648--53. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[20]
Koole, G., A. Pot, and J. Talim. 2003. "Routing Heuristics for Multi-Skill Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. Chick, P. J. Sánchez, D. Ferrin, and D. J. Morrice, 1813--16. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[21]
Kosiba, R., and B. Wicaksono. 2015. "Contact Center Planning Calculations and Methodologies; A Comparison of Erlang-C and Simulation Modeling."
[22]
Mathew, B., and M. K. Nambiar. 2013. "A Tutorial on Modelling Call Centres Using Discrete Event Simulation." In Proceedings 27th European Conference on Modelling and Simulation. Vol. 4.
[23]
Mazzuchi, T. A., and R. B. Wallace. 2004. "Analyzing Skill-Based Routing Call Centers Using Discrete-Event Simulation and Design Experiment." In Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, 2004., edited by R.G. Ingalls, M. D. Rossetti, J. S. Smith, and B. A. Peters, 2:1812--20. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[24]
Miller, K., and V. Bapat. 1999. "Case Study: Simulation of the Call Center Environment for Comparing Competing Call Routing Technologies for Business Case ROI Projection." In Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by P. A. Farrington, H. B. Nembhard, D. T. Sturrock, and G. W. Evans, 1694--1700. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[25]
Munoz, D., and M. C. Brutus. 2013. "Understanding the Trade-Offs in a Call Center." In Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by R. Pasupathy, S.-H. Kim, A. Tolk, R. Hill, and M. E. Kuhl, 3992--93. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[26]
Pichitlamken, J, A. Deslauriers, P. L'Ecuyer, and A. N. Avramidis. 2003. "Modelling and Simulation of a Telephone Call Center." In Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. Chick, P. J. Sánchez, D. Ferrin, and D. J. Morrice, 2:1805--12 vol.2. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[27]
Robbins, T. R. 2016. "Evaluating the Fit of the Erlang A Model in High Traffic Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2016 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by L. Yilmaz, W. K. V. Chan, I. Moon, T. M. K. Roeder, C. Macal, and M. D. Rossetti, 1790--1801. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[28]
Robbins, T. R, T. P. Harrison, and D. J. Medeiros. 2007. "Partial Cross Training in Call Centers with Uncertain Arrivals and Global Service Level Agreements." In Proceedings of the 2007 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. G. Henderson, B. Biller, M.-H. Hsieh, J. Shortle, J. D. Tew, and R. R. Barton, 2252--58. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[29]
Robbins, T. R., D. J. Medeiros, and T. P. Harrison. 2010. "Does the Erlang C Model Fit in Real Call Centers?" In Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by B. Johansson, S. Jain, J. Montoya-Torres, J. Hugan, and E. Yücesan, 2853--64. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[30]
Saltzman, R., and V. Mehrotra. 2004. "A Manager-Friendly Platform for Simulation Modeling and Analysis of Call Center Queueing Systems." In Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by R.G. Ingalls, M. D. Rossetti, J. S. Smith, and B. A. Peters, 466--73. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[31]
Seada, A. A., and A. B. Eltawil. 2015. "Modeling and Analysis of Workforce Management Decisions in Modern Call Centers." In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
[32]
Steinmann, G., and P. J. De Freitas Filho. 2013. "Using Simulation to Evaluate Call Forecasting Algorithms for Inbound Call Center." In Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference - Simulation: Making Decisions in a Complex World, WSC 2013, edited by R. Pasupathy, S.-H. Kim, A. Tolk, R. Hill, and M. E. Kuhl, 1132--39. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[33]
Talkdesk. 2014. Selecting a Call Center Service Level Objective. https://www.talkdesk.com/blog/selecting-a-call-center-service-level-objective.
[34]
Tanir, O., and R. J. Booth. 1999. "Call Center Simulation in Bell Canada." In Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by P. A. Farrington, H. B. Nembhard, D. T. Sturrock, and G. W. Evans, 1640--47. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
[35]
Whitt, W. 1999. "Dynamic Staffing in a Telephone Call Center Aiming to Immediately Answer All Calls." Operations Research Letters 24 (5): 205--12.
[36]
Yaşlioĝlu, M., B. O. O. Çalişkan, and O. Şap. 2013. "The Role of Innovation and Perceived Service Quality in Creating Customer Value: A Study on Employees of a Call Center Establishment." Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 99: 629--35.
  1. Beyond calls: modeling the connection center

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image ACM Conferences
    WSC '17: Proceedings of the 2017 Winter Simulation Conference
    December 2017
    4389 pages
    ISBN:9781538634271

    Sponsors

    Publisher

    IEEE Press

    Publication History

    Published: 03 December 2017

    Check for updates

    Qualifiers

    • Research-article

    Conference

    WSC '17
    Sponsor:
    WSC '17: Winter Simulation Conference
    December 3 - 6, 2017
    Nevada, Las Vegas

    Acceptance Rates

    Overall Acceptance Rate 3,413 of 5,075 submissions, 67%

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • 0
      Total Citations
    • 39
      Total Downloads
    • Downloads (Last 12 months)1
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
    Reflects downloads up to 15 Jan 2025

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    View Options

    Login options

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Media

    Figures

    Other

    Tables

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media