Granted Patent B2

US 10,298,763 · App. 15/816,821 · Granted May 21, 2019

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A method for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system comprising:

cycling, by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to perform benchmarking operations in the contact center system, among at least two pairing strategies, wherein the cycling comprises:

determining, by the at least one computer processor, an arrival time of a contact;

selecting, by the at least one computer processor, a first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies based on the arrival time; and

pairing, by the at least one computer processor, the contact to an agent using the first pairing strategy, wherein the pairing comprises establishing, by a switch of the contact center system, a connection between the contact and the agent based upon the first pairing strategy;

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies; and

outputting, by the at least one computer processor, the difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies for benchmarking the at least two pairing strategies, wherein the performance difference demonstrates that optimizing performance of the contact center system is realized using the first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies instead of another of the at least two pairing strategies.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating, by the at least one computer processor, an identifier of the first pairing strategy with a record of an interaction between the contact and the agent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least two pairing strategies are allocated equal proportions of a cycle time period.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a duration of a cycle through each of the at least two pairing strategies is less than an hour.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a duration of a cycle through each of the at least two pairing strategies is less than a day.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a duration of a cycle through each of the at least two pairing strategies is less than a week.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the at least one computer processor, a differential in value attributable to at least one pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining, by the at least one computer processor, compensation to a provider of the at least one pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies based on the differential value.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies comprises at least one of:

a behavioral pairing (BP) strategy,

a first-in, first-out (FIFO) pairing strategy,

a performance-based routing (PBR) strategy,

a highest-performing-agent pairing strategy,

a highest-performing-agent-for-contact-type pairing strategy,

a longest-available-agent pairing strategy,

a least-occupied-agent pairing strategy,

a randomly-selected-agent pairing strategy,

a randomly-selected-contact pairing strategy,

a fewest-contacts-taken-by-agent pairing strategy,

a sequentially-labeled-agent pairing strategy,

a longest-waiting-contact pairing strategy, or

a highest-priority-contact pairing strategy.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a duration of a cycle through each of the at least two pairing strategies aligns infrequently with changes to hours of a day.

11. A system for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system comprising:

at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to perform benchmarking operations in the contact center system, wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to:

cycle among at least two pairing strategies, wherein the cycling comprises:

determining, by the at least one computer processor, an arrival time of a contact;

selecting, by the at least one computer processor, a first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies based on the arrival time; and

pairing, by the at least one computer processor, the contact to an agent using the first pairing strategy, wherein the pairing comprises establishing, by a switch of the contact center system, a connection between the contact and the agent based upon the first pairing strategy;

determine a difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies; and

output the difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies for benchmarking the at least two pairing strategies, wherein the performance difference demonstrates that optimizing performance of the contact center system is realized using the first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies instead of another of the at least two pairing strategies.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to associate an identifier of the first pairing strategy with a record of an interaction between the contact and the agent.

13. An article of manufacture for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system comprising:

a non-transitory 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 perform benchmarking operations in the contact center system and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate so as to:

cycle among at least two pairing strategies, wherein the cycling comprises:

determining, by the at least one computer processor, an arrival time of a contact;

selecting, by the at least one computer processor, a first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies based on the arrival time; and

pairing, by the at least one computer processor, the contact to an agent using the first pairing strategy, wherein the pairing comprises establishing, by a switch of the contact center system, a connection between the contact and the agent based upon the first pairing strategy;

determine a difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies; and

output the difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies for benchmarking the at least two pairing strategies, wherein the performance difference demonstrates that optimizing performance of the contact center system is realized using the first pairing strategy of the at least two pairing strategies instead of another of the at least two pairing strategies.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 , wherein the at least one computer processor is caused to operate further so as to associate an identifier of the first pairing strategy with a record of an interaction between the contact and the agent.

Assignments (8)