Predictive dialing based on simulation

1. A method of determining outgoing calls to be initiated by a predictive dialing system comprising a storage subsystem and a logic subsystem, the method comprising:

logging in the storage subsystem a call history over a period of time for a plurality of outgoing calls initiated by the predictive dialing system, the call history including call data for each of the outgoing calls;

executing a program with the logic system to run a simulation on the call history by adjusting one or more dialer parameters and determining one or more values for those dialer parameter values that provide at least a target agent utilization within the simulation without causing a threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within the simulation; and

with the program, determining outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from the simulation;

wherein the period of time is a preceding window of time ending at a time when the simulation is run.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the call data associated with each outgoing call of the call history includes one or more of: date of the call, time of the call, ring duration, whether the call was answered, whether the call was abandoned, and/or call duration.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the period of time is programmatically determined to include a pre-defined number of outgoing calls or a pre-defined time range of outgoing calls.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more dialer parameters include one or more of: connection rate, mean conversation length, maximum conversation length, mean wrap-up length, maximum wrap-up length, and/or abandonment rate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target agent utilization is a maximum agent utilization value without causing the threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within the simulation.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target agent utilization is a pre-defined agent utilization or a user-defined agent utilization.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

initiating, via the predictive dialing system, the outgoing calls determined based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from the simulation.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system includes determining a timing of the outgoing calls and/or determining a quantity of the outgoing calls.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simulation includes an iterative simulation; and wherein the method further comprises:

iteratively adjusting the one or more dialer parameters and determining one or more values for those dialer parameters over two or more simulation iterations until at least a target agent utilization within a simulation iteration is achieved without causing a threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within that iteration simulation; and

determining the outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from that iteration simulation.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the call history is one of a plurality of successive call histories, the method further comprising:

logging the plurality of successive call histories, each call history including call data for outgoing calls initiated by the predictive dialing system within a respective period of time that forms a sliding window of time among the plurality of successive call histories;

for each call history of the plurality of successive call histories:

running a respective simulation on that call history by adjusting one or more dialer parameters and determining one or more updated values for those dialer parameter values that provide at least the target agent utilization within that simulation without causing the threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within that simulation; and

determining outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more updated values for the dialer parameters determined from that simulation.

11. Non-transitory computer readable media holding instructions executable by a processor of a predictive dialing system to:

log in the computer readable media a call history over a period of time for a plurality of outgoing calls initiated by the predictive dialing system, the call history including call data for each of the outgoing calls;

run a simulation on the call history by adjusting one or more dialer parameters and determining one or more values for those dialer parameter values that provide at least a target agent utilization within the simulation without causing a threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within the simulation;

determine outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from the simulation; and

initiate, via the predictive dialing system, the outgoing calls determined based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from the simulation;

wherein the period of time is a preceding window of time ending at a time when the simulation is run.

12. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the simulation includes an iterative simulation; and

wherein the instructions are further executable by the logic subsystem to:

iteratively adjust the one or more dialer parameters and determine one or more values for those dialer parameters over two or more simulation iterations until at least a target agent utilization within a simulation iteration is achieved without causing a threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within that iteration simulation; and

determine the outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from that iteration simulation.

13. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the call data associated with each outgoing call of the call history includes one or more of: date of the call, time of the call, ring duration, whether the call was answered, whether the call was abandoned, and/or call duration.

14. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the period of time is programmatically determined to include a pre-defined number of outgoing calls and/or a pre-defined time range of outgoing calls.

15. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the one or more dialer parameters include one or more of: connection rate, mean conversation length, maximum conversation length, mean wrap-up length, maximum wrap-up length, and/or abandonment rate.

16. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the target agent utilization is a maximum agent utilization value without causing the threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within the simulation.

17. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein the target agent utilization is a pre-defined agent utilization or a user-defined agent utilization.

18. The storage subsystem of claim 11 , wherein determining outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system includes determining a timing of the outgoing calls and/or determining a quantity of the outgoing calls to be initiated.

19. A predictive dialing system to determine outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system, the system comprising a storage subsystem and a logic subsystem configured to execute a program comprising:

a call flow module configured to log in the storage subsystem a call history over a period of time for a plurality of outgoing calls, the call history including call data for each of the outgoing calls;

a simulator module configured to run an iterative simulation on the call history by iteratively adjusting the one or more dialer parameters and determining one or more values for those dialer parameter values over two or more simulation iterations until at least a target agent utilization within a simulation iteration is achieved without causing a threshold abandonment rate to be exceeded within that iteration simulation; and

a predictive dialer module configured to determine a timing and quantity of outgoing calls to be initiated by the predictive dialing system based, at least in part, on the one or more values for the dialer parameters determined from that iteration simulation, and initiate the outgoing calls in accordance with the timing and quantity;

wherein the period of time is a preceding window of time ending at a time when the simulation is run.