Call center simulations: call center simulation modeling: methods, challenges, and opportunities

ABSTRACT

Using stochastic models to plan call center operations, schedule call center staff efficiently, and analyze projected performance is not a new phenomenon, dating back to Erlang's work in the early twentieth century. However, several factors have recently conspired to increase demand for call center simulation analysis.

• Increasing complexity in call traffic, coupled with the almost ubiquitous use of Skill-Based Routing.

• Rapid change in operations due to increased merger and acquisition activity, business volatility, outsourcing options, and multiple customer channels (inbound phone, outbound phone, email, web, chat) to support.

• Cheaper, faster desktop computing, combined with specialized call center simulation applications that are now commercially available.

In this tutorial, we will provide an overview of call center simulation models, highlighting typical inputs and data sources, modeling challenges, and key model outputs. In the process, we will also present an interesting "real-world" example of effective use of call center simulation.

REFERENCES

• 1: Andrews, B. H. and S. M. Cunningham. 1995. L. L. Bean Improves Call Center Forecasting. Interfaces 25:1--13.
• 2: Andrews, B. H. and H. L. Parsons. 1989. L. L. Bean Chooses an Agent Scheduling System. Interfaces 19:1 - 9.
• 3: Andrews, B. H. and H. L. Parsons. 1993. Establishing Telephone-Agent Staffing Levels Through Economic Optimization. Interfaces 23:14--20.
• 4: Feinberg, R. A., I. Kim, B. Hokama, K. Ruyter, and C. Keen. Operational Determinants of Caller Satisfaction in the Call Center. International Journal of Service Industry Management 11:131--141.
• 5: O. Garnet , A. Mandelbaum , M. Reiman, Designing a Call Center with Impatient Customers, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, v.4 n.3, p.208-227, July 2002 [doi>10.1287/msom.4.3.208.7753]
• 6: Grossman, T. A., D. A. Samuelson, S. L. Oh, and T. R. Rohleder. 2001. Call Centers. In Encyclopedia of Operations Research, ed. S. L. Gass and T. M. Harris, 73--76. Norwell: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• 7: Hoffman, K. L. and C. M. Harris. 1986. Estimation of a Caller Retrial Rate for a Telephone Information System. European Journal of Operational Research 27:207--214.
• 8: Mabert, V. A. 1985. Short-Interval Forecasting of Emergency (911) Workloads. Journal of Operations Management 5:259--271.
• 9: Mandelbaum, A. 2001. Call Center Research Bibliography with Abstracts, Technical Report, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
• 10: Avishai Mandelbaum , Nahum Shimkin, A model for rational abandonments from invisible queues, Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, v.36 n.1-3, p.141-173, 2000 [doi>10.1023/A:1019131203242]
• 11: Mehrotra, V. 1997. Ringing Up Big Business. OR/MS Today 24:18--24.
• 12: Edieal J. Pinker , Robert A. Shumsky, The Efficiency-Quality Trade-Off of Cross-Trained Workers, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, v.2 n.1, p.32-48, January 2000 [doi>10.1287/msom.2.1.32.23268]
• 13: Robert M. Saltzman , Vijay Mehrotra, A call center uses simulation to drive strategic change, Interfaces, v.31 n.3a, p.87-101, May-June 2001 [doi>10.1287/inte.31.3.87.9632]
• 14: Douglas A. Samuelson, Predictive Dialing for Outbound Telephone Call Centers, Interfaces, v.29 n.5, p.66-94, May 1999 [doi>10.1287/inte.29.5.66]