This book gives an accessible overview of the role and potential of mathematical optimization in call centers. It deals extensively with all aspects of workforce management, but also with topics such as call routing and the scheduling of multiple channels. It does so without going into the mathematics, but by focusing on understanding its consequences. This way the reader will get familiar with workload forecasting, the Erlang formulas, simulation, and so forth, and learn how to improve call center performance using it. The book is primarily meant for call center professionals involved in planning and business analytics, but also call center managers and researchers will find it useful. There is an accompanying website which contains several online calculators.

The focus of this book is on the management of inbound call centers. Based on technical performance measures this book develops economic performance measures for different classes of telephone service numbers. Both the numbers of agents and the number of offered phones lines are decision variables in the operational personnel planning process. Since call arrivals as well as call-handling times are random in inbound call centers, this book concentrates on performance analysis and optimization using queueing models. These models may differ with respect to several features, for example, the number of customer classes, the number of differently trained agent groups, the limitation of the waiting room, or the customer's impatience. This book describes mathematical methods and algorithms to relate these decision variables to technical as well as economic performance measures.

As the cost of doing business increases, call centers and help desks are frequently moving overseas. How can your center remain competitive? Is pooling the best way to slash your wait times? James Abbott concisely answers these questions as he leads you through the world of process-centered customer service. Strategic and tactical terms, how to choose metrics to measure, and the miracle of Queuing Science are covered thoroughly, using easy-to-grasp anecdotes to explain the key technical topics.

This is the only book available today that provides a very readable, step-by-step guide for managing an incoming call center. The book combines theory with practical advice and is filled with over 100 charts and graphs, several case studies and an extensive glossary and index. Readers will learn how to: achieve service level with quality in an era of more transactions, growing complexity and heightened caller expectations; understand the "how" behind best practices; boost caller satisfaction; win top management's support; and discover what separates a good call center from a great one.

The second edition of this popular ebook contains updated information, better format, and answer keys to the activities. It also presents new chapters focusing on non- voice accounts and problem solving techniques to various problems in managing workforce._How to determine your agents per day and per hour?_Is getting 100% service level a good idea?_How can you improve your sales or collections with workforce management?