Re-inventing the call centre with predictive and adaptive execution

Call centres have evolved from simple single-function centres to offer acce ss, convenience, choice and courtesy to callers. Forecasting and staffing f ools support planning, enterprise databases permit the business to craft sp ecific caller treatments, and cross-trained agents using desktop applicatio ns can respond to a wider range of caller needs and business opportunities on a single call. One key element of the call centre, however, has changed only superficially-the question of 'What should each agent do next?' The 'oldest waiting call' rule has answered that question for the last 20 y ears. Signs that this methodology is obsolete are seen in call centres wher e designs become more complex and results more difficult to achieve; where manual intervention moves agents from skill to skill chasing problems; wher e the most talented agents are overworked. This paper describes predictive and adaptive techniques; that answer the question 'What should an agent do next?' These techniques re-invent the call centre, creating a robust operat ion cohere performance is aligned with business intentions, without the man ual, corrective intervention common in conventional centres.