Call Processing

Calls received by the Contact Center are received and placed in the queue based on the call’s pri- ority and the wait time. The wait time of a call in a queue corresponds to the time elapsed from the moment that the call enters a queue to the moment that the call exits the queue. For a new call incoming into the queue, the wait time is not set. For a call which is transferred to the queue from another queue within the group/enterprise or an agent, the wait time accumulated by the call prior to being transferred is preserved (if option to preserve wait time is enabled) and the call is queued accordingly.

Various actions can be taken to manage a call present in a queue like re-ordering a call to the front of the queue, promoting a lower priority call to a higher priority, transferring a call etc.

Also, calls get routed to agents staffing the Contact Center as and when they are available. Calls can be routed to an available agent based on various routing policies.

Details for both queue management and routing policies are covered below.

2.3.9.1 Queue Management 2.3.9.1.1 Bounced calls

If a call offered to an agent is not answered by the agent, the call is returned back to the queue and is flagged as ‘bounced’. This call is prioritized ahead of other non-bounced calls in the queue.

A bounced call always remains at the top of the queue. If there are multiple bounced calls in the queue, then they are prioritized based on the original time at which the call was offered to an

agent. The bounced call flag is only relevant within the queue in which the call has bounced. If the bounced call is transferred to another queue, then the flag is cleared and the call is prioritized as a regular call.

2.3.9.1.2 Re-ordering Calls

Calls present in a Contact Center queue, can be re-ordered by the supervisor. Re-ordering can be performed only on calls at the highest priority. Calls in lower priority buckets cannot be reordered.

This is to ensure accurate promotion of calls to the next priority.

2.3.9.1.3 Transferring Calls

Calls can be transferred from one Contact Center to another. Supervisor can transfer a call using the Telepacific Supervisor Client.

2.3.9.1.4 Promoting calls

To avoid lower priority calls from being stranded, options to promote lower priority calls present in the queue for a long duration, to higher priority are available.

2.3.9.1.5 Offering calls to an agent

A queued call is offered to an agent upon one of the following triggers:

Upon entry in the queue, at least one agent is available to answer the call. In this case, the queued call is offered to an available agent according to the Call Distribution policy configured for that queue.

An agent becomes available to handle a new call and the queued call is prioritized as the next call to be offered. In this case, the call is first offered to the agent who becomes available. If the call bounces or the agent becomes unavailable again before the call can be offered, then the call is offered according to the Call Distribution policy configured for that queue.

Contact Center Solution Guide

2.3.9.2 Routing policies 2.3.9.2.1 Priority Routing

This activity introduces a policy that allows the determination of which call to be delivered in priority when an agent becomes available.

The priority routing policy has two settings:

Longest Waiting: If this setting is selected, then the wait times of the next call in line from each queue that the agent is staffing are compared. The longest waiting call is selected and

delivered to the agent.

Fixed Queue Priority: If this setting is selected, then a list of precedence is configured among the queue of the group/enterprise. The call from the highest precedence queue that the agent is staffing is selected and delivered to the agent.

For both settings, bounced calls always have priority over non-bounced calls. If there is more than one candidate bounced call, then they are prioritized based on the original time at which the call was offered to an agent.

This ensures that in a scenario where an agent is staffing more than one queue and became

available to take a new call, all queues would not trigger and attempt to dequeue and send a call to the agent at the same time.

This policy is configured at the group/enterprise level.

Below are some use cases which clarify how calls from two queues are presented to an available agent staffing both queues:

Priority Routing – Precedence

Two agents are staffing two queues of a group/enterprise:

Technical support Customer service

The customer service is configured with the highest precedence and both queues have a single call waiting to be handled by an agent. The call in the technical support queue has been waiting the longest.

The first agent frees up and becomes available to take a new call. Because the customer service queue has the highest precedence, the call from that queue is delivered to the agent.

The second agent frees up and becomes available to take a new call. The customer service queue is empty, so the call from the technical support queue is delivered to the agent.

Priority Routing – Longest Waiting Time

Two agents are staffing two queues of a group/enterprise:

Technical support Customer service

Both queues have a single call waiting to be handled by an agent, and the call in the technical support queue has been waiting the longest.

The first agent frees up and becomes available to take a new call. Because the call from the technical support queue has been waiting the longest, the call from that queue is delivered to the agent.

The second agent frees up and becomes available to take a new call. The technical support queue is empty and the call from the customer service queue is delivered to the agent.

Priority Routing – Bounced Calls

Two agents are staffing two queues of a group/enterprise:

Technical support Customer service

Both queues have a single call waiting to be handled by an agent, and the call in the technical support queue has been waiting the longest. However, the call in the customer service queue was offered once to an agent and then bounced back to the queue.

The first agent frees up and becomes available to take a new call. Because the call from the customer service queue was offered to an agent and bounced already, the call from that queue is delivered to the agent.