Performance Modelling of UUM Local Area Network(Wired)

Slow network connection in accessing resources is a common complaint on a computer network that has switches as dominant network equipment, when certain nodes are heavily loaded with clients more than their capacity. In this study a simulation model was developed and validated for the University of Utara Malaysia wired Local Area Network. The effect of network parameters such as the processing time and the packet arrival rate on the performance metrics such as throughput, end to end delay and utilization of the servers and switches on the network was investigated. The analysis of the results from the simulations carried out can assist the management of computer centre that manages the network in identifying the bottleneck node on the network and for future network capacity building

Improving operational measures in a financial institute call center: a case study

This article presents a case study that shows the impact of a proposed method of performance measures in a call center service system in one of the largest financial institutions in Israel. It proposes a policy for load-reduction in the peak hours coupled with an improvement in the automated routing of customers’ calls. The case study shows the system's current state, and offers improvements to shorten the overall service time while increasing utilization of service personnel in order to decrease the abandon rate (AR) and increase service quality. The article starts by introducing the financial institute and its telephone service structure, the unique characteristic of the current service system, the different types of customers and their characteristics, the utilization of the system and emphasizes the phone call duration and AR. In addition, the article shows a simulation of the current state with an analysis of current service. It compares the current system with an alternative service system that aims at improving the main performance measures including average wait time (AWT), service personel utilization time, and customer abandon rate. The proposed system includes additional "back office" with a callback system to reduce churn rate, and improved the IVR routing. The proposed service system was simulated and all the service measurement was tested statistically. The results indicated a significant improvement in terms of service measurements between the current and the proposed system. Operators’ utilization increased, while abandoning rate decreased significantly

Integrated Talent Management System for Customer Service Workforce

Call center agents performance nowadays becomes one of the key success factors that determine the call center business goals. Not all call centers aware those agents' personal attributes also contribute to the organization image and performances. As a result, organizations often miss an opportunity to gain competitive advantage in their business process. Thus, the objective of this project is to model, design and develop an integrated web based application that can assess and record agents' personal development and work attributes while at the same time allowing supervisors to communicate about work performances. Each organization has its own business objectives that need to be met where can only be met through a comprehensive ways that effectively manages an organization's talent. This concern should be focus more on customer service industry because they consist of agents that deliver service to customer along the time. This project discussed on human resource management constraints which in terms of call center agents' personal development attributes and performances in call center. Therefore, this project had proposed one solution by providing an integrated web based application to assess agents' personal development and at the same time enhance internal communication levels called Integrated Talent Management System. Not only that, this report also discussed benefits on Talent Management System to customer service organization and existing criteria on current Talent Management System. Some characteristics and function have been identified to build and enhance the problem. There is also a section that talks on current customer service industry environment. There are two types of methodology for this project which are system methodology and research methodology. Incremental model is the most appropriate methodology approach for this project. Observation, informal interview and document reviews method are the key activities have been used to implement User Needs Assessment as well as to gather information. Gantt chart has been created whereby to assist and monitor the project timeline and key milestone. There is also a section that describe on the tools that will be used in order to develop this project. There is a discussion that discussed on the current practice of performance appraisal assessment and inbound reporting structure environment for this project Industry Partner. Functional modeling Diagrams had been developed to make the requirements looks clearer. Testing analysis has been conducted to get feedback from the user. Several recommendations and future works plans had been discussed too. Therefore, by having an integrated talent management system, the author hope project objective can be achieved where it can assess and record agents' personal development and work attributes while at the same time allowing supervisors to communicate about work performance. Thus, an organization can have proper human resource management that will result in ease for the organization to achieve its business goals

Integrated Talent Management System for Customer Service Workforce

Call center agents performance nowadays becomes one of the key success factors that determine the call center business goals. Not all call centers aware those agents' personal attributes also contribute to the organization image and performances. As a result, organizations often miss an opportunity to gain competitive advantage in their business process. Thus, the objective of this project is to model, design and develop an integrated web based application that can assess and record agents' personal development and work attributes while at the same time allowing supervisors to communicate about work performances. Each organization has its own business objectives that need to be met where can only be met through a comprehensive ways that effectively manages an organization's talent. This concern should be focus more on customer service industry because they consist of agents that deliver service to customer along the time. This project discussed on human resource management constraints which in terms of call center agents' personal development attributes and performances in call center. Therefore, this project had proposed one solution by providing an integrated web based application to assess agents' personal development and at the same time enhance internal communication levels called Integrated Talent Management System. Not only that, this report also discussed benefits on Talent Management System to customer service organization and existing criteria on current Talent Management System. Some characteristics and function have been identified to build and enhance the problem. There is also a section that talks on current customer service industry environment. There are two types of methodology for this project which are system methodology and research methodology. Incremental model is the most appropriate methodology approach for this project. Observation, informal interview and document reviews method are the key activities have been used to implement User Needs Assessment as well as to gather information. Gantt chart has been created whereby to assist and monitor the project timeline and key milestone. There is also a section that describe on the tools that will be used in order to develop this project. There is a discussion that discussed on the current practice of performance appraisal assessment and inbound reporting structure environment for this project Industry Partner. Functional modeling Diagrams had been developed to make the requirements looks clearer. Testing analysis has been conducted to get feedback from the user. Several recommendations and future works plans had been discussed too. Therefore, by having an integrated talent management system, the author hope project objective can be achieved where it can assess and record agents' personal development and work attributes while at the same time allowing supervisors to communicate about work performance. Thus, an organization can have proper human resource management that will result in ease for the organization to achieve its business goals

Call Center Experience Optimization: A Case for a Virtual Predictive Queue

The evolution of the call center into contact centers and the growth of their use in providing customer-facing service by many companies has brought considerable capabilities in maintaining customer relationships but it also has brought challenges in providing quality service when call volumes are high. Limited in their ability to provide service at all times to all customers, companies are forced to balance the costs associated with hiring more customer service representatives and the quality of service provided by a fewer number. A primary challenge when there are not enough customer service representatives to engage the volume of callers in a timely manner is the significant wait times that can be experienced by many customers. Normally, callers are handled in accordance with a first-come, first-served policy with exceptions being skill-based routing to those customer service representatives with specialized skills. A proposed call center infrastructure framework called a Virtual Predictive Queue (VPQ) can allow some customers to benefit from a shorter call queue wait time. This proposed system can be implemented within a call center’s Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) device associated with computer telephony integration (CTI) and theoretically will not violate a first-come, first served policy

A Framework for Balanced Service and Cross-Selling by Using Queuing Science

Abstract: Call centers are complex contact centers to handle large volume of inbound, outbound or both types of calls depending on the business purpose. Call centers assume the role of the primary contact medium for many companies from a wide range of industries with their customers or clients. Despite of being seen traditionally as adding cost to the companies' bottom lines, call centers are now viewed by many companies to turn a service request into an opportunity to sell additional products and services. This sales attempt is called cross-selling. The opportunity to generate profit from an existing customer-base is a key factor for a successful call center. This paper introduces a framework for balancing cross-selling and service activities in a call center setup from a queuing science point of view. The main goal of this study is to introduce a framework to maximize a call center's performance without degrading the service quality. Our framework is based on the usage of real-time queue characteristics, customer profile information and server-skill set information from a cross-sell point of view

A framework for balanced service and cross-selling by using queuing science

Contact centers are complex call centers to handle large volume of inbound, outbound or both types of calls depending on the business purpose. Call centers assume the role of the primary contact medium for many companies from a wide range of industries with their customers or clients. Despite of being seen traditionally as adding cost to the companies' bottom lines, call centers are now viewed by many companies to turn a service request into an opportunity to sell additional products and services. This sales attempt is called cross-selling. The opportunity to generate profit from an existing customer-base is a key factor for a successful call center. This paper introduces a framework for balancing cross-selling and service activities in a call center setting from a queuing science point of view. The main goal of this study is to introduce a framework to maximize a call center's performance without degrading the service quality. Our framework is based on the usage of real-time queue characteristics, customer profile information and server-skill set information from a cross-sell point of view