Assignment Answers

1. What is the current capacity and capacity utilization of Susan’s team?

Average task time (weighted average) = 130.65 seconds (Table 1)

The time available for a normal week that all CSR’s are present is:

5 days x 3.600min = 18.000 min/week

Available time in seconds: 18.000 x 60 sec = 1.080.000 sec / week

Each week the team can serve 1.080.000 / 130.65 = 8.266,36 calls / week

According to my previous calculations the demand of the week stays the same, so:

Demand of the week = 7030.27 calls / week

Demand ⇒
Capacity utilization =
Capacity

7030.27
Capacity utilization = = 0.85 or 85%
8266.36

According to Exhibit 2 the time available of the CSRs for this week where “F” was sick is:

Available time/day is 3.600 min for days 8 th of April and 12th of April, from 9th to 11th of April we have less

time available as the “F” CSR was sick. For these three days the available time was 3.600min – (7.5hours x 60

min) = 3600 – 450 = 3150 min.

So, for five days we have 2 x 3.600 + 3 x 3150 = 7.200 + 9450 = 16.650 min/week

Available time in seconds is: 16.650 x 60sec=999.000 sec/week

From our previous calculations we have seen that the average task time is 130.65 seconds, so this week the

team can serve: 999.000 / 130.65 = 7646,38 calls / week

As we can see from exhibit 5, the daily average demand for the period 9-11 of April is: 1164.30 answered

calls /day + 136.3 abandoned calls/day = 1300.6 calls on average.

We assume that:

X = Calls of Monday, Y = Calls of Friday

We take the equation:

⇒
X + 3days x average demand + Y = demand of the week
 ⇒
23.8% x week demand + 3 x 1300.6 + 20.7% x week demand = week demand
⇒
23.8% x week demand + 3901.8 + 20.7% x week demand = week demand
⇒
3901.8 = week demand – 44.5% x week demand
⇒
3901.8 = 55.5 % x week demand

Demand of the week = 7030.27 calls / week

Demand ⇒
Capacity utilization =
Capacity

7030.27
Capacity utilization = = 0.9194 or 91.94 %
7646.38

2. How should Susan reorganize her division in order to achieve no abandoned calls?

DEO Available time

7,5 hours/day x 60min x 60sec x 4DEO x 5 days = 540.000 sec/week

According to Exhibit 1: Types of Calls Received, we can calculate:

DEO Average Task Time
40 x 15% + 130 x 15% + 240 x 5% + 90 x 3% + 300 x 2% = 46,2 sec (Table 2)

540.000
= 11.688,3 Tasks / week (Capacity)
46,2

This week the CSR can serve: 7.646,38 calls x 46,2 sec (Average Task time of DEO) = 353.262 sec is

the total time that DEO’s work all the week

540.000 – 353.262 = 186.738 sec / 60sec = 3112.3 min available Time of DEO to be used from Susan to cover

an absence from CSR.

186.738 sec
= 1,38 DEO available to Susan
7,5 h our x 60 min x 60 sec x days

We are going to calculate the Call statistics from each CSR separately for the week of April 8-12 of

2002 to measure the calls/hour that each CSR can serve.

We assume that:

XA = Calls of CSR “A” for Monday, YA = Calls of CSR “A” for Friday

We take the equation:

⇒
XA + 3days x average calls + YA = Total Calls of CSRA
 ⇒
23,8% x Total Calls of CSRA + 3 x 200,3 + 20,7% x Total Calls of CSRA = Total Calls of CSRA

200.3
Total calls of CSRA = = 1082,7 calls /week
0.555

Total calls of CSR A

= 14.44 Calls / Half an hour
5 days x 7.5 h our x 2

Taking this equation for each CSR we can find the Actual Call Statistics for every CSR:

CSRA = 14,44 Calls/Half an hour, CSRB = 7,13 Calls/Half an hour, CSRC = 13,98 Calls/Half an hour,

CSRD = 16,38 Calls/Half an hour, CSRE = 8,93 Calls/Half an hour, CSRG= 13,86 Calls/Half an hour,

CSRH = 9,17 Calls/Half an hour (Table 3)

From exhibit 4, we can calculate the average % of distribution of calls for these 3 days and

then we will calculate calls for Monday 8th of April and Friday 12th of April.

19.1% +17.8 %+18.6 %

Average % of 9-11 April: = 18.5%
3

Taking under consideration this statistics, we can see in table 4 how many calls are required to

have no abandoned calls and how many calls can CSR’s serve every hour.

My proposition is to minimize the one-hour unpaid lunch period to half an hour unpaid lunch

period (table 5) and the two 15-minute paid breaks into one 15-minute paid break, especially in days

where a CSR is absent due to illness or time off work. As we can see from exhibit 5, the most calls

are abandoned from 11 – 2, where the one-hour unpaid lunch break take place for all CSR. With half

an hour lunch break only two CSR have a lunch break together, so more CSR serve the calls.

Another proposition is to use at least 1 DEO that is available due to free time to help the CSR team

in cases where a CSR is absent. The additional DEO, according to management estimation can be

68+114
used as a 1 month or less employee and can handle on average =91 calls/day.Furthermore,
2

Susan has to change the daily schedule to use the full capacity of each CSR and do not have CSR

that have free time and on the other hand CSR that works at full capacity. A change in daily schedule
can be seen in table 6, where Susan can have no abandoned calls during all working day, but in

certain hours where calls are more than other. Moreover, Susan has to hire 2 part time agents (4

hour) to cover certain hour’s traffic calls and use them in case a CSR is absent. Together with the

DEO that can serve the abandoned calls, they offer flexibility in filling the daily schedule. Susan has

to develop an intense training program for the newly added employees to achieve faster the average

performance standards of CSR.

3. What are the pros & cons of each of the three routing strategies? Which one would
you recommend to Any Bank?

Advantages of “Dedicated” environment

 Greater Specialization which produces lower average handle time and higher
productivity
 Easiest for the Bank to hire employees as it doesn’t require specialized
qualifications
 Shorter training to achieve average performance standards required by bank
 Flexibility in daily/weekly schedule
 Lower cost of acquiring and training of agents

Disadvantages of “Dedicated” environment

 Groups with low volume of calls can be very expensive to support. Low
⇒
volume of calls low profitability/employee
 Voice call only agents result in limited flexibility in dealing with multiple channels
 “Dedicated” environment excludes customers that use Email-Chat channels.
 Certain working hours with idle time

Advantages of “Task Switching” environment

 Variety in tasks – Easier for agents to understand
 Change in working environment – More pleasant for employees
 Opportunity to service customers that use other forms of communication with
the bank
 Provides variety of multi-talented agents without the potential confusion of
blending

Disadvantages of “Task Switching” environment

 Requires multi-skilled agents (interpretive reading and analysis, strong written
communications skills)
 Average handle time may arise as not all agents have the same skills-speed in
both tasks
 Requires multi-channel routing technology - multiple desktop systems and
logins for agents
  High cost of acquiring and training of agents to achieve average performance
standards required by call center

Advantages of “Blended” environment

 Drives high agent occupancy rates as long as there is a contact waiting
 Satisfies all forms of communication with the call center
 Gives opportunity to migrate customers to less expensive communication
channels
 Provides automated processes to complete routine tasks
 Available productivity tools to improve task efficiency
 Service differentiation through segmentation

Disadvantages of “Blended” environment

 Requires multi skilled agents
 High cost of acquiring, training and retaining of agents to achieve average
performance standards required by call center
 Difficulties in filling daily/weekly schedule
 Requires integrated routing technology
 Heavy pressure on agents, potentially large negative impact on average handle
time
 Learning takes time. In order to learn the agent the multi tasking way of
servicing requires time to achieve high turnover
 Multi-tasking can affect the quality of the call

I would recommend to Any Bank the Task Switching strategy to interact with its
customers. Although this strategy requires multi skilled agents, AnyBank’s call center
consists of DEO team that can handle Email requests. Data entry Operators are already
skilled and familiar with intergraded technology and can provide training to the CSR’s.
Task switching strategy uses two channels, voice calls and Emails, and provides the
customer the ability to communicate with different channel. This differentiation can change
the volume of calls and shift them into Emails, which can be served in a larger extent of
time. Furthermore, Task switching strategy costs less than the blended strategy, which
requires intergraded technology and high costs for acquiring, training and retaining agents.
Last but not least, the task switching strategy offer variety in tasks for agents and can
extinguish the possibility of monotony and fatigue in full capacity agents.