Planning Number of Operators in Call Centre Using Infinite-Source Queuing Model with Varying Demand Intensity

Abstract

The article deals with the possibility of application of infinite-source queuing model in the organization, which provides a non-stop paid telephone information services to the public. Recently, more and more emphasis has been placed on building specialized centres that will be maximally tailored to the customer requirements. The implementation of these activities often requires high costs. Models of queueing theory are usually employed to determine the specific characteristics of the operator (service) system or to find the optimal performance of the system or number of operators. The basic problem of the surveyed call centre is to plan the number of operators per shift, possibly up to per an individual hour of the working day. The number of operators depends on the accuracy of customer demand forecasts. For this purpose, the available data were analysed and their systematic use was proposed in order to improve the short-term forecast of customer demand. The problem of taking mechanical conclusions from hypothesis tests without deeper substantive analysis is also discussed. To solve the problem, a variable demand model was constructed, including a proposal for financial calculations to optimize the number of operators per shift, which may be a real benefit in similar situations.