L’Ecuyer (2006), who focused on optimization problems for call centers;

Koole and Pot (2006) and Aksin, Karaesmen, and Ormeci (2007), who both focused on multiskill call
centers.

Staffing Problem

“square-root safety-staffing rule” stipulates that if R is large enough then staffing the system with

R + β√R servers (for some parameter _) will achieve both short customer waiting times and high
server utilization. This rule was first observed by Erlang (1948) and was later formalized by Halfin and
Whitt (1981) for the Erlang-C model (i.e., an M/M/s queue). Its practical accuracy was tested for
service systems by Kolesar and Green (1998). This rule was further supported by Borst,
Mandelbaum, and Reiman (2004) and Maglaras and Zeevi (2003) under various economic
considerations.

Typically staffing formulations seek to determine the number of full-time equivalent employees
needed given an objective function and some constraints. The most widely used is a staffing cost
minimization objective with service level constraints (see, for example, Atlason, Epelman, and
Henderson 2004; Cezik and L’Ecuyer, 2006; Bhulai, Koole, and Pot 2007; Jagerman and Melamed,
2004; Mandelbaum and Zeltyn 2007a), although staffing problems with profit maximization
objectives have also been proposed (Aksin and Harker, 2003; Koole and Pot, 2005; Helber, Stolletz,
and Bothe 2005; Baron and Milner, 2006).

Performance Evaluation for Modern Call Centers

performance evaluation models have been developed and analyzed. These models are motivated by
different features of modern call centers, as well as empirically observed characteristics of queueing
model primitives.

Platform for data-based analysis of call center problems (a description of the DataMOCCA Project
can be obtained from http://iew3.technion.ac.il/serveng/References/DataMOCCA )

Mandelbaum and Zeltyn (2004) explore a linear relationship between the probability to abandon
and the waiting time in queue in an Erlang-A model. Although such linearity should not exist in the
presence of general impatience distributions, empirical evidence by Brown et al. (2005) suggests a
similar linear relationship.

The need to manage multi-skill call centers has led to performance evaluation models for systems
with flexible servers (Chevalier and Tabordon 2003; Shumsky 2004; Stolletz and Helber 2004; Whitt
2006a; Franx, Koole, and Pot 2006).

Customer Satisfaction and Call Operations Management

The need to manage multi-skill call centers has led to performance evaluation models for systems
with flexible servers (Chevalier and Tabordon 2003; Shumsky 2004; Stolletz and Helber 2004; Whitt
2006a; Franx, Koole, and Pot 2006).

The importance of the call center in this relationship is underscored by a recent study that asserted
that 80% of a firm’s interaction with its customers is through call centers, and 92% of customers
form their opinion about a firm based on their experience with call centers (Anton, Setting, and
Gunderson 2004).
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