Installation guide

About skills-based and custom routing 3-2
Chapter 3: Using Skills-Based and Custom Routing
Wave Contact Center Administrator Guide
About skills-based and custom routing
Skills-based and custom routing let you go beyond the predefined algorithms for distributing
calls to agents. You can define your own system for how a queue chooses an agent for a given
call, based on any combination of the following:
•
Skills. Calls have varying skill requirements attached and are routed to agents with the
matching skills. For example, Spanish callers within a queue are routed to
Spanish-speaking agents. Skills are a powerful way to maximize your Contact Center
resources by making sure calls go to the agents who are best equipped to handle them.
•
Cost. You can factor the cost of an agent into call distribution. For example, you may
want your most expensive agents to take fewer calls, freeing them to work on other tasks.
Alternatively, you may want your most expensive agents to take the most calls, since they
have the most expertise.
•
Other agent attributes. You can define custom attributes for agents that affect call
distribution. For example, you can have an attribute that represents “Time with company”
so that your newest agents take fewer calls, giving them space to learn the workflow.
•
Predefined distribution algorithms. You can blend your custom distribution choices with the
predefined algorithms. For example, you can use the Least talk time algorithm while factoring
in Cost.
Do I need to use skills-based or custom routing?
The predefined distribution algorithms are easier to use and in many cases will be sufficient for
your Contact Center needs. You should use skills-based or custom routing only if you want to
distribute calls based on the following characteristics:
• Two or more caller requirements within a single queue. For example, Spanish and
English calls are all sent to one queue, where your Spanish-speaking agents are mixed in
with your English-speaking agents. If you use different queues, you do not need to use
skills-based routing because each queue can be staffed by the appropriately skilled
agents, and you can use an auto attendant to send the caller to the right queue for that
skill.
• Two or more relevant agent skills or attributes within a single queue. For example, some
callers require either Spanish-speaking agents, or experts in South American travel, or
both. If only one skill was relevant—for example, South American travel—you could
create a separate queue for South American travel that uses the top-down distribution
algorithm to reflect agents’ skill.
Release 2.0 Service Pack 1
April 2011