Service-Level Differentiation in Call Centers with Fully Flexible Servers

• Published in: Management science Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 279 - 294
• Main Authors: Gurvich, Itay, Armony, Mor, Mandelbaum, Avishai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Linthicum INFORMS 01.02.2008; Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
• Series: Management Science
• Subjects: Approximation; Business management; Business services; Business studies; Call centers; Call centres; Demand management; Digital technology; Distribution functions; Equipment and supplies; Halfin-Whitt regime; heavy traffic; Human resource management; Information and communication technologies; Information technology; Management; Management science; Minimization of cost; Network servers; Organizational behavior; outsourcing; QED regime; Scheduling; Servers; Service industry; Service quality assurance; service-level constraints; skill-based routing; square-root safety staffing; Staffing; Studies; Subcontracting; Threshing; Traffic; Workforce planning; United States

We study large-scale service systems with multiple customer classes and many statistically identical servers. The following question is addressed: How many servers are required (staffing) and how does one match them with customers (control) to minimize staffing cost, subject to class-level quality-o...