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Routing and Staffing in Customer Service Chat Systems with Impatient Customers

Author

Listed:
  • Tolga Tezcan

    (University of Rochester, Simon School of Business, Rochester, New York 14627)

  • Jiheng Zhang

    (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong)

Abstract

We consider customer service chat (CSC) systems where customers can receive real time service from agents using an instant messaging (IM) application over the Internet. A unique feature of these systems is that agents can serve multiple customers simultaneously. The number of customers that an agent is serving determines the rate at which each customer assigned to that agent receives service. We consider the staffing problem in CSC systems with impatient customers where the objective is to minimize the number of agents while providing a certain service level. The service level is measured in terms of the proportion of customers who abandon the system in the long run. First we propose effective routing policies based on a static planning LP, both for the cases when the arrival rate is observable and for when the rate is unobservable. We show that these routing policies minimize the proportion of abandoning customers in the long run asymptotically for large systems. We also prove that the staffing solution obtained from a staffing LP, when used with the proposed routing policies, is asymptotically optimal. We illustrate the effectiveness of our solution procedure in systems with small to large sizes via numerical and simulation experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Tolga Tezcan & Jiheng Zhang, 2014. "Routing and Staffing in Customer Service Chat Systems with Impatient Customers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 943-956, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:62:y:2014:i:4:p:943-956
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2014.1284
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Miao Yu & Yu Zhao & Chunguang Chang & Liangliang Sun, 2023. "Fluid models for customer service web chat systems with interactive automated service," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 572-598, June.
    3. Legros, Benjamin & Jouini, Oualid & Akşin, O. Zeynep & Koole, Ger, 2020. "Front-office multitasking between service encounters and back-office tasks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 946-963.
    4. Legros, Benjamin & Jouini, Oualid, 2019. "On the scheduling of operations in a chat contact center," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 303-316.
    5. Galit B. Yom-Tov & Anat Rafaeli, 2022. "Integrating emotional load into service operations," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 100(3), pages 565-567, April.
    6. Fernanda Campello & Armann Ingolfsson & Robert A. Shumsky, 2017. "Queueing Models of Case Managers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(3), pages 882-900, March.
    7. Paulo B. Goes & Noyan Ilk & Mingfeng Lin & J. Leon Zhao, 2018. "When More Is Less: Field Evidence on Unintended Consequences of Multitasking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3033-3054, July.
    8. Leon Cui & Tolga Tezcan, 2016. "Approximations for Chat Service Systems Using Many-Server Diffusion Limits," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 775-807, August.
    9. Ingolfsson, Armann & Almehdawe, Eman & Pedram, Ali & Tran, Monica, 2020. "Comparison of fluid approximations for service systems with state-dependent service rates and return probabilities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(2), pages 562-575.
    10. Fernanda Campello & Armann Ingolfsson & Robert A. Shumsky, 2018. "Queueing Models of Case Managers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 7-26, January.
    11. Tom F. Tan & Bradley R. Staats, 2020. "Behavioral Drivers of Routing Decisions: Evidence from Restaurant Table Assignment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(4), pages 1050-1070, April.
    12. Andrew Daw, 2022. "Services shaped by history," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 100(3), pages 409-411, April.

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