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Call Centers with Delay Information: Models and Insights

Author

Listed:
  • Oualid Jouini

    (LGI - Laboratoire Génie Industriel - EA 2606 - CentraleSupélec, Pôle de Recherche - Rouen Business School - Rouen Business School)

  • Zeynep Aksin
  • Yves Dallery

    (LGI - Laboratoire Génie Industriel - EA 2606 - CentraleSupélec)

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze a call center with impatient customers. We study how informing customers about their anticipated delays affects performance. Customers react by balking upon hearing the delay announcement and may subsequently renege, particularly if the realized waiting time exceeds the delay that has originally been announced to them. The balking and reneging from such a system are a function of the delay announcement. Modeling the call center as an M/M/s + M queue with endogenized customer reactions to announcements, we analytically characterize performance measures for this model. The analysis allows us to explore the role announcing different percentiles of the waiting time distribution, i.e., announcement coverage, plays on subsequent performance in terms of balking and reneging. Through a numerical study, we explore when informing customers about delays is beneficial and what the optimal coverage should be in these announcements. We show how managers of a call center with delay announcements can control the trade-off between balking and reneging through their choice of announcements to be made.

Suggested Citation

  • Oualid Jouini & Zeynep Aksin & Yves Dallery, 2011. "Call Centers with Delay Information: Models and Insights," Post-Print hal-00680769, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00680769
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.1110.0339
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Colm Crowley & Steven Guitron & Joseph Son & Oleg S Pianykh, 2020. "Modeling workflows: Identifying the most predictive features in healthcare operational processes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Siddharth Prakash Singh & Mohammad Delasay & Alan Scheller‐Wolf, 2023. "Real‐time delay announcement under competition," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(3), pages 863-881, March.
    3. Erjie Ang & Sara Kwasnick & Mohsen Bayati & Erica L. Plambeck & Michael Aratow, 2016. "Accurate Emergency Department Wait Time Prediction," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 141-156, February.
    4. Rouba Ibrahim, 2018. "Sharing delay information in service systems: a literature survey," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 89(1), pages 49-79, June.
    5. Zeynep Akşin & Baris Ata & Seyed Morteza Emadi & Che-Lin Su, 2017. "Impact of Delay Announcements in Call Centers: An Empirical Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 242-265, February.
    6. Rouba Ibrahim & Ward Whitt, 2011. "Wait-Time Predictors for Customer Service Systems with Time-Varying Demand and Capacity," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1106-1118, October.
    7. Junfei Huang & Avishai Mandelbaum & Hanqin Zhang & Jiheng Zhang, 2017. "Refined Models for Efficiency-Driven Queues with Applications to Delay Announcements and Staffing," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(5), pages 1380-1397, October.
    8. Gad Allon & Achal Bassamboo & Itai Gurvich, 2011. "“We Will Be Right with You”: Managing Customer Expectations with Vague Promises and Cheap Talk," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(6), pages 1382-1394, December.
    9. Jamol Pender & Richard Rand & Elizabeth Wesson, 2020. "A Stochastic Analysis of Queues with Customer Choice and Delayed Information," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 45(3), pages 1104-1126, August.
    10. Lu, Yuwei & Xie, Xiaolan & Jiang, Zhibin, 2018. "Dynamic appointment scheduling with wait-dependent abandonment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(3), pages 975-984.
    11. Kaan Kuzu & Long Gao & Susan H. Xu, 2019. "To Wait or Not to Wait: The Theory and Practice of Ticket Queues," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 853-874, October.
    12. Odysseas Kanavetas & Barış Balcıog̃lu, 2022. "The “Sensitive” Markovian queueing system and its application for a call center problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 317(2), pages 651-664, October.
    13. Tevfik Aktekin & Tahir Ekin, 2016. "Stochastic call center staffing with uncertain arrival, service and abandonment rates: A Bayesian perspective," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(6), pages 460-478, September.
    14. Sophia Novitzky & Jamol Pender & Richard H. Rand & Elizabeth Wesson, 2020. "Limiting the oscillations in queues with delayed information through a novel type of delay announcement," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 281-330, August.
    15. Robert J. Batt & Christian Terwiesch, 2015. "Waiting Patiently: An Empirical Study of Queue Abandonment in an Emergency Department," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(1), pages 39-59, January.
    16. Ozan Candogan & Kimon Drakopoulos, 2020. "Optimal Signaling of Content Accuracy: Engagement vs. Misinformation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 497-515, March.
    17. Zeynep Akşin & Barış Ata & Seyed Morteza Emadi & Che-Lin Su, 2013. "Structural Estimation of Callers' Delay Sensitivity in Call Centers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(12), pages 2727-2746, December.
    18. 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.
    19. German F. Retana & Chris Forman & D. J. Wu, 2016. "Proactive Customer Education, Customer Retention, and Demand for Technology Support: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 34-50, February.
    20. Benevento, Elisabetta & Aloini, Davide & Squicciarini, Nunzia, 2023. "Towards a real-time prediction of waiting times in emergency departments: A comparative analysis of machine learning techniques," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 192-208.
    21. Liu, Jian & Chen, Jian & Bo, Rui & Meng, Fanlin & Xu, Yong & Li, Peng, 2023. "Increases or discounts: Price strategies based on customers’ patience times," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(2), pages 722-737.
    22. Kraig Delana & Nicos Savva & Tolga Tezcan, 2021. "Proactive Customer Service: Operational Benefits and Economic Frictions," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 70-87, 1-2.
    23. Shone, Rob & Knight, Vincent A. & Williams, Janet E., 2013. "Comparisons between observable and unobservable M/M/1 queues with respect to optimal customer behavior," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(1), pages 133-141.

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