Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Pushkal Pandey, Sandra M<strong>of</strong>fett et al
ra<strong>the</strong>r that sufficient acknowledgement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> individual should be made so that <strong>the</strong> customer feels
“as if” his or her individual needs have been addressed.
It is useful to note that aspects <strong>of</strong> performance associated with each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se coordinates (figure 3)
are not independent <strong>of</strong> one ano<strong>the</strong>r, but are all interrelated. For example, <strong>the</strong> efficiency associated
with <strong>the</strong> ready reference databases is related to <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> reference interaction i.e. a low
involvement and low standardization encounter will have shorter time duration, generally, as
compared to a high involvement and high standardization encounter. It is through well maintained
knowledge bases that characteristics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> provider can be matched with characteristics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
customer query, hence allowing <strong>the</strong> generation <strong>of</strong> a one-to-one match between <strong>the</strong> customer and <strong>the</strong>
agent to be used as basic guideline for designing efficient- Automated call routing systems. Similarly,
some types <strong>of</strong> interactions (figure 4) are better handled through a specific mode <strong>of</strong> communication
(chat, telephone, email). For example, it will be highly frustrating for a customer to discuss warranty
claims over a chat service, whereas, a customer requiring to know <strong>the</strong> balance on his bank account
would prefer such medium. The above discussion highlights <strong>the</strong> distinguishing characteristics <strong>of</strong> call
centres and draws on all <strong>the</strong> actors (namely technology, context and knowledgebase) which have a
role in effective and efficient query resolution, which are <strong>the</strong>n used to develop a conceptual model.
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