Leung Cheung-chi. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-78). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Objective --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Overview of the Thesis --- p.3 / Chapter 2 --- APPLICATION OF VOIP IN CALL CENTER --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- An Intelligent IP-based Call Center Model --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Major Components --- p.7 / Chapter a) --- VoIP Gateways --- p.7 / Chapter b) --- Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) --- p.8 / Chapter c) --- Operators --- p.8 / Chapter d) --- Monitoring Tool --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Major Functions --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Experimental Study of an IP-to-IP Call Center - VoIP Application in Education --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Architecture --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Voice Connection Server --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Call Establishment --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- A Preliminary Implementation --- p.14 / Chapter 3 --- THE ACD AND ITS SOFTWARE STRUCTURE --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1 --- Three-Layer Software Structure --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Network Infrastructure Layer --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Call Management Layer --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Application Layer --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Interoperation Between Layers --- p.19 / Chapter 3.2 --- Advantages of Adopting this Software Structure --- p.20 / Chapter 3.3 --- Functional Overview of the ACD --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Call Establishment --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Call Waiting --- p.23 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Call Forwarding --- p.25 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Routing Mechanism in the ACD --- p.26 / Chapter a) --- "Queues, Operator Groups and Operators" --- p.26 / Chapter b) --- Priority Based Call Routing --- p.28 / Chapter c) --- Routing of New Incoming Calls --- p.29 / Chapter d) --- Assigning Calls in Waiting Queues to Operators --- p.32 / Chapter 4 --- IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACD --- p.34 / Chapter 4.1 --- Requirements in implementing the ACD --- p.34 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Asynchronous Method Call --- p.34 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Transaction Planning --- p.36 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Failure Handling --- p.37 / Chapter 4.2 --- Available Technologies --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Enterprise JavaBean (EJB) --- p.38 / Chapter a) --- Entity Bean --- p.40 / Chapter b) --- Session Bean --- p.40 / Chapter c) --- Usage of Session Beans and Entity Beans --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- COM+ --- p.42 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- EJB vs COM+ --- p.43 / Chapter 4.3 --- Implementation --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Mapping the EJB model to the Implementation of the ACD --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Design of Entity Beans --- p.49 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Design of Session Beans --- p.51 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Asynchronous Method Call --- p.53 / Chapter 4.3.5 --- Transaction Planning --- p.55 / Chapter 4.3.6 --- Failure Handling --- p.57 / Chapter a) --- Failure Handling for VoIP gateways --- p.58 / Chapter b) --- Failure Handling in the ACD --- p.60 / Chapter 5 --- AN EXPERIMENT --- p.64 / Chapter 5.1 --- Experiment on the Call Center Prototype --- p.64 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Setup of the Experiment --- p.64 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.66 / Chapter a) --- Startup Time for Different Components --- p.66 / Chapter b) --- Possessing Time for Different Requests --- p.67 / Chapter 5.2 --- Observations --- p.69 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Observations on Experimental Results --- p.69 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Advantages and Disadvantages of Using EJB --- p.70 / Chapter 6 --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.72 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.76

Contact centres (CC), are the primary interaction point between a company and its customers and these are rapidly expanding in terms of both workforce and economic scope. An important challenge for today's CC solutions is to increase the speed at which CCAs retrieve information to answer customer queries. CCAs, however, differ in their ability to respond to these queries and do not interact with the computer user interface (UI) in the same way as they each have different capabilities, experience and expertise. Studies have provided empirical support that user performance can be increased when the computer UI characteristics match the user skill level. Adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) are the key to creating personalised systems. Their sole task is to provide an interface most suitable to users' needs whilst facilitating the users' varying skill levels. The aim of this research was to develop an AUI model for CCs to support and improve the expertise level of CCAs. A literature review of CCs, user expertise, AUIs and existing AUI models resulted in the proposal of an AUI model for CCs. The proposed AUI model was described in terms of its architecture, component-level and interface design. An AUI prototype was developed as a proof-of-concept of the proposed AUI model. A literature review on existing AUI evaluation approaches resulted in an evaluation strategy for the proposed AUI model. The AUI prototype was evaluated according to the evaluation strategy that was identified. User testing incorporating eye-tracking and a post-test questionnaire was used to determine the usefulness and usability of the AUI prototype. Significant results were found with regards to user satisfaction ratings, the learnability of the AUI prototype and its effectiveness. This dissertation makes an important contribution in the design of an AUI model that supports and improves the expertise level of CCAs. The model could be used to assist the development of CC applications incorporating AUIs. Future research is however needed to evaluate the effect of the proposed AUI model in a larger CC environment.

Contact centres are the first point of contact between a company and a customer after the purchase of a product or service. These centres make use of contact centre agents to service customer queries. In the past contact centres hired as many agents as they could in order to service customers, which have led to an increase in personnel costs causing contact centres to become costly to run. Automation techniques were introduced to decrease personnel costs and one such technique is the Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The usability of IVR systems is, however, dismal. Customers would rather speak to a contact centre agent than navigate through the menu structure found in these systems. The menu structure has come under scrutiny because it is difficult to use and navigate, is often not aligned to caller usage patterns, and the menu options are long and vague. This research investigated whether a Natural Language Interface (NLI) could alleviate the problems inherent to IVR. NLIs, however, come with their own disadvantages of which the main ones are ambiguity and the loss of context of a conversation. Two prototypes were implemented, one of which resembled an IVR and the other an NLI (using ALICE concepts). An evaluation of two prototypes confirmed the advantages and disadvantages of these concepts in accordance to theory. A Hybrid prototype was proposed with the aid of two models. The model which proposed an NLI using a rule base was chosen for implementation. The Hybrid prototype was then evaluated against the NLI and IVR prototypes to deduce which prototype was the most effective, efficient and satisfying. The evaluation through the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics showed that the Hybrid prototype was the most usable prototype. The evaluation of the Hybrid prototype confirmed that a Hybrid approach could limit the shortcomings of IVR through the elimination of the menu structure found in these systems, thereby allowing users to state their queries in natural language. The incorporated rule base provided the Hybrid system with long term memory, eliminating one of the main disadvantages of NLIs.

The purpose of this study was to explore what effect manager involvement in the delivery of training has on employee learning (transfer of learning) and on student behavior after training (transfer of training). Study participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups and a customer service training program was delivered with and without manager involvement. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected immediately after training using a retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instrument developed to measure the participants' perceived transfer of learning. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected approximately 4 weeks after training also using a retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instrument developed to measure the participants' perceived transfer of training. Quality assurance data generated by the organization for the first full month after the training program was completed were collected to measure the actual transfer of training. A 13-item version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-C) was included with the perceived transfer of training survey to measure the potential for self-perception bias with the perceived transfer of learning and the perceived transfer of training data. ANOVA results for the perceived transfer of learning and perceived transfer of training data indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups. ANOVA results for the actual transfer of training data mirrored the results found for the perceived transfer of training. The possibility of self-perception bias in using the retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instruments was recognized as a study concern with MC-C data indicating a much higher level of social desirability with the sample population than with reported non-forensic norms. A slight positive influence on the transfer of learning and on the transfer of training was found when a participant's direct manager was involved in the delivery of training.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rogerio Moreira.pdf: 1750030 bytes, checksum: 731d8143bcca419a4e7fed448cb9f36d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-25 / This dissertation is the report of a research work developed to study the causes of the high employee turnover in brazilian call centers. After a revisional work of the main aspects of call center management and employee turnover research, it was chosen to study the correlation with human resources management (HRM) practices, in the same research strategy chosen by Huselid(1995) and Batt(2002). The related data to reach research objectives were gotten from a survey developed by The Global Call Center Project. The sample is based on a survey administered to 114 call centers of 103 organizations from 200 associates of Associação Brasileira de Telesserviços (ABT). The same survey was applied in 16 other countries, allowing benchmarking, stretching analysis horizon. The data analysis was made in three steps: management model analysis, mean comparisons and multivariate analysis. The first step showed a strong emphasis in the services mass production model. The mean comparison showed that the brazilian call centers are extremely strait in use of scripts, monitoring and employee discretion practices. These practices contribute negatively to job quality, which has a strong correlation with employee turnover. The multivariate analysis ( logistic regression ) showed a good adjustment in the proposed model, both in the adjustment index ( R2 CS=0,549 e R2 N = 0,741) and in the discriminative capacity ( area of ROC curve =0,938) and also showed that the correlation between HRM practices and employee turnover are considerable. The main suggestion is to have as HRM objective the continuous improvement of job quality, which requires a tradeoff with firm expenses and service level, it also increases variability and represents a change in the call center management culture / Esta dissertação é o relatório de uma pesquisa desenvolvida para estudar as causas do alto índice de rotatividade de pessoal no setor de call centers brasileiros. Após uma revisão dos principais aspectos da gestão de call centers e da pesquisa sobre Rotatividade de Pessoal, optou-se por estudar a correlação com as práticas de gestão de pessoas, na mesma linha de pesquisa de Huselid(1995) e Batt (2002). Os dados necessários para alcançar os objetivos desta pesquisa foram obtidos através de um survey desenvolvido no âmbito da pesquisa The Global Call Center Project.A amostra é composta por 114 questionários respondidos por 103 organizações de 200 empresas consultadas entre as empresas associadas à Associação Brasileira de Telesserviços (ABT). A mesma pesquisa foi realizada em outros dezesseis países, permitindo análise comparativa dos resultados, ampliando o horizonte de análise. A análise dos dados foi efetuada em três etapas: a análise do modelo de gestão, a comparação das médias dos indicadores e, a análise multivariada. A primeira etapa mostrou uma demasiada ênfase no uso do modelo Produção em Massa de Serviços. A análise das médias mostra que os call centers brasileiros são extremamente rígidos no que se refere às práticas de uso obrigatório de scripts, monitoramento e autonomia. Estas práticas contribuem de forma negativa para a qualidade do trabalho, que mantém uma forte correlação a Rotatividade de Pessoal. Análise multivariada apresentou um bom ajustamento do modelo proposto, tanto do ponto de vista dos índices de ajustamento (R2 CS=0,549 e R2 N = 0,741) como pela capacidade discriminante (área da curva ROC=0,938), evidenciando que a correlação entre as práticas de gestão de pessoas e a Rotatividade Voluntária é considerável. Sugerimos como objetivo importante na gestão de pessoas a melhoria contínua da qualidade do trabalho, que é uma solução de compromisso, pois causa um impacto importante nos gastos da organização, no nível de serviço, aumenta a variabilidade e representa uma mudança na cultura gerencial em call centers