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Channel blending

The Contact supports “channel blending”.

Channel blending determines the most important incoming item across all items of different channel types and therefore the next item to be processed by an agent. A blending formula with configurable parameters is applied to queued items to determine which item is allocated to the next available agent. Items can be allocated to an agent even if they are currently working on a task in a different channel.

Channel blending automatically allocates incoming items to the most suitable agent, where multi-skilled agents belong to a group. By default, calls, chats and work items are automatically allocated to the next available agent. Emails are not. You can select which type of items are automatically allocated to agents by disabling (and re-enabling as required) automatic allocation for each individual channel type (System > Channel Configuration > Capabilities).

Note: If automatic allocation is enabled for webchats, an alerting icon (a ringing bell) is displayed when a chat arrives in an agent’s inbox.

If automatic allocation is disabled (unticked) for a channel, items must be manually taken from the queues by agents.

For chats, emails or work items, regardless of whether automatic allocation is enabled (the items are automatically allocated to agents) or disabled (the items must be manually taken from the queues by agents), the items remain inactive until the agent selects each of them as their active item. Each active task must be finished before a new one is activated.

Note: By default, calls always have priority over other channel items. If a new call arrives, an agent that is actively handling a chat, email or work item will be interrupted and allocated the call, if no other suitable agents are available to handle the call. However, the default settings for the blending rules can be reconfigured to suit the company’s requirements.

How the blending formula works

A priority value is given to each channel type (the channel priority) and each queue (the importance weighting). These values, along with the waiting time in a queue, are used in an algorithm (the blending formula) to determine the next item to be processed across all items of different types. The blending formula is:

Minutes in the queue + (channel priority * constant multiplier) + (importance weighting)

When an agent becomes available (for example, after finishing their current task), the blending formula is used to find the next (most suitable) item for the agent to process. It does this by looking at all of the queues for which the agent is currently active, across all channel types, and comparing the relative priorities of the topmost waiting items in these queues. The blending algorithm calculates (by using the length of time in the queue, the channel item priority, a global variable value, and the queue priority) which of these items has the highest global priority. It then selects the item with the highest global priority to present to the agent.

For example, consider a blending formula with the following settings:

  • The constant multiplier is set to 7.37
  • The call channel type has the channel priority set to 100
  • The email channel type has the channel priority set to 1
  • The importance weighting is set to 0.

The blending formula would be:

(time in queue/60) + (channel priority * 7.37) + (importance weighting)

This would mean that an email would need to be in a queue for 12 hours and 11 minutes before it would take precedence over a voice call.Note: In addition to the priority values above, you can also specify different priorities for individual items on different channels by configuring parameters in the routing flows for different channel queues. For example, could you configure an email from a VIP customer to always be more important than a call from a regular customer. For the appropriate routing flow, this is done in a Set Variable node (before a Join Queue node), by specifying the channel item priority as an integer parameter. By default, each item takes the priority value of the queue.

Capabilities

Capability ratings allow multiple item tasks to be allocated to an agent, whilst providing a method to limit what is allocated.

A capability rating (between 1 and 100) is assigned to agents. This is either a default capability that applies to all agents or a rating that is configured for a specific agent in their user account and which overrides the default setting. It determines how many queue task items (calls, emails, webchats, etc.) each agent can handle simultaneously.

Each channel has a Queue Item Capability (between 1 and 100), which rates how “valuable” the queued items for a particular channel are deemed to be.

Note: A capability is a valuation rating that is applied. It is not an actual amount (number) of items. The higher the capability of a channel item, the more “valuable” it is deemed to be.

For chats and emails, the maximum number of these items that can be allocated to each agent can also be specified. (For calls and work items, the number is fixed at one.)

When an item is ready to be allocated to an agent, the capability rating of agents in the group is checked as well as the number of items already allocated to them. An agent is only considered if the new item does not cause the agent’s capability rating to be exceeded. Only one voice call or work item can ever be allocated to an agent.

For example:

  • An agent has an Agent Capability rating of 15.
  • A call channel queue has a Queue Item Capability rating of 7.
  • A chat channel queue has a Queue Item Capability rating of 5.
  • An email channel queue has a Queue Item Capability rating of 2.
  • An agent can be allocated a maximum of 3 emails.

In the above example, calls are the most valuable (rating of 7), followed by chats (rating of 5) and then emails (rating of 2).

If the agent has two webchats already (2 x 5 = 10), an email (1 x 2) can also be allocated to them, as the combined capability values do not exceed 15 (10 + 2 = 12).

If the agent has three webchats already (3 x 5 = 15), nothing can be allocated to them, as the agent’s capability rating of 15 has been reached.

If the agent is already on a voice call (1 x 7), a webchat (1 x 5) can be allocated to them (7 + 5 = 12).

Related topic: Configuring system channels