One of the largest considerations for our Anana Briefing Centre is modelling and replicating traffic scenario’s in actual call center environments. With 2000 Genesys agent positions, across all lines of multimedia, multichannel, eServices we have a complex modelling problem at hand. Remember, those channels are inbound voice, outbound voice, inbound email, outbound email, inbound SMS, outbound SMS, agent-to-agent chat, agent-to-supervisor chat, transfers of all channels, web chat, web co-browse, email…..the list seems endless.

How will Anana model actual traffic patterns and scenario’s for the operational call-centre?

We propose using 3 tools to model inbound traffic to the call centre;

1. Anana Agent Telephony Desktop (BOT)
2. SIP-P
3. Cyara Solutions

Cyara Solutions is teaming with Anana with a slight twist to the usual value proposition in testing and monitoring the Genesys Call Center Software Framework into one with us holistically targetted to SIMULATION of call center traffic. 

By linking the Cyara solution with the custom Bot and SIP-P test capabilities at Anana we are able to light up all 2000 agent positions with real-time, actual load, and representative traffic for a wide range of industry verticals.  Cyara is working closely with Anana to express the capability fully within the Anana Briefing Centre.  The Genesys Framework and Customer Interaction Management Platform is SIP Server based, and we’re running 1996 seats as ‘simulated’ Genesys agent positions, and the remaining 4 positions are physical positions in the call centre suite.  Paul Pearson, our Platform Practice Lead is busy creating models of traffic and interactions across all channels and media, and exporting configurations for each; so that Anana can reset the call centre back to a default operational state; and then quickly reset again to, say, the operational needs of an airline call centre, a banking call centre, a retail sales call centre, a Government Call Centre or any other required situation.

Traffic and Load Testing

We are commonly requested to conduct large scale / operational load and peformance tests of the Genesys solution. We conducted one recently using a combination of the Anana Bot’s and SIP-P scripting, taking one of the largest Genesys installations in the UK from its baseline required 6 CAPS (Call Attempts per Second) to over 20!  Load testing of planned configurations will be an important compenent in the Briefing Centres’ tasking; I can see that happening already!

Self and Assisted Service Modelling

We’ll be modelling transactions on the common inbound channels in both self-service and assisted service scenario’s. For example, an inbound call to the call center will be simulated by our tools on the Genesys Voice Platform (GVP) using our modelling tools, to interact in real time with the self-service dialogue, then returning that call instance to the Genesys Routing Engine (URS) to select an agent based on location, skill and availability. There’s a good chance that the call is forwarded to an agent in the dummy-pool, but even there, the call will be simulated in the interaction with assisted-service, by modelling key-strokes, inputs, screen-pop, CTI, interactions and delays associated with all the facets of call presentation to the agent; and his or her subsequent interactions with the caller. We’ll even model post call wrap-up, and other administrative tasks that stop that customer service representative becoming ready again in the pool of targets for the next call.

As you can see, all this traffic will build real-time as well as historic reports; allowing Anana to help its clients understand actual “What if?” scenario’s in managing and testing operational changes in real time. For example;

1. What happens to my service levels if I add web chat to a pool of agents handling inbound voice?
2. If I increase the amount of traffic going to self-service what is the impact on my workforce management strategy?
3. If I change my business rules for when should my routing strategy push calls to my outsourcer what is the impact on my own call centers performance?
4. What is the impact on my customer service representatives of adding co-browse, web chat and email to inbound and outbound voice?
5. I’d like to test without pressure what my customer service representatives think about migrating from Genesys Agent Desktop to the new Genesys Interaction Workspace
6. We are adding new “applications” (In Genesys terms these are queues) to my contact centre. How do I add these new application to Genesys Advisor and set the appropriate Key Performance Indicators? (KPI’s)
7. We are thinking about adding Conversation Manager (UCS – Universal Contact Server) so we can offer the intelligent Customer Front Door (iCFD) to GVP applications; and share the Conversation Manager capability with the Web Server so that a failed transaction in self-service on the Web Site can be offered from the point it was left at on the IVR when the caller next phones in. How is that done?
8. I’m thinking of using Network SIP Server as well as SIP server alongside my Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise edition? Can I test the high availability and fail-over scenario’s? How can I ensure calls will always make it to my agents?
9. I would like to run my call center on SIP server only without an ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) or PBX (Private Branch Exchange). I want to see what happens when a SIP server failure occurs? What is the customer experience and impact of a failure of one of the SIP Servers under full call center loading?

This could be a very extensive list of scenario’s!  Our new Briefing Centre is getting its first large scale use this coming Wednesday and we’ve been rallying like ants to get the final bits ready.

If you have a particular call center scenario that you are interested in testing or modelling then please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be delighted to help you explore the capabilities.

The Anana Briefing Centre (ABC) is beginning to take nice shape.  Armed with 2000 seats of fully enabled Genesys Telecommunications Labs Call Centre Software. The ABC is a significant investment for Anana that is moving from ‘tell’ to ‘show’ in a very deliberate exercise to DISCOVER with our clients the full impact of multi-channel and multimedia enabled call centre.

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We have still got a lot of work to do on deliverables to meet our cited commitments.  More furniture, lots of work on the actual call centre environment itself at the desktop level.  We will have all channels deployed, modelled on actual call centre topologies in many industries like Finance, Insurance, Banking, Retail, Government, Healthcare, Service Provider, Mobile and Fixed scenario’s; and be able to explore the impact of adding media and channels to any existing call centre or contact centre operational mode; for example, “What is the impact of adding inbound email routing to an existing inbound and outbound voice call centre?”

Paul on the Anana team will be blogging a lot about all the software and functions deployed in the Briefing Centre.