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14 Dec 2023, 03:36
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Call Center A: Lower its service level goal and decrease its staffing level.
Call Center B: Maintain its service level goal and increase its staffing level.
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
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Data Insights (DI) Butler 2023-24 [Question #152, Date: Dec-12-2023] [Click here for Details]
Two call centers, Call Center A and Call Center B, receive a similar number of calls daily. Call Center A’s current service level goal is to answer 90% of incoming calls within 10 seconds, while Call Center B’s current goal is to answer 70% of incoming calls within 30 seconds. Both call centers have been meeting these goals, and report agent idle times (the percentage of time their telephone representatives spend not talking to customers or doing post-call follow-up work) of 30% and 10%, respectively.
Given a certain amount of incoming calls, the more aggressive service level goals (i.e., a higher percentage of calls answered in a shorter amount of time) require more employees and a higher agent idle time, while less aggressive goals can be met with fewer employees and a less agent idle time. If idle time is too high, then a company is wasting too much money on idle employees, while if idle time is too low, then a company risks burning out its employees.
Assuming any new service level goal between answering 70% of incoming calls within 30 seconds and answering 90% of incoming calls within 10 seconds would be acceptable to both companies, select an action that Company A could take in order to decrease its agent idle time, and an action that Company B could take in order to lower its risk of employee burn-out. Make only one selection in each column.
| Call Center A | Call Center B | |
| Maintain its service level goal and decrease its staffing level. | ||
| Increase its service level goal and maintain its staffing level. | ||
| Maintain its service level goal and increase its staffing level. | ||
| Lower its service level goal and maintain its staffing level. | ||
| Lower its service level goal and decrease its staffing level. |
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Official Answer
Call Center A: Lower its service level goal and decrease its staffing level.
Call Center B: Maintain its service level goal and increase its staffing level.
31 Dec 2023, 01:36
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Official Explanation
According to the information in the prompt, Call Center A cannot maintain its current aggressive service level goal without having many employees and high idle times. For Call Center A, the key phrase in the prompt is “less aggressive goals can be met with fewer employees and less agent idle time.” Since Call Center A wishes to lower its idle time, it should lower its service level goal (within the acceptable range of 70/30 to 90/10), in which case it will also be able to decrease its staffing level somewhat. This action appears as choice (E).Choices (A) and (B) are not really feasible for Call Center A according to the prompt because aggressive goals require high idle times and more employees. Choices (C) and (D) would exacerbate Call Center A’s idleness problem.
Call Center B needs more employees so it won’t burn out its employees. As a result, it must increase its staffing level—and either maintain its goal or increase it (which may be possible, given the increased number of employees). Choice (C) describes the former of these two choices, so it is the correct answer. Choices (A) and (B) would exacerbate Call Center B’s potential burnout problem. Choices (D) and (E) would take the call center out of acceptable service level goal.
According to the information in the prompt, Call Center A cannot maintain its current aggressive service level goal without having many employees and high idle times. For Call Center A, the key phrase in the prompt is “less aggressive goals can be met with fewer employees and less agent idle time.” Since Call Center A wishes to lower its idle time, it should lower its service level goal (within the acceptable range of 70/30 to 90/10), in which case it will also be able to decrease its staffing level somewhat. This action appears as choice (E).Choices (A) and (B) are not really feasible for Call Center A according to the prompt because aggressive goals require high idle times and more employees. Choices (C) and (D) would exacerbate Call Center A’s idleness problem.
Call Center B needs more employees so it won’t burn out its employees. As a result, it must increase its staffing level—and either maintain its goal or increase it (which may be possible, given the increased number of employees). Choice (C) describes the former of these two choices, so it is the correct answer. Choices (A) and (B) would exacerbate Call Center B’s potential burnout problem. Choices (D) and (E) would take the call center out of acceptable service level goal.
21 Jul 2024, 10:33
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KarishmaB chetan2u Can you please specify why Maintain its service level goal and decrease its staffing level. is wrong for the Call Center A ?
I know this says that "a certain amount of incoming calls, the more aggressive service level goals (i.e., a higher percentage of calls answered in a shorter amount of time) require more employees and a higher agent idle time,..."
But here in the option , we are only maintaining the service level goal and not increasing it ( not being more aggressive ). Kindly provide your views.
I know this says that "a certain amount of incoming calls, the more aggressive service level goals (i.e., a higher percentage of calls answered in a shorter amount of time) require more employees and a higher agent idle time,..."
But here in the option , we are only maintaining the service level goal and not increasing it ( not being more aggressive ). Kindly provide your views.
