A Case study on optimal allocation of call center staff for IT equipment products

In this paper, we consider the customer help desk operation which is a one of the personal computer end-user services. We deal with the problem as a case study where the optimal allocation of the call center staff which is called agents at the help desk is determined. A new model is proposed to provide the optimal agents' allocation for the help desk service based on queuing theory (erlang loss formula) and linear programming theory. In the model, the required number of agents per unit of time is first calculated using queuing theory, then the schedule of each agent is determined using the linear programming theory. As a result, the optimal allocation of agents can be acquired, considering the satisfaction of computer users and personnel expenses of agents. This model could help a lot for the cost effectiveness of optimizing the workforce cost as well as of mitigating or minimizing the agents' idle time or their excess.