We develop and test an integrated forecasting and stochastic programming approach to workforce management in call centers. We first demonstrate that parametric forecasts can be used to drive stochastic programs whose results are stable with relatively small numbers of scenarios. We then extend our approach to include forecast updates and two-stage stochastic programs with recourse and provide a general modeling framework for which recent, related models are special cases. In our formulations, the inclusion of multiple arrival-rate scenarios allows call centers to meet long-run average quality-of-service targets, while the use of recourse actions help them to lower long-run average costs. Experiments with two large sets of call-center data highlight the complementary nature of these elements.

The Web in the Internet today-especially when it comes to the Internet of Things and cloud computing- pages have evolved into highly interactive applications, with increased content sharing. On the other hand, machine-to-machine communications are growing, accommodating the vision of the Internet of Things.

In this paper, we consider a way to represent contact center applications as a set of multiple XML documents written in different markups including VoiceXML and CCXML. Applications can comprise a dialog with IVR, call routing and agent scripting functionalities. We also consider ways how such applications can be executed in run-time contact center environment.

W3C languages, VoiceXML and CCXML all play an important role in contact centers (CC) by simplifying the creation of CC applications. However, they cover only a subset of contact center functions, such as simple call control and interactive voice response (IVR) with automatic speech recognition. We discuss ways to complement VoiceXML and CCXML in order to cover all necessary contact center functions required to script end-to-end interactions in a consistent and seamless way. For this purpose we introduce an XML forms-based framework called XContact comprising the CC platform and applications, multi-script and multi-browsing, and interaction data processing. We also discuss how routing as a key CC capability can be scripted/captured within such framework in order to demonstrate the overall approach.