WEBVTT 0:00:02.900 --> 0:00:08.790 okay so I'm going to take you through a short presentation of the Erlang 0:00:08.790 --> 0:00:15.420 calculator and first of all, I just want to explain what an Erlang calculator is. In 0:00:15.420 --> 0:00:20.460 essence it's very simple. It works out the number of people that you need to handle 0:00:20.460 --> 0:00:26.550 a given number of phone calls. So for instance you've got 200 phone calls an 0:00:26.550 --> 0:00:32.489 hour. It will work out how many people you need in a call centre to handle that number 0:00:32.489 --> 0:00:38.010 off calls. So it's quite straightforward quite a straightforward concept and very 0:00:38.010 --> 0:00:45.090 useful thing to use if you're planning in a contact centre. So why is it called 0:00:45.090 --> 0:00:48.989 Erlang? It's called Erlang as its named after 0:00:48.989 --> 0:00:55.200 the Danish mathematician AK Erlang who developed the formula over 100 years ago 0:00:55.200 --> 0:01:01.350 in 1917, and here's a copy of his original paper which was really the 0:01:01.350 --> 0:01:07.049 landmark paper and it's amazing that's still so fresh and vibrant over 100 0:01:07.049 --> 0:01:11.579 years on and basically works at the probability that call has to wait in the 0:01:11.579 --> 0:01:16.139 contact centre and it can convert the number of calls, something called the 0:01:16.139 --> 0:01:20.310 average handling time, to go into a little bit better and a service level 0:01:20.310 --> 0:01:26.880 into the number of staff that you need. It is very robust and it is in 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:32.630 very widespread use. It's based on something called the Erlang C formula. 0:01:32.630 --> 0:01:39.280 Now the Erlang C formula, here's the maths involved behind, it fact it's part of the maths, 0:01:39.300 --> 0:01:46.319 believe me the maths does get very scary, very quickly, so it can get quite complex 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:52.109 you need to be able to do series, factorial numbers, exponents and so on. 0:01:52.109 --> 0:01:56.039 But luckily for you you don't have to get into all of that maths because an 0:01:56.039 --> 0:02:01.109 Erlang calculator does all of that for you and basically what the Erlang 0:02:01.109 --> 0:02:06.779 calculator does is it takes a number of inputs. So things like the number of 0:02:06.779 --> 0:02:12.290 calls per period, the Average Handle, the average time to handle, 0:02:12.290 --> 0:02:18.230 which was known as the average handling time and a service level target and then 0:02:18.230 --> 0:02:23.060 based on that it works out the number of advisers that is needed. So in terms of 0:02:23.060 --> 0:02:27.410 the inputs typically what you do is you can work out the number of calls 0:02:27.410 --> 0:02:32.510 throughout a period in this case we've set it here to 30 minutes. You work out 0:02:32.510 --> 0:02:37.340 what the average handling time is, now that effectively is a combination of 0:02:37.340 --> 0:02:43.790 both the average time it takes to handle a telephone call but also or the average 0:02:43.790 --> 0:02:48.740 amount of talk time, but also the average amount of paperwork that is required 0:02:48.740 --> 0:02:53.060 after that call that is specific to a call. You put the two together 0:02:53.060 --> 0:02:58.310 and it's called the average handling time and then you put in a service level 0:02:58.310 --> 0:03:05.120 target, so for instance answering 80% of calls in 20 seconds now 80% of calls in 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:10.010 20 seconds is the is the typical standard figure if you like use within 0:03:10.010 --> 0:03:14.630 the contact center industry a lot of the better contact centers of late have been 0:03:14.630 --> 0:03:21.590 adopting a model of answering 90% of calls within 15 seconds. Now some people 0:03:21.590 --> 0:03:26.330 say well why can't we answer 100% of calls in 4 rings, that's typically 0:03:26.330 --> 0:03:30.260 something that a chief executive will come down, so we're gonna answer 100% of 0:03:30.260 --> 0:03:37.220 calls within 4 rings well the problem with that is that probabilities don't do 0:03:37.220 --> 0:03:43.280 100%, you can put in 99%. But if you're gonna have 99% of calls answered in 4 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.360 rings you need north lot of awful lot of people because sometimes you get calls 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.790 bunching up and a lot of the time it can be a bit quiet so a good rule of thumb 0:03:52.790 --> 0:03:57.470 is 90% of calls in 15 seconds or a 80% of calls in 20 seconds you can 0:03:57.470 --> 0:04:02.180 adjust that and then you can work out the number of advisers needed. That's all 0:04:02.180 --> 0:04:06.200 built into the and I calculate we'll do a demonstration in short while and to 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.250 give you a rough idea of some of the outputs that come through here some of 0:04:10.250 --> 0:04:15.140 the here are some of the outputs work out the number of agents what the 0:04:15.140 --> 0:04:19.880 percentage they're likely to be answered within a certain threshold something 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.620 called the occupancy. We don't need to get into that quite yet and also the 0:04:24.620 --> 0:04:27.500 number of calls and then it produces a graph showing the 0:04:27.500 --> 0:04:31.790 number of people you needed and also what happens if you adjusted the number 0:04:31.790 --> 0:04:37.190 of people up and down what would happen to the service level it's a very 0:04:37.190 --> 0:04:43.910 straightforward nice easy answer. One extra level of complication is that 0:04:43.910 --> 0:04:49.010 because the number of calls vary across the day it also has a day planner 0:04:49.010 --> 0:04:54.860 built-in that takes account of the variation of contacts across the day. So 0:04:54.860 --> 0:04:59.120 for instance in lots of call centers it gets busy mid-morning gets also busier 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.470 during the afternoon slackens off a bit lunch time and then it tails off across 0:05:03.470 --> 0:05:08.600 the course of the day. Now that does very much depend from one contact center 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:16.000 to another so that is a quick introduction to an Erlang calculator