Few call-centre related terms are as confusing as skill-based routing. The term is confusing because it is a misnomer as there is really no such thing as skill-based routing.
Routing is the assignment of calls to queues or skill groups and has nothing to do with agent skills. Consider a PABX with an IVR: when callers make selections using the IVR menu and are transferred to the appropriate pilot number of a queue or skill group, this is call routing. Or when the PABX assigns a call to a queue or skill group based on the dialled number or DNIS, this is call routing. Or when an agent transfers a call to the pilot number of another queue or skill group, this, too, is call routing – but none of these have anything to do with agent skill.
Assignment of calls from queues or skill groups to agents is the core function of an automatic call distributor (ACD), and if this assignment is based on the skill or skill set of the agent then it is more accurately termed skill-based call assignment. In Europe, where many call centres must serve callers speaking any of several languages and for any of several functions (sales, service, accounts, etc.), the decision must be made, for example, whether to transfer a French-speaking caller to an English-speaking agent who speaks basic French, ahead of an English-speaking caller who has not been waiting longer, considering the numbers of agents speaking these languages and the numbers of waiting calls. This is skill-based call assignment, not call routing.
Some CTI products also offer an optional ACD module in addition to the CTI functions – a capability which is better termed off-switch ACD. There are pros and cons of using the ACD module of CTI software instead of that provided by the PABX, with major considerations being the relative capabilities of the two and whether or not one or the other has already been purchased. As enterprises typically buy CTI software to work with an existent PABX, if the PABX's ACD is up to the task, using a CTI product's ACD instead is a total waste of money.
Although this is acknowledged by some CTI software vendors, there are those who liberally dispense propaganda about their CTI software supporting skill-based routing and (all) PABXs supporting only 'old-fashioned' queues. What comes out of the north end of a bull facing south!
Skill-based routing is certainly a valuable tool in the call centre manager's arsenal. However, if his or her grasp of the term is seriously distorted by vendor propaganda, he or she will be less capable of selecting an ACD and making good use of it than might otherwise be the case.
Stephen Coates is the author of the reports
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