Call centres rely heavily on the self-service\nparadigm through the use of an automated IVR\n(Interactive Voice Response) system. The service\ntime delivered by the IVR is a major component of the\noverall QoS (Quality of Service) delivered by the call\ncentre. We analyse the structure and service times of\nIVR systems through a case study of five call centres in\nthe telecommunications sector. The service trees of the\ncall centres under survey are reconstructed by complete\nexploration and analysed through a set of metrics. The\npresent design of service trees leads to service times\ntypically larger than those spent waiting for a human\nagent and to excessively long announcements, with a\nnegative impact on the overall QoS. Imbalances in the\npopularity of the services offered by the IVR can be\nexploited to reduce remarkably the average service time,\nby properly matching the most popular services with the\nshortest service times.
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