DOES CROSS-TRAINING ALWAYS MAKE SENSE?A CALL CENTER RE-ENGINEERING STUDY IN SONY OF CANADA

摘要

Call centers are important service windows for ˉrms to keep in touch with customers. Inthis study, we explore three options in manpower planning for a call center re-engineering project at CustomerInformation Center (CIC) in Sony of Canada: cross-training, dynamic sta±ng, and part-timer strategy. We use asimulation study to compare performance measures under di?erent scenarios. We interpret the interesting simulationresult that cross-training is not the best option and provide some managerial insights for the CIC operation.