A Simulation Based Staff Scheduling Analysis for Call Centers in Cargo Industry

Call centers play a crucial role in terms of customer satisfaction. In the cargo industry, it holds even more importance than many others, not only for B2B but also for B2C deliveries. Long waiting times in queues cause re-dials or call abandonments, negatively affecting overall service delivery. The term “call center staff scheduling” mainly refers to the effective use of resources while meeting customer demands to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The aim of this study is to illustrate the existing state of the operating system in a cargo call center to ultimately manage staff scheduling effectively and efficiently, using the ARENA simulation program. Within this context, related data on call center operations for different processes is collected. After conducting pre-processing of the data to identify relevant best-fit distributions, a simulation model is formed using the ARENA simulation program, employing discrete event simulation techniques. Additionally, bottleneck analysis is carried out aiming to further improve the system. Moreover, based on the results, scenario analysis is implemented to compare and propose different alternative solutions that improve the system.