Queues and Routing
Queues and Routing
Learn how to manage conversation queues and agent routing in the Digital Agent Desk.
Digital Agent Desk routes customer conversations to the most appropriate agents through a structured workflow:
- A customer initiates a conversation
- The system labels the conversation with an Intent
- Queue Routing evaluates the Intent and additional criteria to select the appropriate Queue
- The Queue assigns the conversation to an available agent from its associated agent group
Managing Intents and Queues
An Intent classifies each customer conversation (Issue) and serves as the primary method of categorization. ASAPP analyzes conversation data and business requirements to determine the set of available Intents. During runtime, Machine Learning (ML) models automatically assign the most appropriate Intent to each new Issue. Queue Routing uses these Intents along with other defined criteria to direct conversations to specific Queues (Referred to as Attributes Based Routing). Each Queue represents a group of agents qualified to handle particular types of Issues.ASAPP manages the configuration and maintenance of Intents and Queue Routing. Work with your ASAPP account team to optimize these settings for your business needs.
Optimizing Agent Concurrency
Concurrency controls how many simultaneous conversations each agent manages. Setting appropriate concurrency levels helps balance customer experience with agent workload. Each agent has an individual concurrency level setting that determines their maximum number of concurrent conversations. Digital Agent Desk provides several tools to help manage agent workloads:- High Effort Issues - Automatically identifies complex conversations that require more agent attention
- Flexible Concurrency - Dynamically adjusts capacity during natural conversation lulls
High Effort Issues
By default, each conversation occupies one concurrency slot. However, certain conversations may require more time and attention from agents due to their complexity or scope. Digital Agent Desk can automatically identify high effort Issues and assign them multiple concurrency slots based on the Intent and other attributes. For example, a technical troubleshooting conversation might count as two slots, while a simple account update remains one slot. This intelligent slot allocation helps:- Ensure agents have adequate time for complex customer needs
- Maintain balanced workloads across your team
- Improve customer satisfaction on challenging issues
Monitoring High Effort Issues
The Real Time Dashboard displays agents handling high effort issues with a “high effort” icon. Select any agent’s name to view their current conversation assignments.Flexible Concurrency
Flexible Concurrency maximizes agent productivity by temporarily increasing their conversation capacity during natural downtimes, such as:- When conversations enter auto-pilot timeout (a period of customer inactivity)
- While agents complete disposition tasks
Protecting Agents with Flex Protect
During auto-pilot timeout, the system assumes a conversation is temporarily inactive due to customer inactivity. However, customers may return and resume their conversation at any point during this timeout period. Without protection, this can create a challenging situation where an agent who received a new flexible assignment suddenly needs to handle both the returning customer and their new conversation simultaneously. Flex Protect prevents this type of overload by:- Assigning a protected status to the agent
- Providing a configurable rest period where no new flexible assignments are allowed for that agent
We recommend enabling Flex Protect as agents may avoid using auto-pilot timeout if they fear being overloaded, leading to longer handle times.
Monitoring Flexible Assignments
The Real Time Dashboard displays agents handling flexible assignments with a “flex” icon. Select any agent’s name to view their current conversation assignments.