Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper Making the Customer Visible (tm) Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 2 Introduction W hat happened to that e-mail you sent to your bank regarding your account balance? Have you ever wondered why the responses to your electronic requests (such as e-mail, wireless messaging or web forms) are often both late and irrelevant to the original correspondence? The answer to those questions is remarkably simple. Most organizations sort through incoming customer service e-mails manually. While the Internet has promised customers a seamless means of interacting with companies, delivering on that promise is challenging. When deluged with customer service requests, how does an organization ensure that the right person services the request and how does it integrate the requests with its backend fulfillment systems? This issue is particularly problematic for large, global institutions. Imagine that XYZ Bank is multinational with regional offerings in Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Not only are there multiple languages to consider (i.e., Portuguese, Spanish, French and English), but the regulatory environments for each country create internal organizations with vastly different needs and structures as well. While most companies recognize that showing the customer a single, consistent interface is beneficial, accepting all e-mails though a single source (e.g. customerservice@xyz.com) will be impossible to administer without a vast investment in human capital. Some companies have attempted to curtail this situation. They either have built "home-grown" systems, or they have implemented an e-mail handling technology. In either case, the system generally routes incoming e-mails to customer service representatives who can answer the inquiries. This technique, called "Skills-Based Routing," was adapted from telephone call center applications. A set of rules is constructed by classifying existing electronic requests (e-mail, web forms, mobile messaging, etc) into content classifications. These classifications are then mapped to the skill sets of the company's internal agents. Each incoming request is then routed to specific agents based on this classification scheme. Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 3 Unfortunately, this solution does not work efficiently for the majority of large, established companies. Most of the early e-mail handling solutions were built to administer either a relatively small volume of electronic requests, or a small number of classifications. The means of classifying the request is based on a flat rule structure that results either from manually composing rules or generating them using Bayesian Networking techniques. In either instance, this structure gives each rule equal weighting and evaluates the incoming request against all rules in aggregate (see figure 1). The final classification is based on the combined results from tests against the entirety of these rules. While the means of classifying the incoming request is manageable for smaller volumes of requests and/or small numbers of classifications, there are several, severe shortcomings for large, distributed organizations. Administering a single set of rules across complex organizational structures where differences might be necessitated by culture, regulation, market segmentation, or brand specificity is problematic. No single individual is likely to have the complete knowledge to establish and maintain the entire rule structure. Incoming Request Rule 1 Rule 2 Rule 3 Rule 4 Rule 5 Rule 6 Rule 7 Rule 8 Rule 9 Rule 10 Outgoing Classification Figure 1: Flat Rule Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 4 As business units alter their product offerings or internal structure, a severe limitation is placed on the organization. Either a centralized administrator needs to manage the necessary rule changes, thus adding time and reducing the efficiency of communication, or business-unit level administrators must be allowed access to the rule set. By allowing multiple administrators to make alterations to the rules set, the administrators are able to change rules pertaining not only to their business unit, but also to the other business units as well. Thus, a potential security risk is added. The flat rule structure is inefficient where language assignment (e.g., a rule that says "this is a German language request") is an element of the final classification. Since all rules are evaluated in aggregate, it is not possible for the result of one rule to effect the processing of a second. The system is, therefore, unable to apply a single language dictionary. A language dictionary is a system device used only in advanced classification engines that allows a program to handle "word stemming," a process whereby the dictionary "knows" that variations of a single word (e.g., balance, balancing, balances...) have the same root word. Invocation of the rule dictionary benefits the system by reducing the total number of variations that must be considered. In addition, storage of the language information outside of the program, results in a greatly reduced code base. Since no dictionary may be applied with a flat rule structure, the number of variations that the system must consider is increased, thus burdening the system further. No other electronic response management software currently available handles word stemming. Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 5 Hierarchical Classification & Routing By contrast, Amacis Visibility's classification engine utilizes one of the most advanced techniques possible to categorize incoming electronic requests. Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm) is an architecture that allows nodes, which are comprised of sets of rules to be evaluated based on a series of preestablished dependencies (see figure 2). Since the result of the first node test determines the subsequent nodes to be evaluated, there are fewer variations to be evaluated overall in order to determine an end node (i.e., final classification). In addition language dictionaries may be applied at any juncture in the "decision tree" and partitioning can be added to the overall "decision tree" to allow multiple users access to a portion of the node structure. Incoming Request Node 1 Figure 2: Hierarchical Classification & Routing Node 2 Node 3 Node 4 Classification 1 Node 5 Classification 4 Classification 3 Classification 6 Classification 5 Classification 2 Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 6 In order to establish these dependent relationships, an overall tree is first constructed using client input and Amacis' experience. Within each node, the system generates a set of rules by analyzing existing categorized electronic request data. To return to the XYZ Bank example, the first node might determine the language that the electronic request is written in (e.g., Portuguese, Spanish, French or English), the second, the country of origin (Canada or United States) and the third, the banking need to be addressed (e.g., bank balance inquiry, loan acceptance status). Individual requests are then routed through the tree; relevant information is pulled from existing systems, a response is formulated and sent to a Customer Service Representative; this response is edited as necessary; and it is forwarded to the customer. Because the tree's nodes determine the rules that are considered, our example evaluates three rule sets (language, country, and inquiry) rather than all possible variations. In addition, after evaluating the language of the electronic request, the Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm) architecture is able to assign the language dictionary to the request. For instance, if the electronic request is sent in English, the dictionary understands that the word stems for "inquiry," "inquiries," and "inquiring" have the same root word and may be evaluated equivalently. With support for thirty-five languages, Amacis' architecture is the only one that supports word stemming. In addition, the hierarchical structure of the tree enables, through the implementation of partitioning, multiple administrators to alter portions of the tree without being given access to change rule sets that don't pertain to them. If the Brazilian office decides to offer a new product, a designated administrator would be able to make the necessary changes to the tree in order to accommodate customer service requests related to this offering. This administrator would not have access to change the routing that occurs due to language assignment, country determination, or business offerings in other countries or business units. By allowing multiple node administrators, the ability of the structure to adapt to the divergent demands placed upon it by distributed organizations is greatly increased. Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm): A White Paper (c)Amacis 2001 Making The Customer Visible(tm) Page 7 Conclusion As the only software company that offers partitioning, Hierarchical Classification & Routing(tm) and multiple language support as an integral part of its product offering, the underlying structure of Amacis Visibility's architecture enables even the largest, most complex and globally distributed organizations: ??To efficiently categorize incoming electronic correspondence in multiple language settings - Amacis Visibility manages electronic, customer correspondence in up to 35 languages concurrently. ??To efficiently distribute the administrative burden of rule alteration throughout the organization - Changes that naturally occur within an organization, and Amacis Visibility allows a company to have local or functional experts make changes to the relevant rule sets without effecting rule sets that don't pertain to them. For more information about the benefits that your organization can realize from Amacis Visibility, please e-mail info@amacis.com or contact us at one of the numbers below. Amacis North America Amacis Inc 101 Federal Street Suite 1600 Boston MA 02110 T: 1 877 9 AMACIS (Toll Free) F: 1 617 204 5781 E: info@amacis.com W: www.amacis.com Amacis Europe Amacis Ltd Station Mill Station Road Alresford Hampshire SO24 9JQ T: +44 (0)19 6273 8496 F: +44 (0)19 6273 8798 E: info@amacis.com W: www.amacis.com Amacis Asia Pacific Amacis Ltd 2705 Convention Plaza 1 Harbour Road Wanchai Hong Kong T: 852 2829 7404 F: 852 2829 7377 M: 852 9159 7110 E: mike_francis@amacis.com Amacis R&D Amacis Ltd Falcon Road Belfast Northern Ireland BT12 6SJ T: +44 (0) 28 9087 2000 F: +44 (0) 28 9087 2001 E: info@amacis.com W: www.amacis.com (c) Copyright 2001, Amacis Inc.