GETTING STARTED WITH ZENDESK TALK 34 Shared Model HOW MANY AGENTS DO I NEED? In a shared model, agents are expected to work on the channels that require most Determining how many agents you attention and then switch over to other need to staff is a little bit of an art and channels as they become busier. For a science. The Erlang C formula helps example, a shared agent might start their estimate the number of agents required day working on email support, but then based on the estimated number of calls, switch over to answering phone calls as average handling time (total time per more start coming in. The advantage of call), maximum wait time and service level this model is that agents maximize their (the industry “average” is 80% of calls time and are always solving customer answered in 20 seconds). You can find a queries. However, an agent would have to link to a handy Erlang C calculator here. be highly trained to be able to effectively switch between multiple channels with little notice.