SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COST-BASED AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION WITH STATISTICALLY PREDICTABLE WAIT TIME

System and method to select a contact handling mode in a contact center, the method including: receiving, by a communication interface, a contact from a customer; calculating, by a processor of the contact center, an expected wait time by the customer based upon historical contact information stored in a memory of the contact center; calculating an expected cost of queueing the customer for the expected wait time; and selecting the contact handling mode based upon the expected cost of queueing the customer.