FR2996030A1 - Method for managing appointments between set of customers and set of commercial shops, involves utilizing distance between geographical position of terminal and shop for detecting that customer is in approach of shop - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves allowing a customer (CL) to select parameters of a request for appointment, where the parameters are selected via an application (9) of a terminal e.g. iPhone (RTM: Smartphone). The appointment request is transmitted via a server (10). A geographical position of the terminal of the customer is determined by the server. A distance between the geographical position of the terminal and a commercial shop is utilized for detecting that the customer is in approach of the shop. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a terminal (2) a computer program comprising instructions for performing a method for providing appointments between a set of customers and a set of shops (3) a recording medium comprising instructions for performing the method for managing appointments between a set of customers and a set of shops.

Description

GENERAL TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a method for managing appointments. The invention also relates to a terminal and a computer program for implementing this method.

STATE OF THE ART Commercial shops, such as shops dedicated to communication services (telephony, Internet, etc.) receive many customers. To date, the clientele received in these shops is generally composed of both professional clients (companies, institutional, freelancers, etc.) and individuals.

In most cases, however, customers are served by store employees in their order of arrival. This type of service is detrimental for business customers, who have to deal with many time constraints related to their professional activity. To date, there are no effective solutions to optimize the organization of the service offered to store customers. especially business customers, who want to be able to reduce their waiting time with shops. PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION The invention proposes to solve this problem, and proposes for this purpose a method of managing appointments, between one or more customers and one or more shops characterized in that it comprises the steps according to which: the client selects, via an application of his terminal, the parameters of an appointment request, said parameters comprising one or more shops from which he wishes to request said appointment; the client's terminal transmits the appointment request, via a server, to the terminal of one or more employees of said shops; the customer terminal receives a response from the employee, transmitted by the server. It can advantageously be specialized shops in the reception of professional customers, the customer choosing the shops with which he wishes to get an appointment 30. Thus, the method allows a systematic, effective and planned management of customer appointments, which reduces their waiting time in the shop. In particular, the customer can specifically choose the shop to which he wants to go for an appointment, and can know the availability of employees. In addition, the appointment being better prepared, the employee may consider an improvement in sales. In one embodiment, when the time remaining with respect to the start time of the appointment is less than a threshold, the mobile terminal of the customer receives a request for confirmation of the appointment, including SMS.

Thus, we reduce the risk of last minute withdrawal, or forgetting the appointment, these disclaimers are usual in this professional market, which optimizes both the time of employees and customers. In one embodiment, the client responds, via the application of its terminal, to the confirmation request, by a validation, a cancellation, or a modification request. The customer therefore has the possibility to modify the appointment remotely via his terminal, even when the appointment time is close, which makes the management of appointments more flexible. In one embodiment, when the remaining time from the start time of the appointment is below a threshold, such as 15 minutes, the client terminal is located by the server. This makes it possible to estimate the approximate time at which the customer may arrive, and to estimate the distance to which the customer is located. In one embodiment, the method includes a step of issuing an alert to the employee terminal when the distance from the customer terminal to the employee shop is less than a predetermined distance. Thus, shop employees are warned of the imminent arrival of the client, which facilitates their organization and management of the appointment. In one embodiment, following the request for an appointment issued by the client's terminal, the server accesses an employee's availability calendar and compares time parameters of the appointment request with this calendar. The invention thus makes it possible to couple the customer's meeting requests with the availabilities of the employees, which makes it possible to optimize the dates, times and durations of the appointments. The invention also relates to a terminal comprising an application configured to execute the method as described above. The management by an application of a terminal, such as a smartphone, especially Android and iPhone type, makes it easy to make appointments for the customer. The invention also relates to a server, comprising communication means 30 with terminals, said server being configured to implement the method as described above. The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for the execution of the method, when the program is executed by a processor. The invention also relates to a processor-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded including instructions for executing the method. PRESENTATION OF THE FIGURES Other characteristics, objects and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, which is purely illustrative and nonlimiting, and which should be read with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a representation elements allowing the implementation of the appointment management method; Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a terminal for carrying out the method; Figure 3 is a schematic representation of steps of an embodiment of the appointment management method; Figure 4 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of confirmation steps of the appointment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of a method of managing appointments between customers and shop employees are described. The word "customer" is to be taken broadly, and includes anyone wishing to get an appointment at the store.

The word "boutique" in the broad sense means any sign, whether commercial or not. The word "employee" is not restrictive, and refers to people in the shop who may receive the customer, regardless of the employee's legal relationship with the shop.

Elements for implementing the appointment management method In FIG. 1, a terminal 1 of a client is shown. This terminal 1 is able to communicate with at least one terminal 2 of an employee. A server 10 relays the exchanges between the terminal 1 of the customer and the terminal 2 of the employee. Terminal 1 is most often a mobile terminal. The server 10 comprises means of communication with the terminals (for example of the client / server request type), one or more computers and associated computer programs. This computer program includes instructions for performing the steps of the scheduling process involving the server, when the program is executed by a processor. The exchanges between the terminals via the server make it possible to reduce the processing resources required in each terminal, and to secure exchanges. This program can be stored on a recording medium. This server 10 is dedicated, in whole or in part, to the management of the appointment management process. The exchanges between the terminals and the server are carried out via a communication system 3. The communication system 3 is for example a mobile communication system, or an Internet network, or other. The system 3 comprises, depending on the nature of the transmission, relay antennas, servers and other conventional transmission means. The server 10 may, in one embodiment of the appointment management method, communicate with the terminal 1 or the terminal 2 by sending instant messages (SMS).

Figure 2 shows a diagram of an embodiment of a terminal 1 of the client. The terminal 1 comprises means 4 for interaction with a user (for example of the keyboard, interface, screen, etc.), for displaying and entering information. The terminal 1 also comprises communication means 5, configured to transmit the requests to the server 10, or, where appropriate, directly to the terminal 2. These communication means 5 are conventional, and depend on the type of communication used (network , Bluetooth, Internet, etc.). The terminal 1 comprises at least one processing unit 7 (for example of the processor type) making it possible to manage the different applications and the processes implemented by the terminal. The terminal 1 also comprises at least one memory 8. For the implementation of the appointment management method, the terminal 1 comprises at least one application 9. This application is a computer program comprising instructions for execution steps of the appointment management method involving the terminal, when the program is executed by a processor, such as the processing unit 7. The application 9 can be stored in the memory 8. The computer program can be stored on a recording medium (memory, CD, key, etc.) readable by a processor, or downloaded via the communication system 3. The terminal 1 is for example a mobile telephone terminal, such as a "smartphone", but it can be any other adapted communication terminal (computer, etc.). In one example, the terminal 1 is of the Android type or iPhone. The terminal 2 is for example a microcomputer, comprising a processor, a memory, and means for interaction with a user. This is for example the employee's workstation. In one embodiment, the terminal 2 is a mobile telephone terminal. In another embodiment, the terminal 2 comprises several units and is divided into a microcomputer and a mobile telephone terminal, which can for example communicate with each other. The employee can therefore send reply messages or consult the requests for appointments received both on the microcomputer and on the mobile terminal. Embodiments of the Appointment Management Process As illustrated in FIG. 3, a client CL makes an appointment request (DMD_RDV) by selecting (SLC_RDV), via an application 9 of its terminal 1, parameters 35 a request for an appointment. These parameters include in particular one or more shops with which he wishes to request said appointment. These shops can be selected for example by their name, and / or their location, and / or the name of the employees, or via other criteria. According to one example, the customer is a professional customer, and the shops are specialized in welcoming business customers, the customer choosing the shops with which he wishes to obtain an appointment.

Appointment settings may include, but are not limited to: time parameters (time, date, duration, etc.); location parameters (meeting place in the various offices of the shop, etc.) object of the appointment; message to the employee; desired frequency of the appointment; number and names of participants; etc.

The terminal 1 of the client transmits (TM_DMD_RDV) the request, through the server 10, to the terminal 2 of one or more employees EPL of said shops, or terminals 2 of one or more employees EPL. The employee (or the employees as the case may be) can then consult on his terminal 2 the nature of the appointment request and the parameters of the appointment request.

If the terminal 2 includes a mobile terminal, the employee can receive the appointment request by SMS. This is particularly useful in the case where the terminal 2 includes both a microcomputer (employee's workstation) and a mobile terminal, because the employee is not always in front of his computer . The employee responds to the client's request via the terminal 2, and the terminal 1 of the client receives 20 (TM_RP_RDV) an employee response, transmitted by the server 10. The transmission of the response can in particular be done by transmission to the server 10 (TM_RP_RDV_1), then transmission to the application 9 of the terminal 1 (TM_RP_RDV_2), and display of the response on the terminal 1 of the client (TM_RP_RDV_3). In one embodiment, the employee enters via his terminal 2 his answer to the request for an appointment. The response may include one of the following: acceptance of the appointment request; acceptance of the request for an appointment with conditions; request to change the appointment settings; refusal. If the employee makes a decision to accept the appointment, the appointment parameters are then stored in a memory 8 of the terminal 2 of the employee, and in a memory 8 of the terminal 1 of the customer (after receipt of the acceptance decision). If necessary, the server 10 can also store a copy of the appointment's parameters in a memory of the server 10. 35 If the employee issues an acceptance decision of the conditional appointment request, the client can then reply on demand via the application of its terminal 1, and a new exchange session, as described above, takes place, until the decision of acceptance of the employee. If the employee issues a request to modify the parameters of the appointment, such as, for example, a request to modify the time parameters of the appointment (change of the schedule, etc.), the customer can then respond to the request. via the application 9 of its terminal 1, and a new exchange session, as described above, takes place, until the decision of acceptance of the employee. In one embodiment, following the request for an appointment issued by the client's terminal 1, the server 10 accesses an employee's availability calendar and compares time parameters of the appointment with this calendar. This is for example an electronic calendar of availability stored in the memory of the terminal 2, or stored in a computer or server accessible by the terminal 2. Examples of such a calendar include Outlook type diaries in a microphone -computer, or diaries embedded in smartphones. It may also be an availability calendar common to several employees. The server 10 can then determine if the time parameters of the appointment request are compatible with the availabilities of the employee. This comparison can notably enable the server 10 to send a message to the terminal 2 of the employee, this message characterizing the result of the availability analysis implemented by the server 10. In one embodiment, the server 10 compares the time parameters of the appointment request with the availability of several employees stored in the calendar, which enables him to identify the employee whose schedule is best adapted to the temporal parameters of the request of appointment. In one example, this identification allows the server to address the appointment request specifically to the employee's terminal 2, or to alert that employee by sending an alert. In one embodiment, the server 10 produces a message displayed on the terminal 2 of the employee, indicating the results of this comparison, and where appropriate, proposals to grant the parameters, including temporal, demand appointments with the availability of the employee. In one embodiment, the method includes the step that, when the remaining time from the start time of the appointment is less than a threshold, the customer's terminal 1 receives a request to confirm the appointment. -you. This request is generally issued by the server 10. According to one example, this threshold is set at 15 minutes. In one example, the mobile terminal 1 of the client receives this request by an instant message (SMS). For example, this request is issued one hour before the scheduled start time of the appointment. The threshold is, according to an exemplary embodiment, configurable by a user. This request for confirmation can be implemented in various ways. In one embodiment, the server 10 sends a confirmation request for the CONF_RDV appointment to the application 9 of the client terminal 1, which displays this request NOTIF_CONF_RDV on the terminal, via a visual and / or audible alert. Alternatively, the application of the terminal 2 of the employee sends this request for confirmation of the appointment to the application 9 of the terminal 1 of the client, via the communication server 3. Alternatively, the application 9 of the terminal 1 of the client itself displays a request for confirmation of the appointment on the terminal 1 of the client.

After displaying this confirmation request, the client responds, via the application 9 of its terminal 1, to the confirmation request. This response is a validation, a cancellation, or a change request. The response is transmitted to the server 10, which can, if necessary, retransmit it to the terminal 2 of the employee. In one embodiment, if the response is a cancellation, the appointment parameters stored in the memories of the terminal 1, and / or the terminal 2, and / or the server 10 are deleted. If the response is a change request, exchanges similar to those described with respect to FIG. 3 can be implemented again. If the response is a validation, the terminal 2 of the employee can receive a reminder indicating the parameters of the appointment and the fact that the client has validated this appointment, this reminder being for example transmitted by the server 10. In one embodiment, when the time remaining from the start time of the appointment is less than a threshold, the client terminal 1 is located by the server 10 (step LOC_CL). Localization consists of estimating the geographical position of the customer's terminal. This location can be implemented via a geolocation application used in mobile telecommunication systems. This makes it possible to know if the customer is approaching the shop when the start time of the appointment is close (for example, when the appointment is scheduled in 15 minutes). In one embodiment, the method includes a step of issuing an alert to the employee terminal 2 when the distance from the customer terminal to the employee shop is less than a predetermined distance. This will alert the employee or store employees that the customer is within a predetermined radius of the shop, which is synonymous with the imminent arrival of the customer at the meeting. According to one example, this distance is 300 meters compared to the shop. At the end of the appointment and after a lapse of time, for example 10 minutes, the method comprises the transmission (step SAT_RDV, from the terminal 2 of the employee or the server 10) of a message of satisfaction survey to the client's terminal 1. This message is for example a SMS. The client 1 responds (REPSAT_RDV step) to the satisfaction survey message via its terminal 1, its response being transmitted to the server 10, for processing (for example for statistical processing, or for display on the terminals of the shop). The invention applies for example to shops dedicated to the sale of communication systems (telephony, Internet), or to any shop requiring the management of appointments 35 between professional customers and employees of the shop (bank, shops , etc.).

Claims (9)

REVENDICATIONS1. A method for reducing the waiting time for appointments between one or more customers and one or more shops, characterized in that it comprises the steps according to which: the customer (CL) selects, via an application (9), its terminal (1), parameters of an appointment request, said parameters comprising one or more stores with which it wishes to request said appointment, - the terminal (1) of the client transmits the appointment request, via a server (10), to the terminal (2) of one or more employees of said shops, - the terminal (1) of the client receives (TM_RP_RDV) a response from the employee, transmitted by the server ( 10), and - when the remaining time with respect to the start time of the appointment is less than a threshold, the geographical position of the terminal (1) of the client is determined by the server (10), the distance between the geographical position of the terminal (1) and the shop of the employee permitting t detect that the customer (CL) is approaching the shop. The method of claim 1 including the step of, when the remaining time from the start time of the appointment is less than a threshold, the client terminal (1) receives a request for confirmation of the Appointment. 3. Method according to claim 2, wherein the client responds, via the application (9) of its terminal (1), to the confirmation request, by a validation, a cancellation, or a request for modification. 4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, comprising a step of issuing an alert to the terminal (2) of the employee, when the distance from the terminal (1) of the customer with the shop of the employee is less than a predetermined distance. 5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, following the request for an appointment issued by the terminal (1) of the client, the server (10) accesses an availability calendar of the employee and compares time parameters of the appointment request with this calendar. Terminal (1) comprising an application (9) configured to execute the method according to one of claims 1 to 3. 7. Server (10) comprising means of communication with terminals (1,2), said server being configured to implement the method according to one of claims 1 to 5. 8. Computer program comprising instructions for executing the method according to any of claims 1 to 5, when the program is executed by a processor. 9. A processor-readable recording medium on which is recorded a program comprising instructions for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.