JP2002245354A - Support call center system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a support call center system which can deal with inquiry from a home page reader in real time and enables an operator to perform input to a form in place of the reader. SOLUTION: Support call center systems 1 and 4 are provided with terminals 4 of operators, who accept inquiry about commodities or the like from clients through the Internet and perform after-sale services and claim processing, in order to performing these processing and can be connected to terminals 2 of clients through the Internet 3. These systems are provided with means which connect client terminals and operator terminals on the basis of indications from client terminals on which a picture of commodity guide or the like is displayed, so that two-way communication is possible between them and realize real-time communications by voice, chat, pictures, etc., between clients and operators.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a support call center system for receiving inquiries about products and the like from a client, and performing after-sales service and claim processing.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various kinds of information are distributed through the Internet, and most of questions and inquiries of users are made by e-mail.
However, if it is possible to make a voice call in terms of immediacy and simplicity, it is likely that there are many favorable situations. For example, in a mail order site, when a client requests a detailed description of a product displayed on a screen (for example, a question as to whether or not there is another color of a certain product), the client has no choice but to make an inquiry by e-mail and immediately reply. There was an inconvenience that was not obtained. This could be a factor for the publishers to miss customers.

[0003] Moreover, in the conventional homepage,
The user had to fill in the form displayed on the screen by himself / herself when completing the purchase or application form. Therefore, the burden is large for those who are not good at key input or those who have difficulty in key input due to physical obstacles.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a support call center system which enables real-time inquiry correspondence with a homepage viewer. Another object of the present invention is to provide a support call center system in which an operator can substitute an input to a predetermined form.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a support call center system according to the present invention is used to receive inquiries about products and the like from a client via the Internet, and to perform after-sales service and claim processing. , Other than the operator's terminal that performs these processes,
A support call center system that includes a server and allows a client terminal to be connected to the server via the Internet. Then, based on an instruction from the client terminal on which a screen such as a product guide is displayed, the client terminal and the operator terminal are connected so as to be capable of two-way communication, and voice, chat, images, etc. are exchanged between the client and the operator. And means for enabling near real-time communication.

[0006] Alternatively, the support call center system of the present invention includes an operator's terminal for performing inquiries about products and the like from a client via the Internet and performing after-sales service and complaint processing. A support call center system which can be connected to a client terminal via the Internet, and includes the following units. Thereby, almost real-time communication including voice, chat, image, etc. can be performed between the client and the operator via the communication tool. (1) Based on an instruction from a client terminal on which a screen such as a product guide is displayed, if the communication tool of the client terminal is not activated, it is activated, and an address of the operator terminal is assigned to the communication tool. . (2) Means for giving the address of the client terminal obtained from the client terminal to the operator terminal.

Each of the above support call center systems may be provided with a plurality of operator terminals and further provided with means for changing an operator terminal connected to the client terminal according to a predetermined rule.

[0008] Preferably, in addition to any one of the above configurations, the support call center system is characterized in that the screen on the connection destination client terminal can be shared by the operator terminal.

[0009] Preferably, in addition to any one of the above configurations, when inputting an application form or the like displayed on a screen, an operator can input the form from the operator terminal based on voice information from the client terminal. It is a support call center system characterized by the following.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The support call center system of the present invention will be described below in more detail based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the support call center system of the present invention.

The system according to the present embodiment realizes a real-time inquiry response in an interactive format between a client who is a site viewer and a company which is a site operator on a mail order site.

The server 1 of the present system is provided with means for realizing a mail order site. For example, other than information storage means such as a database for storing and managing various information such as product information, order information, and customer information, a means for allowing a client to search and browse the product information in this information storage means, There is provided a means for receiving order information.

The server 1 is connected to a plurality of unspecified or specific client terminals (client terminals) 2, 2. In the case where the service is provided only to a specific client, a user ID and a password are assigned to the client, the client is authenticated using the information, and then the service such as disclosure of product information or the like to the client terminal 2 is performed. May be provided.

Each client terminal 2 is an input / output device operated by a client. In this embodiment, each client terminal 2 is constituted by a personal computer. That is, for example, it includes a personal computer, a keyboard, a mouse, a display, and a modem or a terminal adapter for enabling communication with the server 1. In addition, the client terminal 2 of this embodiment includes a WWW browser, a mailer (mail software), and almost real-time communication (conversation and collaborative work) including voice, chat, image, and the like with other terminals. Etc.) are also provided. As this communication tool, for example, Microsoft (NetMeetin)
g) Software is used.

On the other hand, the site operator is provided with terminals (operator terminals) 4, 4... Operated by an operator in response to an inquiry from a client, etc., separately from the server 1. In this embodiment, the operator terminal 4 comprises a personal computer having the same function and configuration as the client terminal 2.

By the way, when it is assumed that the client and the operator have a conversation, the client terminal 2 and the operator terminal 4 are provided with a microphone and a speaker, and the two-way communication between the actual voice and the signal based on the voice is performed. Is converted by the communication tool or the like. Instead of hitting the keyboard, the voice may be converted into characters and chatting may be performed. In this case, a speaker is not required. In the case of exchanging images, a personal computer is provided with a digital camera, a digital video camera, and the like.

The user (client) can browse the web page by connecting to the website (1) of the present system from the client terminal 2. In the present embodiment, since a mail order site is assumed, each client can obtain information such as products on the display of the client terminal 2 of the client.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, for example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the display of the client terminal 2 asks for a "purchase" button for the displayed product or the like and the product. A "chat" button and an "inquiry" button are displayed.

If the client wants to make a verbal inquiry about the displayed product to a person on the site operator side, the client may select the "inquiry" button by clicking the mouse or the like.

The server 1 receiving this selection signal connects the client to one of the operators.
The connection between the two terminals is performed, for example, by using the communication tool provided in both terminals 2 and 4 to the address (here, the IP address) of the destination terminal (that is, the operator terminal 4 for the client terminal 2 and the client terminal 2 for the operator terminal 4).
Is realized by giving For this purpose, the address of the operator terminal 4 to be connected is transmitted to the client terminal 2 and given. At this time, since the communication tool may not be started on the client terminal 2, the server 1 checks whether the communication tool on the client terminal 2 has been activated, and if not, activates the communication tool. The address of the terminal 4 will be given.

At the same time, the server 1 obtains the address of the client terminal 2 and gives it to the corresponding operator terminal 4. Thereby, a substantially real-time conversation between the client terminal 2 and the operator terminal 4 becomes possible.

When the connection between the client terminal 2 and the operator terminal 4 is established, for example, the operator inquires of the client about the requirements, and the operator can immediately answer the client who has made a question or the like on the spot. In addition, if necessary, the operator can transmit a still image or a moving image taken by a camera connected to his / her own terminal 4 to the client terminal 2 almost in real time, and can give a detailed description of the product. . Conversely, the client can also photograph the product at hand and show it to the operator, which is convenient when explaining the situation such as damage to the purchased product to the operator or asking the operator about the usage etc. is there.

In the case of a chat, the processing is substantially the same.
That is, the client may select the "chat" button by clicking with the mouse. Then, the two terminals 2 and 4 are connected via the communication tool in the same manner as described above. Chat can be performed on the chat screen displayed on each terminal, and questions and answers are made by exchanging character strings. In FIG. 2B, the chat screen and the like are opened in a separate window from the original screen. However, the chat screen and the like may be displayed in the same window.

In this manner, the client who has solved the question can enter the purchase procedure with confidence. If the user wants to make a purchase, he or she can select it by clicking the “buy” button displayed on the screen. Then, as well as a known mail order site, a purchaser entry column required for purchase and an entry column for payment information appear, so use the keyboard or mouse etc. to enter or select necessary items and send it to the server Becomes possible. The subsequent processing is the same as that of a known mail order site.

By the way, it is also possible to receive the advice of the operator when writing in the form such as the purchase application form. That is, by clicking a predetermined button on the form screen, the client terminal 2 and the operator terminal 4 are connected in a manner similar to the above-described method. And
The operator may ask the client a verbal question, and the answer may be entered into the form by the operator. It is possible for the operator to input the information in an interactive manner for a person who is not good at key input or a person who has difficulty in key input such as a physically handicapped person.

It is more preferable that the display screens of the operator terminal 4 and the client terminal 2 can be shared. For this purpose, the communication tool (or via the server) may be configured to acquire the address of the web page being viewed by the partner terminal and connect to the address. Thus, for example, the operator can know which page the client is looking at and ask a question, and the conversation and the like proceed smoothly.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the support call center system of the present invention. The case of the second embodiment is almost the same as that of the system of the first embodiment, and therefore the following description will focus on the differences.

In the first embodiment, the example in which the operator terminal 4 is directly connected to the Internet 3 has been described.
In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the operator terminal 4 is connected to the server 1 by a LAN or the like. In this case, each operator terminal 4 may have a unique address, or may be configured to be assigned an address from the server 1 when necessary.

The former case is the same as in the first embodiment. In the latter case, when a connection request to the operator terminal 4 is sent from the client terminal 2 to the server 1, the server assigns an address to the operator terminal 4 to be connected to the client terminal 2 and assigns the address to the client terminal 2. To be given. Further, the address of the client terminal 2 is obtained, and it is
To be given. As a result, an almost real-time conversation between the client and the operator becomes possible.

By the way, in the system of each of the above embodiments, the operator terminal 4 to which the client terminal 2 is connected is appropriately set based on the request from the client terminal 2. For example, it is conceivable that addresses of a plurality of operator terminals 4 are registered in the server 1 and connected in the order of registration. At this time, if the operator terminal 4 is being connected to another client terminal 2, it is natural that the operator terminal 4 is transferred to the next operator terminal 4.

Further, a page or the like on which the client clicks an "inquiry" button or the like may be connected to a specialized operator who is suitable for answering a question about the page or the like. In this case, the server 1 has a means for grasping which page the client is browsing and routing the connection destination based on the page. For example, web page address (URL etc.)
It is conceivable to use the table registered in association with the operator (the address of the operator terminal or the like).

Further, the operator terminal to be connected may be changed depending on the time zone. For example, in the daytime, an employee or the like of the site operator may be the operator, and at night or on a holiday, the operator may be connected to an operator terminal of another external company. To that end, the server:
The time zone and the like may be registered in association with the address of the connection destination operator terminal.

It should be noted that the support call center system of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, but can be changed as appropriate. For example, a mixture of the system of the first embodiment and the system of the second embodiment is also possible. In this case, a part of the operator terminal 4 may be assigned a unique address in advance, and the other part may be assigned an address from the server as needed.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which a communication tool is provided in the client terminal 2 or the operator terminal 4 separately from the WWW browser, and direct communication is made between the two terminals 2 and 4 via the communication tool. However, the server 1 may be provided with a communication tool to exchange data between the two terminals 2 and 4 via the communication tool. For example, a chat or the like may be realized by the CGI of the server 1. In addition, audio and image processing, etc.
It may be realized by a WWW browser plug-in or the like.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a mail order site has been described. For example, the present invention can be applied to a site of a manufacturer's after-sales service. For example, if the present invention is applied to after-sales service reception of a home appliance manufacturer, a real-time response to a trouble call can be made using voice and image, and a coping method can be described using voice and image. Also, it is possible to respond to an inquiry in a chat format. In the case of using an image, the manufacturer's operator not only sends the image to the client, but also uses the image of the situation of the own product from the client to the operator to have the operator grasp the situation. be able to. Then, if recovery is not possible, the operator may arrange for the service person in charge by e-mail or the like as necessary. At this time, if there is an image or the like obtained from the client side, it is also possible to attach it and transmit it.

Further, it is also possible to use it for a reservation business or the like. In this case, for example, a client connected to a site such as an accommodation facility such as a hotel can connect to an operator (a hotel person or the like) by clicking a predetermined button. Therefore, it is possible to confirm the vacancy status in a conversation style, and to explain or guide the facility by voice or image. Furthermore, when entering the accommodation application form,
For a person who has difficulty in key input, such as a person who is not good at key input or a person with a disability, the operator can make an interactive input instead.

[0037]

As described above in detail, according to the support call center system of the present invention, it is possible to respond to inquiries in real time with home page viewers. Further, it is possible to have the operator perform input on a predetermined form in an interactive manner on behalf of the operator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a support call center system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a client terminal in the support call center system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the support call center system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 server 2 client terminal 3 network (Internet) 4 operator terminal

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In order to receive an inquiry about a product or the like from a client via the Internet or to perform after-sales service or claim processing, a server is provided in addition to a terminal of an operator who performs these processings. A support call center system in which a client terminal can be connected to the server, based on an instruction from the client terminal on which a screen such as a product guide is displayed, connects the client terminal and the operator terminal in a bidirectional manner, A support call center system comprising means for enabling near real-time communication including voice, chat, image, etc. between a client and an operator. 2. In order to receive an inquiry about a product or the like from a client via the Internet, or to perform an after-sales service or a claim process, a terminal of an operator for performing these processes is provided, and a terminal of the client is connected to the terminal of the client via the Internet. A support call center system that can be connected, based on an instruction from a client terminal on which a screen such as a product guide is displayed, activates the communication tool of the client terminal if it is not activated, and activates the communication tool. Means for assigning the address of the operator terminal to the client terminal; and means for assigning the address of the client terminal obtained from the client terminal to the operator terminal. A support call center system that enables near real-time communication including voice, chat, and images. 3. The support call center system according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of operator terminals, and further comprising means for changing an operator terminal connected to the client terminal according to a predetermined rule. 4. The support call center system according to claim 1, wherein the operator terminal can share a screen on a connection destination client terminal. 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein an operator can input the form from the operator terminal based on voice information from the client terminal when inputting the application form or the like displayed on the screen. 4. The support call center system according to any one of 4 above.