JP2014140143A - Call center system and response method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a call center system and a response method capable of smoothly switching to conversation with an operator without suddenly interrupting a service content from an automatic voice response unit being listened to while waiting for an operator response.SOLUTION: A content being sent out from an IVR 4 is previously composed by a combination of a plurality of phrase-punctuated voice messages, and a monitoring controller 5 monitors the voice message sent out from the IVR 4, detects a phrase-punctuation point, and switches a connection destination for a customer terminal C being left pending from the IVR 4 to an operator terminal P at a timing between phrase punctuations.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a call center system and a response method.

  In the call center call handling, when the operator is busy, a melody is played in addition to guidance to a customer waiting for connection to perform standby (holding) processing. However, there are many cases where the waiting time tends to exceed several minutes. In such a call center that is often held for a relatively long time, there are attempts to introduce service menus related to inquiries to held customers, and to provide services that send contents tailored to customer preferences from automatic voice response devices. Has been made. (For example, patent document 1).

  However, when an operator who becomes available can connect with a waiting customer and start a response, the content that the customer was listening to is suddenly interrupted, which makes it unnatural and uncomfortable and the response switching is not smooth. There was.

JP 2009-239367 A

  Conventionally, when an operator who can respond at the call center connects with a customer on standby and starts a response, the customer listening to the voice transmission service by the automatic voice response device suddenly interrupts the content being listened to. Therefore, there is a problem that the response switching is not smooth because it feels unnatural and uncomfortable.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that even when a customer who is waiting for an operator response by calling a call center is listening to service contents from the automatic voice response device, the connection to the operator can be smoothly switched. It is to provide a call center system and a response method.

  In order to achieve the above object, the call center system according to the present embodiment provides a plurality of voice message frames in a call center system that provides a service for sending voice message content to a customer terminal on hold for conversation with an operator. An automatic voice response device configured to transmit a voice signal of the content configured in combination, an operator terminal that outputs a notification of whether or not conversation is possible with the operator, and an incoming call from a customer terminal. A telephone exchange connection device that either switches to and connects to either the device or the operator terminal via voice switching means, or holds until the operator terminal is able to talk, and the operator terminal Enter the status notification and monitor it before the call is received because the conversation is not possible When the customer terminal is on hold, the voice switching unit performs control for connecting the held customer terminal to the voice automatic response device, and control for causing the automatic voice response device to send the content. And when the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, a predetermined timing after the end of the frame of the monitored audio signal is detected. In addition, the voice switching unit includes a monitoring control device that performs control to switch the connection destination of the customer terminal from the automatic voice response device to the operator terminal that can communicate.

  The call center system response method according to the present embodiment includes an automatic voice response device, an operator terminal, a voice switching means, a telephone exchange connection device, and a monitoring control device. In a response method of a call center system for providing a service for sending a voice message content to a terminal, the operator terminal outputs a status notification indicating whether or not conversation with the operator is possible, and the telephone exchange connection device is a customer terminal Either the automatic voice response device or the operator terminal is switched and connected via the voice switching means or the operator terminal is put on hold until the conversation becomes possible The supervisory control device inputs the status notification of the operator terminal, monitors it, and enables conversations. In addition, when the incoming customer terminal is on hold, the voice switching means is connected to the automatic customer response device, and the automatic voice response device has a plurality of voices. When performing control to send out the audio signal of the content configured by combining a frame of a message, and monitoring the audio signal of the content to be sent out, when the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, Further, at a predetermined timing after detecting the end of the frame of the monitored audio signal, the connection destination of the customer terminal is switched from the automatic voice response device to the operator terminal capable of talking to the voice switching means. Control is performed.

It is a functional block diagram explaining operation | movement of the call center system concerning this embodiment. It is a functional block diagram explaining operation | movement of the audio | voice automatic response apparatus of the call center system concerning this embodiment. It is a functional block diagram explaining operation | movement of the monitoring / control apparatus of the call center system concerning this embodiment. It is an operation | movement conceptual diagram explaining operation | movement of the call center system concerning this embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the call center system concerning this embodiment. It is a packet frame figure explaining the message format of the digital audio | voice packet (content) which IVR of the call center system of this embodiment sends out.

  Hereinafter, the call center system of this embodiment is demonstrated with reference to drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the operation of the call center system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, the call center system includes a PBX 2 for connecting customer terminals C1 to Cn accommodated in the telephone network 1, a connection unit 3, operator terminals P1 to Pm, and an automatic voice response device (IVR) 4 (# 1 to #n). A monitoring / control unit 5 and a control network 6. The PBX 2 to the monitoring / control unit 5 are connected by a control network 6 and a required signal transmission means such as a link connection (not shown).

  Moreover, although the connection part 3 has the independent structure here, the function structure arrange | positioned inside PBX2, for example may be sufficient.

  The operator terminals P1 to Pm have the same function as the on / off hook notification for notifying the monitoring / control unit 5 whether or not the operator who operates each terminal is in a call with the customer.

  The connection unit 3 selects and connects the customer terminals C1, C2,... That are called by the PBX 3 with the operator terminals P1 to Pm. The connection unit 3 includes a voice selection unit 31 ((# 1) to (#n)) and an operator selection unit 32 ((# 1) to (#m)). The voice selection unit 31 ((# 1) to (#n)) sends the customer terminal C1 to the customer terminal Cn connected to the port (# 1) to the port (#n) (n is a natural number) of the PBX 2 as an operator terminal. One of P1 to operator terminal Pm, or whether to connect to IVR4 (# 1) to IVR4 (#n) is selected. Further, the operator selection unit 32 connects between a contact point at which a compatible operator terminal designated by the monitoring / control unit 5 is selected and a connection contact point between the voice selection unit 31 and a required customer terminal. Note that the voice selector 31 is connected to the IVR 4 at the time of an incoming call (call) from the customer terminal C1.

  Here, the selection unit 3 is composed of a combination of two switches of the voice switching unit 31 and the operator selection unit 32. However, the matrix switch is used to connect the port of the PBX 2 to the IVR 4 and the operator terminal P. It may be arbitrarily selectable.

  Usually, for example, an incoming call from a customer terminal C2 that is connected to the (# 2) port of the PBX 2 is initially set to be connected to the IVR 4 (# 2) first, and is related to an inquiry matter. Is output from IVR4 (# 2).

  The IVR 4 (# 2) receives the push tone voice signal (DTMF signal) in response to the guidance from the customer terminal C2 and sends response information (code, number, etc.) converted into a predetermined digital code via the control network 6 Notify the monitoring / control unit 5.

  The monitoring / control unit 5 performs control for connecting the operator terminal (for example, P3) and the customer terminal C2 when there is a terminal capable of making a call by examining the call states of the operator terminals P1 to Pm. Here, the voice selection unit 31 (# 2) changes the connection destination from IVR4 (# 2) to the operator selection unit 32, and the operator selection unit 32 sets the connection destination to the voice selection unit 31 to which the customer terminal C2 is connected. (# 2).

  On the other hand, when there are many inquiries to the call center and there is no operator who can make a call, the monitoring / control unit 5 performs processing in which the connected call becomes a standby call in the order of arrival on a first-come-first-served basis. Is sent from IVR 4 to prompt the user to keep the connection or to reconnect.

  Recently, services have been born to add or replace content such as advertisements, related service guidance, or music to the guidance voice so as not to bore the customer during this waiting time.

  While this service allows customers to obtain new information during the waiting time, when the operator becomes available and switches, the listening voice will be interrupted suddenly, causing problems that are unnatural or uncomfortable for the customer. .

  In the call center system of the present embodiment, by preparing content that has been edited in advance with short sentences, phrases, etc. so as to suppress the occurrence of discomfort as much as possible even if the contents are interrupted in the middle, and further performing switching control by phrases, A switching service to a smooth operator call for a standby call is possible.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for explaining the (IVR) operation of the automatic voice response device of the call center system according to this embodiment.
In FIG. 2, the IVR 4 includes a monitor unit 42, a voice recognition unit 43, a command transmission unit 44, a voice synthesis unit 45, a timing processing unit 46, a message storage unit (memory device) 47, an interface (I / F) unit 48, and the like. Are connected to each other, and a bus line 49 for transmitting and receiving data and a hybrid (HYB) 41 are provided. The hybrid 41 is used for analog connection with the PBX 2. It is not necessary when connecting via digital audio signal links or bus lines.

  The I / F unit 48 is a network interface that connects between the control network 6 and the IVR 4.

  The voice recognition unit 43 inputs the voice signal from the voice selection unit 31 and analyzes and extracts numbers and symbols from the DTMF tone, or outputs the data converted into sentences by analyzing the voice of the speaker to the bus line 49. . The monitor unit 42 converts the voice signal recognized by the voice recognition unit 43 into a monitor signal from the customer terminal, and sends it to the monitoring / control unit 5 via the I / F unit 48 and the control network 6.

  The message storage unit 47 is a memory device that stores guidance to be sent to the customer terminals (C1 to Cn) and content data in advance.

  The command sending unit 44 monitors the bus line 49 and outputs a control signal for designating the guidance type and content input from the monitoring / control unit 5 and control information to the voice synthesis unit 45 and other components via the bus line. To do.

  The voice synthesizing unit 45 reads out the designated data from the message storage unit 47 according to the control signal from the command sending unit 44, generates a voice signal of a guidance or content message, and outputs it to the PBX 2.

  The audio signal is input to the IVR contact of the audio selection unit 31 via a signal line or the like. The audio signal is composed of a phrase message divided by several seconds to several tens of seconds. Then, timing information such as a header and a footer, which will be described later, is added to each message in order to clearly indicate the position to be delimited.

  The timing processing unit 46 monitors the audio signal, detects end information (sentence end symbol) for each message, and notifies the monitoring / control unit 5 via the I / F unit 48. The above is the basic operation of IVR4.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram for explaining the operation of the monitoring / control unit 5 of the call center system according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 3, the monitoring / control unit 5 includes an incoming call control unit 50, an operator terminal monitoring unit 51, an operator switching unit 52, a voice switching unit 53, a timing control unit 54, an I / F unit 55, a customer management database 56, a content A database 57 and a bus line 59 for transmitting data and information between the above-described units are provided.

  The I / F unit 55 is a network I / F that connects the monitoring / control unit 5 and the control network 6.

  The operator terminal monitoring unit 51 monitors whether the operator is responding to the customer or standing by using sensors, switches, and the like attached to the operator terminal P. When the call is being handled, the terminal monitor signal of the operator terminal P is transferred to the incoming call control unit 50 by using flag information corresponding to the off-hook state of the telephone terminal.

  Further, this correspondence notification (flag) may be generated by being input by an operator operation switch attached to the operator terminal.

  The incoming call control unit 50 receives call information from the PBX 2 and performs call management for the call connected to the incoming port of the PBX 2. First, the incoming call is connected to the IVR 4 to perform an automatic voice response, Thereafter, the overall management of the call connection with the customer terminal C is performed, such as connection to the operator terminal or holding.

  The incoming call control unit 50 monitors the flag from the operator / operator terminal monitoring unit 51 and also monitors the call connection state of the connection port of the PBX 2. For example, response processing with the customer terminal C is managed using a status display table of flags and call connections. The state of each call connection is classified into three states: a non-incoming call (vacant), a connected port (number) during an operator call, and a connected IVR response (hold).

  Although detailed description of the procedure is omitted, the incoming call control unit 50 sends an operator selection unit of the connection unit 3 via an operator switching unit 52 to a switching control signal for connecting the customer terminal C that has received the call to an operator terminal P that can handle it. 32.

  In accordance with this, the incoming call control unit 50 outputs a switching control signal for switching the port connection destination of the PBX 2 from the IVR 4 to the connection to the operator terminal P to the voice selection unit 31.

  When an incoming call is received, the incoming call control unit 50 controls to perform a predetermined automatic voice response to the customer terminal C from the IVR 4 connected to the port of the PBX 2 at the same time, and at the same time sets a monitor signal flag from the operator terminal monitoring unit 51. Investigate and prepare for operator response.

  When there is a compatible operator terminal P, the incoming call control unit 50 outputs a switching control signal for connecting the incoming customer terminal to the operator terminal P to the voice selection unit 31 via the voice switching unit 53.

  On the other hand, when all the operator terminals P are not compatible, the connection to the IVR 4 is continued. The call is connected via the I / F unit 55 and the control network 6 to continue the guidance of “please wait” and the control signal to continuously send the hold-supported content selected based on the automatic voice response. Output to IVR4.

  The incoming call control unit 50 is notified of an incoming call from a customer terminal (for example, C2) connected from the PBX 2 and a telephone number (calling number). The calling number is notified to the customer management database 56, and it is searched whether there is a suitable service guide in the content corresponding to the hold.

  The content selected as a result of the search is read from the content database 57 and notified or transferred to the IVR 4, and automatic voice is reproduced from the IVR 4 and transmitted to the customer terminal.

  While the audio signal of the content is being transmitted, the incoming call control unit 50 continuously monitors the flag of the operator terminal monitoring unit 51, and when the flag indicating that any operator terminal P can be handled is set via the audio switching unit 53. The voice selection unit 31 is controlled to switch the connection destination of the connection port of the PBX 2 from the IVR 4 to the operator terminal P.

  In the past, this switching timing was switched regardless of the content and message status sent from the IVR 4, so the customer terminal suddenly interrupted the message, making the switching uncomfortable and unnatural. was there.

  In the present embodiment, the content output from the IVR 4 is configured as a combination of (short) messages in which switching is considered, and when switching to operator connection, switching is unnatural by switching at this message delimiter. Is preventing.

FIG. 4 is an operation conceptual diagram of the call center system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the call center system.
FIG. 4A is a conceptual diagram showing an overall function operation at the time of an incoming call from the customer terminal C1, and FIG. 4B is a conceptual diagram of an operation sequence from the incoming call until the operator starts a call. .

  In FIG. 4, the telephone that has been called at the timing of [1] starts connection waiting (queue) processing for automatic voice response until it is connected to the operator, and the telephone call number from the customer. Is notified from the PBX 2 to the customer management database 56.

  Usually, in the call center system, the voice recognition unit 43 discriminates the question and the DTMF tone from the customer terminal in response to the automatic voice response from the IVR 4 in order to respond to the inquiry content by classifying it into several territories in advance. Sort out. The supervisory control unit 5 performs a control for automatically responding to an incoming call reception voice by an IVR response that performs guidance prepared for each distribution destination (step s1 in FIG. 5).

  When there is an operator who can respond at the end of the distribution (there is a non-calling operator terminal P1) (Yes in step s2), the connection destination of the voice selection unit 31 in FIG. 1 is switched from IVR 4 to the operator terminal P1 for connection. To do. On the other hand, if there is no space (No in step s2), the queue processing for waiting for a call (queue processing) is performed. Conventionally, a method of playing music has been used to keep bored customers waiting. In the present embodiment, the customer management database 56 is referred to and searched by the caller number, and pending correspondence contents such as guidance for various services are sent from the content database 57 (step s3).

  When the operator terminal P1 can respond to the next customer (step s5 is Yes) so that the operator completes the correspondence with the previous customer and corresponds to the timing [2] (step s5 is Yes), the customer terminal c1 at the head of the queue Connected to and starts a conversation. Conventionally, listening to the content sent from the IVR 4 at the timing of the call is suddenly interrupted and conversation with the operator is started, so the customer has to take a sudden response.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, instead of immediately connecting to the operator as shown in FIG. 4B, the timing [3] is switched at a timing with a good content delimiter to prevent sudden interruption. It is set. In order to achieve smooth switching, the content is composed of a combination of a plurality of voice messages, and the message is edited so that there is no sense of discomfort at the boundaries and divisions of the combinations.

FIG. 6 is a frame diagram for explaining a message format of a digital voice packet (content) sent out by the IVR of this embodiment.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are examples of voice packets combining messages of about several seconds. Here, the content CP of the guidance voice is a series of read-out sentences prepared for each selected message. is there. A message mn is inserted between the header CH and the footer CF as control information for identifying the frame as a read-out sentence, for example, a series of messages m0 in a short frame corresponding to a phrase every few seconds to several tens of seconds. . Since each of these messages is a phrase unit, it is made into a sentence that does not give a sense of incongruity even if it is terminated by this phrase break.

  Note that the frames (time) of all messages need not have the same length.

  At the end of the message m0 to message mn, a sentence end symbol is provided by "Footer f" or "EOF" indicating the end of the phrase. In the IVR 4, guidance content is read from the message storage unit 47, and a voice signal is output from the voice synthesis unit 45 to the voice selection unit 3.

  Although not shown, the voice synthesizer 45 includes a voice signal buffer therein, and gives a delay of, for example, about 200 msec before being output to the voice selector 3. The timing processing unit 46 monitors the audio signal before being buffered, and notifies the monitoring / control unit 5 via the control network 6 of a sentence end symbol output notification in which the footer f or EOF sentence end symbol is output.

  In the monitoring / control unit 5, the timing control unit 54 monitors the end-of-sentence symbol (EOF) reception notification.

  Now, while sending the pending correspondence content from the IVR 4, the operator terminal monitoring unit 51 receives the correspondence available notification from the operator terminal P 1, and the timing [2] in FIG. 4 is reached (step s 5 in FIG. 5 is Yes). . In the monitoring / control unit 5, the timing control unit 54 waits for reception of this end-of-sentence symbol (EOF) output notification. The operator switching unit 52 outputs a control signal for connecting the terminal that has selected the operator terminal P1 of the operator selection unit 32 and the operator terminal connection terminal of the voice selection unit 31 that is connected to the customer terminal C1 (step s6). .

  In response to this, when the voice switching unit 53 controls the voice selection unit 31 to connect the voice reception system from the customer terminal C1 and the IVR4bn output voice to the operator terminal P1, the operator can tweet the customer (whisper). ) And guidance to customers can be monitored.

  The timing control unit 54 receives from the operator switching unit 52 the response notification that the operator terminal P1 can handle, and then sends the end-of-sentence symbol reception notification to the voice switching unit 53 at the timing when the first end-of-sentence symbol reception notification is received. Forward.

  Upon receipt of this sentence end symbol reception notification, the voice switching unit 53 receives a response ready notification so that the above-described monitoring can be performed, as soon as a predetermined number of end symbol notifications is received (step s7). ) The voice selection unit 31 is switched so that the connection destinations of the voice signal input and output of the customer terminal C1 are all the operator terminal P1 (step s8).

  Since the voice received at the customer terminal C1 is performed at the break of the message without interruption of the message from the IVR 4, it is possible to smoothly start the conversation with the operator.

  In the above description, the end-of-sentence symbol (EOF) is used, but it is also possible to provide a space for several seconds for each message and edit the content at the time of holding to replace the end-of-sentence symbol. In this method, the timing processing unit 46 of the IVR 4 counts the silent time, and when it exceeds several seconds, a sentence end notification is generated and notified to the monitoring / control unit 5.

  According to the call center system of at least one embodiment described above, the switching timing at which a conversation between a customer terminal on hold and an operator starts a conversation is separated into phrases of content messages being sent from the automatic voice response device, and matched to the phrases. By switching, it becomes possible for the customer to smoothly start the conversation with the operator from listening to the content corresponding to the hold without giving the customer a sense of incongruity.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

1 Telephone network 2 PBX (private branch exchange)
3 Connection unit 31 Voice selection unit 32 Operator selection unit 4 IVR
42 monitor unit 43 voice recognition unit 44 command sending unit 45 voice synthesis unit 46 timing processing unit 47 message storage unit 48 I / F unit 49 bus line 5 monitoring / control unit 50 incoming call control unit 51 operator terminal monitoring unit 52 operator switching unit 53 Voice switching unit 54 Timing control unit 55 I / F unit 56 Customer management database 57 Content database 58 Bus line 6 Control network C1 to Cn Customer terminal P1 to Pm Operator terminal S Call center system CP Content package m0 to mn Message frame

Claims (5)

In a call center system that provides a service for sending a voice message content to a customer terminal on hold to talk to an operator,
An automatic voice response device for sending a voice signal of the content configured by combining a plurality of voice message frames;
An operator terminal that outputs a status notification of whether or not conversation with the operator is possible;
Either the incoming call from the customer terminal is switched to and connected to either the automatic voice response device or the operator terminal via voice switching means, or the operator terminal is put on hold until the operator terminal can talk A telephone exchange connection device,
When the status notification of the operator terminal is input and monitored, conversation is not possible and the incoming customer terminal is on hold,
The voice switching unit controls the pending customer terminal to be connected to the voice automatic response device, controls the automatic voice response device to send the content, and monitors the voice signal of the content to be sent And
When the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, the connection destination of the customer terminal is set to the voice switching means at a predetermined timing after detecting the end of the frame of the monitored voice signal. A call center system comprising: a supervisory control device that performs control to switch from the automatic voice response device to the operator terminal that is capable of conversation.   The call center system according to claim 1, wherein each frame of the voice message to be combined is a voice signal having a length of several seconds to several tens of seconds. When the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, only the voice signal from the customer terminal is connected to the voice switching means at a timing immediately after detecting the end of the frame of the monitored voice signal. Control to add the connection destination of the audio signal from the operator terminal to the voice switching means at the timing immediately after switching the destination to the operator terminal and further detecting the end of the predetermined number of frames thereafter. The call center system according to claim 1, wherein the call center system is performed. A service that includes an automatic voice response device, an operator terminal, a voice switching means, a telephone exchange connection device, and a monitoring control device, and sends a voice message content to a customer terminal on hold for conversation with the operator In the call center system response method
The operator terminal outputs a notification of whether or not conversation with the operator is possible,
The telephone exchange connection device connects an incoming call from a customer terminal by switching to the automatic voice response device or the operator terminal via the voice switching means, or the operator terminal is capable of talking. Either to hold until
When the monitoring control device inputs and monitors the status notification of the operator terminal, the conversation is not possible and the incoming customer terminal is on hold,
Control that the customer terminal on hold is connected to the voice automatic answering device to the voice switching means, and send the voice signal of the content configured by combining a plurality of voice message frames to the automatic voice response device Control and monitor the audio signal of the content being sent,
When the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, the connection destination of the customer terminal is set to the voice switching means at a predetermined timing after detecting the end of the frame of the monitored voice signal. A response method for a call center system, wherein control is performed to switch from the automatic voice response device to the operator terminal that is capable of conversation. When the status notification from the operator terminal becomes conversational, only the voice signal from the customer terminal is connected to the voice switching means at a timing immediately after detecting the end of the frame of the monitored voice signal. Control to add the connection destination of the audio signal from the operator terminal to the voice switching means at the timing immediately after switching the destination to the operator terminal and further detecting the end of the predetermined number of frames thereafter. 5. The call center system response method according to claim 4, wherein the response method is performed.

Images