JP4191541B2 - Question answering system using customer information - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a question answering system using customer information for responding to a customer with an answer created for a customer's question (or request) about the product itself (or a product) sold by the company.
[0002]
In recent years, customers who purchase and use personal computers, word processors, home appliances with complex functions, etc. have asked questions about various items such as product usage, operation methods, malfunctions, etc. Increasing numbers of inquiries are made to departments and reception centers.
[0003]
In response to questions (or requests) related to products (or services) sold by companies, it is required to promptly create appropriate answers using customer's personal information to satisfy customers.
[0004]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, when creating an answer to a question / request from a customer regarding a product (or service), the customer's personal information (name and model of the product used, customer's name, age, address, telephone number, etc.) is used. There is a method of creating an answer without using it, and a method of creating an answer using customer personal information.
[0005]
When creating an answer without using customer personal information, the customer is not bothered by frequent telephone calls and e-mails, and the information is highly specialized and highly valued while keeping his personal information secret. Information that aims to enable effective sales activities by efficiently acquiring customer information with specific requests from various information overflowing on the network. An intermediary system has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
[0006]
FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example, and shows the configuration of Patent Document 1. A customer who wants to collect information accesses the management server 80 from the customer terminal 82 connected to the network, registers his / her desired information (a), and the management server 80 writes and manages it in the customer request information database. . A trader who desires to acquire registered customer request information accesses the management server 80 from the trader terminal 82, and if the certified trader belongs to the genre selected at the time of registration of customer demand information, the customer of that genre. The request information is read into the vendor terminal (b). The trader creates an answer to the acquired customer request information and transmits it to the customer by a method designated by the customer. The customer response information is provided to the customer terminal 81 by a direct contact method (c). The customer directly responds to the provided supplier response information, and the subsequent negotiation with the supplier is performed by a direct contact method (e).
[0007]
If the customer does not wish to obtain a direct response, the customer registers in the management server 80 from the vendor terminal 82 (d), and the customer accesses the management server 80 from the customer terminal 81 at a convenient time to return the vendor response information. Is read (f). When registering customer personal information from the customer terminal 81 to the management server 80, personal information such as name, phone number, address, age, gender, date of birth, etc. is registered. A selection column for whether or not to permit the service is provided, and the customer response information and the like are created using the customer personal information within the disclosed range. In this way, customer personal information other than the request is hidden from the trader to keep the security of the customer personal information.
[0008]
In addition, when creating answers using personal information, for example, centralized management that collects IDs and customer personal information assigned to each customer in a single database and refers to and uses them by a determined user. There has been a centralized management method that uses customer ecological information such as the customer's face and the like instead of the ID (see Patent Document 2).
[0009]
Further, a method of managing and using customer IDs by registering them in a plurality of registered databases and using a relationship ID having both ID information of each customer and the registered database without collecting them in one data recording database. (See Patent Document 3).
[0010]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-357230 A
[Patent Document 2]
JP 2002-7683 A
[Patent Document 3]
JP 2002-117214 A
[0011]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, when creating an answer to a question / request from a customer, a method of creating an answer without using customer personal information (hereinafter referred to as method 1) and a customer personal information are used. There is a method of creating an answer (hereinafter referred to as method 2).
[0012]
In the case of Method 1 (method of creating a reply without using customer personal information), since the customer personal information is not used, there may be cases where only insufficient answers can be presented or the amount of answers presented is enormous. There was a problem that there was. As an example that can present only inadequate answers, the customer's question content is a person who has a version of software B called 111 as a countermeasure for "question that it stopped working after upgrading the software called A" And “persons who use software C together with software A” may differ. In addition, for example, the cause of the customer's problem of being unable to connect to the Internet or having a place is due to a mistake in a program existing on the software side, or due to a sudden accident at the telephone station that is the first connection destination. It is impossible to specify if the location of the customer is present or not because of temporary construction.
[0013]
In addition, as a problem that the number of answers presented is enormous, the number of devices connected to devices currently owned by many customers is large, and all combinations of software and components used are considered. It is quite difficult to present all of the possible causes or target laws to the customer and to find out the part that matches the problem from the information presented.
[0014]
In the case of method 2 (method of creating an answer using customer personal information), all customer personal information can be used if there is no customer judgment regarding disclosure to the support center. there were.
[0015]
In the technique (Patent Document 1) shown in FIG. 10 in which the above-described intermediary server is provided, the customer sets the permission of disclosure to the trader for each item of personal information, and uses the customer personal information within the disclosed range. Certain security can be ensured by the fact that vendor response information is created, but it can only be specified whether it is open or not, and it cannot be flexibly dealt with by changing it because it is registered and used in the mediation server. .
[0016]
In addition, the centralized management method that collects IDs and customer personal information assigned to each customer in a single database, and centralized management that uses customer ecological information instead of IDs. In the method (Patent Document 2), since all the customer personal information is gathered in one place, it requires a strong security, and when the percentage of customers simultaneously included in the company is low, creating a data recording database And there was a problem that the cost of operation became large.
[0017]
Further, in the related art method for managing relationship IDs (Patent Document 3), not only the information is disclosed without the customer's judgment, but also only the relationship ID necessary for management is leaked, and the relationship between the customer and the company is related. Information could be leaked.
[0018]
It is an object of the present invention to provide a question answering system using customer information that enables a support center to obtain an appropriate answer within a range where the customer's personal information is authorized.
[0019]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a customer response device that accepts and responds to questions / requests from corporate customers, 10 is a question transfer device with customer personal information, 11 is a question history database (DB) that stores past question history, 2 Is a support center that responds to questions (or requests) from each customer sent through a plurality of companies, and 20 is an answer corresponding to a question / request and various personal information (multiple answers Is a response ratio database that stores information (including cases), and 21 is a change ratio determination that determines the number of hits (number of responses obtained by search) corresponding to the level at which personal information is disclosed to customers. Reference numerals 3 and 3 denote a company information database (DB) shared by a plurality of support centers 2 and configured as a table in which each question ID is associated with a company name. Reference numeral 4 denotes a customer terminal (terminal such as a telephone, FAX or personal computer).
[0020]
Voice, FAX, or mail via a network (telephone network, the Internet, etc.) between the customer terminal 4 and the customer response device 1, between the customer response device 1 and the support center 2, and between the support center 2 and the company information database 3. It is performed by messages by various media such as. Further, the support center 2 may be in any form independent of each company or belonging to the company. The plurality of support centers 2 complement each other and cooperate with the customer service device 1 of each company. Operated.
[0021]
Each customer terminal 4 exchanges contracts with a plurality of companies, personal information (for example, address, age, owned electronic device (for example, personal computer), name, etc.), and the disclosure level (support center 2) for each of these pieces of information. Specify the level of personal information that can be used for creating answers, and send questions and requests to the company. In addition, the public level is given to the customer's personal information in advance. For example, the type of the electronic device to be used is the public level 4, the model name (including the manufacturer) of the electronic device is level 3, and the gender is level 2. The age is level 2, the address is level 1, and the higher the numerical value of the public level, the lower the personality as personal information and the less security problems. When the numerical value is low, important information belonging to the individual is included.
[0022]
If the customer has previously sent a question / request to the company and received the question ID (identification information for that question) along with the answer, the customer will send the received question ID as the old question ID along with the current question / request. be able to. When the company customer response device 1 receives the customer personal information-added question transfer device 10, it adds the customer personal information permitted to be disclosed according to the question / request and the disclosure level and sends it to the support center 2.
[0023]
The support center 2 tries to create an answer by searching the answer database 20 based on the received question / request and personal information. At this time, if customer personal information necessary to obtain an answer is added, an answer is created from the obtained result and sent to the customer service apparatus 1 of the company. The customer service apparatus 1 sends the answer to the customer terminal 4. At the same time, the question / request and answer are registered in the question history database 11 with a question ID set. In the support center 2, if the customer personal information necessary to obtain an answer is insufficient, if the old question ID is added, the support center 2 queries the company information database 3 and matches the old question ID. A name is obtained, the customer response device 1 of the company corresponding to the company name is accessed, the question history database 11 of the customer response device 1 is searched by the old question ID, and the disclosure level determined with the customer Ask for personal information that may be made public. The obtained personal information is sent to the support center 2 and a response is taken out from the response database 20.
[0024]
In addition, in the answer creation in the above support center 2, the answer is not added with the old question ID (or the personal information is insufficient even if the personal information obtained by the old question ID is added), and the personal information is insufficient. If it is not determined (when a large number of responses are received or nothing is obtained), when a notification is sent to the customer support device 1 of the company to lower the level of disclosure of personal information, the customer response device 1 Notification is given to the terminal 4. When permission (or a request for a new disclosure level) is received from the customer terminal 4 (or a request for a new disclosure level) is received (at this time, new personal information may be sent from the customer), personal information based on the new disclosure level Is obtained from the question history database 11 or newly received personal information and sent to the support center 2.
[0025]
The support center 2 uses the change ratio determination unit 21 to obtain the probability of obtaining an appropriate answer (restricted answer) when the level of disclosure of personal information is raised, and uses this as the profit ratio. The profit ratio at the time of changing the disclosure level and the request for information (customer personal information) that needs to be added in response to the change of the disclosure level are notified to the customer response device 1 of the company. It is sent to the terminal 4. On the other hand, a request for changing the public level or a request for changing the public level is sent from the customer terminal 4 to the customer service device 1. In the case of a request for changing the public level, the customer service device 1 is permitted to be released by changing the public level. The information is added and sent to the support center 2, and a reply is created using the personal information added by the support center 2. In the case of refusal to change the disclosure level, the customer terminal 4 is notified from the support center 2 via the customer service apparatus 1 of the company that an answer cannot be obtained or only an inappropriate answer can be obtained.
[0026]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of data in the system of the present invention. In the figure, the system configuration including 1, 10, 11, 2, 20, 21, 3, and 4 is the same as that in FIG.
[0027]
FIG. 3 shows the overall operation flow of the system of the present invention, which will be described with reference to the individual processing flows shown in FIGS. 4 to 8 and the database configurations shown in FIGS.
[0028]
The customer makes a contract with the company from the customer terminal, and conveys customer personal information to the company's customer response device 1 in advance (S1 in FIG. 3). At this time, the customer can receive an explanation regarding the disclosure level, which is a level related to the disclosure of personal information, from the company, and can determine the basic disclosure level according to the customer's intention. The basic disclosure level is a disclosure level that is used when a customer sends a question / request to a company without giving an instruction regarding the disclosure level.
[0029]
The customer sends various information such as questions and requests (one or more of the information shown in a of FIG. 2) to the company (S2 of FIG. 3).
[0030]
FIG. 4 is a flow of information transmission from the customer to the company. Changes in information (shown in a of FIG. 2) sent from the customer terminal (4 in FIG. 2) to the customer service device (1 in FIG. 2) Represents.
[0031]
When sending questions / requests and related additional information (publication level, etc.) to the company's customer service device, it is determined whether the customer has sent questions / requests to the company before (S1 in FIG. 4). If there is nothing, the customer determines whether to send a question / request with a changed disclosure level (S2). If the customer does not request a change in the disclosure level, the customer sends a question / request to the company (S4). The customer sends a question / request and a disclosure level to the company (S3). If it is determined in step S1 that the question / request has been sent before, the customer determines whether the request for sending the question / request with the disclosure level changed is requested (S5 in FIG. 4). When requesting, the customer sends a question / request, disclosure level, and old question ID to the company (S6), and if not requested to change the disclosure level, the customer sends the question / request, old question ID to the company (S7). .
[0032]
Returning to the explanation of FIG. 3, the company's customer personal information-added question transfer apparatus (10 in FIG. 2) sends the customer personal information and questions / requests to the support center (2 in FIG. 2) as shown in FIG. (S3 in FIG. 3).
[0033]
FIG. 5 shows a processing flow when sending a question / request from the company to the support center. The company (question transfer device with customer personal information) determines whether or not the public level is sent in the information sent from the customer (S1 in FIG. 5). (S3 in FIG. 5) is selected according to the disclosure level received from (stored in a database (not shown) that is stored in the company's customer response device 1 and stores personal information sent from the customer). If the level is not sent, personal information for sending is selected according to the basic public level (S2). When sending customer personal information is selected in steps S2 and S3, it is determined whether the old question ID is sent from the customer (S4 in FIG. 5). If sent, the question / request, old question ID and sending customer are determined. Personal information is sent to the support center (S5), and if not sent, the question / request and customer personal information for sending are sent to the support center (S6).
[0034]
Following the processing flow of FIG. 5 above, the customer personal information is added until the support center can create an answer in FIG. 3 (S4 in FIG. 3). A processing flow for obtaining customer personal information necessary for creating an answer at this time is shown in FIG. When customer personal information is added until an answer can be created in step S4 in FIG. 3, the support center creates an answer in consideration of the customer personal information (S5 in FIG. 3), and the support center is as shown in e of FIG. An answer is sent to the company (S6). Subsequently, the company adds data to the question history database (S7 in FIG. 3), and the company sends an answer to the customer as shown in f of FIG. 2 (S8), and the process ends.
[0035]
A processing flow for obtaining customer personal information necessary for creating an answer shown in FIG. 6 will be described. First, it is determined whether or not the support center has a sufficient amount of customer personal information for which an answer can be created (S1 in FIG. 6). This is because the support center receives the questions / requests and zero or more customer personal information and zero or more old question IDs from the company, and the support center uses the customer personal information currently possessed to answer the questions / requests. Attempt to create. If the support center has the customer personal information necessary for creating the answer, the process proceeds to step S9 described later.
[0036]
At this time, the state where the necessary customer personal information is available means that the customer personal information is available to the extent that an answer with the certainty specified by the contract with the company can be created. This is because, for example, the company and support center that sent the question are required to “restrict the symptom to a single question regarding the customer's symptom,” and it is already clear from a lot of information. If there is a problem related to a product failure called XY, and the customer's question is a failure / symptom that can occur at the time of the product failure of XY, personal information that the product called XY is available. Also, for example, for companies and support centers, it is narrowed down to a state where answers that are expected to be solved with a probability of about 50% can be created from the results of collecting information and the accumulated data of previous questions. It is required to answer with In that case, if the symptom in the customer's question is about 70%, and it is a symptom that does not occur after the failure of the OS called ABC is solved, it is understood that the OS called ABC is used as customer personal information. It is in a state.
[0037]
If it is determined in step S1 that there is not enough personal information required when creating an answer, it is determined whether the old question ID is given to the support center (S2 in FIG. 6). If the old question ID is given, the support center performs processing for receiving new customer personal information from the old question ID (S3).
[0038]
Details of the processing in step S3 are shown in FIG. 7 as a processing flow for obtaining customer personal information from the old question ID, which will be described below.
[0039]
When the old question ID is given, the support center (2 in FIG. 2) sends each old question ID to the company information database (3 in FIG. 2) as shown in FIG. 2C (S1 in FIG. 7). The company information database performs a search based on the received old question ID, extracts the corresponding company name (or company ID), and sends it to the support center as shown in FIG. 2d (S2 in FIG. 7).
[0040]
FIG. 9 shows a configuration example of the company information database. In this example, the question ID and the company name are stored in association with each other. A company ID can be stored instead of the company name corresponding to the old question ID. Further, the company information database extracts each company name (or company ID) corresponding to the question ID, or refers to the company's question history database (11 in FIG. 2, the configuration is shown in FIG. 10 described later). A function of updating a correspondence table between a company name (company ID) and a question ID in the information database is provided. In the case of updating, there are update methods, such as a method of updating when a company updates a question history, or a method of updating appropriately at regular intervals.
[0041]
In FIG. 7, the support center determines whether or not additional customer personal information has been received in response to a change request for the public level (S3 in FIG. 7). Here, if the support center has not received the change request, the corresponding old question ID is sent to each customer-facing device of the company name sent back from the company information database (S4 in FIG. 7), and this old question ID is sent. In response to the basic disclosure level, each company's customer-facing device obtains customer personal information of the old question ID by referring to the question history database and sends it to the support center as shown in FIG. S5), the support center receives new customer personal information (S9).
[0042]
The customer personal information of the old question ID is acquired using the question history database shown in FIG. 10 as a configuration example of the question history database. In the example of FIG. 10, each customer is composed of individual customer information, question ID, and disclosure level (set by agreement with the customer, which can be changed later). The customer personal information includes the name, the name of the manufacturer of the personal computer used, The type of line used, switching center (or mobile base station), provider name, etc. are set. A predetermined public level is set as the public level. If it is not decided again, “3” (default value) can be set as the basic level.
[0043]
If it is determined in step S3 in FIG. 7 that the additional customer personal information has been received by the public level change request, it is determined whether the public level is unified among all support centers and all companies (S6 in FIG. 7). This decision is correct only if it is determined as a standard for a community with all support centers. If not unified, the process proceeds to step S4. If unified, the support center sends the changed disclosure level and each old question ID to the company with the acquired company name (S7 in FIG. 7). Each company sent the old question ID sends the customer personal information (b in FIG. 2) of the old question ID to the support center in accordance with the sent public level (after change) (S8).
[0044]
When the customer personal information is obtained by the process of FIG. 7, returning to the description of FIG. 6, it is determined in step S4 whether or not the support center has an amount of customer personal information capable of creating an answer. In other words, try again to make an answer and make a decision. If the support center determines that the customer personal information necessary for creating the answer is complete, the process proceeds to step S9 as in the case where the answer is YES in step S1 of FIG. Further, in the case of No in step S4 in FIG. 6 (there is no customer personal information that can be answered) and in step S8 in FIG. 6 (after passing through step S5, the disclosure level is set for all companies and support centers. In the case of No), the support center performs processing for requesting the company to change the disclosure level (S5 in FIG. 6).
[0045]
Details of the processing in step S5 are shown in the processing flow when requesting the change of the disclosure level in FIG. This processing flow includes an operation by the change ratio determination unit (21 in FIGS. 1 and 2). First, it is determined whether the support center has a change ratio determination unit (S1 in FIG. 8).
[0046]
In other words, if the support center has a change ratio determination unit that creates information indicating the degree or possibility of better responses (possibility of obtaining less accurate answer candidates) when the change of the disclosure level is permitted, Send the information created by the change ratio determination unit. The information created by the change ratio judgment unit is, for example, the maximum percentage of the number of answer candidates that can be reduced when certain customer personal information is available, or the same number from the same before and after obtaining customer personal information. This shows the rate of change and the rate of change when the percentage covered by one answer changes. As a more specific example, if the customer's location such as the exchange or address used by the customer is known in response to the above “cannot be connected” question, it is possible to determine whether the problem is in the exchange or the state of the LAN is bad. When the number of answer candidates is reduced from 3 to 2 so that they can be discriminated, the rate of decrease in the number of candidates is reduced by 34% from the following formula, and the rate of change of the rate covered by one response is increased by 50%. .
[0047]
When the number of candidates decreases: (with information) / (without information) -1
Rate of change of coverage ratio: (1 / no information) / (1 / information present) -1
However, “with information” indicates the number of response candidates when valid information is obtained, and “without information” indicates the number of response candidates before obtaining information.
[0048]
In addition, when the number of answer candidates changes depending on the acquired information, such as when the number of answer candidates is reduced to one or two, the ratio becomes one or two and becomes 1.5. And the possibility of becoming one for every number of answer candidates, such as 10% chance of becoming one using past history and 90% chance of becoming two, etc. However, there is a method of calculating assuming that the number is 1.9.
[0049]
In addition, if the disclosure level is shared by all companies and all support centers, it is necessary to obtain customer personal information that indicates "locations used by customers such as customer exchanges or addresses." Since the change level of the public level can be discriminated, the degree to which the public level is changed and the above ratio for each degree of change may be added.
[0050]
In step S1 of FIG. 8, when the support center possesses a change ratio determination unit, the support center sends change ratio information and a request for changing the disclosure level to a company (meaning a customer-facing device of the company, the same applies hereinafter). (S2 in FIG. 8), when the company receives the change request for the public level, it sends the change comparison information and the public level change request to the customer (S3). If the support center does not include a change ratio determination unit in step S1, the support center sends a public level change request to the company (S4), and the company sends a public level change request to the customer (S5). .
[0051]
When the customer receives a disclosure level change request or a customer personal information addition request from the company through the processing in steps S3 and S5, the customer responds to the company with permission (change request) or disapproval (change rejection) of change of the disclosure level. From this response, it is determined whether or not the customer has permitted the change of the public level (S6 in FIG. 8). If not permitted, the customer sends information indicating that the change cannot be made to the company (S7), and the company changes to the support center. The information indicating the inability to send is sent (S8). When the customer permits the change of the publication level and sends the changed publication level to the company (S9 in FIG. 8), the company sends the customer personal information permitted to be published at the changed publication level to the support center (same as above). S10).
[0052]
When the change of the disclosure level is permitted by the processing of FIG. 8 and the customer personal information corresponding to the change or the information indicating that the change is not possible is sent to the support center, the description returns to the description of FIG. In step S6 of step 6, it is determined whether or not the change of the disclosure level is permitted (the notification of the change disclosure level from the customer has been received). If the permission is not permitted, the process for obtaining the customer personal information is terminated. If it is determined, the support center determines whether the support center has a sufficient amount of customer personal information that can be created (S7 in FIG. 6). It is determined whether an appropriate answer can be created (S9). This is because, before making all the responses, if it is determined that other support centers are able to create more appropriate responses based on the gist of the questions / requests, the questions / requests and It is also possible to send the information of the company that sent the question / request, the customer's personal information at the time of answer creation, and the old question ID, and the support center that sent this information from other support centers Returning to the process of FIG. 3, an answer is created. For example, if a customer can create a more appropriate answer based on the purpose of this question / request, for example, a request from a customer to ask a PC manufacturer to check if there is a problem and tell me how to deal with it. The information collected for answer preparation shows that it is a failure of the software named X, and the software called X or other support centers that generally have a lot of software information should deal with the problem more reliably. For example, it can be easily predicted to teach a customer.
[0053]
If it is determined in step S7 that the customer personal information required when the support center tries to create an answer is not complete, whether the disclosure level is shared by all companies and all support centers (unified (S8 in FIG. 6). If the disclosure level is shared with all companies and all support centers (Yes in step S8), the disclosure level returned to step S2 is sent to the company requested from the old question ID and sent from the company that sent it. Receive new customer personal information obtained by changing the disclosure level and try to create a response again. If not unified, the process proceeds to step S5.
[0054]
If it is determined in step S9 in FIG. 6 that the answer is yes (another support center can create an appropriate answer), the support center can create an appropriate answer, and the company name of the destination and the question / request The customer personal information is sent (S10), the process is terminated, and if it is determined NO in step S9, the support center can make a reply with the customer personal information currently possessed. Thereafter, returning to FIG. 3, the answer creation process in step S5 is performed. At this time, if the support center receives rejection information from the company in response to the change request for the disclosure level, an answer having the most likely probability is created in step S5 returned to FIG.
[0055]
The basic configuration of the system according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Specifically, various modified configurations can be adopted, which will be described below.
[0056]
FIG. 11 shows a first embodiment of the system configuration of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a company customer response device, 2-1 to 2-m are a plurality of support centers, and 4-1 to 4-n are each customer. It is a plurality of customer terminals corresponding to.
[0057]
The first form is a configuration when a company has contracts with a plurality of support centers 2. For example, one company sells a personal computer (PC) and its peripheral devices, and each of the support center 2 for the hardware side, software side, and all peripheral devices of the PC sold by the company. The present invention can be applied to the case where one or more of 1 to 2-m are provided.
[0058]
FIG. 12 shows a second embodiment of the system configuration of the present invention. In the figure, the reference numerals 1-1 to 1-m, 2, 4-1 to 4-n correspond to the same reference numerals in FIG. 11, and 3 is the same as the same reference numerals in FIGS. It is a company information database (DB) that associates a question ID with a company name.
[0059]
This second form is a case where a plurality of companies have contracts with one support center 2, for example, when one company handles a comprehensive support center for mobile phones, in which case A single support center receives questions and requests from a large number of customers via multiple companies, and answers from the support center.
[0060]
FIG. 13 shows a third embodiment of the system configuration of the present invention. In the figure, reference numerals 1-1 to 1-m, 3, 4-1 to 4-n correspond to the same reference numerals in FIG. 12, and are 2-1 to 2-p and a plurality of support centers. .
[0061]
The third form of this system configuration is a combination of the systems shown in FIGS. For example, for personal computers (PCs) and peripheral devices sold by multiple companies, a comprehensive support center for the hardware aspects of PCs sold by multiple companies, and a comprehensive software aspect of PCs sold by multiple companies This is the case when there is a support center.
[0062]
(Supplementary Note 1) In a question answering system using customer information, the company includes a customer response device that accepts a question including personal information sent from a customer and a disclosure level of the personal information specified by the customer. When a question is received, it comprises means for extracting customer personal information that can be disclosed in accordance with the disclosure level, adding it to the question, and sending it to the support center. The support center includes conditions and questions based on various personal information. A response database storing responses corresponding to the customer response, and using the customer personal information received from the customer response device to perform a search and sending the response obtained for the response to the enterprise customer response device,
The customer response device responds to a customer with an answer obtained from the support center, and a question answering system using customer information.
[0063]
(Supplementary note 2) In Supplementary note 1, if the support center cannot obtain an appropriate number of answers as a result of the search using the reply database, the support center issues a request for changing the disclosure level to the customer service device. The customer support device notifies the customer terminal of the change request from the support center, and receives the permission of changing the public level from the customer terminal, adds the newly added personal information and adds the support information. A question answering system using customer information, characterized in that it is transferred to the center and asked for an answer.
[0064]
(Supplementary Note 3) In Supplementary Note 2, the support center includes a change ratio determination unit, and when the change ratio determination unit is activated when an appropriate number of responses cannot be obtained when the response database is requested, The ratio at which an appropriate answer is obtained when the level of information disclosure is lowered is calculated, and the support center notifies the calculated ratio to the customer via the customer response device, and the level of disclosure from the customer. Question answering system using customer information characterized by receiving change or non-change of
[0065]
(Supplementary Note 4) In Supplementary Note 1, the customer response device includes a question history database storing personal information and answers corresponding to a question identification number for past questions and answers obtained for the questions, and the support A question answering system using customer information, wherein each time an answer is obtained from a center, a question identification number is assigned to the question history database and each information is stored.
[0066]
(Additional remark 5) In Additional remark 1, the company information database provided in common with respect to several support centers is provided independently of the said support center, and the said support center is related to a question identification number and the question at the time of answer preparation. The company name database is associated and stored in the company information database, and the company information database notifies the company name to the inquiry using the previous question identification number from each support center, and the support center is notified. A question answering system using customer information, wherein customer personal information corresponding to a question identification number is acquired from a customer corresponding device of a company corresponding to the company name, and an answer is created using the acquired personal information.
[0067]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent all customer personal information from being used without a customer's confirmation at the support center, and to prevent a security problem caused by storing all customer personal information in a conventional place. Can do.
[0068]
Also, since personal information that is not permitted to be disclosed by each customer is distributed and managed by each company, there is a low risk that all customer personal information will be leaked, and no data recording database is required. Furthermore, since only the question ID consisting of each question / request and company ID is used, the possibility of leakage of information regarding the relationship between the customer and the company can be extremely reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a principle configuration of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data flow in the system of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall operation flow of the system of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of information transmission from a customer to a company.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing flow when a question / request is sent from a company to a support center.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a processing flow for obtaining customer personal information necessary for creating an answer.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing flow for obtaining customer personal information from an old question ID;
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow when requesting a change in the public level.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a company information database.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a question history database.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a first form of the system configuration of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a second form of the system configuration of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a third form of the configuration of the system of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Customer service equipment
10 Question transfer device with customer personal information
11 Question history database (DB)
2 Support Center
20 answer database
21 Change ratio determination unit
3 company information database (DB)
4 Customer terminals

Claims (2)

In a question answering system using customer information,
The company has a customer-facing device that accepts questions including personal information sent from customers and the disclosure level of personal information specified by the customer.
When the customer response device receives the question, the customer response device includes means for extracting customer personal information that can be disclosed in accordance with the disclosure level, adding it to the question and sending it to the support center,
The support center
It has an answer database that stores conditions based on various personal information and answers corresponding to questions.
Sending the response obtained by searching for the customer's personal information received from the customer response device to the customer's customer response device of the company,
If the appropriate number of answers cannot be obtained as a result of the search using the answer database, the change ratio determination unit is activated, and the change ratio determination unit can obtain an appropriate answer when the disclosure level of personal information is lowered. Calculate the ratio, and notify the customer-facing device of the calculated ratio and the change request for the disclosure level,
The customer response device responds to the customer with an answer obtained from the support center , or notifies the customer terminal of the calculated ratio and the change request notified from the support center. Upon receipt of the change permission, the newly added personal information is added and transferred to the support center for a response ;
Question answering system using customer information characterized by When the change rate determination unit reduces the disclosure level of personal information, a search is performed using the personal information to obtain an answer as a rate of obtaining an appropriate response when the disclosure level of personal information is reduced. Calculating the rate at which responses will be reduced compared to before reducing the level of disclosure of personal information;
A question answering system using customer information according to claim 1 .

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