KR20020044430A - data processing method for providing information guiding service in a call-center - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A data processing method for providing a call center teleservice is provided to solve problems in a client/server architecture by combining an existing CTI(Computer Telephony Integration) equipment with a web technique and controlling the CTI equipment. CONSTITUTION: If a client makes a telephone call to a call center for consultation, the client call is transferred to an ARS server(18) through a PSTN(12) and an exchange(14). The ARS server(18) responds to the client call while transmitting a service information announcement to the client's telephone(10). If the client pushes button #2 according to the provided announcement, the ARS server sends a service information announcement to request the client to input his identification data. If the client inputs his resident registration number, the ARS server asks a host computer(22) about the client data through a CTI server(20), obtains the client's personal information, and confirms the obtained information from the client. If the client pushes button #0 for consultation through a telephone connection with a counselor after confirming that the obtained information is about him, the ARS server(18) transfers the telephone call request to the CTI server together with the resident registration number.

Description

Data processing method for providing call center telephone service {data processing method for providing information guiding service in a call-center}

The present invention relates to a data processing method for providing a telephone consultation service of a call center in response to a customer's inquiries over a telephone, and more specifically, to a computer telephony integration (CTI) equipment and a computer operating environment. If you have a call center that connects web technologies and a customer requests a telephone consultation with an agent, you can create a single web page with the telephone connection function menu button and provide the counseling history and personal information of the client to the agent's computer. The present invention relates to a data processing method for a call center telephone service that enables an efficient counseling service to be provided.

If you are in a business where you need to attract customers while competing with other competitors for a large number of customers, providing a service that quickly and accurately solves your various needs is very important as a marketing strategy to gain a competitive advantage. . In consideration of this, in order to improve the quality of service to customers, many companies have installed call centers to provide telephone counseling services through counselors in response to customer telephone consultation.

In general, a call center provides a service in which a counselor answers or provides information on various questions that a customer inquires or calls over a telephone, and for this purpose, a plurality of agents are arranged to answer a consultation. Call centers need to unify all access points for customers to improve work efficiency and improve the quality of consultation services. In addition, it is necessary to systemize so that the appropriate consultation according to the customer can be managed by comprehensively managing the basic information and demand history, purchase history and other work history about the customer. In addition, there is a need to introduce data warehousing techniques to analyze the customer's interests, purchase propensity, transaction history, etc. and to establish an appropriate sales strategy.

Call centers have existed since the 80's, but the meaning and role of call centers has been constantly changing. Technically categorizing these changes is simply the first generation at the same level as a help desk (help-de), the second generation with an automated answering system (ARS), the third generation with a telephone and computer, and It can be divided into 4 generations that are integrated with multimedia functions such as video and internet. In the 2nd generation call centers both at home and abroad, CTI servers have recently been developed to enable the integration of computers and telephone networks. As a result, the third-generation call center, which is composed of a computer system and a telephone exchange system, is mainstream.

As shown in FIG. 1, the 3G call center is basically connected to an external public network and includes an exchange unit 2 including an automatic answering server, a server system 8 including computers and databases for storing and managing customer information, And equipped with equipment such as telephone and computer (6) used by the agent, and the CTI server (4) is added to the integrated network and computer system, so that the agent can see the customer's information on his computer It is now possible to provide services in response to customer consultation.

However, in such a conventional call center, the computer technology for implementing the CTI solution is to configure the client computer 60 and the server system (8) by using a client / server architecture techniques to establish a connection to the CTI equipment Take it. In particular, it was built as an end-user-oriented system such as the agent computer (6) that receives information from the server, and implemented a graphical user interface (GUI) program utilizing all the advantages of the Windows operating system. Provided information. In addition, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, Delphi, etc. were used as development languages for the call center.

However, the call center constructed by the existing client / server method has made it difficult to implement an open system that can integrate Internet technology, and thus it is difficult to properly respond to a changing infrastructure environment. In addition, the end-user-computing structure in the client / server environment is a client-oriented computing environment, so it is necessary to download resources from the server to the client several times so that the execution environment can be constructed. Increasing RAM capacity and the need to install packages required increased hardware deployment costs and continued deployment of specialized staff.

The existing problem arises from the fact that the call center operates in a client / server manner. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem of client / server architecture by combining CTI equipment and web technology and controlling CTI equipment and controlling functions.

Java (JAVA) language that implements web environment runs independently of the characteristics of various hardware (terminals) connected to TCP / IP network environment and is an independent language that includes various technologies to meet security and user needs. . If you develop the call center service solution by integrating the characteristics of the web environment and the Java language and interworking with the CTI equipment, the limitation of the reproducibility of the existing client / server architecture, the frequent occurrence of the demand for the expansion of the hardware and the installation cost Can solve the increase problem. Furthermore, it will be possible to perform the function of a call center regardless of the location wherever the Internet is connected.

In consideration of this point, the present invention establishes a call center by connecting a web technology using Java language, which is a CTI device and a computer operating environment, so that when a customer requests a telephone consultation with an agent, the customer's counseling history information and personal information are provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data processing method for a call center telephone counseling service to provide an effective counseling service by providing a web page with a telephone connection function menu button and providing it to a computer of a counselor.

Detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which numerals designating corresponding parts in the drawings are the same.

1 illustrates call connection flow and data flow in a call center of a conventional client / server architecture.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a telephone consultation service system of a call center according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a data flow diagram illustrating a procedure of connecting a customer call to a counselor's call and a procedure of providing customer information as a web page to a counselor's computer.

4 is a data flow diagram illustrating a procedure of processing a request for additional information for a customer.

5 is a data flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing a call transfer request to another counselor.

6 illustrates an example of a main screen of a web page method provided by a web server to a counselor computer.

7 shows an example of a web page type additional information screen provided by a web server to a counselor computer.

** Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawings **

10: customer phone 12: public network

14: switchboard (PBX) 16: telephone line

18: Automated Response (ARS) Server 20: Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) Server

22: host computer 24: database server

26: web server 28: LAN

30a, 30b: Agent computer 32a, 32b: Agent phone

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, when a customer calls a call center and inputs his own identification data such as a social security number and requests a telephone consultation with an agent, the CTI server receives the available information from the exchange. Search the counselor to select a counselor and transfer the selected agent's information to the web server along with the identification data to collect counseling history and personal information of the customer corresponding to the identification data through the web server from the database of the call center. First step; A second step of writing, by the web server, the consultation history and the personal information of the customer collected from the database of the call center together with the telephone connection menu buttons to be included in a single webpage screen and delivering the searched available counselors to the computer; And when the counselor clicks a call answering button among the telephone connection menu buttons provided on the web screen, the CTI server makes a call transfer request to the exchange so that the customer call is connected to the telephone of the available counselor. It provides a data processing method for a call center consultation service, characterized in that the telephone is provided with a third step of making a call, the counselor provides a telephone consultation to the customer while viewing the customer information on the web screen.

In more detail, the first step may include: in response to a call connection request from a customer telephone transmitted from an exchange, an automatic answering server (ARS) transmitting an automatic response message for consultation guidance to the customer telephone through the exchange; When a customer inputs a consultation request number together with the identification data, the automatic response server forwards a call transfer request together with the identification data to a computer-telephone integrated service device (CTI); Searching for available counselors by the CTI server; Transmitting, by the CTI server, a call transfer request to be connected to a telephone of an available counselor for whom a customer call has been retrieved to the exchange, and simultaneously transmitting the identification data to a web server; And collecting information on the counseling history of the customer from a database server and collecting personal information of the customer from a host computer.

When the web page screen is created, the collected counseling history and personal information of the customer are written in a Java servlet program, and the telephone connection menu buttons are preferably written in a Java Applet program.

In addition, the data processing method further includes a function of requesting an existing counselor to switch a call to another counselor and providing additional customer information when a new webpage is required during consultation. Furthermore, it is preferable to further include a function to memo the consultation result and store it in the database of the call center when the consultation ends.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings that illustrate the features of various embodiments of the invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a telephone consultation service system of a call center according to an embodiment of the present invention. The call center is connected to an external telephone public network (PSTN), with an automatic answering system (ARS) server 18 and a plurality of agent telephones centered on the switch 16 which is responsible for switching call and voice signals of all telephones transmitted and received. 32a, 32b are connected to the telephone network, and the LAN (28) through which data is transmitted by TCP / IP protocol, ARS server 18, CTI server 20, host computer 22, database The server 24, the web server 26, and the plurality of agent computers 30a and 30b are connected.

The CTI server 20 interfaces the switch 16, the ARS server 18, and the computer systems 22, 24, and 26 at the CTI server 20 through the middleware therein. It is responsible for the core functions of analyzing and processing data in real time.Provide protocol control, data transmission and reception, quantum control, data analysis, and counseling call so that each agent in the counselor group can consult on average the same number. It distributes evenly and plays a role of call processing / distribution from call processing / distribution such as managing connection to specific counselor group and designated counselor according to customer information obtained from called number and ARS.

Customer's basic personal information such as name, address, phone number, service subscription information, etc. are stored and maintained in the host computer 22, and other data about the customer generated in the call center, such as the counseling history data generated during consultation By storing and managing in the database server 24, when a customer calls back and requests a consultation, the counselor can view the past consultation history data and respond quickly and accurately.

The web server 26 is basically responsible for providing services such as e-mail, news, FTP, and intranet, as well as externally requested www services through the Internet. A particularly relevant function of the present invention is a screen pop-up of incoming customer information. This means that when the customer wants to make an agent call after using the initial stage or ARS, the customer information is automatically displayed on the corresponding agent computer as soon as the call is transferred, the information of the exchanger 14, the database server 24 or the host. It is a function that basically provides various types of screen pop-up functions using the customer information retrieved from the computer 22. That is, the web server 26 receives the personal identification information and the counseling history information 42 of the customer from the host computer 22 and the database server 24, and as illustrated in FIG. Along with the telephone connection menu button 40 including the receiving or various telephone menus, etc., a web page is created to be included in the screen and is in charge of a function of delivering to the available counselor's computer. The web page provided by the web server 26 is popped up on the agent's computer, and the agent operates the call connection menu button displayed on the computer screen to connect the customer's call with his / her counseling phone and view the customer's information displayed on the screen. It is possible to provide accurate and prompt consultation service to customers. At this time, the customer's counseling history and personal information (42) collected during the creation of the web page screen is a special kind of Java application, which is written as a JAVA servlet program that performs similar functions as an applet, but has characteristics that are performed on the server. The telephone connection menu button 40 creates a Java Applet program, which is a Java program executed on a Java compatible browser.

3 is a data flow diagram illustrating a procedure of connecting a customer call to a counselor's call and a procedure of providing customer information as a web page to a counselor's computer.

When the customer makes a call to the call center, the customer call is first transmitted to the ARS server 18 through the public network 12 and the exchange 14. The ARS server 18 responds to the customer call while sending the prepared service announcement to the customer phone 10. The service information provided is, for example, "national pension guidance 1, pension history computer inquiry 2, various notification / application form FAX service 3, 0 to call the counselor", etc. Pressing this number 2 causes the ARS server 18 to issue a service announcement to enter customer identification data, such as a social security number. When the customer enters his or her social security number, the ARS server 18 checks the customer data to the host computer 22 through the CTI server 20 to obtain information that can identify the identity of the customer who has called the customer. Receive. If the customer confirms that the information inquired is about him / her, and then presses the number (0) that he / she wants to consult via telephone connection with an agent, the ARS server 18 receives the CTI and requests the call with the customer's social security number. Deliver to server 20.

The CTI server 20 that receives the transfer request from the ARS server 18 searches for the most appropriate counselor for the customer among the counselors currently available for counseling among the counselor group. To this end, the CTI server 20 checks the working hours of the counselors, extracts the current counselors and selects the longest counselors who are waiting without counseling among them. When the counselor selection is completed, the CTI server 20 delivers the customer data (resident registration number) to the web server 26 along with the information of the selected counselor.

The web server 26 transmits the social security number of the customer to the database server 24 and the host computer 22 and requests past consultation history information about the customer, personal information of the customer, service subscription information, and the like. In response to this request, the database server 24 and the host computer 22 retrieve the requested information and deliver it to the web server 26. The web server 26 transmits the received customer information 42 to the telephone connection menu button. Along with 40, a single web page as shown in FIG. 6 is provided to the counselor computer 30a.

The agent who receives the information in the form of a web page through his computer 30a screen, clicks the 'answer call' button on the call connection menu button 40 and the call answering signal is transmitted to the CTI through the web server 26. It is delivered to the server 20. The CTI server 20 transmits a call transfer request to the switch 14 so that the call is switched to the telephone (eg, 32a) of the selected counselor who is held by the switch 14. The exchange 14 receiving the call transfer request routes the customer call to the counselor phone 32a so that the call can be connected.

Through such a procedure, the customer's phone is connected to the counselor's phone 32a, and the counselor can provide appropriate services in response to the customer's consultation while referring to the customer information on the screen of his computer 30a.

4 is a data flow diagram illustrating a procedure of processing a request for additional information for a customer. The counselor may need additional information during the consultation with the customer. In this case, the counselor requests additional information from the web server 26 by clicking the additional information menu button provided on his web screen. For example, in FIG. 7, if the customer needs additional information regarding the qualification of the customer, the counselor presses the qualification inquiry button 46, and the web server 26 receives it and transmits it to the database server 24 and the host computer 22. Receive the customer's qualification information. The web server 26 prepares the provided customer's qualification information as a new web page again and delivers it to the counselor computer 30a so that it pops up on the web screen 48. The consultant consults this additional information screen and provides consultation with the customer.

5 is a data flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing a call transfer request. Sometimes a counselor needs to make a transfer (three-party call) to another agent or manager while answering a phone call to a customer. In this case, the counselor requests the CTI server 20 to transfer the customer call, for example, to another counselor's phone, by utilizing the transfer request function provided by the button of the telephone menu of his computer 30a. When such a transfer request is received, the CTI server 20 searches for other available agents and transfers the data of the requested customer to the web server 26 along with information of other selected agents. The web server 26 checks the web page corresponding to the received customer data and delivers the web screen data of the previous counselor's computer 30a to the computer 30b of another newly selected counselor. When another agent clicks the 'call' button on the web screen of his computer 32b and the information is transmitted to the CTI server 20 through the web server 26, the CTI server 20 selects a customer call. Request the switch 14 to be connected to another agent's telephone 32b, and the switch 14 receiving the request switches the customer's call to another agent's phone 32b so that the customer calls the new agent's phone ( 32b), the new agent is ready to respond to the customer's telephone consultation.

In this way, when the agent completes the telephone consultation with the customer, the agent executes the 'hang up' button provided by the 'telephone connection menu button' on the web screen and requests the agent's state change due to the call termination, and the CTI server 20 receives this, checks the state of the counselor, and requests the switch 14 to change the state of the counselor to the post-processing mode. The exchange 14 completes the conversion of the state of the agent who completed the consultation to the post-processing state, and then notifies the CTI server 20, and the CTI server 20 passes the completion of the conversion back to the agent computer so that the agent has just It provides an environment in which the consultation results that have been completed can be recorded in the memo window 44 on the web screen. When the counselor records the contents of the consultation with the customer in the memo window 44 and executes the storage, the web server 26 transmits the information to the database server 24 to store and manage the information as counseling history information about the customer.

As described above, the call center according to the present invention is constructed in a web manner by employing a CTI server and a web server without following the conventional client / server method, and the customer information is configured with a single web page with a telephone connection menu button. By taking the form and providing it to the counselor's computer, the call center can be made into an open system that can be integrated with Internet technology, allowing it to flexibly respond to the changing Internet infrastructure.

It can be changed from client-oriented computing environment to web-based computing environment, so it is not necessary to increase the hardware equipment of call center, and there is no need to download program resources related to counseling service from client to client several times. We can improve efficiency. In addition, the method of providing the customer's information in the form of a web page to the computer of the counselor can improve the processing efficiency of the consultation work because the data is provided relatively faster than the client / server method.

In addition, systemized and efficient management of telephone consultations and systematic management of consultation information will be enabled, which will enable the improvement of call center productivity, retention of existing customers, and development of new customers.

Although the above has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is emphasized that the embodiments of the present invention described above are for the purpose of illustration, not to give any limitations or limitations. In addition, those skilled in the art can variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, all changes that come within the meaning or range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims (6)

When a customer calls a call center and inputs his own identification data such as social security number and requests a telephone consultation with an agent, the CTI server receives this from the exchange and selects an agent by searching for available agents. A first step of transmitting information of the user together with the identification data to a web server and collecting counseling history and personal information of a customer corresponding to the identification data through the web server from a database of the call center; A second step of writing, by the web server, the consultation history and the personal information of the customer collected from the database of the call center together with the telephone connection menu buttons to be included in a single webpage screen and delivering the searched available counselors to the computer; And When the counselor clicks a call answering button among the telephone connection menu buttons provided on the web screen, the CTI server makes a call transfer request to the exchange so that the customer call is connected to the telephone of the available counselor. And a third step of making a call, wherein the counselor provides telephone consultation to the customer while viewing the customer information on the web screen. The method of claim 1, wherein the first step In response to the call connection request of the customer phone transmitted from the exchange, sending an automatic response message for consultation guidance to the customer phone through the exchange; When a customer inputs a consultation request number together with the identification data, the automatic response server forwards a call transfer request together with the identification data to a computer-telephone integrated service device (CTI); Searching for available counselors by the CTI server; Transmitting, by the CTI server, a call transfer request to be connected to a telephone of an available counselor for whom a customer call has been retrieved to the exchange, and simultaneously transmitting the identification data to a web server; And And the web server collecting information on the counseling history of the customer from a database server and collecting personal information of the customer from a host computer. The method of claim 1, wherein when the web page is created, the collected counseling history and personal information of the customer are written in a Java servlet program, and the telephone connection menu buttons are written in a Java Applet program. Data processing method for a call center consultation service, characterized in that the. The computer-telephone integrated service system (CTI) receives the new agent by searching for the available agent when the transfer request is transferred from the computer of the first counselor who has been consulting with the customer to another counselor. The server transmits the identification data of the customer in consultation to the web server, and transfers the transfer request to the telephone of the new agent searched to the exchange, and the web server transmits the web screen data of the first agent to the searched new counselor. The call center counseling service further comprising the step of making a call connection between the customer's phone and the new agent's phone when the searched new agent clicks the answer button on the web screen. Data processing methods. According to claim 1, If the counselor needs additional information on the consultation customer during the consultation with the customer to execute the button for requesting the additional information on the web screen to deliver to the web server, the web server of the call center Collecting the additional information from the database to create a new web page and delivers to the computer of the counselor to pop up the data processing method for a call center consultation service, characterized in that it further comprises. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the consultation is completed and the counselor clicks the hangup button on the telephone connection menu button, the CTI server recognizes the request and requests the exchange to switch the status of the counselor to 'post-process mode'. And, when the completion of the mode switch is received from the switch to pass to the agent's web browser, the counselor inputs the consultation data with the customer through the memo window, characterized in that further comprising the step of delivering to the database of the call center Data processing method for call center consultation service.