SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTELLIGENT DISTRIBUTION/REDIRECTION OF GROUP EMAIL
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The advent of Internet email in the business environment has been beneficial to many. In dealing with the increasing day-today volume of business email, it is appropriate to consider automation techniques that can ease response and improve the quality of responses.
It has become standard practice to assign a group email address for certain business functions that interface with the public and/or customers. "support@company.com" or "info@organization.org" might be configured in an organization to receive email intended for a functional group rather than an individual. Standard practice has been to have an individual person read each message and either respond directly to it or distribute or redirect the message to someone who can better respond to it .
Once the volume of email grows to the point that an individual cannot reasonably expect to read all of it, a means of distributing or redirecting the email to the appropriate individual (s) for response becomes necessary, as it is important that each email message gets a response in a timely fashion.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for re-distributing email which improves the message response time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for uniformly distributing group email among the individuals within the group.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for facilitating the tracking of an email message directed to a group address.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for responding email directed to a group address with less duplication of effort by the group members .
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for ensuring that an email message gets a response in a timely fashion.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for improving the quality of response to email messages.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for providing notice to senders of the receipt of email messages.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for monitoring the performance of email distribution systems.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for forwarding the received message to one or more additional parties in the event that a response is not timely forthcoming.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the
appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the basic organization of the email distribution system for one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating the email redirection process for one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a table illustrating the mapping of individuals to areas of expertise implemented in one embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1, illustrating an email distribution system for one embodiment of the present invention, shows the interconnection of a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 10 via the Internet 12. Each of these ISPs provide Internet access to a number of subscribers 1 .
Normally, an ISP providing connection to the Internet also acts as the email host computer for the subscriber. Each subscriber has his own account on the host computer termed a mailbox. Accessing a mailbox varies depending on the type of Internet account the subscriber has. For example, with PPP or SLIP accounts, client programs ("Client") running on the subscriber's computer communicate with server programs (MAIL
SERVER) on the host computer to access the subscriber's email account. Upon request, the email stored at the host is transmitted to the client for storage and review. Alternatively, for example when a subscriber has a shell account, both the client and server programs run on the host computer requiring continuous host connection for review of the email.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, each of the Service Providers 10 has an associated database 16 for maintaining information used to automatically re-direct and track email distribution. This re-direction process is based on a model of many-to-few information distribution where email messages are originated by many, and responses are expected of a few individuals.
Figure 2 illustrates this email distribution process for one embodiment of the present invention. Upon receipt of an email message by the group server 100, the email is scanned to determine a message topic 102. For efficiency the subject line of the email is scanned first 104. If a particular topic (keyword) can not be surmised from the subject line 106, the body of the email may be scanned 108.
Once the topic of the email is determined, a search of the employee database is performed to determine the employees knowledgeable on the topic 110. Upon locating the employees with the relevant expertise, the server selects a particular employee 112 based on predetermined criteria such as the workload and availability of each of the employees 114. The email is then re-
directed to the selected employee 116. The server logs the receipt and redirection of the email to the selected employee in the database (118) , along with the eventual response 120.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the email distribution system may include timing facilities and additional redirection algorithms that allow the forwarding of messages to (an) additional individual (s) in the event that the first recipient doesn't provide a timely reply. As illustrated in Figure 3A, the server would re-check the employees skills database for the next best candidate for providing an appropriate response, and then forward a copy of the original message to that person.
Further, the system may optionally permit the increasing of the priority of inbound messages based on the number of times the system has forwarded the message and based on keywords found by the system in either the subject line of the message or the body of the tex . Using this technique can provide a means for escalating problem resolution in an automated fashion.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a response is sent to the customer upon initial receipt of the message by the server providing the customer with current expected response times, other sources of answers and information, and perhaps product and/or service advertising oriented toward the original message topic .
In one embodiment of the invention, performance monitoring of the email distribution process is performed. The system keeps
track of the number of responses to incoming email messages as well as statistics regarding the minimum, average and maximum times to respond to messages. It also keeps statistics on the type of skill required to properly respond to messages, providing feedback to group managers which can be used to help in leveling the workload among the group members . Time of day and day of week or month reporting is also an option.
Figure 3 illustrates the mapping in the employee database of individuals to areas of expertise used in one embodiment of the present invention for determining the candidates for receiving an email message. In scanning the email subject line or body, the email server will be scanning, for example, for a product name (PRODUCT W) or associated keywords (AAA, BBB, CCC) . Upon finding the individuals with knowledge of PRODUCT (i.e., EMPLOYEES #1, #4, and #N) , the workloads of the individuals are evaluated to determine which should receive the email . In the case where a topic can not be determined, a default address may be designated for redirecting the email. Further, other criteria such as the availability of the employees may be considered in the redirection decision.
A typical scenario in which the present invention finds applicability could involve a consumer sending an email message to support@xyz.com requesting customer support from company XYZ . The email server at xyz.com could be programmed to scan the subject line of the email for a product name. On finding a known product in the subject line, the server accesses a table of
customer support email addresses which associates the customer support personnel with product knowledge. On finding, for example, that three members of the customer support group have knowledge of the relevant product, the server uses a workload leveling algorithm to select one support person to whom the email message should be redirected. The server then logs the receipt of the message and the redirection, and also the response to the message once it is sent .
There are many advantages associated with automating the email distribution and redirection processes. For example, redirecting the email to a single person qualified to respond to the message will improve the response time for answering the email and result in less duplication of effort among the members of the targeted group. Further, the ease of tracking the email request and response is improved with only a single redirection. Another advantage associated with the present invention is the uniformity of the distribution criteria.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are illustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of equivalence, many variations and modifications naturally occurring to those of skill in the art from a perusal hereof.