WO2001040959A1 - Systeme dote d'un gestionnaire de file d'attente multimedia en temps reel - Google Patents

Systeme dote d'un gestionnaire de file d'attente multimedia en temps reel Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2001040959A1
WO2001040959A1 PCT/US2000/032601 US0032601W WO0140959A1 WO 2001040959 A1 WO2001040959 A1 WO 2001040959A1 US 0032601 W US0032601 W US 0032601W WO 0140959 A1 WO0140959 A1 WO 0140959A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
customer
interaction request
customer interaction
service representative
request
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/032601
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Bouwe Hamersma
Mark Steven Chodos
Original Assignee
Lightning Rod Software, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Lightning Rod Software, Inc. filed Critical Lightning Rod Software, Inc.
Priority to AU24265/01A priority Critical patent/AU2426501A/en
Publication of WO2001040959A1 publication Critical patent/WO2001040959A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
    • H04L65/40—Support for services or applications
    • H04L65/401—Support for services or applications wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/50—Network services
    • H04L67/75—Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
    • H04M3/5183—Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
    • H04M3/5191—Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements interacting with the Internet
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
    • H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
    • H04M3/5232—Call distribution algorithms
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2203/00—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M2203/45—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges related to voicemail messaging
    • H04M2203/4536—Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
    • H04M3/5175—Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
    • H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
    • H04M3/5231—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing with call back arrangements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
    • H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
    • H04M3/5238—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Definitions

  • TITLE SYSTEM WITH MULTI-MEDIA REAL-TIME QUEUE MONITOR
  • the present invention relates to methods of handling electronic customer contacts, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to methods and apparatus for handling customer interactions with customer service centers, wherein the customer interaction
  • ACDs automatic call distribution centers
  • Telephone calls to a business with an ACD system are usually handled on a First-In First-Out (FIFO) basis.
  • FIFO First-In First-Out
  • Today's current electronic communication technologies have greatly increased the means by which a business and its customers may interact. For example, many businesses allow customers to submit requests via facsimile (fax), over internet-based technologies (e.g., via e-mail), via video, or via enhanced telephone technologies (e.g., interactive voice or touch-tone response systems). Attempts have been made to establish customer call centers where customer interactions via all of these types of media can be processed in a systematic way.
  • customer requests via all of these types of media may be placed in a plurality of queues corresponding to the type of medium, where they can be handled by the next available customer service representative with access to that particular medium.
  • each request may be assigned a queue priority based upon a set of business rules, criteria or factors. Calls are then assigned to the next available customer service representative based, at least in part,
  • Customer interaction requests may be queued in one or more queues of a customer service system until a customer service representative is available.
  • the customer interaction request queues may be monitored, controlled and modified in real time. Also provided are a plurality of customer interaction request
  • FIG. 1 is overall functional block diagram of a system embodying the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a more detailed functional block diagram of the system of Figure 1.
  • Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating an operation of one embodiment of the present
  • Figure 4 is a GUI that may be displayed by a supervisor.
  • Figures 5A-D are GUIs that may be displayed by a supervisor.
  • Figures 6A-P are GUIs that may be displayed by a customer, customer service
  • Figures 7A-F are GUIs that may be displayed by a customer, customer service
  • Figures 8A-B are GUIs that may be displayed by a customer, customer service
  • Figure 9 is an exemplary skills set table.
  • Figure 10 is a flow chart illustrating workflow with respect to e-mails according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 11 is a functional block diagram illustrating several aspects of the present invention.
  • FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a system 10 embodying the present invention.
  • System 10 comprises one or more customers 20 desiring to communicate with a business 50 (business 50 may also be, e.g., a government organization or any other
  • Business 50 may have one or more business functions 55 and a customer service center 30 for handling some or all of the communications with customers 20.
  • Customers 20 and the customer service center 30 may be operably connected via an electronic network 40 which may comprise one or more public switched telephone networks, cellular telephone networks, private branch exchange networks, computer networks, satellite networks, internets (including the World Wide Web), intranets, or extranets.
  • Customers 20 and customer service center 30 may communicate through the electronic network 40 by a variety of means or media, including e-mail, telephone, fax, video, web-based communications, or other electronic means. Communications with customer service center 30 may be inbound or outbound.
  • a customer 20 may be equipped with a variety of electronic communications devices 25, including a telephone, computer with modem, facsimile machine, printer, and/or video equipment. Many interactions by customer 20 with computer service center 30 may be through the customer's computer.
  • the customer's computer may be any conventional processor-based digital computer.
  • the customer's computer may have a graphic user interface (GUI) and may run a variety of applications including an e-mail application (e.g., Microsoft Outlook) and a browser application (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer).
  • GUI graphic user interface
  • Customer service center 30 may comprise a communications gateway 60, storage 80, one or more customer service representative terminals 90, one or more supervisors terminals 100, and one or more servers 110. These components of system 10 may be operably connected by one or
  • information links 120 of Figure 2 are illustrative only and do not define the manner in which the various components of customer service center 30 may be operably connected.
  • One skilled in the art will recognize the many different ways in which these elements may be operably connected.
  • the components of customer service center 30 need not be located in the
  • the communications gateway 60 may comprise a plurality N of media modules (labeled 70-1 through 70-N) for interfacing to and handling inbound and outbound communications. For example, in Figure 2, there are shown interfaces for web 70-1,
  • Telephone 70-2 may handle, among other types
  • Video media module 70-(N-l) may handle video communications, and fax media module 70-N may handle fax-type interactions.
  • system 10 may support a variety of different media modules delivering customer messages and that a particular media module may be configured to handle interaction from more than one medium.
  • Storage 80 may comprise a plurality of databases 130 for storing, among other things, customer information. Storage 80 may also be used to store some or all of the software and applications included in system 10.
  • Customer service representative terminals 90 may comprise human operators or customer service representatives 210, screens 220 capable of displaying information in a graphical user interface (GUI) format, interaction devices 230 (such as a telephone, fax machine, video terminal, computer, or other devices capable of communicating
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • Each customer service representative terminal 90 may have an associated skills set 95 (an example skill set table is shown in Figure 9).
  • the skills set may be any skill set 95.
  • the skills set for a particular customer service representative may include information as to the customer service representative's media proficiency of capability (i.e., whether the customer service representative is capable of using one or more mediums), as well as other information used to determine whether the customer service representative will handle the interaction
  • Supervisor terminals 100 may comprise human operators or supervisors 210, screens 220 capable of displaying information in a GUI format, interaction devices 230 and supervisory software 190.
  • Servers 110 may comprise business application software 140 that corresponds to business function 55, and customer service center software 150 for handling customer 20 interactions with customer service center 30.
  • Customer service center software 150 may comprise an integration toolkit 160 that provides an application programming interface for the business application software 140.
  • Customer service center software 150 may also comprise a logic program engine 170, one or more queues 180, supervisory software 190, and customer service agent software 200. (Some or all of the supervisory software 190 and customer service representative software 200 may also reside at the customer service representative terminals 90 and the supervisor terminals 100, respectively.
  • Supervisory software 190 and customer service representative software 200 may be either client or server applications.)
  • Queues 180 may queue one or more customer interaction requests until the request
  • Queues 180 may be defined by business 50.
  • queues 180 may be defined by the medium by which the customer interaction requests are initiated (e.g., a first queue may have only telephone calls, a second queue may have only e-mails and voice messages, etc.) or by the group of customer service representatives that have access to the queue (e.g., customer service representatives grouped according to similar skills sets 95).
  • a unified queue 180 may contain customer interaction requests from multiple media, preferably every type of media supported by system 10.
  • Engine 170 may be a rules engine and may determine which queue 180 a particular customer interaction request is to be placed on (e.g., by the type of medium used to submit the interaction request or by the identity of the customer 20) and the queue priority given to a particular customer interaction request.
  • the engine 170 may determine a customer interaction request queue priority by applying one or more rules, criteria, and/or factors defined by business 50 to customer identification or history or other relevant information that may be stored in database 130 or available elsewhere in system 10.
  • the business rules, criteria, and factors may include, for example, the customer's value to business 50, the complexity of the request, the type of medium by which the request is received, the expected customer service representative response, or the type of medium that the customer has requested or prefers.
  • the customer information stored in database 130 may be any type of information associated with the customer that is of relevance to business 50.
  • Supervisory software 190 and customer service representative software 200 may cause one or more GUIs to be displayed at the supervisor terminals 100 and customer service representative terminals 90, respectively.
  • Customer service representative GUIs allow customer service representatives to perform various functions associated with customer interaction requests.
  • Supervisor GUIs allow supervisors to review the status of one or more customer interaction requests and control how and when the requests are responded to by the customer service representatives 90.
  • the supervisor GUIs also allow supervisors to review and control one or more queues 180. For example, as described in more detail below, a supervisor may elect to transfer a customer interaction request from one queue to another because another customer service representative terminal 90 is better
  • Customer interactions with customer service center 30 may be categorized by the type of response provided by the customer service center 30.
  • the interactions may be (1) of the type where the response can be automated (i.e., the customer may be prompted to enter information until an automatic response to the customer's request can be formulated by system 10) or (2) of the type that should be handled by a human operator 210 located at a customer service representative terminal 90.
  • Automated or "self-service" type responses may include interactive voice responses, fax -on-demand, and certain interactive
  • Web applications (such as automated e-mail responses). Interactions that usually require access to a customer service representative include conventional telephone calls, e-mails, faxes, Web callbacks, chat, voice-over-net, video, voice-messaging, and Web
  • Tables 1 and 2 illustrates some of the types of customer interactions
  • Tables 1 and 2 are exemplary only and one skilled in the art will recognize that any of the media supported by system 10 may be (1) used by customer 20 to initiate a customer interaction request, (2) used by customer service representative terminal 90 to initiate a response. One skilled in the art will also recognize that any of the media supported by system 10 may be used to provide an automated response to customer 20.
  • customers 20 and customer service center 30 may share
  • customer 20 may initiate a customer interaction request by sending the request
  • the request is transmitted to the customer service center 30 through network 40 and, at block 310, is received by the
  • system 10 may then identify the customer by a variety of means, including conventional caller-ID techniques, by assessing the address from which an e-mail is sent, or by prompting the customer 20 to identify himself. If the customer 20 is identified, at block 330, information related to that customer (e.g., amount of transactions with customer, credit rating, etc., the type of electronic media that the customer is equipped to handle) may be obtained from database 130.
  • the customer interaction request may be evaluated by engine 170 according to a predefined set of business rules, criteria, and/or factors. These business rules, criteria, and factors may include certain customer information, the type of media that the interaction request is initiated from, and the type of response expected. For example, the importance or value of the customer 20 to business
  • system 10 determines whether the customer interaction request is one that allows for an automated response, or whether system 10 has been configured such that a customer service representative should handle the interaction request. If the interaction requests allows for automated response, options (e.g., a menu of options that can be chosen by a touch tone phone) are presented to the customer at block 360. At block 370, an option is also provided to the customer 20 to contact a customer service representative if the other options presented are not sufficient.
  • options e.g., a menu of options that can be chosen by a touch tone phone
  • customer 20 may chose an option that allows the customer 20 to place a request (e.g., a voice message) in a queue 180 where it can be attended to by a customer service representative terminal 90 at a later time. In this latter case, the customer 20 may then exit the system 10 and await the response from the request.
  • a request e.g., a voice message
  • system 10 executes the customer's request (by, e.g., booking a flight, providing requested information by e-mail, etc.). If the situation requires, automated responses that are to transmitted to a customer 20 may also queued in an outbound queue until the automated response may be transmitted (e.g., if sufficient resources are not available, the automated response may be queued).
  • the customer database 130 may be updated and the interaction completed at block 410.
  • operation is returned to block 360.
  • the skills set table 95 may be accessed so that it may be determined whether a customer service representative terminal 90 is available that possesses the skills necessary to handle the customer's interaction request. If so, the interaction request is routed to that customer service representative terminal 90 at block 430 and operation proceeds as in blocks 440, 450, and 460. If, however, a qualified customer service representative terminal 90 is not available
  • the customer interaction request is given a queue priority by engine 170 and placed on one of a plurality of queues 180.
  • the queue priority may be set according to rules determined by business 50 and the currently available customer information.
  • system 10 may provide the customer 20 with a variety of services, including music, news, the ability to enter more customer associated information, or silence. These services may be selectable
  • Information relevant to a customer interaction request may be continually updated while the interaction request is pending in a queue.
  • the customer 20 may choose to enter more information associated with the customer 20 while the customer's interaction request is pending in a queue, or system 10 may record information associated with the customer's activities while the customer's interaction request is in a queue (e.g., whether the customer has selected to view another web site page, etc.).
  • Information such as queue position or remaing wait time may also be displayed or announced to the customer.
  • a supervisor terminal 100 with control access to queue 180 may be used to reprioritize the customer interaction request on the queue 180.
  • the reprioritization may, for example, be based upon an application of the business rules to customer or business information that only becomes available after the customer
  • interaction request is originally placed on the queue 180. This occurs at block 490 where the supervisor may change the priority of the customer interaction request on a queue or
  • the customer service center may operate more efficiently and provide greater customer service.
  • System 10 provides supervisor terminals 100 with a variety of status and control features with respect to how and when customer interaction requests are handled by the customer service representatives terminals 90.
  • a supervisor queue manager window 2000 that may be displayed at supervisor terminals 100.
  • the queue manager window 2000 may be divided into a plurality of subwindows including an
  • the supervisor terminals 100 may use queue window 2020 to select one or more of the queues 180 (including every queue by selecting "All Queues" in the example window shown). This selection will cause the customer interaction requests on the selected queue(s) to be displayed in the customer interaction request window 2030. In an alternative embodiment, the contents of more than one queue may be displayed simultaneously.
  • the customer interaction requests are available for viewing by supervisor
  • the interaction requests may be listed in customer interaction request window 2030 in an order or manner selected by the supervisor (e.g., according to their original priority, according to the amount of time in the queue, according to the value of the customer 20 to business 50, etc.).
  • the information displayed with respect to each customer interaction request displayed in window 2030 may include the customer's name, location, or other customer information stored in database 130 or otherwise available in system 10.
  • the information displayed with respect to each customer interaction request in subwindow 2030 may also include information relating to the particular customer interaction request, including the amount of time that the request has been on the queue 180, whether the customer 20 is currently "on-line" and waiting for a customer service representative (e.g., if customer 20 has left a voice message, customer 20 may have exited system 10, but if customer 20 has initiated a conventional telephone call, customer 20 may be waiting on the telephone for a response)
  • a customer service representative e.g., if customer 20 has left a voice message, customer 20 may have exited system 10, but if customer 20 has initiated a conventional telephone call, customer 20 may be waiting on the telephone for a response
  • each customer service representative terminal 90 e.g., whether the representative is logged in to the system, responding to a customer interaction request, time spent on various types of activities, etc..
  • Average time calculations e.g., average time a customer interaction response is in a queue, average time spent on a response.
  • Action window 2010 allows the supervisor to perform one or more actions with respect to a selected queue 180 or a selected customer interaction request within a queue 180.
  • the supervisor terminal 100 has the option of handling a certain customer interaction requests herself, dropping a customer interaction request from system 10, or issuing a message to the customer 20 (e.g., a request that the customer 20 be patient, etc.).
  • the supervisor terminal 100 may also reprioritize a customer interaction request and/or transfer the request to a different queue or a different customer
  • the supervisor terminal 100 may also attach instructions to a particular customer interaction request that informs a customer service representative how the particular request should be handled.
  • Supervisory software 190 may allow supervisor terminals 100 to generate a variety of reports associated with customer interaction requests. For example, in Figures 5A and 5B, supervisor terminals 100 may generate a chart visually displaying in a chosen manner,
  • the present invention may be of particular benefit to a business 50 having a web site that allows customers to initiate interactions requests.
  • a customer 20 may interact with the customer service center 30 of business 50 via the business' web site 1000 (shown in same Figures 6A-P is the web site 1000 of a fictitious business — "Cyber-Trekking” — offering fictitious products 1001 (e.g., a trip to "Racy Rome in 47 B.C.")).
  • the business' web site 1000 may be displayed on a customer's computer having a GUI display and may be accessed through via a typical browser application (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer).
  • a typical browser application e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • the customer 20 may desire to learn more about the offered product or to purchase the offered product and, therefore, may wish to interact with a customer service representative of business 50 to do so.
  • Customer 20 may then select the customer interaction button 1010 (shown here as a "Cybercall” button) in a conventional manner (e.g., using a "mouse” to "click” on the button 1010).
  • the customer interaction button 1010 may cause another page in the business' web site 1000 to be displayed, as shown in Figure 6C.
  • This page may display selection buttons 1020 corresponding to one or more of the types of media that a customer 20 may
  • customer service center 30 may select to interact with customer service center 30 via a telephone callback (also referred to as "Web Page callback"), chat, voice-over net, or e-mail.
  • a telephone callback also referred to as "Web Page callback”
  • chat voice-over net
  • e-mail e-mail
  • the customer 20 has selected (indicated by circle) to have the customer service center 30 "call" her back (e.g., through a conventional telephone call, e- mail, fax, etc.).
  • the customer service center 30 At the customer service center 30, such a request will be recognized as one that may be prioritized and placed in a queue 180. (As described above, the priority of this callback request may be changed by a supervisor 100 monitoring queue 180).
  • system 10 may display to customer 20 the customer's position in a queue 180 and the estimated time at which the customer will be called back. The customer may also be given the option of requesting an even later time at which to be
  • Figure 6L shows an alternative display that system 10 may provide to a customer 20 with a customer interaction request in a queue 180.
  • the display shown in Figure 6L gives the customer the option of canceling the request or rescheduling the request, as well as providing queue position, time on queue and estimated remaining time on queue information.
  • a customer 20 may be identified when she accesses business' web site 1000. In such a case, the customer need not be prompted to enter a telephone number (or other address, etc. at which to be contacted) at which to receive the callback because a default telephone number may have been set.
  • the customer 20 may always be given the option of entering a callback number.
  • GUI window 1110 displayed at a customer service representative terminal 90 that is associated with the customer's request for a callback shown in Figures 6A-D.
  • This GUI window 1110 is representative
  • GUI window 1110 may comprise a plurality of
  • Each subwindow may comprise one or more menus, buttons, further
  • Customer service representative status subwindow 1050 may include the following information relevant to the customer service representative terminal 90: (1) the customer service representative or agent number, the representative's profile including a listing of the queues 180 that the representative has access to, the number of customers in a particular queue 180, and information relating to the time worked by the representative (shown collectively as 1090) and (2) a call information subwindow 1100 that may display the current type of customer interaction request, the customer or caller's identification, and other information related to a specific customer including the information stored in
  • Such information may be available as a "screen pop" - - it may be instantaneously displayed at the customer service representative terminal 90 when the associated customer interaction request is accessed for processing.
  • the customer interaction subwindow 1040 may display customer information retrieved from database 130 or information related to the customer interaction request.
  • Such information is selectable via tab 1060 and it too may be available as a screen pop.
  • the customer interaction subwindow 1040 is displaying information related to the offered product that customer 20 has selected.
  • the customer service representative may interact intelligently with the customer with respect to the customer's request.
  • the customer service representative has
  • FIG. 6G the customer 20 has chosen to interact with business 50 via e-mail.
  • web site 1000 has provided customer with an e-mail window 1120 addressed to business 50.
  • the customer 20 may enter text in subwindow 1130, including any questions that the customer 20 may have for the customer service
  • FIGs 6I-J the customer representative GUI window 1110 associated with the customer's e-mail request is shown.
  • the customer 20 may have been identified, relevant customer information may have been accessed, the e-mail may have been prioritized in a queue 180, and "re-prioritized" by supervisor 100, before being accessed by customer service representative terminal 90).
  • the customer interaction subwindow 1040 the customer's e-mail is displayed.
  • the customer service representative may chose to reply to the e-mail or print it with button 1140. As shown in Figure 6J, the reply may be one of a plurality of predefined responses selectable by button 1150 or one custom tailored to the customer's request.
  • Attachments may also be sent to the customer through reply e-mail. Note that, as with many customer interaction requests, the reply or response need not be via e-mail — the customer 20 may request that the response be in some other media (e.g., fax, telephone call, etc.) or customer service representative may desire to use some other media (e.g., fax, telephone call, etc.) or customer service representative may desire to use some other media (e.g., fax, telephone call, etc.) or customer service representative may desire to use some other
  • the customer supervisor representative terminal 90 is able to classify or enter information related to the call in the customer interaction subwindow 1040.
  • the information entered may be used to update database 130. This option may, of course, be available to the customer service representative when responding to any type of customer
  • the response be routed to a supervisor terminal 100 for review.
  • a queue may be used to store one or more of e-mails routed to supervisor 100.
  • Supervisor terminals 100 may edit the response e-mail in a particular manner before sending it to the customer 20.
  • the e-mail may also be "cc'ed" or distributed to the customer service representative, so that the customer service representative may review any changes made by the supervisor. This embodiment of system 10 is illustrated in Figure 10.
  • Customer interaction request via e-mail need not, of course, originate from the business' web site 1000.
  • Business 50 may receive e-mails from customers 20 via conventional e-mail application (e.g., Microsoft Outlook) that are not associated with the web site 1000.
  • conventional e-mail application e.g., Microsoft Outlook
  • Figures 6M-R illustrate various displays associated with customer interactions request for a chat session with a customer service representative terminal 90.
  • Figures 6M-R illustrate various displays associated with customer interactions request for a chat session with a customer service representative terminal 90.
  • the customer 20 has chosen the chat customer interaction request on web site 1000.
  • the customer service representative may respond with a chat message as shown in subwindow 1 160. (Alternatively, the customer 20 may chose or be prompted to issue the first message).
  • service representative terminal 90 may be selected from a list of predefined responses or may be a custom tailored one. Note that in Figure 6N, customer information may be provided to the customer service representative terminal 90. In Figure 6N, for example,
  • the customer 20 may have previously selected the "Rome" offering and now wishes to ask questions of a customer service representative terminal 90 via a chat session.
  • FIG 6O there is shown the customer 20 display for the requested chat session.
  • a chat window 1170 has been opened that displays the customer's chat input as well as the customer service representative's response. Chat dialogue may l continue in this manner.
  • Figure 6P illustrates an alternative window displayed at the customer service representative terminal 90.
  • Customer 20 may also select to interact with a customer service representative via 6 a voice-over-net application. This type of customer interaction request will be handled in a similar manner to conventional telephone calls, discussed below.
  • system 10 provides for a plurality of web collaboration features. For example, assume that customer 20 has initiated a customer interaction request via a chat session because the customer 20 has question regarding the company's web site. The customer
  • System 10 allows the customer service representative terminal 90 to display the same web page that the customer 20 is viewing. If customer 20 subsequently changes web pages (e.g., by clicking on a link), system 10 may be configured such that the web page displayed to the customer service representative terminal 90 is similarly changed. The same may also be true at the customer's computer for web pages viewed by the customer service representative
  • the customer service representative may desire to redirect the customer 20 to a different web page.
  • System 10 may be enabled such that if the customer service representative terminal 90 switches to another web page, the customer's display will also switch to that web page (this may be referred to as a "page push").
  • the customer service representative may then comment via the chat session on the web page to which the customer 20 has been redirected.
  • a web page may display a form that prompts the customer 20 to fill in certain information.
  • the customer 20 may not understand what type of information is requested or may not have the information.
  • a customer service representative terminal 90 may collaborate with customer 20 in filling out the form ⁇ both parties may have the ability to input certain information.
  • FIGS. 7A-F are illustrative of these aspects of system 10.
  • Customer 20 may select to interact with a customer service representative via fax.
  • Customer 20 may fax a document to customer service center 30 where it may be input into system 10 such that it may be displayed by customer service representative terminal 90 (e.g., the fax may be digitally scanned or the fax image file captured and placed in storage 80).
  • the fax received from the customer 20 may be displayed in the customer interaction subwindow 1040 for viewing by the customer service representative 90.
  • Responses may then be formulated in manners similar to those described above.
  • Figures 8 A-B illustrate some of these principles of system 10. In particular, Figure 8 A illustrates
  • Figure 8B illustrates that, should the customer service representative's response be in fax
  • a plurality of predefined responses may be available.
  • Customer service representative terminal 90 need not necessarily respond by fax. 6.
  • Telephone calls initiated by customer 20 to customer service center 30 may be handled according to the principles of system 10, as described above.
  • a telephone call may be received at customer service center 30 and placed in a queue 180. While the customer 20 is "on hold," system 10 may allow business 50 to play messages to customer 20. During the hold time, system 10 may also be identifying the customer 20 and accessing information associated with that customer 20. The customer's call may be prioritized on a queue 180 according to business rules and this priority may be modified by supervisor 100.
  • a customer 20 may interact with a business 50 through a customer service
  • the representative terminal 90 associated with a customer service center 30.
  • the customer 20 may interact with the customer service representative 90 via a variety of media, including telephone, e-mail, chat, fax, etc.
  • the customer service representative terminal 90 need
  • the customer service representative's response may be via a different medium. 2. If a customer's request is better handled by a customer service representative (than by an automated ⁇ esponse system), the request is routed based upon the type of request, the skills of the available customer service representative(s) terminals 90, and /or other associated information, to a specific customer service representative terminal 90. If no suitable customer service representative terminal 90 is available, the customer interaction request is assigned a priority according to a predefined set of business rules, criteria, and factors and placed on a queue. The supervisor may monitor and control a unified queue. In other words, system 10 automatically routes, queues, prioritizes, and distributes customer request interactions to a capable customer service representative.
  • Each queue that a customer interaction request is placed upon may be monitored and controlled in real-time by a supervisor with access to and control over information transmitted and received by the customer service representatives.
  • the supervisor may monitor and control a unified queue.
  • the supervisor may reprioritize a particular customer interaction request (perhaps based upon information that becomes known to the supervisor after the request is originally prioritized) or move the customer interaction request to a different queue or to a different customer service representative.
  • a unified queue is available in which the customer service representative may receive an inbound customer interaction request from any of the electronic media disclosed and transmit an outbound interaction via any of the electronic media disclosed.
  • the inbound and outbound mediums need not be the same.
  • supervisors monitoring and control capabilities may be provided to one or more customer service representatives 90.
  • Custom messages may be provided to customers 20 while their interaction requests are pending in a queue.
  • Customer interaction requests that may be responded to by automated responses may also be queued in situations where sufficient resources are not available to handle all such customer interaction requests immediately.
  • a customer interaction request may be kept on a queue 180 after the customer 20 has terminated the interaction, even if the customer 20 never interacted with a customer service representative terminal 90. Similarly, information associated with the
  • advertisements may be displayed or presented while the customer's interaction request is pending in a queue.
  • the advertisement may be tailored for a particular customer.
  • the customer can be offered a menu of wait activities or content such as

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Abstract

L'invention concerne des procédés et un appareil de traitement de demandes d'interaction avec un client transmises à une entreprise par une grande variété de moyens électroniques, y compris le téléphone, le courrier électronique, et les sites web interactifs. Cet appareil dispose également d'un système (10) comprenant un ou plusieurs clients (20) qui désirent communiquer avec l'entreprise (50). Ces entreprises peuvent avoir une ou plusieurs fonctions commerciales (55) et un centre de service client (30) pour traiter les demandes. Les demandes d'interaction avec le client peuvent être mise en attente dans une ou plusieurs listes d'attente (180) d'un centre de service client jusqu'à ce qu'un service client représentatif soit disponible. Les files d'attente de demande d'interaction avec le client peuvent être vérifiées, commandées et modifiées en temps réel. L'invention concerne également plusieurs caractéristiques de demandes d'interaction avec le client.
PCT/US2000/032601 1999-12-02 2000-11-30 Systeme dote d'un gestionnaire de file d'attente multimedia en temps reel WO2001040959A1 (fr)

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AU24265/01A AU2426501A (en) 1999-12-02 2000-11-30 System with multi-media real-time queue monitor

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US09/453,006 1999-12-02

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US9031087B2 (en) 2000-11-08 2015-05-12 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for optimizing response time to events in queue
USRE46174E1 (en) 2001-01-18 2016-10-04 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for intelligent routing of instant messaging presence protocol (IMPP) events among a group of customer service representatives
EP1423795A1 (fr) * 2001-08-17 2004-06-02 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Procede et appareil permettant l'acheminement intelligent d'evenements de protocole de presence de messagerie instantanee (impp) parmi un groupe de representants du service client
EP1423795A4 (fr) * 2001-08-17 2004-10-13 Genesys Telecomm Lab Inc Procede et appareil permettant l'acheminement intelligent d'evenements de protocole de presence de messagerie instantanee (impp) parmi un groupe de representants du service client
USRE46625E1 (en) 2001-08-17 2017-12-05 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for intelligent routing of instant messaging presence protocol (IMPP) events among a group of customer service representatives
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USRE46853E1 (en) 2002-08-27 2018-05-15 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for anticipating and planning communication-center resources based on evaluation of events waiting in a communication center master queue
USRE46776E1 (en) 2002-08-27 2018-04-03 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for optimizing response time to events in queue
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WO2005022298A2 (fr) 2003-08-25 2005-03-10 Cisco Technology, Inc. Procede et systeme pour l'utilisation de designation de serveur mandataire dans un systeme d'appel
WO2005103970A1 (fr) * 2004-04-22 2005-11-03 Qm Group Limited Systeme et procede de service a la clientele
EP1835450A1 (fr) * 2006-03-18 2007-09-19 QM Group Limited Système et procédé de service clientèle
EP1845486A1 (fr) * 2006-03-18 2007-10-17 QM Group Limited Enregistrement de la satisfaction du client concernant la performance du personnel de service
GB2444524A (en) * 2006-12-08 2008-06-11 Qm Group Ltd Customer information display system
US20110069717A1 (en) * 2008-06-03 2011-03-24 Fujitsu Limited Data transfer device, information processing apparatus, and control method
EP2290552A1 (fr) * 2008-06-03 2011-03-02 Fujitsu Limited Dispositif de transfert de données, dispositif de traitement d'informations, et procédé de commande
EP2290552A4 (fr) * 2008-06-03 2012-08-15 Fujitsu Ltd Dispositif de transfert de données, dispositif de traitement d'informations, et procédé de commande
WO2010012218A1 (fr) * 2008-07-29 2010-02-04 华为技术有限公司 Procédé de notification et système du centre d'appel
US10810599B2 (en) 2014-04-02 2020-10-20 Avaya Inc. Live assist
US10489220B2 (en) 2017-01-26 2019-11-26 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc Priority based scheduling
EP3754470A1 (fr) * 2019-03-04 2020-12-23 Metatellus OÜ Système et procédé de communication sélective

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