WO2015073044A1 - Système et procédé de routage de communications - Google Patents
Système et procédé de routage de communications Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2015073044A1 WO2015073044A1 PCT/US2013/070559 US2013070559W WO2015073044A1 WO 2015073044 A1 WO2015073044 A1 WO 2015073044A1 US 2013070559 W US2013070559 W US 2013070559W WO 2015073044 A1 WO2015073044 A1 WO 2015073044A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- communication
- routing
- criteria
- queue
- resources
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- 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
- H04M3/5236—Sequential or circular distribution
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M2203/00—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M2203/40—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges related to call centers
- H04M2203/406—Rerouting calls between call centers
-
- 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
- H04M3/5141—Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner
Definitions
- the present invention generally relates to telecommunications systems and methods. More particularly, the present invention pertains to the routing of communications.
- a system and method are presented for communication routing. Communications may be routed into a queue based on criteria. A communication may be assigned to a distribution ring and a determination may be made as to whether there is an availability of resources to handle the
- a communication may be re-routed if it cannot be handled to a new group.
- Re-routing may be based on criteria such as time delay, non-time based criteria such as skills, and environmental criteria, to name a few. Re-routing may continue until a communication is handled.
- the routing design may resemble concentric circles where the center represents the most desirable pool of handlers and each incremental ring represents the iterative expansion sets of agents.
- a method for distributing communications in an automatic communication distribution system comprising the steps of: routing a communication into a queue; assigning said communication to a distribution ring of resources; determining an availability of resources to handle said communication in said distribution ring; and re-routing said communication to a new distribution ring of resources if said distribution ring of resources cannot handle said communication.
- communication distribution system comprising: means for routing a communication into a queue; means for assigning said communication to a distribution ring of resources; means for determining an availability of resources to handle said communication in said distribution ring; and means for rerouting said communication to a distribution ring of resources if said resources cannot handle said communication after said routing until said communication can be handled.
- a method for distributing communications in an automatic communication distribution system comprising the steps of: routing a communication into a queue; assigning said communication to a distribution ring of resources; determining an availability of resources to handle said communication; re-routing said communication to a different distribution ring of resources if said resources cannot handle said communication after said routing; and continually rerouting said communication to a different distribution ring of resources until said communication is handled.
- Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an automatic communication distribution system.
- Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for communication distribution.
- Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of routing.
- Ring expansion in communication routing designs, may have occurred where rings associated with individual workgroups had a time threshold that would expire. At the expiration of the time threshold, the call would then be offered to a new, larger workgroup which included the original agent pool in addition to agents in the secondary ring. In another embodiment, rings were associated with individual skills, or combinations of skills. The agent pool would be increased at each threshold by changing or removing one or more skills required for a call. These embodiments caused reporting issues as the ACD processing would stop/start each time a call was passed to a new workgroup or when skills were removed from the call. These reporting issues could count a single interaction multiple times depending on the number of processing cycles.
- the availability of highly skilled agents for calls requiring their unique skillset may be preserved. Highly skilled agents may be assigned to a lower priority for all call types, except for those calls requiring their unique skills. Lesser skilled agents may be competently trained to handle a high percentage of calls without requiring excessive transfers and hold time. A delay threshold may not be included in at least one embodiment.
- a routing design is provided that expands the eligible call handling agent pool.
- the expansion of an agent pool may resemble concentric circles, where the center represents the set of the most desirable agents and each incremental ring represents an iterative expansion set of agents in a call center.
- FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the basic components in one embodiment of an automatic communication distribution system indicated generally at 100.
- the basic components of an automatic communication distribution system may include elements of the system 100 such as: agent availability inputs 105, incoming interactions 1 10, interaction state changes 1 15, an automatic communication distribution server 120, and an agent workstation 125.
- Agent availability inputs 105 may comprise information that is used in determining an availability of resources to handle a communication.
- agent availability inputs 105 may comprise information about the skill levels of agents related to their ability to handle a communication. The current activity of an agent may also be taken into consideration in determining availability.
- Incoming interactions 1 10 may comprise a communication received from a party.
- a communication may be a telephone call coming into a call center from a customer or a call placed by an automated dialer and routed to an agent.
- a communication may comprise any sort of verbal or visual communication including, but not limited to, a video chat, a telephone call, a message chat, etc.
- Interaction state changes 1 15 may comprise information regarding the status of the
- an agent may manually take a communication instead of it being routed to them.
- a caller may hang up before their call is even handled by an agent.
- a communication may change from being in a queue to no longer being available for agent handling.
- a communication may also be prioritized, such as, for example, a communication is in the queue and the communicant may choose an option that allows it to be moved up in the queue in the event of an emergency.
- An automatic communication distribution server 120 may handle routing of communications to groups of users or resources. The routing may be based on the agent availability inputs 105, incoming interactions 1 10, and the interaction state changes 1 15, among other information such as priority and other handling information.
- an agent may be present at a workstation, which may include a workstation computer 126 coupled to a display 127.
- Workstation computers 126 may be of the same type, or a heterogeneous combination of different computing devices.
- displays 127 may be of the same type or a heterogeneous combination of different visual devices. It should be understood that while two agent workstations are described in the illustrative embodiment, any number may be utilized. Contact center applications of system 100 typically include many more workstations of this type at one or more physical locations, but only one is illustrated in Figure 1 to preserve clarity.
- a digital telephone 128 may be associated with agent workstation 125. Additionally, a digital telephone 128 may be integrated into the agent computer 126 and/or implemented in software. It should be understood that a digital telephone 128, which is capable of being directly connected to a network, may be in the form of a handset, headset, or other arrangement as would occur to those skilled in the art. It shall be further understood that the connection from computer network to an agent workstation 125 can be made first to the associated workstation telephone, then from the workstation telephone to the workstation computer by way of a pass through connection on the workstation telephone. Alternatively, two connections from the network can be made, one to the workstation telephone and one to the workstation computer.
- an agent workstation 125 may also include one or more operator input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, track ball, light pen, and/or microtelecommunicator, to name just a few representative examples. Additionally, besides display 127, one or more other devices may be included such as loudspeaker(s) and/or a printer.
- FIG. 1 one embodiment of a process 200 for distributing communications in an automatic communication distribution system is provided.
- the process 200 may be operative in the automatic communication distribution server 120 of system 100 ( Figure 1).
- a communication is received.
- a telephone call may be received by or connected to a contact center.
- Other forms of communications may include but not be limited to chats, emails, call backs, generic objects, SMS, and workflows. Control is passed to operation 210 and process 200 continues.
- the communication is routed into a queue.
- the communication may be routed into a designated media queue for such communication types.
- Each type of communication may have a queue for that media type.
- a media queue may be designated as calls, chats, emails, call backs, generic objects, SMS, or workflows. Routing may be performed according to pre-defined criteria. For example, a communication may automatically be routed after it has spent an amount of time within the queue, such as ten seconds, without being handled. Non-time limit criteria may also be employed for determining routing behavior. These criteria may be environmental and based on a service level or abandon rate. For example, a communication may be received after hours in a call center.
- the communication may be automatically routed to a resource to handle the communication instead of sitting with no answer. Routing may be performed according to groups of users and/or routing behavior variables for resource preferred routing. For example, skills based routing may be employed. In one embodiment, agents who speak a desired language may have communications routed to them for communicants who only speak that language. In another embodiment, routing may be performed based on product proficiency, such as whether or not the agent knows enough about a particular product in order to sufficiency handle the communication. In another embodiment, some customers may be preferred over others and thus their communication may be handled sooner than a customer not identified as preferred. Each queue may comprise one or more distribution rings of resources to handle a communication that are capable of being expanded into sequentially as is further described in Figure 3. Control is passed to operation 215 and process 200 continues.
- a communication is assigned to a distribution ring.
- a distribution ring For example, a
- a communication may be assigned to a distribution ring containing the set of the most desirable agents to handle the communication.
- a distribution ring may contain one or more user groups assigned to a group of users.
- the communication may be assigned to group of users 1 (305), as exhibited and described further in Figure 3.
- the assignation of a communication to a group of users may be based on criteria, such as specific skill that the agents within the group of users have.
- An example of a specific skill may include the ability to speak a specific language or a proficiency in a particular field of interest.
- operation 220 it is determined whether or not there is an availability of resources to handle the communication. If it is determined that there is an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed to operation 225 and process 200 continues. If it is determined that there is not an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed to operation 230 and process 200 continues.
- the determination in operation 220 may be made based on any suitable criteria. For example, agent statuses in a call center may be set to busy or some other such status that they are unable to handle a communication. In at least one embodiment, the determining of an availability of resources is occurring continually throughout process 200. If at any point in time during the process 200 a resource becomes available, this information may be processed in order to handle a suitable communication.
- the communication is assigned and handled and the process 200 ends.
- criteria are evaluated. For example, when it has been determined that resources are not available to handle a communication, it will need to be sent to a distribution ring that may be able to handle said communication.
- the system will examine criteria that have been defined to determine where the communication can be sent. For example, a system user may have determined that for a criterion to be routed to a new group of users or a distribution ring, a time delay may be employed for the communication to exit the group of users or distribution ring. If a communication is not handled in a designated fashion after 25 seconds, for example, the proficiency requirement of a group of users to handle a communication may be broadened or changed.
- operation 235 it is determined whether or not a communication meets the criteria to be rerouted to a new group of users. If it is determined that a communication meets the criteria to be rerouted to a new group of users, control is passed to operation 245 and the process 200 continues. If it is not determined that a communication meets the criteria to be rerouted to a new group of users, control is passed to operation 240 and the process 200 continues.
- the determination in operation 235 may be made based on any suitable criteria. For example, no agents may be available within the distribution ring that a communication is to be routed to. Rather than keeping the communication in the queue and waiting, the communication may be routed to another distribution ring for handling. In another example, a communication may have waited for an agent to become available for a specified period of time. If an agent has not become available in that period of time, then the communication may be routed to a new distribution ring.
- a decision may be made to wait. For example, the system may determine to wait a specified period of time to determine whether or not a resource has become available. Control is passed to operation 250 and the process 200 continues.
- the communication is routed to the next group of users.
- the communication may be routed to a new distribution ring of resources that may be capable of handling the communication. Routing may be performed according to pre-defined criteria. Such criteria may include a time limit criterion. For example, a call may automatically be routed after it has spent an amount of time within the queue, such as ten seconds, without being handled. Non-time limit criteria may also be employed to determine communication routing. Further examples are presented in Figure 3. Control is passed to operation 255 and process 200 continues.
- operation 250 it is determined whether or not a resource has become available. If it is determined that there is an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed to operation 260 and process 200 continues. If it is determined that there is not an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed back to operation 245 and process 200 continues.
- the determination in operation 250 may be made based on any suitable criteria. For example, agent statuses in a call center may be set to busy or some other such status that they are unable to handle a communication. In at least one embodiment, the determining of an availability of resources is occurring continually throughout process 200. If at any point in time during the process 200 a resource becomes available, this information may be processed in order to handle a suitable communication.
- operation 255 it is determined whether or not a resource has become available. If it is determined that there is an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed to operation 260 and process 200 continues. If it is determined that there is not an availability of resources to handle the communication, then control is passed back to operation 235 and process 200 continues.
- the determination in operation 255 may be made based on any suitable criteria. For example, agent statuses in a call center may be set to busy or some other such status that they are unable to handle a communication. In at least one embodiment, the determining of an availability of resources is occurring continually throughout process 200. If at any point in time during the process 200 a resource becomes available, this information may be processed in order to handle a suitable communication.
- FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of sequential routing.
- Each queue may comprise one or more distribution rings of resources to handle a communication that are capable of being expanded into sequentially.
- the routing design for the expansion in the agent pool in one embodiment, may resemble concentric circles where the center represents the set of most desirable agents and each incremental ring represents the iterative expansion sets of agents.
- One to many user groups may be assigned to each ring. Routing rules may determine how soon a communication is routed to a new group of users.
- a communication when a communication is received, it may be routed to Group of Users 1 (305).
- the system may run a check to determine whether or not any agents are available in the group of users to handle the communication. If there is an available agent, then the communication will alert that agent. If there are no available agents, then the call is immediately overflowed into the next designated group of users, such as Group of Users 2 (310).
- the system may again run a check to determine whether or not any agents are available in the group of users to handle the communication. If there is an available agent, then the communication will alert that agent and the agent may handle the communication. If there are no available agents, then the call is again overflowed into the next designated group of users, such as Group of Users 3 (315) and Group of Users 4 (320). This process may continue to repeat as necessary until a communication is handled based on the number of designated groups of users. If a communication reaches a point where it has not been handled after passing through all of the groups of users, then all agents in all groups of users may be designated.
- Criteria may be examined in order to determine where a communication is routed. Criteria may be assigned to distribution rings. Such criteria may be user designated. For example, a user may designate criteria as skills or skill categories. A handler may require a specific set of skills in order to be associated with a distribution ring, such as the ability to speak a specific language.
- multiple-call count reporting issues may be eliminated.
- This form of routing communications does not change, add, or subtract groups of users and/or skills. Instead, it delivers a communication to a group of users and sets the communication at an initial desired skill proficiency. The proficiency requirement for that skill may be reduced at each expansion threshold. For example, a call may enter the Help Desk group of users with a Microsoft Skill proficiency of 100 and waits if not immediately answered by the Engineers with Microsoft Skills. If the call is not answered in a designated fashion, such as after 25 seconds, the Microsoft proficiency requirement may be lowered to 90, or some other designated value.
- the proficiency requirement may again be lowered to a level of 50, for example, such that the call is routed to all customer service agents.
- this routing will first offer this call type to Microsoft skilled engineers. If no Microsoft skilled engineers become available within 25 seconds, the target would "expand" to include Microsoft engineers and all engineers. Finally, if the call is not answered in an additional 120 seconds, the call target would be expanded to include all customer service agents.
- Time delay does not have to be employed for a call to be re-routed into another group of users.
- Other criteria may be used. For example, in an embodiment where time delay is not employed, skills based routing may be employed. Highly skilled agents may be assigned a lower priority for all call types except for those calls requiring their unique skills. Lesser skilled agents may be competently trained to handle a higher percentage of the calls without requiring excessive transfers and hold time, thus preserving availability of highly skilled agents for communications requiring their unique skillsets.
- Examples of skill may include languages spoken to accommodate the different languages in which communications may be received in. Communications may be routed depending on the level of a language spoken. Routing may also be based on group of users, such as department based or by collections of people in geographic locations. For example, calls answered in an Ohio call center may be sent on to a call center in Canada if no one is available.
- the system may search for the best matching resource to an interaction waiting within the queue. This does not necessarily need to be the interaction that has been longest in the queue. Other factors may be involved such as the skills required by an interaction and those of the resource.
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Abstract
Priority Applications (5)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
JP2016530175A JP2016538782A (ja) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | 通信のルーティングシステムおよび方法 |
AU2013405180A AU2013405180A1 (en) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | System and method for communication routing |
CA2930381A CA2930381A1 (fr) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | Systeme et procede de routage de communications |
EP13897414.2A EP3072283A4 (fr) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | Système et procédé de routage de communications |
PCT/US2013/070559 WO2015073044A1 (fr) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | Système et procédé de routage de communications |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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PCT/US2013/070559 WO2015073044A1 (fr) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | Système et procédé de routage de communications |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO2015073044A1 true WO2015073044A1 (fr) | 2015-05-21 |
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Family Applications (1)
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PCT/US2013/070559 WO2015073044A1 (fr) | 2013-11-18 | 2013-11-18 | Système et procédé de routage de communications |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP3072283A4 (fr) |
JP (1) | JP2016538782A (fr) |
AU (1) | AU2013405180A1 (fr) |
CA (1) | CA2930381A1 (fr) |
WO (1) | WO2015073044A1 (fr) |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
CN108960675A (zh) * | 2018-07-25 | 2018-12-07 | 平安科技(深圳)有限公司 | 自动派工方法、装置、计算机设备及存储介质 |
Families Citing this family (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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KR20160059994A (ko) | 2014-11-19 | 2016-05-27 | 기초과학연구원 | 두 개의 벡터로부터 발현된 Cas9 단백질을 이용한 유전자 발현 조절 방법 |
Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0740450A2 (fr) * | 1995-04-24 | 1996-10-30 | International Business Machines Corporation | Méthode et appareil d'acheminement basé sur l'habileté dans un centre d'appel |
US7149303B1 (en) * | 2004-09-29 | 2006-12-12 | Sprint Communications Company, L.P. | System and method for optimized distribution of calls to call center resources |
-
2013
- 2013-11-18 WO PCT/US2013/070559 patent/WO2015073044A1/fr active Application Filing
- 2013-11-18 CA CA2930381A patent/CA2930381A1/fr not_active Abandoned
- 2013-11-18 EP EP13897414.2A patent/EP3072283A4/fr not_active Withdrawn
- 2013-11-18 AU AU2013405180A patent/AU2013405180A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2013-11-18 JP JP2016530175A patent/JP2016538782A/ja not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0740450A2 (fr) * | 1995-04-24 | 1996-10-30 | International Business Machines Corporation | Méthode et appareil d'acheminement basé sur l'habileté dans un centre d'appel |
US7149303B1 (en) * | 2004-09-29 | 2006-12-12 | Sprint Communications Company, L.P. | System and method for optimized distribution of calls to call center resources |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
See also references of EP3072283A4 * |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
CN108960675A (zh) * | 2018-07-25 | 2018-12-07 | 平安科技(深圳)有限公司 | 自动派工方法、装置、计算机设备及存储介质 |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CA2930381A1 (fr) | 2015-05-21 |
JP2016538782A (ja) | 2016-12-08 |
EP3072283A4 (fr) | 2017-06-28 |
EP3072283A1 (fr) | 2016-09-28 |
AU2013405180A1 (en) | 2016-06-02 |
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