Systems and methods for callback processing

• US 20060256949A1
• Filed: 11/30/2005
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Noble, James K. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5231 with call back arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods for allowing a call center to accept and schedule callback appointments for the service of inbound calls at times which are convenient for the inbound caller as well as automatically placing an outbound call at the scheduled callback time. The system collects information from the caller when scheduling a callback time which assists the agent with servicing the scheduled callback more efficiently than the original incoming call. The system also uses algorithms and various system parameters to determine how many agents are needed to service all scheduled callbacks at a given time while maximizing the efficiency of the agents by avoiding having agents service callbacks which fail to reach the person to be serviced for various reasons. When not enough agents are available to handle the scheduled callbacks and current incoming calls the called back individual is automatically connected to the next available agent avoiding the line of incoming calls entirely. This results in not only increasing the efficiency of the agents it also decreases the time necessary for the call center to provide for the scheduling of future callbacks.

Claims

1. A method of conducting a callback for a previous caller, comprising:

retrieving at least a callback telephone number associated with a scheduled callback;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing the callback telephone number;

routing the call to an agent once a connection on the outbound call is detected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the callback information includes identifying customer information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising routing the customer identifying information to the agent.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent is the next available agent in a plurality of agents.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the callback information includes data relating to the subject matter of the call.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing at least a portion of the data relating to the subject matter of the call to the agent.

7. A method of conducting a callback to a previous caller that called into a call center and set up a callback, comprising:

retrieving a callback telephone number;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing the callback telephone number;

when the outbound call results in a connection to an answering machine, playing a pre-recorded message for recording by the answering machine.

8. The method described in claim 7, further comprising determining that outbound call results in a connection to an answering machine by monitoring the number of rings that occurs before the connection of the outbound call is detected.

9. The method described in claim 7, further comprising discerning that the outbound call results in a connection that is not to a person.

10. The method described in claim 7, further comprising determining that outbound call results in a connection to an answering machine by the length of time that elapses before the connection of the outbound call is detected.

11. The method described in claim 7, further comprising displaying callback information to a next available agent in a plurality of agents.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of callback information includes identifying information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising routing the identifying information to the next available agent.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the callback information includes data relating to the subject matter of the call.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising routing the data relating to the subject matter of the call to the next available agent.

16. The method described in claim 7, further comprising reinitiating an outbound call from the call center to the callback telephone number after a predetermined length of time.

17. A method of conducting a callback for a previous caller, comprising:

retrieving callback information from a database, wherein the callback information includes a callback telephone number;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing a phone number contained in the plurality of callback information;

playing a message over the outbound call once a voice connection on the outbound call is detected.

18. A method of conducting a callback for a previous caller, comprising:

retrieving callback information from a database, wherein the callback information includes a callback telephone number;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing a phone number contained in the plurality of callback information;

upon detection of a busy signal, reinitiating an outbound call from the call center to the callback telephone number after a predetermined length of time.

19. A method of conducting a callback for a previous caller, comprising:

retrieving callback information from a database, wherein the callback information includes a callback telephone number;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing a phone number contained in the plurality of callback information;

upon detecting of a not in service signal, preventing further calls to the callback telephone number.

20. A method of conducting a callback for a previous caller, comprising:

retrieving callback information from a database, wherein the callback information includes a callback telephone number;

initiating an outbound call by automatically dialing a phone number contained in the plurality of callback information;

upon the detection of a predetermined number of rings, waiting a predetermined length of time and then reinitiating a subsequent outbound call from the call center to the callback telephone number.

21. A callback system comprising:

an automatic call distributor connected to a network, wherein the automatic call distributor is in direct communication with a predictive dialer;

a plurality of agents connected to the automatic call distributor; and

the predictive dialer connected to the network places outbound callback calls, wherein an agent is allocated to handle outbound callback calls routed from the predictive dialer to one agent in the plurality of agents connected to the automatic call distributor.

22. A callback system comprising:

a CTI server in direct communication with the predictive dialer and an automatic call distributor;

a predictive dialer in direct communication with the automatic call distributor and a network, wherein the predictive dialer places outbound callback calls on the network;

a digital signal processor for monitoring a placed outbound callback call for a connection

an automatic call distributor connected to a plurality of agents, wherein the CTI server allocates at least one agent in the plurality of agents to handle connected outbound callback calls that are routed from the predictive dialer through the automatic call distributor to the at least one agent in the plurality of agents.

23. The callback system of claim 22, wherein the predictive dialer includes the digital signal processor.

24. The callback system of claim 22, wherein the CTI server includes the digital signal processor.

25. The callback system of claim 22, wherein the automatic call distributor includes the digital signal processor.

26. A method of conducting a callback request for a caller, comprising:

accepting an inbound call from a caller over a telephone line;

estimating a hold time for transfer of the call to an agent;

based at least in part on the hold time exceeding a predetermined value presenting the caller with a callback option;

acquiring a plurality of callback information, wherein the plurality of callback information includes a callback telephone number;

computing a callback time based at least in part on the hold time;

recording at least some of the plurality of callback information into a database; and

informing the caller of the computed call back time.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising, presenting the caller an option of scheduling an alternate callback time for initiating the callback if the computed callback time is unacceptable to caller.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising, receiving a plurality of alternate callback information from the caller.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising, providing a next available callback time for a caller to select.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the plurality of callback information includes caller identifying information.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the plurality of callback information includes data relating to the subject matter of the call.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising, verifying at least a portion of the plurality of callback information by presenting the at least a portion of the plurality of callback information to the caller, wherein the at least a portion of the plurality of callback information includes the callback telephone number and the callback time.

33. A method of conducting a callback request for a caller, comprising:

accepting an inbound call from a caller over a telephone line;

based at least in part on call data and a hold time, presenting the caller with a callback option;

acquiring a plurality of callback information, wherein the plurality of callback information includes a callback telephone number;

computing a callback time based at least in part on the hold time; and

recording at least some of the plurality of callback information into a database.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising, verifying at least a portion of the plurality of callback information by presenting the at least a portion of the plurality of callback information to the caller, wherein the at least a portion of the plurality of callback information includes the callback telephone number and the callback time.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the plurality of callback information includes a time for initiating the callback.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the plurality of callback information includes caller identifying information.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the plurality of callback information includes data relating to the subject matter of the call.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising, informing the caller of the callback telephone number and the callback time.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein presenting the caller with a callback option is based on caller data which is selected from one or more of customer telephone number, account number, and customer status level.