SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION AND INTEGRATION

• US 20080181389A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ed Murray, James Gordon Nies, Jason Fama, Jeff Iannone, John Bourne, Joseph Watson, Mike Bourke, Nick Mclean, Shimon Keren, Thomas Lverly
• Original Assignee: Ed Murray, James Gordon Nies, Jason Fama, Jeff Iannone, John Bourne, Joseph Watson, Mike Bourke, Nick Mclean, Shimon Keren, Thomas Lverly
• Inventors: Watson, Joseph, Nies, James Gordon, Keren, Shimon, Iannone, Jeff, Fama, Jason, Bourne, John, McLean, Nick, Bourke, Mike, Lverly, Thomas, Murray, Ed
• Application Number:
  US12/059,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20080181389A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for an optimizing operations at a contact center. In one embodiment, an integrated contact center comprises: a workforce manager comprising a scheduler and a tracking function; and a lesson assignment function configured to receive at least one indicator of performance of the agent, and further configured to assign a lesson to the agent based on the at least one indicator.

Claims

1. A substantially integrated service-oriented contact center system which allows different applications to exchange data and participate in business processes comprising:

a plurality of interoperable service units configured to enable the business processes for the contact center;

a centralized administrator configured to consolidate agent administration across the plurality of interoperable service units; and

wherein the plurality of interoperable service units comprises at least two of the following;

a workforce manager unit comprising a scheduler, wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities;

a quality monitor unit configured to provide at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score;

a learning unit configured to receive at least one indicator of performance of an agent, and further configured to assign a lesson to the agent based on the at least one indicator; and

a performance manager unit configured to receive a plurality of performance indicators and to present the performance indicators in a scorecard.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized administrator consolidates agent administration across the plurality of interoperable service units using substantially consistent user interfaces.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized administrator consolidates agent administration across the plurality of interoperable service units through a common point of entry.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of interoperable service units enable business processes in multiple stages within a closed-loop system, with each stage feeding input into another stage.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two interoperable service units have user interfaces with substantially similar look and feel.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized administrator further comprises a centralized reporting component configured to provided a report across the plurality of interoperable service units.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least two interoperable services units are distributed across a network.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an analytics unit configured to perform speech analysis on at least a portion of a plurality of agent interactions, and further configured to classify the analyzed interaction according to a plurality of pre-defined rules, and wherein the quality monitor unit further comprises a content recorder configured to record content of the plurality of agent interactions;

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the workforce manager unit further comprises an adherence component, wherein the adherence component is configured to classify an agent interaction as an exception if the agent interaction does not comply with a policy.

10. A distributed network of interoperable service units for a contact center comprising:

a workforce manager unit comprising a scheduler, wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities;

a quality monitor unit configured to provide, to the scheduler, at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score, wherein the workforce schedule is based at least in part on the at least one quality goal and the at least one agent quality score;

a performance manager unit configured to receive a plurality of performance indicators and to present the performance indicators in a scorecard; and

a centralized administration unit configured to coordinate agent administration across the distributed network of interoperable service units.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a learning unit configured to receive at least one indicator of performance of an agent from the performance manager unit and further configured to assign a lesson to the agent based on the at least one indicator.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the interoperable service units have substantially consistent user interfaces.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein agent administration across the distributed network of interoperable service units is accessible through a common point of entry.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is further configured to select at least one interaction recording parameter based on a workload forecast input and to provide the recording parameter to the quality monitor unit.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the interoperable service units integrate business processes of the contact center.

16. A service-oriented contact center system which allows different applications to exchange data and participate in business processes comprising:

a plurality of interoperable service units configured to enable the business processes for the contact center, wherein at least two or more of the interoperable service units coordinate at least one business process between each other, wherein at least two of the interoperable service units have user interfaces with substantially similar look and feel, and wherein the plurality of interoperable service units comprises at least two of the following;

a workforce manager unit comprising a scheduler, wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities;

a quality monitor unit configured to provide at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score;

a learning unit configured to receive at least one indicator of performance of an agent, and further configured to assign a lesson to the agent based on the at least one indicator; and

a performance manager unit configured to receive a plurality of performance indicators and to present the performance indicators in a scorecard;

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a centralized administrator configured to consolidate agent administration across the plurality of interoperable service units.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising an analytics unit configured to perform speech analysis on at least a portion of agent interactions, and further configured to classify the analyzed interaction according to a plurality of pre-defined rules.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising an adherence component, wherein the adherence component is configured to classify an agent interaction as an exception if the agent interaction does not comply with a policy.