CATEGORY BASED ORGANIZATION AND MONITORING OF CUSTOMER SERVICE HELP SESSIONS

• US 20090214020A1
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: EVANCHIK, STEPHEN A., Weitzman, Louis M., Lewis-Bowen, Alister D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,588,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.60
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

A method and computer readable medium are provided for monitoring customer support sessions based on at least one category associated with the customer support sessions. A request from an administrator for information associated with unresolved support sessions is received. A set of support categories is presented to the administrator. A selection of at least one support category is received from the administrator. A set of first level customer support agent identifiers associated with at least one support session queued under the at least one support category which has been selected is presented to the administrator.

Claims

1. A method, with a customer support environment, for monitoring and organizing customer support session based on categories, the method comprising:

receiving, by at least one first level customer support agent, a help request from a customer;

establishing, by the at least one first level customer support agent in response to the receiving, a support session with the customer;

determining, by the at least one first level customer support agent, that a second level customer support agent is required to resolve the help request.

assigning, by the at least one first level customer support agent, at least one support category to the support session based on a support context of the support session; and

placing the support session into at least one support queue for selection by at least one second level customer support agent based on the at least one support category assigned to the support session.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining, by an information processing system, a database of second level customer support agents, wherein each second level customer support agent is associated with at least one support category.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

monitoring, by the information processing system, the at least one support queue; and

automatically assigning, by the information processing system, the support session to at least one second level customer support agent, wherein the at least one support category assigned to the support session substantially matches the at least one support category assigned to the at least one second level customer support agent.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by an information processing system, the support session between the at least one first level customer support agent and the customer; and

automatically assigning, by the information processing system, the at least one support category based on the support context of the support session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one support session comprises at least one of:

an instant messaging session between the at least one first level customer support agent and the customer; and

a voice call between the at least one first level customer support agent and the customer.

6. A method, with an information processing system, for monitoring customer support sessions based on at least one category associated with the customer support sessions, the method comprising:

receiving a request from an administrator for information associated with unresolved support sessions;

presenting to the administrator a set of support categories;

receiving a selection of at least one support category from the administrator; and

presenting to the administrator a set of first level customer support agent identifiers associated with at least one support session queued under the at least one support category which has been selected.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a selection of at least one first level customer support agent identifiers in the a set of first level customer support agent identifiers; and

presenting to the administrator a dialogue between a first level customer support agent associated with the first level customer support agent identifier, which has been selected, and at least one second level customer support agent, wherein the dialog is associated with a support session.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the dialog is at least one of:

instant messaging dialog; and

voice call dialog.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the dialog is a real-time dialog.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a set of comments from the administrator, wherein the set of comments are associated with the support session associated with the dialog; and

inserting the comments into the dialog.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a selection of at least one first level customer support agent identifiers in the a set of first level customer support agent identifiers; and

presenting to the administrator a set of support sessions associated with the at least one first level customer support agent identifier that has been selected, wherein the set of support sessions have been under the at least one support category that has been selected by the administrator queued for second level customer agent support.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the administrator to assign at least one support session in the set of support sessions to at least one second level customer support agent; and

assigning, in response to the receiving, the at least one support session to the at least one second level customer support agent.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one support category in the set of support categories include at least one indicator that indicates an unresolved support session has been assigned to the at least one support category.

14. A computer readable medium including computer instructions for monitoring customer support sessions based on at least one category associated with the customer support sessions, the computer readable medium comprising instructions for:

receiving a request from an administrator for information associated with unresolved support sessions;

presenting to the administrator a set of support categories;

receiving a selection of at least one support category from the administrator; and

presenting to the administrator a set of first level customer support agent identifiers associated with at least one support session queued under the at least one support category which has been selected.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

receiving a selection of at least one first level customer support agent identifiers in the a set of first level customer support agent identifiers; and

presenting to the administrator a dialogue between a first level customer support agent associated with the first level customer support agent identifier, which has been selected, and at least one second level customer support agent, wherein the dialog is associated with a support session.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the dialog is at least one of:

instant messaging dialog; and

voice call dialog.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the dialog is a real-time dialog.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions for:

receiving a set of comments from the administrator, wherein the set of comments are associated with the support session associated with the dialog; and

inserting the comments into the dialog.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

receiving a selection of at least one first level customer support agent identifiers in the a set of first level customer support agent identifiers; and

presenting to the administrator a set of support sessions associated with the at least one first level customer support agent identifier that has been selected, wherein the set of support sessions have been under the at least one support category that has been selected by the administrator queued for second level customer agent support.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions for:

receiving an instruction from the administrator to assign at least one support session in the set of support sessions to at least one second level customer support agent; and

assigning, in response to the receiving, the at least one support session to the at least one second level customer support agent.