Servicing Calls in Call Centers Based On Estimated Call Value
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- (a) receiving one or more signals that indicate that;
(i) a call C to a call center is queued for service, and(ii) a non-empty set of agents of said call center are currently serving respective calls that are estimated to be less valuable than said call C;
(b) transmitting to each of said non-empty set of agents, in response to said one or more signals, a first signal that;
(i) notifies the agent of said call C, and(ii) prompts the agent for an estimate of how much longer the agent will be serving their current call; and
(c) selecting which of said non-empty set of agents will service said call C based on;
(i) agent responses to said prompts, and(ii) for at least one of said non-empty set of agents, a measure of how closely prior agent responses compared to actual remaining service times.
20 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for enabling call center agents to adapt their servicing of incoming calls based on the estimated value of the calls are disclosed. In accordance with the first illustrative embodiment, when there is a “high-value” call waiting in the queue while one or more agents are currently servicing lower-value calls, an agent who is servicing a lower-value call is informed that there is a higher-value call waiting in the queue, and is prompted to provide an estimate of how much longer he or she will be servicing his or her current call. The call center system selects which agent the high-value call will be routed to based on: (i) the agents'"'"' responses to the prompts, and (ii) for each of the responding agents, a measure of how closely prior responses from the agent compared to the actual amount of time taken by the agent to complete servicing the call.
13 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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(a) receiving one or more signals that indicate that; (i) a call C to a call center is queued for service, and (ii) a non-empty set of agents of said call center are currently serving respective calls that are estimated to be less valuable than said call C; (b) transmitting to each of said non-empty set of agents, in response to said one or more signals, a first signal that; (i) notifies the agent of said call C, and (ii) prompts the agent for an estimate of how much longer the agent will be serving their current call; and (c) selecting which of said non-empty set of agents will service said call C based on; (i) agent responses to said prompts, and (ii) for at least one of said non-empty set of agents, a measure of how closely prior agent responses compared to actual remaining service times. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method comprising:
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(a) receiving one or more signals that indicate that; (i) a call C to a call center is queued for service, and (ii) a non-empty set of agents of said call center are currently serving respective calls that are estimated to be less valuable than said call C; (b) transmitting to each of said non-empty set of agents, in response to said one or more signals, a first signal that; (i) notifies the agent of said call C, and (ii) prompts the agent for one or more data pertaining to their current call; (c) estimating, based on responses to said prompts, remaining service times for current calls for at least one of said non-empty set of agents; and (d) selecting, based on the estimated remaining service times, which of said non-empty set of agents will service said call C. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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(a) receiving from an agent in a call center, while said agent is serving a first call, an estimate E1 of how much longer said agent will be serving said first call; (b) storing in a data store one or more data that indicate the difference between; (i) said estimate E1, and (ii) the actual remaining time required for said agent to service said first call; (c) receiving from said agent, while said agent is serving a second call, an estimate E2 of how much longer said agent will be serving said second call; and (d) selecting, based at least partially on said one or more data and on said estimate E2, which of a plurality of agents in said call center will service a third call that is currently queued. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification