METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING CONTACTS IN A CONTACT CENTER

• US 20130030854A1
• Filed: 07/29/2011
• Published: 01/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: McCormack, Tony, Fang, Li, Ray, Divakar Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,923,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of handling contacts at a contact center. The method includes the steps of identifying a characteristic associated with a contact received at the contact center, and labeling a contact entity representing the contact with a label identifying the characteristic. In response to receipt of a request from an agent of the contact center to handle the contact based on the label of the contact entity, the contact is assigned to the agent and in response to the agent successfully handling the contact, an agent record associated with the agent, is updated to indicate a proficiency in handling contacts associated with the characteristic.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of handling contacts at a contact center, the method including the steps of:

a) identifying a characteristic associated with a contact received at the contact center;

b) labeling a contact entity representing the contact with a label identifying the characteristic;

c) responsive to receipt of a request from an agent of the contact center to handle the contact based on the label of the contact entity, assigning the contact to the agent; and

d) responsive to the agent successfully handling the contact, updating an agent record associated with the agent, to indicate a proficiency in handling contacts associated with the characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of storing the contact entity for processing by an agent of the contact center subsequent to the step of labeling the contact entity.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of queuing the contact entity for processing by an agent of the contact center subsequent to the step of labeling the contact entity.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of creating a contact record for the contact received at the contact center and updating the contact record with information gleaned from the contact during an initial processing stage.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the initial processing stage involves subjecting the contact to at least one of automated response systems and interactive voice response systems.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the initial processing stage involves analyzing the contact by parsing text included therein to identify the information.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising consulting with information stored in the contact record to improve the accuracy of the identified characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising routing the contact entity relative to other contact entities in the queue in order of priority, order of arrival, by skillset or any other attribute relative to how contacts and agents are matched.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of routing of the contact entity comprises queuing the contact entity relative to other contact entities in the system.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a) identifying a second characteristic associated with the contact, wherein the second characteristic differs from the first characteristic;

b) labeling a second contact entity representing the contact with a label identifying the second characteristic;

c) responsive to receipt of a request from an agent of the contact center to handle the contact based on the label of the second contact entity, assigning the contact to the agent; and

d) responsive to the agent successfully handling the contact, updating an agent record associated with the agent, to indicate a proficiency in handling contacts associated with the second characteristic.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating a first response addressing the first characteristic of the contact, generating a first response addressing the first characteristic of the contact;

and collating the first and second responses.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising storing the second contact entity for processing by an agent of the contact center subsequent to the step of labeling the second contact entity.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising queuing the second contact entity for processing by an agent of the contact center subsequent to the step of labeling the second contact entity.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising moving the contact entity to a work pool for review by the agents of the contact center in response the contact entity reaching a top of the queue.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing the labeled contact entity in a work pool prior to assigning the contact to the agent.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising assigning the contact to the agent in accordance with a set or rules defining at least one goal of the contact center.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the agent record to indicate an unsuccessful handling of contacts associated with the characteristic in response to the agent unsuccessfully handling the contact.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising scheduling the agent for training in handling such contacts, in response to the agent unsuccessfully handling the contact.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising minimizing or revoking permissions for handling contacts associated with the identified characteristic, in response to the agent unsuccessfully handling the contact.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining that a contact has been successfully handled including determining that the contact was terminated without the contact being transferred to another agent to handle the same contact for the identified characteristic.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining that a contact has been successfully handled including determining that no subsequent contact for the identified characteristic is received from the same customer within a given time period.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating an agent record to indicate that said agent is proficient in handling contacts associated with the identified characteristic when the agent has indicated their satisfaction of the handling of the contact.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating an agent record to indicate that said agent is proficient in handling contacts associated with the identified characteristic when a customer of the contact center has indicated their satisfaction of the handling of the contact.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating an agent record to indicate that said agent is proficient in handling contacts associated with the identified characteristic when the agent has actually handled a minimum number of such contacts.

25. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying more than one characteristic associated with a contact received at the contact center and labeling a contact entity representing the contact with more than one label, each label identifying one of the more than one characteristics.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing the contact entity in the work pool, in response to an agent handling the contact for fewer than all of the characteristics identified.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising assigning the contact to a second agent of the contact center for processing concurrently with the agent, in response to receipt of a request from the second agent to handle the contact based on a second or subsequent label of the contact entity, whilst said agent is handling the contact based on a first label.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed in a computerized system, are effective to cause said system to carrying out the steps of claim 1.

29. A system for handling contacts at a contact center, the system comprising:

a) a natural language processing, NLP, engine arranged to identify a characteristic associated with a contact received at the contact center;

b) a contact manager arranged to label a contact entity representing the contact, with a tag identifying the characteristic;

c) an agent manager arranged to assign the contact to an agent in response to a request from the agent to handle the contact based on the label of the contact entity; and

d) the agent manager being further arranged to update an agent record, associated with the agent, to indicate a proficiency of the agent in handling contacts associated with the characteristic.

30. The system of claim 29 further comprising a contact store for storing the labeled contact entity before the contact entity is assigned to an agent of the contact center.

31. The system of claim 29 further comprising a queue for queuing the contact entity for the labeled contact entity before the contact entity is assigned to an agent of the contact center.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the NLP engine employs machine-learning algorithms in order to extract details from the contact to identify a characteristic.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the NLP engine employs keyword spotting techniques in order to extract details from the contact to identify a characteristic.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein the identified characteristic comprises at least one of a topic or subject, media type, language requirement, priority, value, tone, and skillset.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the agent record records at least one skillset accredited to the agent and a status of the agent.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the agent record maintains a status of the agent for each multimedia type contact the agent is capable of handling.

37. The system of claim 29, wherein the agent record maintains a permission level associated with the agent for handling contacts associated with different skills.

38. The system of claim 29, wherein the agent record indicates a proficiency or level of capability in handling contacts related to each skill.

39. The system of claim 29, wherein the agent record records at least one of a number of contacts having an identified specific characteristic that were handled by the agent, a number of such contacts that were successfully handled and a number of such contacts that were unsuccessfully handled.