COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING AGENT WORKLOAD IN A CUSTOMER SERVICE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140307863A1
• Filed: 02/13/2014
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Snyder, Benjamin, Phan, Vahn K., Al-Alami, Mustafa O., Ellis, Jason Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 9,398,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for managing customer service agent workload in a customer service environment. In some implementations, one or more servers receive a communication associated with a customer case item. The one or more servers determine one or more case attributes associated with the customer case item and identify a first customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item. The one or more servers assign the customer case item to the first customer service agent and provide first data of the customer case item to a first display device associated with the first customer service agent, the first display device configured to display a user interface including a first component indicating the first data of the customer case item.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing customer service agent workload in a customer service environment, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a communication associated with a customer case item associated with a customer;

determining one or more case attributes associated with the customer case item;

identifying a first one of a plurality of customer service agents in the customer service environment, the first customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item;

assigning the customer case item to the first customer service agent; and

providing first data of the customer case item to a first display device associated with the first customer service agent, the first display device configured to display a user interface including a first component indicating the first data of the customer case item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the case attributes include one or more of:

a topic of the customer case item, a geographical location of the customer, an identity of a customer, a preferred language of the customer, an organizational position of the customer, a communication type of the communication associated with the customer case item, a priority level, and a custom case attribute.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more case attributes is included in the received communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more case attributes is stored in a communicably accessible database of the customer service environment, wherein the received communication includes a database reference to the database, the database including customer case items and case attributes associated with the customer case items, wherein determining the one or more case attributes associated with the customer case item comprises:

identifying, based on the database reference, the one or more case attributes in the database of the customer service environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent attributes of the first customer service agent include one or more of:

general skill level, area of expertise, level of experience in an area of expertise, language proficiency, product type expertise, geographical service regions, length of work queue, composition of work queue, availability for customer case items of a designated communication type, and custom agent attributes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more agent attributes is stored in an agent profile in a communicably accessible database of the customer service environment, the database containing agent profiles associated with customer service agents, wherein identifying the first customer service agent comprises:

identifying, in the database, an agent profile for the first customer service agent, the agent profile including one or more agent attributes; and

determining, based on the one or more agent attributes, that the agent profile matches one or more of the case attributes of the customer case item.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first customer service agent is a member of an agent group, wherein an agent profile is associated with the agent group, and wherein identifying the agent profile for the first customer service agent comprises:

identifying the agent profile of the agent group of the first customer service agent.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining that the agent profile matches one or more of the case attributes of the customer case item comprises:

identifying one or more case routing rules stored in a case routing database of the customer service environment, wherein each case routing rule associates one or more case attribute values with one or more agent attribute values;

identifying a case routing rule having one or more case attribute values that match one or more case attributes of the customer case item; and

determining that the agent profile includes agent attributes that match the one or more agent attribute values of the case routing rule.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more case routing rules are established by an administrator of the customer service environment, and wherein the case routing rules may utilize custom case attributes and custom agent attributes determined by the administrator.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer case item has a communication type, the communication type indicating a mode of communication with the customer, the communication type being one of:

a live chat, a telephone call, a web form submission, an email, or a social media message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein an availability status of a customer service agent indicating availability for customer case items of a designated communication type is determined by the customer service agent, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from the first customer service agent to be unavailable for customer case items having a communication type designated by the request; and

setting an availability status parameter in an agent profile database indicating that customer case items of the designated communication type will not be assigned to the first customer service agent.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a graphical representation of a list of one or more customer case items assigned to the first customer service agent, wherein each of the one or more customer case items has a communication type, the communication type indicating a mode of communication with the customer, wherein the graphical representation of the list of customer case items displays the customer case items grouped by communication type.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the list of customer case items includes customer case items having a first communication type and customer case items having a second communication type, wherein the first and second communication types are different.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface is configured to display an availability status indicator proximate to a group of customer case items having the same communication type, wherein the availability status indicator indicates whether the first customer service agent is available to receive additional customer case items having the same communication type as the group of customer case items.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more assigned customer case items of the list has a priority level, and wherein the list of customer case items is configured to display the one or more assigned case items in order of decreasing priority level.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a second of the plurality of customer service agents, the second customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item;

assigning the customer case item to the second customer service agent;

receiving a request from the second customer service agent to work on the customer case item; and

transmitting second data to the first display device of the first customer service agent, the second data including an indication that the second customer service agent is working on the case item.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first customer service agent to work on the customer case item; and

transmitting second data to the first display device of the first customer service agent to update the display of the customer case item in the user interface, wherein the second component is configured to list one or more case items that the first customer service agent is currently working on, and wherein the first component is configured to display, proximate to the display of the customer case item in the first component, an indicator that the first customer service agent is currently working on the customer case item.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component is further configured to display a prompt to accept or decline the received communication, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from the first customer service agent to decline the received communication;

identifying a second customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item;

assigning the customer case item to the second customer service agent; and

providing the first data to a second display device associated with the second customer service agent, the second display device configured to display a second user interface including a component containing the first data of the customer case item.

19. One or more computing devices for managing customer service agent workload in a customer service environment, the one or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors operable to execute one or more instructions to;

receive, at a computing device, a communication associated with a customer case item associated with a customer;

determine one or more case attributes associated with the customer case item;

identify a first one of a plurality of customer service agents in the customer service environment, the first customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item;

assign the customer case item to the first customer service agent; and

provide first data of the customer case item to a first display device associated with the first customer service agent, the first display device configured to display a user interface including a first component indicating the first data of the customer case item.

20. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computing device to perform a method for managing customer service agent workload in a customer service environment, the method comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a communication associated with a customer case item associated with a customer;

determining one or more case attributes associated with the customer case item;

identifying a first one of a plurality of customer service agents in the customer service environment, the first customer service agent having one or more agent attributes that match the one or more case attributes of the customer case item;

assigning the customer case item to the first customer service agent; and

providing first data of the customer case item to a first display device associated with the first customer service agent, the first display device configured to display a user interface including a first component indicating the first data of the customer case item.