Method and system for automatically monitoring the performance quality of call center service representatives

• US 5,818,907 A
• Filed: 08/04/1997
• Issued: 10/06/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: E-Talk Corporation
• Original Assignee: Teknekron Infoswitch Corp. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Maloney, Michael J., McCalmont, David T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/905,316
• Time in Patent Office: 428 Days
• Field of Search: 379/34, 379/35, 379/112, 379/135, 379/265, 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/85, 379/266, 379/309, 379/133
• US Class Current: 379/32.01
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/10 together with the recording, indicating or registering of other data, e.g. of signs of identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6018 Subscriber or terminal logon/logoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

A method and system permit monitoring the performance of a call center agent or similar service representative in servicing calls in a call center by determining an interval within which to monitor the service representative'"'"'s performance in responding to calls, as well as by determining a number of calls or length of time for monitoring the representative within the interval. The invention automatically and randomly determines the precise time within the interval for monitoring the agent for a pre-determined period of time or for a pre-determined number of calls and records the performance of the service representative at the automatically and randomly determined time with or without notification to the agent. The recorded performance may then be listened to and annotated by a call center supervisor. This provides the call center supervisor with an automated method and system for scheduling and monitoring the performance of call center agents or service representatives that is consistent and equitable among all monitored agents.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in handling customer calls, the method comprising the steps of:

determining for each service representative a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored; and

automatically recording a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each service representative in a memory in digital format.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of randomly determining which customer calls to record for each service representative to be monitored.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of playing back the recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of annotating the recorded customer calls by retrieving the recorded customer calls from the memory and adding data to the recorded customer calls.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of automatically generating periodic reports of a plurality of the recorded customer calls.

6. A system for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the system comprising:

a processor for executing instructions, the instructions comprising instructions for determining for each representative a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored; and

a recorder for automatically recording a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each representative in a memory in digital format.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising instructions for randomly determining which customer calls to record for each service representative to be monitored.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising instructions that permit a user to retrieve the recorded customer calls from the memory and for adding data to the recorded customer calls.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising instructions that permit the recorded customer calls to be played back.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising instructions that permit the recorded customer calls to be played back at one of a plurality of different speeds.

11. The system of claim 6 further comprising instructions for automatically generating periodic reports on a plurality of the recorded customer calls.

12. A system for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the system comprising:

a supervisor workstation for executing supervisor instructions, the supervisor instructions comprising instructions for determining a maximum number of customer calls to be monitored for each service representative;

a service monitoring control processor for executing service monitoring control instructions, the service monitoring control instructions comprising instructions for scheduling the recording by a recorder of a number of customer calls less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls for each representative; and

the recorder for recording the customer calls for each representative in a memory in digital format.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for notifying the service representatives that the recording will occur.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for randomly determining which customer calls to record for each service representative to be monitored.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions that permit a user to retrieve the recorded customer calls from the memory and to add data to the recorded customer calls.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions that permit the recorded customer calls to be played back.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the service monitoring control instructions further comprise instructions for reporting the recorded customer calls to the supervisor workstation.

18. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in servicing customer calls, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a maximum number of customer calls to be recorded for each service representative;

randomly determining which customer calls to record; and

automatically recording the determined customer calls so that the number of customer calls recorded is less than or equal to the maximum number of customer calls.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of automatically generating periodic reports of a plurality of the recorded customer calls.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of playing back the recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of annotating the recorded customer calls by retrieving the recorded customer calls from the memory and adding data to the recorded customer calls.

22. A method for monitoring a plurality of service representatives in handling customer calls, the method comprising:

determining for each service representative a maximum number of customer calls to monitor;

selecting a voice file associated with the service representative;

selecting a customer call to record;

recording the customer call in the voice file;

repeating the steps of selecting and recording for each customer call to monitor; and

closing the voice file if the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length; and

closing the voice file if the maximum monitoring length has been reached.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length; and

closing the voice file if the maximum monitoring length has been reached, wherein the maximum monitoring length is reached before the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length;

determining that the maximum monitoring length has been reached during the recording of a particular customer call; and

closing the voice file after recording the particular customer call.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a maximum monitoring length;

determining that the maximum monitoring length has been reached during the recording of a particular customer call and before the maximum number of customer calls have been recorded; and

closing the voice file after recording the particular customer call.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of selecting a customer call comprises randomly selecting the customer call to record.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising accessing the voice tile and playing back the recorded customer calls at variable playback speeds.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

retrieving a selected recorded customer call from the voice file; and

adding data to the selected recorded customer call.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising generating periodic reports of a plurality of the recorded customer calls.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein the voice file comprises a memory in digital format.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of selecting a customer call comprises detecting the connection of a customer call to the service representative.