Using web page hit statistics to anticipate call center traffic

• US 6,188,673 B1
• Filed: 09/02/1997
• Issued: 02/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Christensen, Tore L., Bauer, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): VINCENT, DAVID ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US08/922,468
• Time in Patent Office: 1,260 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/266, 379/220, 379/112, 379/113, 379/114, 379/309, 370/352, 370/354, 370/356, 370/410, 370/522, 370/752, 709/203, 707/10
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services

Abstract

In a call center (106) associated with a World-Wide Web site whose pages (121, 122) provide a call-request capability (115), the call center receives notifications of page hits and call requests from the Web server (103) and uses these notifications to determine a historical page hits-to-call requests ratio. It then uses the ratio along with current page-hit notifications to predict a volume of calls that will soon need to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted call volume. The notifications are further used in conjunction with knowledge of information about the content of the Web pages to predict what agent skills will be needed to handle the calls, and to staff agent splits accordingly.

Claims

1. A communications system comprising:

a server for a client-server data network that includes the server and a plurality of clients of the server wherein the server provides the clients with items of information requested by the clients;

a call center for receiving calls relating to the items of information from the clients via a telephone network and handling the calls;

a communications connection connecting the server with the call center;

the server being responsive to receiving requests from clients for items of information including page request that are not request for calls to the call center by sending notifications of the requests via the communications connection to the call center; and

the call center being responsive to receiving the notifications by storing the received notifications for use in predicting a volume of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

each said notification identifies the requested item of information, and

the call center stores the received notifications further for use in predicting types of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing agent splits of the call center in anticipation of the predicted types.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein:

each said notification identifies the requested item of information, and

the call center stores the received notifications further for use in predicting agent skills needed to handle the predicted volume of calls and staffing the call center with agents having the predicted skills in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the clients selectively indicate to the server requests for calls to the call center;

the server is further responsive to receiving requests from the clients for calls to the call center by sending notifications of the call requests via the communications connection to the call center; and

the call center is further responsive to receiving the notifications of the call requests by storing the received notifications of the call requests for use in predicting the volume of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein:

the call center stores the received item request notifications and call request notifications for use in determining a ratio of item requests to calls and predicting from the received item request notifications and the ratio the volume of calls to be handled by the call center.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein:

the call center responds to receipt of a call request notification by determining an estimated wait time of the requested call in the call center and notifying the server of the estimated wait time; and

the server responds to the notification of the estimated wait time by notifying the client who requested the call of the estimated wait time.

7. A communications system comprising:

a Web page server for a data network that implements a World Wide Web and includes the server and a plurality of clients of the server and wherein the server provides the clients with Web pages requested by the clients and the clients selectively indicate to the server via the provided Web pages requests for calls relating to the provided Web pages;

a call center for receiving the calls from the clients via a telephone network and handling the calls, the call center being communicatively connected to the server;

the server being responsive to receipt of requests from clients for Web pages including Web page request that are not request for calls to the call center by sending notifications identifying the requested Web pages to the call center, and being responsive to receipt of call requests from the clients by sending notifications identifying the Web pages via which the call requests were made to the call center; and

the call center being responsive to receipt of the notifications by storing the notifications for use in determining a ratio of Web page requests to calls and predicting from the determined ratio and the page request notifications a volume of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein:

the call center stores the received notifications further for use in predicting types of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing agent splits of the call center in anticipation of the predicted types.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein:

each said call request notification further identifies a telephone number of the call center to which the requested call is directed.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein:

the call center stores the received notifications further for use in predicting agent skills needed to handle the predicted volume of calls and staffing the call center with agents having the predicted skills in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein:

each said call request notification further identifies a vector directory number of the call center to which the requested call is directed.

12. A server for a client-server data network, comprising:

means for communicating with clients over the data network to receive requests from the clients for items of information including page requests that are not requests for calls to a call center that handles calls relating to the requested items and to send the requested items to the requesting clients; and

means responsive to the received requests for items of information for sending notifications of the requests to the call center.

13. The server of claim 12 wherein:

the communicating means further receive requests for calls to the call center from the clients, and

the sending means are further responsive to the received requests for calls by sending notifications of the requests to the call center.

14. A call center for handling calls relating to items of information provided by a server to clients who request the items in a client-server data network, comprising:

means for communicating with the server to receive from the server notifications of requests received by the server from the clients for items of information including page request that are not request for calls to the call center; and

means responsive to receipt of the notifications of the requests for items of information, for storing the notifications for use in predicting a volume of calls to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

15. The call center of claim 14 wherein

the communicating means further communicate with the server to receive from the server notifications of requests for calls to the call center received by the server from the clients.

16. A communications method in a system comprising a client-server data network that includes a server and a plurality of clients of the server, a call center communicatively connected to the server, and a telephone network interconnecting the call center with the clients, the method comprising the steps of:

in response to receiving requests for items of information calls to the call center from clients via the data network, the server providing the clients with the requested items of information via the data network;

further in response to the receiving, the server notifying the call center of the requests; and

in response to receiving the notifications, the call center storing the notifications for use in predicting a volume of calls, relating to the items of information, to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

21. A call center for performing the method of claim 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20.

17. A communication method in a system comprising a client-server data network that includes a server and a plurality of clients of the server, a call center communicatively connected to the server, and a telephone network inter-connecting the call center with the clients, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving at the server a request for an item of information including a page request that is not a request for a call to the call center from a client via the data network;

in response to the receiving, the server sending the requested item to the requesting client via the data network; and

further in response to the receiving, the server sending a notification of the request to the call center.

18. The communication method of claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the server via the data network a second request from the client for a call, relating to the item of information, to the call center;

in response to the receiving, the server effecting the requested call; and

further in response to the receiving, the server sending a notification of the second request to the call center.

19. A communication method in a system comprising a client-server data network that includes a server and a plurality of clients of the server, a call center communicatively connected to the server, and a telephone network interconnecting the call center with the clients, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving at the call center notifications from the server of requests received by the server from clients for items of information including page request that are not requests for calls to the call center; and

in response to the receipt, the call center storing the received notifications for use in predicting a volume of calls, relating to the items of information, to be handled by the call center and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of calls.

20. The communication method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the call center second notifications from the server of requests for calls to the call center received by the server from the clients; and

in response to the receipt of the second notifications, the call center storing the received second notifications for use in predicting the volume of the calls and staffing the call center in anticipation of the predicted volume of the calls.