Method and system for routing incoming telephone calls to available agents based on agent skills
First Claim
1. A method for routing an incoming telephone call from an external caller to one of a plurality of available agents in an automatic call distribution system, an available agent being an agent that is presently able to accept incoming telephone calls, the method comprising the steps of:
- associating at least one agent-skill indicator with each of the agents, the agent-skill indicator being representative of at least one skill of each of the agents;
forming skill groups, each of the skill groups having a common agent-skill indicator associated therewith, inserting available agents into the skill groups by matching each of the at least one agent-skill indicators associated with each of the available agents and one of the common agent-skill indicators associated with the skill groups;
identifying a call-skill indicator deemed useful in satisfying a need of the external caller;
matching the call-skill indicator with one of the skill groups associated with a common agent-skill indicator which corresponds to the call-skill indicator; and
connecting the external caller to one of the available agents in the matched skill group.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and automatic call distribution system 100 for routing incoming telephone calls 206 from external telephonic units 102 to selected ones of a plurality of agents A1001-A1007 wherein the agents A1001-A1007 are grouped into skill groups 110a-110n are provided. Each of the skill groups 110a-110n is comprised of agents having a common agent-skill indicator. An agent-skill indicator being representative of a skill of the agent. Further, the agents in a skill group are arranged by length of time the agent has been available. An incoming telephone call 206 is initially assigned a call-skill indicator representative of a skill deemed useful in satisfying a need of the external caller. The call-skill indicator is then matched to a common agent-skill indicator of one of the skill groups. The telephone call is routed to the available agent in the matched skill group having been available the longest time. If no agents are available, the external caller is placed in queue until an available agent enters the matched skill group. Unavailable agents are stored in an unavailable group 200 and are inserted into corresponding skill groups 110a-110n when they become available.
363 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for routing an incoming telephone call from an external caller to one of a plurality of available agents in an automatic call distribution system, an available agent being an agent that is presently able to accept incoming telephone calls, the method comprising the steps of:
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associating at least one agent-skill indicator with each of the agents, the agent-skill indicator being representative of at least one skill of each of the agents;
forming skill groups, each of the skill groups having a common agent-skill indicator associated therewith, inserting available agents into the skill groups by matching each of the at least one agent-skill indicators associated with each of the available agents and one of the common agent-skill indicators associated with the skill groups;
identifying a call-skill indicator deemed useful in satisfying a need of the external caller;
matching the call-skill indicator with one of the skill groups associated with a common agent-skill indicator which corresponds to the call-skill indicator; and
connecting the external caller to one of the available agents in the matched skill group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
detecting a telephone number called by the external caller; and
selecting the call-skill indicator based on the telephone number.
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3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of identifying a call-skill indicator comprises the steps of:
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detecting a destination telephone number called by the external caller;
detecting an origin telephone number associated with a telephonic unit used by the external caller; and
selecting the call-skill indicator based on the destination and origin telephone numbers.
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4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of identifying a call-skill indicator comprises the steps of:
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prompting the external caller to provide predetermined information; and
using the information to select the call-skill indicator.
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5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of associating at least one agent-skill indicator comprises the step of assigning at least one agent-skill number for each of the skills of each agent.
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6. The method as recited in claim 1 comprising the step of removing each of the available agents from its corresponding skill groups as the agent becomes unavailable, an unavailable agent being an agent that is unable to accept incoming telephone calls.
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7. The method as recited in claim 1 comprising the step of placing the external caller on hold when no available agents are contained in the matched skill group.
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8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of forming skill groups of available agents comprises the steps of:
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detecting a length of time during which each of the available agents are available; and
wherein the step of connecting the external caller comprises the step of connecting the external caller to the agent who has been available for the longest length of time.
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9. In an automatic call distribution system, a method for selecting agents to receive incoming telephone calls, the method comprising the steps of:
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associating at least one agent-skill indicator with each of the agents, an agent-skill indicator being representative of a skill possessed by the agent associated therewith;
forming skill groups, each of the skill groups having a common agent-skill indicator associated therewith;
determining which of the agents are available, an available agent being an agent that is presently able to accept incoming telephone calls;
grouping the available agents in the skill groups by matching the agent-skill indicator associated with each agent and the common agent-skill indicator associated with each skill group;
receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller;
detecting a particular need of the caller;
matching the common agent-skill indicator associated with one of the skill groups and the need of the caller; and
selecting one of the agents in the matched skill group to receive the incoming telephone call. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
detecting when one of the available agents becomes unavailable, an unavailable agent being an agent that is presently unable to accept incoming telephone calls;
removing each of the unavailable agents from its corresponding skill groups;
detecting when each of the unavailable agents subsequently becomes available to accept incoming telephone calls; and
inserting each of the detected available agents into its corresponding skill groups based on the at least one agent-skill indicator specified for the detected available agent.
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11. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the step of selecting one of the agents in the selected skill group comprises the step of selecting one of the agents in the selected skill group based on the length of time each of the agents in the selected skill group has been available.
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12. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the step of associating at least one agent-skill indicator comprises the step of assigning at least one agent-skill number to each of the agents.
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13. An automatic call distribution system for matching skill requirements of an incoming telephone caller with skills of one of a plurality of agents, some of the agents being available to accept an incoming telephone call, the system comprising:
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computer means for detecting the skill requirements of the caller, for specifying skills possessed by each of the plurality of agents, for creating a plurality of skill groups each of which has a common skill associated therewith and which contains available agents having the common skill, and for selecting one of the skill groups having the common skill associated therewith which matches the skill requirements of the caller; and
connecting means for connecting the caller to one of the available agents within the selected skill group. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
wherein the connecting means connects the caller to one of the available agents within the selected skill group based on the length of time each of the available agents has been available.
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15. The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 13 wherein the computer means detects when each of the available agents becomes unavailable;
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a memory device for storing the detected unavailable agents until the unavailable agents become available, and wherein the computer means retrieves available agents from the memory device and inserts the available agents into appropriate ones of the skill groups.
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16. The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 13 wherein the computer means comprises:
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called number means for detecting a destination telephone number called by the caller, and wherein the computer means determines the skill requirements of the caller based on the destination telephone number.
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17. The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 16 wherein the called number means identifies the destination telephone number called by the caller based on dialed number identification service information.
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18. The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 16 wherein the computer means comprises:
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originating number means for detecting an origin telephone number indicative of telecommunications equipment used by the external caller to place the incoming telephone call; and
wherein the computer means determines the skill requirement of the caller based on the destination and origin telephone numbers.
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19. The automatic call distribution system as recited in claim 13 wherein the computer means comprises
prompting means for prompting the caller to provide predetermined information; - and
wherein the computer means uses the information to detect the skill requirements of the caller.
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Specification