Arrangement for controlling the volume and type of contacts in an internet call center

• US 6,741,699 B1
• Filed: 09/25/2000
• Issued: 05/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Flockhart, Andrew D., Mathews, Eugene P.
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, BING Q
• Application Number:
  US09/669,257
• Time in Patent Office: 1,338 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.13, 379/88.17, 379/265.02, 379/265.04, 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.02, 379/266.03, 379/266.06, 379/900
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/367 Traffic or load control
• 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 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for controlling call volume into a call center. The method and system provides the contacting entity with a file of information for viewing that encourages or discourages continuance of the contact or initiation of another contact with the call center. This is accomplished by adding or omitting features from the file such as contact buttons or icons, messages, and the like. The architecture determines which type of file to provide a contacting entity based on such factors as the staffing level of the call center, the busyness of the call center, the value of the contact and/or contacting entity, and the like.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information from among the plurality of sets of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity, wherein a first set of display information encourages the contacting entity to continue the contact and wherein a different second set of display information discourages the contacting entity from continuing the contact; and

forwarding the selected set of display information to the contacting entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more predetermined types of information is related to a plurality of a value associated with the contacting entity, a value associated with the contact by the contacting entity, and an ability of the contact center to service the contact by the contacting entity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more predetermined types of information associated with the at least one of the one or more contacting entities includes at least one of(a) information provided by the contact center to the contacting entity in the transaction, (b) information provided by the contacting entity to the contact center in the transaction, (c) information that is unique to the contacting entity, (d) a wait time associated with the contacting entity, and (e) at least one of a staffing level of the contact center, a skill of the contact center, and a customer type of the contact center.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information that is unique to the contacting entity includes a plurality of an identifier of the contacting entity, a location of the contacting entity, prior business patterns of the contacting entity, financial resources of the contacting entity, and a type of contacting entity.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the information that is unique to the contacting entity is obtained from a webform, a log in process, a cookie, and a file containing information from historic transactions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of displays differ in one or more of icon type, icon size, icon color, message type, message size, and message color.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing step comprises:

determining a staffing level of at least one of the contact center, a skill in the contact center and a customer type of the contact center; and

determining if the contact center has at least one of an available working agent for a selected contact and a wait time in excess of a predetermined amount for the selected contact to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing step includes the step of comparing a value associated with at least one of a contact and a contacting entity to one or more predetermined values to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity and wherein only one of the first and second displays comprises an icon to contact an agent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step includes the step of selecting at least one of the following features for the display information based on the analyzing step:

icon type, icon size, icon color, message type, message size, and message color.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step includes at least one of omitting an icon from the display information and adding an icon to the display information and wherein the icon causes an agent to contact the contacting entity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step includes at least one of omitting a message from the display information and adding a message to the display information and wherein the message provides the estimated wait time until an agent can service the contact.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein when the selecting step is performed for a first contacting entity an icon is omitted from first display information corresponding to the first contacting entity and when the selecting step is performed for a second contacting entity the icon is included in second display information corresponding to the second contacting entity.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining when a predetermined event has occurred;

when the predetermined event has occurred, performing the analyzing and selecting steps; and

when the predetermined event has not occurred, not performing the analyzing and selecting steps.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined event is at least one of estimated wait time exceeds a selected threshold, agent staffing levels in one or more skills are below a selected threshold, the actual wait time exceeds a selected threshold, and agent staffing levels for one or more customer types are below a selected threshold.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein only one of the first and second displays is forwarded to a contacting entity when the predetermined event has not occurred.

16. A system for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

a comparer operable to analyze one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine a desirability of servicing the contacting entity; and

a display controller operable to control, based on the desirability, a collection of information to be displayed to a first entity contacting the contact center, wherein, in a first mode of the display controller, a first collection of information is provided to encourage the first contacting entity to continue a first contact and in a second mode of the display controller a second collection of information is provided to discourage a second contacting entity from continuing a second contact, wherein the first and second collections of information are different.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein in the first mode a first display corresponding to the first collection of information has a first appearance and in the second mode a second display corresponding to the second collection of information has a second appearance and wherein the first appearance differs from the second appearance in one or more of the following respects:

the presence or absence of an icon, the presence or absence of a message, icon type, icon size, icon color, message type, message size, and message color.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a valuator for assigning a value to at least one of a contact and a contacting entity.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the comparer is operable to compare the value assigned to the at least one of a contact and contacting entity with one or more predetermined values to provide the display controller with input regarding whether to enter into first or second modes.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more predetermined types of information is at least one of information received from the entity during the contact and information previously assigned to the entity.

21. The system of claim 16, further comprising a wait time predictor to provide wait time information to the display controller.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein an interface accessed by the contacting entity is in communication with the display controller via a network.

23. The system of claim 16, further comprising a call center analyzer to determine at least one of a staffing level of the contact center, of a customer type and of a staffing level of a skill level of the contact center.

24. A system for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

a display controller for controlling a collection of information to be viewed by an entity contacting the contact center, wherein, in a first mode of the display controller, a first collection of information is provided to encourage a first contacting entity to continue a first contact and in a second mode of the display controller a second collection of information is provided to discourage the first contacting entity from continuing the first contact;

a valuator for assigning a value to at least one of the first contact and the first contacting entity; and

a comparer for comparing the value assigned to the at least one of the first contact and the first contacting entity with one or more predetermined values to provide the display controller with input regarding whether to enter into first or second modes.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the first and second collections of information corresponding to different degrees of desirability in servicing the first contacting entity.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the value is related to a plurality of a value associated with the contacting entity, a value associated with the contact by the contacting entity, and an ability of the contact center to service the contact by the contacting entity.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the valuator assigns the value based on one or more predetermined types of information associated with the at least one of the one or more contacting entities includes at least one of (a) information provided by the contact center to the contacting entity in the transaction, (b) information provided by the contacting entity to the contact center in the transaction, (c) information that is unique to the contacting entity, (d) a wait time associated with the contacting entity, and (e) at least one of a staffing level of the contact center, a skill of the contact center, and a customer type of the contact center.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the information that is unique to the contacting entity includes a plurality of an identifier of the contacting entity, a location of the contacting entity, prior business patterns of the contacting entity, financial resources of the contacting entity, and a type of contacting entity.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the information that is unique to the contacting entity is obtained from a webform, a log in process, a cookie, and a file containing information from historic transactions.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein the first and second collections of information correspond to first and second different displays, the first and second displays differing in one or more of icon type, icon size, icon color, message type, message size, and message color.

31. The system of claim 24, wherein the valuator is operable to:

determine a staffing level of at least one of the contact center, a skill in the contact center and a customer type of the contact center; and

determine if the contact center has at least one of an available working agent for a selected contact and a wait time in excess of a predetermined amount for the selected contact to determine the desirability of servicing the contacting entity.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the display controller is operable to select at least one of the following features for the first and second collections of information:

icon type, icon size, icon color, message type, message size, and message color.

33. The system of claim 24, wherein, when compared to the first collection of information, the second collection of information at least one of omits an icon from the display information and adds an icon to the display information and wherein the icon causes an agent to contact the contacting entity.

34. The system of claim 24, wherein, when compared to the first collection of information, the second collection of information at least one of omits a message from the display information and adds a message to the display information.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein the value is related to a value of a Universal Resource Locator associated with the contact center.

36. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center, wherein the analyzing step includes the step of comparing a value associated with at least one of a contact and a contacting entity to one or more predetermined values to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity and wherein only one of the first and second displays comprises an icon to contact an agent.

37. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center, wherein the analyzing step includes the step of comparing a value associated with at least one of a contact and a contacting entity to one or more predetermined values to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity and wherein only one of the first and second displays comprises an icon to contact an agent.

38. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center, wherein the selecting step includes at least one of omitting an icon from the display information and adding an icon to the display information and wherein the icon causes an agent to contact the contacting entity.

39. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center, wherein the selecting step includes at least one of omitting a message from the display information and adding a message to the display information and wherein the message provides the estimated wait time until an agent can service the contact.

40. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center, wherein when the selecting step is performed for a first contacting entity an icon is omitted from first display information corresponding to the first contacting entity and when the selecting step is performed for a second contacting entity the icon is included in second display information corresponding to the second contacting entity.

41. A method for controlling a volume of contacts to be serviced by a contact center, comprising:

(a) providing a plurality of sets of display information corresponding to a plurality of different displays, each of the displays corresponding to a degree of desirability in continuing the contact with a contacting entity;

(b) determining when a predetermined event has occurred;

(c) when the predetermined event has occurred, performing the following steps;

(i) analyzing one or more predetermined types of information associated with a contacting entity to determine the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity;

(ii) selecting a set of display information corresponding to the desirability of continuing the contact with the contacting entity; and

(iii) forwarding the selected display information to the contacting entity, whereby the selected display information is configured to influence the interaction of the contacting entity with the contact center; and

(d) when the predetermined event has not occurred, not performing the analyzing and selecting steps (i) and (ii), wherein the predetermined event is at least one of estimated wait time exceeds a selected threshold, agent staffing levels in one or more skills are below a selected threshold, the actual wait time exceeds a selected threshold, and agent staffing levels for one or more customer types are below a selected threshold.