System and method for assessing a call center
First Claim
1. A method for assessing a call center, said method comprising the steps of:
- gathering and studying information regarding a call flow of the call center'"'"'s interactive voice response (IVR) system;
developing a coding sheet for the call center, the coding sheet summarizing a call to the call center, including interactions between a caller and the IVR system and interactions between the caller and a live agent;
tabulating a plurality of calls to the call center on the coding sheet based on notes and/or recordings of entire calls, from beginning to end;
analyzing the tabulated coding sheet to determine areas of the IVR system that can be improved; and
generating an analysis report itemizing the areas of the IVR system that can be improved and suggesting ways to improve those areas, wherein said tabulating step includes noting on the coding sheet, for each call, menu selections made by the caller in response to a prompt from the IVR system and a summary of interactions between the caller and a live agent.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for assessing an automated call routing system'"'"'s performance is structured to present a caller calling into the automated call routing system with a call that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) portion and, at an option of the caller, an caller/agent dialog portion. The system operates to monitor calls coming into the automated call routing system and to record end-to-end calls from among the calls coming into the automated call routing system. A sequence of events for the recorded calls is transcribed, including events occurring in the IVR portion and in the caller/agent dialog portion, to identify predetermined call events of interest. The transcribed calls are analyzed to infer a complete event sequence of each of the recorded calls. From the analysis, parameters are calculated corresponding to cost effectiveness and usability of the automated call routing system, based at least in part upon information obtained by the caller during the IVR portion.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for assessing a call center, said method comprising the steps of:
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gathering and studying information regarding a call flow of the call center'"'"'s interactive voice response (IVR) system;
developing a coding sheet for the call center, the coding sheet summarizing a call to the call center, including interactions between a caller and the IVR system and interactions between the caller and a live agent;
tabulating a plurality of calls to the call center on the coding sheet based on notes and/or recordings of entire calls, from beginning to end;
analyzing the tabulated coding sheet to determine areas of the IVR system that can be improved; and
generating an analysis report itemizing the areas of the IVR system that can be improved and suggesting ways to improve those areas, wherein said tabulating step includes noting on the coding sheet, for each call, menu selections made by the caller in response to a prompt from the IVR system and a summary of interactions between the caller and a live agent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for assessing a call center, said method comprising the steps of:
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developing a coding sheet for the call center, the coding sheet summarizing paths a caller may take during a call to the call center, including interactions between the caller and an automated IVR system and interactions between the caller and a live agent;
tabulating on the coding sheet, for each call of a plurality of calls to the call center, events that occurred during the call;
analyzing the tabulated coding sheet to determine areas of the IVR system that can be improved; and
generating an analysis report suggesting ways to improve the areas determined in said analyzing step. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of assessing an automated call routing system'"'"'s performance, the routing system being structured to present a caller calling into the automated call routing system with a call that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) portion and, at an option of the caller, an agent-caller dialog portion, said method comprising the steps of:
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monitoring calls coming into the automated call routing system;
recording end-to-end calls from among the calls coming into the automated call routing system;
transcribing a sequence of events for the recorded calls, including events occurring in the IVR portion and in the agent-caller dialog portion, to identify predetermined call events of interest;
analyzing the transcribed calls to infer a complete event sequence of each of the recorded calls;
calculating parameters corresponding to cost effectiveness and usability of the automated call routing system, based at least in part upon information provided to the caller during the IVR portion; and
determining areas of the automated call routing system that can be improved and suggesting ways of improvement, based at least in part on the calculated parameters. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. An apparatus operable to assess an automated call routing system'"'"'s performance, the routing system being structured to present a caller calling into the automated call routing system with a call that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) portion and, at an option of the caller, an agent-caller dialog portion, said apparatus comprising:
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means for monitoring calls coming into the automated call routing system;
means for recording end-to-end calls from among the calls coming into the automated call routing system;
means for transcribing a sequence of events of each of the recorded calls, including events occurring in the IVR portion and in the caller/agent dialog portion, to identify predetermined call events of interest;
means for analyzing the transcribed calls to infer a complete event sequence of each of the recorded calls;
means for calculating performance parameters corresponding to cost effectiveness and usability of the automated call routing system, based at least in part upon what, if any, information was obtained by the caller during the IVR portion; and
means for determining areas of the automated call routing system that can be improved and suggesting ways of improvement, based at least in part upon the calculated performance parameters. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A system for assessing an automated call routing system'"'"'s performance, the routing system being structured to present a caller calling into the automated call routing system with a call that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) portion and, at an option of the caller, an caller/agent dialog portion, said system being operable to:
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monitor calls coming into the automated call routing system;
record end-to-end calls from among the calls coming into the automated call routing system;
transcribe a sequence of events for the recorded calls, including events occurring in the IVR portion and in the agent-caller dialog portion, to identify predetermined call events of interest;
analyze the transcribed calls to infer a complete event sequence of each of the recorded calls;
calculate parameters corresponding to cost effectiveness and usability of the automated call routing system, based at least in part upon information obtained by the caller during the IVR portion; and
determine areas of the automated call routing system that can be improved and suggesting ways of improvement, based at least in part on the calculated parameters. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A computer program product embodying a program for implementing a method for assessing an automated call routing system'"'"'s performance, the routing system being structured to present a caller calling into the automated call routing system with a call that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) portion and, at an option of the caller, an agent-caller dialog portion, said computer program product comprising code for:
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monitoring calls coming into the automated call routing system;
recording end-to-end calls from among the calls coming into the automated call routing system;
transcribing a sequence of events for the recorded calls, including events occurring in the IVR portion and in the agent-caller dialog portion, to identify predetermined call events of interest;
analyzing the transcribed calls to infer a complete event sequence of each of the recorded calls;
calculating parameters corresponding to cost effectiveness and usability of the automated call routing system, based at least in part upon information obtained by the caller during the IVR portion; and
determining areas of the automated call routing system that can be improved and suggesting ways of improvement, based at least in part on the calculated parameters. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification