Method and system for automating the creation of customer-centric interfaces

• US 7,379,537 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2002
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mills, Scott H., Martin, John M., Knott, Benjamin A., Joseph, Kurt M., Bushey, Robert R., Pasquale, Theodore B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Hugh
• Assistant Examiner(s): GEBRESILASSIE, KIBROM K
• Application Number:
  US10/217,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20020196277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,114 Days
• Field of Search: 703/26, 705/10, 379/88.01, 379/88.08, 379/88.16, 379/88.18, 379/88.22, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 715/745
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A method and system for automating the creation of customer-centric interfaces includes a customer-centric interface system automatically creating a customer-centric interface, a collection engine, a customer language engine, a task frequency engine, a customer structure engine, and a customer performance engine. The collection engine collects a plurality of customer intention information. The customer language engine utilizes the customer intention information to create customer-centric menu prompts using the customers own terminology and action specific object words. The task frequency engine determines a frequency of occurrence for the tasks for which the customers contact the customer-centric interface and orders the tasks within the customer-centric interface. The customer structure engine determines how the customers relate the tasks together and groups the tasks according to task relationships. The customer performance engine tests the customer-centric interface and modifies the customer-centric interface for optimal performance.

Claims

1. A method for automated creation of a customer-centric interface comprising a plurality of menu prompts, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of customer opening statements;

creating a list of a plurality of tasks for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface;

analyzing the customer opening statements to determine a plurality of customer terminology used by the customers;

eliciting a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task relates to each of the other tasks;

determining a frequency of occurrence for each task based on the customer opening statements;

determining which tasks to include in the customer-centric interface system based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

ordering the tasks within the customer-centric interface system based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the elicited plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task relates to each of the other tasks and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

creating the plurality of menu prompts for the customer-centric interface using the customer terminology, one or more action specific objects, and the customer perceived task relationships;

testing the customer-centric interface with one or more test customers;

providing the test customers with one or more tasks to accomplish using the customer-centric interface;

determining if each test customer accomplished the provided task;

determining a customer satisfaction value for each test customer;

calculating a response time for each provided task;

generating a performance matrix including the response times, the customer satisfaction values, and the task accomplishment;

reconfiguring the customer-centric interface system based on the performance matrix;

implementing the customer-centric interface for access and use by the customers;

monitoring the performance of the customer-centric interface; and

modifying the customer-centric interface based on a plurality of post-implementation results based on the monitoring.

2. A method for creating and integrating interface structure into a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

compiling a list of a plurality of tasks, for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface, based on a task frequency of occurrence;

eliciting a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task in the list relates to each of the other tasks in the list;

aggregating the customer feedback;

analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships; and

structuring the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein eliciting a plurality of customer feedback comprises performing one or more interactive customer exercises.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships comprises determining which of the tasks can be combined into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

eliciting customer feedback regarding one or more labels for each of the groups of tasks.

6. The method of claim 2,

wherein analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships comprises representing the customer perceived task relationships in a numerical data matrix.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating a graphical representation of the customer perceived task relationships based on the numerical data matrix to enable the application of the customer perceived task relationships to the interface structure of the customer-centric interface.

8. The method of claim 2,

wherein structuring the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships comprises organizing the tasks within the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships.

9. The method of claim 2,

wherein structuring the customer-centric interface system in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships comprises combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships.

10. The method of claim 9,

wherein combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships comprises:

ordering the groups of tasks; and

ordering the tasks within each group of tasks.

11. A method for developing customer-centric menu prompts for a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

identifying one or more action words and one or more object words within a customer statement when a customer interfaces with the customer-centric interface;

determining which of the action words are specific and which of the object words are specific;

associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words as used by the customer within the customer statement;

determining a frequency of occurrence for each of the specific object words and each of the specific action words;

storing the specific action words and the specific object words in one or more databases in accordance with the frequency of occurrence;

generalizing the specific action words into one or more general groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more general groups of specific object words; and

creating the customer-centric menu prompts based on at least one of the one or more general groups of specific action words and the one or more general groups of specific object words.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises storing the specific action words in a specific action database.

13. The method of claim 11,

wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises storing the specific object words in a specific object database.

14. The method of claim 11,

wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises maintaining the association between each of the specific action words and the at least one specific object words when storing the specific action words and the specific object words.

15. The method of claim 14,

wherein associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words comprises linking one or more of the specific action words in a specific action database to one or more related specific object words in a specific object database.

16. The method of claim 11,

wherein generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises:

determining one or more commonalties between the specific action words;

determining one or more commonalties between the specific object words;

grouping together the specific action words having the commonality; and

grouping together the specific object words having the commonality.

17. The method of claim 11,

wherein generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises determining a particular general object word for each group of specific object words and a particular general action word for each group of specific action words.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

storing the general object words in a general object database; and

storing the general action words in a general action database.

19. The method of claim 11,

wherein associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words comprises tracking how the customer uses each of the specific action words and the associated at least one specific object words together in the customer statement.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

creating at least one of the customer-centric menu prompts using one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words.

21. The method of claim 20,

wherein creating the customer-centric menu prompts comprises retrieving one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words from one or more of the databases.

22. A method for developing customer-centric menu prompts for a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

identifying one or more action words and one or more object words within a customer statement when a customer interfaces with the customer-centric interface;

determining which of the action words are specific and which of the object words are specific;

associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words as used by the customer within the customer statement;

determining a frequency of occurrence for each of the specific object words and each of the specific action words;

storing the specific action words in a specific action word database and the specific object words in a specific object word database;

generalizing the specific action words into one or more general groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more general groups of specific object words; and

creating the customer-centric menu prompts based on at least one of the one or more general groups of specific action words and the one or more general groups of specific object words.

23. The method of claim 22,

wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words comprises storing the specific action words and the specific object words in accordance with the frequency of occurrence.

24. The method of claim 22,

wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words comprises maintaining the association between each of the specific action words and the at least one specific object word.

25. The method of claim 22,

wherein associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words comprises linking one or more of the specific action words in the specific action word database to one or more related specific object words in the specific object word database.

26. The method of claim 22,

wherein generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises:

determining one or more commonalties between the specific action words;

determining one or more commonalties between the specific object words;

grouping together the specific action words having the commonality; and

grouping together the specific object words having the commonality.

27. The method of claim 22,

wherein generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises determining a particular general object word for each group of specific object words and a particular general action word for each group of specific action words.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

storing the general object words in a general object database; and

storing the general action words in a general action database.

29. The method of claim 22,

wherein associating each of the specific action words with at least one of the specific object words comprises tracking how the customer uses each of the specific action words and the associated at least one specific object words together in the customer statement.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

creating at least one of the customer-centric menu prompts using one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words.

31. The method of claim 30,

wherein creating the customer-centric menu prompts comprises retrieving one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words from the specific action word database and the specific object word database.