Escalated handling of non-realtime communications

• US 7,568,001 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2003
• Issued: 07/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intervoice Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Intervoice Incorporated
• Inventors: McPartlan, Kevin, Broughton, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US10/633,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,189 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/207, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/408 Customer-specific call routing plans
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

A system and method of escalating non-realtime communications entering a Contact Center. The present invention removes communications that may initially be viewed as requiring deferred assistance, such as those near missing their SLA or those determined to require immediate handling based on identifying a particular important customer, from its shared file folders and “escalating” them to be routed as a live communications, for immediate response by a designated agent. An alternative tiered service model for a digital multimedia contact center assigns an entering contact to an initial immediate or deferred service tier based on routing criteria for the contact and may escalate or de-escalate the contact to a different service tier if the routing criteria changes. The service tier is initially determined based on a media type associated with the contact. The digital multimedia contact center contains a set of media servers, each of which passes a contact of a particular media type to a workflow engine (one for each service tier—immediate and deferred), which executes workflows to direct the processing of contacts at service tiers that require agent activity, for the immediate service tier contacts pass through a set of media routers. Agents are allocated to contacts by a dynamic automated contact distributor and the appropriate media router is used to route the contact to an agent. The workflow engines also execute workflows for agents to control the allocation of agents to contacts.

Claims

1. A method of escalating non-realtime customer communications in a contact, the method comprising:

receiving said customer communications from customers, in a plurality of shared file folders, said shared file folders configured in a central processing area of the contact center;

designating at least one of said customer communications as aged based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

extracting the at least one aged customer communication from the plurality of shared file folders;

routing the aged customer communication with an escalation service to an immediate workflow such that the aged customer communication is routed by the immediate workflow for immediate response to a first designated agent of a plurality of designated agents that send responses to customers;

presenting the aged customer communication to the first designated agent such that the aged customer communication is displayed on a desktop of the first designated agent; and

sending, under the direction of said first designated agent, a response to a customer associated with the aged customer communication on the desktop,

wherein the escalation service is operable to escalate an immediate customer communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service checks a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and delays escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the desktop includes a visual indicator, further wherein the visual indicator includes an expiration time for the aged customer communication in the plurality of shared file folders.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the customer communication is designated as immediate based on the set of predetermined escalation criteria before the customer communication becomes aged.

4. The method as claim in claim 1 further comprising monitoring the aged customer communication displayed on the first designated agent'"'"'s desktop, wherein when the first designated agent does not answer the aged customer communication, the immediate workflow routes the aged customer communication to a second designated agent.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising sending an acknowledgment message when the first and second designated agents are unavailable.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising prompting the first designated agent when the step of responding does not occur within a predetermined timeout period after the step of presenting.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the prompting step is unanswered by the first designated agent.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the first designated agent answers the prompting step by declining to respond to the aged customer communication.

9. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the first and second designated agents may select non-realtime customer communications from the plurality of shared file folders that are not designated as aged, and further wherein the first and second designated agents respond to those non-realtime customer communications not designated as aged.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

changing the set of predetermined escalation criteria during the responding step.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein an agent is designated based on a set of predetermined designation criteria.

12. A method of escalating non-realtime communications in a contact center, the method comprising:

extracting an aged communication from a plurality of shared file folders, wherein the plurality of shared file folders are configured in a central processing area of the contact center, and further wherein a communication is designated as aged based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

routing the aged communication with an escalation service to an immediate workflow such that the aged communication is routed by the immediate workflow to a first designated agent for immediate response to;

presenting the aged communication to the first designated agent such that the aged communication is displayed on a desktop of the first designated agent; and

responding to the aged communication, wherein the first designated agent answers the aged communication on the desktop,

wherein the escalation service is operable to escalate an immediate communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service checks a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and delays escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.

13. A system for escalating non-realtime customer communications in a contact center, the system comprising:

means for receiving said customer communications from customers, in a plurality of shared filed folders, in said contact center;

means for designating at least one of said customer communications as aged based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

means for extracting the aged customer communication from the plurality of shared file folders;

means for routing the aged customer communication with an escalation service to an immediate workflow such that the aged customer communication is routed by the immediate workflow for immediate response to a first designated agent of a plurality of designated agents that send responses to customers;

means for presenting the aged customer communication to the first designated agent such that the aged customer communication is displayed on a desktop of the first designated agent; and

means for sending, under the direction of said first designated agent, a response to a customer associated with the aged customer communication on the desktop,

wherein the escalation service is operable to escalate an immediate customer communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service checks a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and delays escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the desktop includes a visual indicator, further wherein the visual indicator includes an expiration time for the aged customer communication in the plurality of shared file folders.

15. The system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the customer communication is designated as immediate based on the set of predetermined escalation criteria.

16. The system as claimed in claim 13 further comprising means for monitoring the aged customer communication displayed on the first designated agent'"'"'s desktop, wherein when the first designated agent does not answer the aged customer communication, the immediate workflow routes the aged customer communication to a second designated agent.

17. The system as claimed in claim 16 further comprising means for sending an acknowledgment message when the first and second designated agents are unavailable.

18. The system as claimed in claim 16 further comprising means for prompting the first designated agent when the means for responding are not activated within a predetermined timeout period after the means for presenting displays the aged customer communication on the desktop of the first designated agent.

19. The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the means for prompting is unanswered by the first designated agent.

20. The system as claim in claim 18 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the first designated agent answers the means for prompting by declining to respond to the aged customer communication.

21. The system as claimed in claim 16 wherein the first and second designated agents may select non-realtime customer communications from the plurality of shared file folders that are not designated as aged, and further wherein the first and second designated agents respond to those non-realtime customer communications not designated as aged.

22. The system as claimed in claim 13 further comprising:

means for changing the set of predetermined escalation criteria when the means for responding are activated.

23. The system as claimed in claim 13 wherein an agent is designated based on a set of predetermined designation criteria.

24. A system for escalating non-realtime communications in a contact center, the system comprising:

means for extracting an aged communication from a plurality of shared file folders, wherein the plurality of shared file folders is configured in a central processing area of the contact center, and further wherein a communication is designated as aged based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

means for routing the aged communication with an escalation service to an immediate workflow such that the aged communication is routed by the immediate workflow for immediate response to a first designated agent;

means for presenting the aged communication to the first designated agent such that the aged communication is displayed on a desktop of the first designated agent; and

means for responding to the aged communication, wherein the first designated agent answers the aged communication on the desktop,

wherein the escalation service escalates an immediate communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service checks a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and delays escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.

25. A system of escalating a non-realtime customer communication in a contact center, comprising:

a plurality of shared file folders where the non-realtime customer communication is received and stored, wherein the plurality of shared file folders are configured in a central processing area of the contact center, and further wherein a customer communication designated as aged based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

an escalation service coupled with the plurality of shared file folders such that the escalation service routes the aged customer communication to an immediate workflow; and

a plurality of desktops for use by designated agents that send responses to customers, said desktops adapted such that the aged customer communication is displayed on a desktop of a first designated agent after receiving the aged customer communication from the immediate workflow,

wherein the first designated agent provides an immediate response to a customer associated with the aged customer communication on the desktop, and further wherein the escalation service is operable to escalate an immediate customer communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service checks a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and delays escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.

26. The system as claimed in claim 25 wherein the desktop includes a visual indicator, further wherein the visual indicator includes an expiration time for the aged customer communication in the plurality of shared file folders.

27. The system as claimed in claim 25 wherein the customer communication is designated as immediate based on the set of predetermined escalation criteria before the customer communication becomes aged.

28. The system as claimed in claim 25 further comprising a second designated agent, wherein when the first designated agent does not answer the aged customer communication, the immediate workflow routes the aged customer communication to the second designated agent.

29. The system as claimed in claim 28 further comprising sending an acknowledgment message when the first and second designated agents are unavailable.

30. The system as claimed in claim 28 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the first designated agent does not answer the prompt.

31. The system as claimed in claim 28 wherein the aged customer communication is routed to the second designated agent after the first designated agent answers the prompt by declining to respond to the aged customer communication.

32. The system as claimed in claim 28 wherein the first and second designated agents may select non-realtime customer communications from the plurality of shared file folders that are not designated as aged, and further wherein the first and second designated agents respond to those non-realtime customer communications not designated as aged.

33. The system as claimed in claim 25 wherein the first designated agent is prompted when the first designated agent does not respond within a predetermined timeout period after the aged customer communication is displayed on the desktop.

34. The system as claimed in claim 25 further comprising:

means for changing the set of predetermined escalation criteria while the first designated agent responds to the aged customer communication.

35. The system as claimed in claim 25 wherein an agent is designated based on a set of predetermined designation criteria.

36. A system of escalating a non-realtime communication in a contact center, comprising:

a plurality of shared file folders where the non-realtime communication is received and stored, wherein the plurality of shared file folders are configured in a central processing area of the contact center, and further wherein an aged communication is extracted from the plurality of shared file folders based on a set of predetermined escalation criteria;

an escalation service coupled with the plurality of shared file folders such that the escalation service routes the aged communication to an immediate workflow; and

a plurality of desktops for use by designated agents that send responses to customers, said desktops adapted such that the aged communication is displayed on a desktop of a first designated agent after receiving the aged communication from the immediate workflow,

wherein the first designated agent provides an immediate response to the aged communication on the desktop, and further wherein the escalation service escalates an immediate communication to the immediate workflow for routing to the first designated agent and wherein the escalation service is operable to check a present threshold for a maximum number of immediate workflows and to delay escalating the customer communications designated as immediate until the number of immediate workflows is below the threshold.