Customer information system

• US 7,684,550 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2005
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yardi Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: OC Concepts, Inc.
• Inventors: Goldberg, Richard, McCullough, William, Maguire, Brian, Goldberg, Marla, Maguire, Karen
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Stella L
• Application Number:
  US11/117,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20060029107A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/93.25, 379/142.06, 379/265.09, 705/5
• US Class Current: 379/93.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/08 Metering calls to called party , i.e. B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/09 Third party charged communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8066 According to the number of recipients
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0192 Sponsored, subsidised calls via advertising, e.g. calling cards with ads or connecting to special ads, free calling time by purchasing goods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/08 Indicating faults in circuits or apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

A system is provided for managing incoming communications placed in response to advertising, online content, and/or special service numbers. Information extracted from incoming communications can be received by a system server and cross-referenced with a database to obtain cross-referenced customer information pertaining to previous customer communications in the form of online communications, telephone calls, and/or in person customer meetings. The cross-referenced customer information can be passed to a client workstation and displayed to the user in the form of an industry-specific template formatted in accordance with the business needs of the user. The template can be automatically populated with the cross-referenced customer information. The user can view and update the customer information, thereby maintaining a retrievable record of the communication. With regard to the multi-housing industry in particular, customer information can be displayed in the form of a guest card template and/or a service card template.

Claims

1. A system for managing customer information, comprising:

a database configured to store customer information;

a system sever in communication with said database, wherein said system sever is configured to;

receive information extracted from an incoming communication, and

cross-reference said extracted information with said customer information of said database to obtain cross-referenced customer information;

a load balancing sever redundantly coupled in communication with the system server, the load balancing server configured to provide a queuing system to queue a plurality of incoming communications into a list of incoming communications and to maintain the list of incoming communications in the event of communication failure; and

a client workstation in communication with said system server, wherein said client workstation is configured to;

display the list of incoming communications including the plurality of incoming communications to a user for selection,

receive said cross-referenced customer information from said system server associated with the plurality of incoming communications,

display said cross-referenced customer information to the user in response to the user'"'"'s selection of one of the plurality of incoming communications in said list,

receive updated customer information input by said user, and

pass said updated customer information to said system server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said system server is further configured to store said updated customer information in said database.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of said incoming communications is an electronic communication.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

said electronic communication comprises a response to online content.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

said electronic communication is an electronic communication selected from the group consisting of;

an email message; and

a response to an online form of said online content.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said client workstation and said user are located at an office of an advertiser.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said system is adapted for managing customer information for the multi-housing industry.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said system server is further configured to;

generate a report in response to a request received from said client workstation, wherein said report comprises customer information, and

pass said report to said client workstation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said system server is further configured to;

retrieve a record in response to a request received from said client workstation, wherein said record comprises customer information, and

pass said record to said client workstation.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computing device for monitoring performance of said system, wherein said computing device is in communication with said system server, wherein said computing device is configured to;

request transaction information from said system server,

receive said transaction information from said system server, and

display said transaction information to a developer.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of client workstations in communication with said system server.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computing device for monitoring whether each of said client workstations is online, wherein said computing device is in communication with said system server, wherein said computing device is configured to;

request client workstation information from said system server,

receive said client workstation information from said system server, and

display said client workstation information to a developer.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein:

at least a portion of said customer information of said database comprises customer information of a walk-in customer obtained by reading a magnetic card provided by said walk-in customer.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein:

at least a portion of said customer information of said database comprises customer information of an online customer.

15. A system for managing customer information, comprising:

a database configured to store customer information;

a system server in communication with said database, wherein said system server is configured to;

receive information extracted from an incoming communication, and

cross-reference said extracted information with said customer information of said database to obtain cross-referenced customer information; and

a client workstation in communication with said system server, wherein said client workstation is configured to;

display a list of incoming communications,

receive said cross-referenced customer information from said system server,

display said cross-referenced customer information in response to a user'"'"'s selection of a communication in said list,

receive updated customer information input by said user,

pass said updated customer information to said system server,

display advertising source information to said user,

receive updated advertising source information input by said user, and

pass said updated advertising source information to said system server.

16. A system for managing customer information, comprising:

a database configured to store customer information;

a system server in communication with said database, wherein said system server is configured to;

receive information extracted from an incoming communication, and

cross-reference said extracted information with said customer information of said database to obtain cross-referenced customer information; and

a client workstation in communication with said system server, wherein said client workstation is configured to;

display a list of incoming communications,

receive said cross-referenced customer information from said system server,

display said cross-referenced customer information in response to a user'"'"'s selection of a communication in said list,

receive updated customer information input by said user,

pass said updated customer information to said system server,

display office representatives information to said user,

receive updated office representatives information input by said user, and

pass said updated office representatives information to said system server.

17. A method for processing customer information, comprising:

receiving cross-referenced customer information from a system server;

displaying a list of incoming communications of a plurality of incoming communications from customers for selection by a user;

automatically populating a template with said cross-referenced customer information and displaying said template with said cross-referenced customer information in response to the user'"'"'s selection of an incoming communication in said list;

receiving updated customer information from said user; and

passing said updated customer information to said system server.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

at least one of said incoming communications is an electronic communication.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

said electronic communication comprises a response to online content.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

said electronic communication is an electronic communication selected from the group consisting of;

an email message; and

a response to an online form of said online content.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said method is performed by a client workstation of a customer information system.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said template is a guest card to display customer information of a potential tenant of a rental property.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said template is a service card to display customer information of a tenant of a rental property.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein:

at least a portion of said cross-referenced information comprises customer information of a walk-in customer obtained by reading a magnetic card provided by said walk-in customer.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein:

at least a portion of said cross-referenced information comprises customer information of an online customer.

26. A method for displaying customer information, comprising:

displaying a template including a plurality of fixed input fields, variable input fields, and manual input fields to a user;

receiving customer information of a customer into at least one variable input field from the user;

receiving cross-referenced information in response to the customer information received into the at least one variable input field;

automatically populating at least one fixed input field of the template with said cross-referenced information;

receiving an email address of a customer into at least one manual input field from the user; and

requesting information received into the plurality of fixed input fields, variable input fields, and manual input fields of the template associated with the customer be saved into a database of a server for later recall.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein:

at least a portion of said cross-referenced information comprises customer information of a walk-in customer obtained by reading a magnetic card provided by said walk-in customer.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein:

at least a portion of said cross-referenced information comprises customer information of an online customer.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein:

said method is performed by a client workstation of a customer information system.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein:

said template is a guest card template for a potential tenant, and

at least one of the plurality of fixed input fields, variable input fields, and manual input fields is desired rental property criteria including a date needed.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein:

said template is a service card template for a potential tenant, and

at least one of the plurality of fixed input fields, variable input fields, and manual input fields identifies a maintenance/serve request including a problem.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the template further includes one or more user-selectable tabs to display further information in a limited area of the template.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein

at least one of the one or more user-selectable tabs is a call log tab, and the method further includes

displaying a list of at least one recorded telephone call received from the customer in a call tab for user selection, and

playing back the at least one recorded telephone call to the user in response to the user selection.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein

at least one of the one or more user-selectable tabs is an emails tab, and the method further includes

displaying saved email communications with the customer.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein

at least one of the one or more user-selectable tabs is a check availability tab, and the method further includes

displaying a list of available properties for rent to the user.

36. A method for managing customer information, comprising:

receiving an electronic communication in response to online content, the electronic communication including customer information;

passing said customer information to a system server;

receiving cross-referenced information from said system server in response to said customer information;

opening a card template and automatically populating input fields of the card template with said customer information and said cross-referenced information;

displaying said template on a monitor to a user;

receiving updated customer information into at least one input field of the card template from said user; and

passing said updated customer information in the least one input field to said system server.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein:

said electronic communication including customer information is received by an email message from an online customer.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein:

said electronic communication including customer information is received by reading a magnetic card provided by a walk-in customer.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein:

said method is performed by a client workstation of a customer information system.