Method and apparatus for customer key routing
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for routing calls within an automatic contact distribution system (ACD) that comprises the steps of:
- accessing at least three different evaluators programmed to collect information for an associated call about at least three different respective identified sets of attributes including a customer evaluator defined by customer information, said customer evaluator programmed to collect customer information about an identified set of customer attributes relating to customers for at least some of the customers originating calls in to the ACD, a business evaluator defined by attributes of agents of the ACD, said business evaluator programmed to collect information about an identified set of business attributes relating to agents and to a business receiving calls on the ACD, and an environment evaluator defined by available equipment resources of the ACD, wherein equipment resources do not include agent availability and agent attribute said environmental evaluator programmed to collect information about an identified set of environmental attributes reflecting equipment resources available to handle calls on the ACD;
initiating for the associated call the collection of information enabling said evaluators to assign a value to those attributes for which information exists;
creating for the associated call a customer attribute score value based upon the collected customer attribute values, a business attribute score value based upon the business attribute values, and an environment attribute score value based upon the environmental attribute values;
performing a comparison of the customer attribute score value to the business attribute score value and the environment attribute score value using a selected one of a plurality of attribute matching algorithms for matching the attribute score values to select an agent where the selected algorithm is chosen based on resources bandwidth available to determine the match, and routing said call to the agent selected by said comparison.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment, a method is provided for routing calls within an automatic contact distribution system comprising assessing at least two evaluators programmed to collect information about identified sets of attributes associated with a call. The system then initiates the collection of information to enable the evaluators to assign a value to those attributed for which information exists. A comparison is then performed of the values assigned to the attributes in each evaluator. The call is then routed to the agent selected by the comparison.
36 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method for routing calls within an automatic contact distribution system (ACD) that comprises the steps of:
-
accessing at least three different evaluators programmed to collect information for an associated call about at least three different respective identified sets of attributes including a customer evaluator defined by customer information, said customer evaluator programmed to collect customer information about an identified set of customer attributes relating to customers for at least some of the customers originating calls in to the ACD, a business evaluator defined by attributes of agents of the ACD, said business evaluator programmed to collect information about an identified set of business attributes relating to agents and to a business receiving calls on the ACD, and an environment evaluator defined by available equipment resources of the ACD, wherein equipment resources do not include agent availability and agent attribute said environmental evaluator programmed to collect information about an identified set of environmental attributes reflecting equipment resources available to handle calls on the ACD; initiating for the associated call the collection of information enabling said evaluators to assign a value to those attributes for which information exists; creating for the associated call a customer attribute score value based upon the collected customer attribute values, a business attribute score value based upon the business attribute values, and an environment attribute score value based upon the environmental attribute values; performing a comparison of the customer attribute score value to the business attribute score value and the environment attribute score value using a selected one of a plurality of attribute matching algorithms for matching the attribute score values to select an agent where the selected algorithm is chosen based on resources bandwidth available to determine the match, and routing said call to the agent selected by said comparison. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. An apparatus for routing calls within an automatic contact distribution system (ACD) comprising:
-
means for collecting customer information for an associated call about a preprogrammed set of customer attributes for use by a customer evaluator, said customer evaluator defined by customer information; means for collecting information about a preprogrammed set of business attributes relating to a business receiving the associated call on the ACD for use by a business evaluator, said business evaluator defined by attributes of agents of the ACD; means for collecting information about a preprogrammed set of environmental attributes reflecting equipment resources available to handle calls for use by an environment evaluator, said environmental evaluator defined by available equipment resources of the ACD wherein equipment resources do not include agent attributes and agent availability; means for assigning a priority as required to said attributes within each evaluator; means for giving a weighted value to at least one of said attributes within each evaluator; means for assigning dependencies to certain attributes within each evaluator; means for creating for the associated call a customer attribute score value based upon the customer attributes, priority, weighted value and dependencies, for creating a business attribute score value based upon the attribute, priority, weighted value, and dependencies, and for creating an environment attribute score value based upon the attribute, priority, weighted value, and dependencies; and means for comparing for the associated call, the customer attribute score value to the business attribute score value and the environment attribute score value using a selected attribute matching algorithm for matching the attribute score values, the algorithm selected to use less attributes to form a more loose matching of the attribute scores in response to an increase in current transactions, to match a customer with a compatible available agent; means for routing said call to the agent selected by the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. An apparatus for routing calls within an automatic contact distribution system (ACD) comprising:
at least one digital processor programmed to;
collect for an associated call information about a preprogrammed set of customer attributes for storage in at least a customer evaluator, where the customer evaluator is defined by customer information, and collect information about a set of business attributes relating to a business receiving the associated call for at least one business evaluator, where the business evaluator is defined by attributes of agents, and collect information about a set of environment attributes reflecting environmental resources available to handle calls for an environmental evaluator, where the environmental evaluator is defined by available equipment resources of the ACD which do not include agent availability;
assign values to the attributes for which information is available;
assign a priority as required to said attributes in said evaluators;
assign a weighted value as required to said attributes in said evaluators;
assign dependencies as required to certain attributes within each evaluator;
compare the values of any customer attributes including any assigned priority, dependencies, or weighted values against the business and environment attribute values together with any assigned priorities, weighted values or dependencies using a selected attribute matching algorithm, selected from a plurality of matching algorithms for matching the attributes, to match a customer with a compatible available agent; and
then rout the call to said agent.- View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
Specification