Time-based work assignments in automated contact distribution
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a first contact at a contact routing mechanism, the contact routing mechanism adapted to distribute contacts among a plurality of contact center resources;
generating a first work item representing the received first contact;
determining an Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) of the first work item; and
based on the ECHT of the first work item, causing at least one of the following substeps to be performed;
(i) placing the first work item in a dynamically generated fast track queue, wherein the dynamically generated fast track queue is newly created to receive the first work item; and
(ii) placing the first work item in a higher queue position than a second work item having an ECHT larger than the ECHT of the first work item, wherein, in the absence of considering the ECHT of the first work item, the second work item would be in a higher queue position than the first work item.
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Abstract
A contact center is described and systems, methods, and devices for processing work items within the contact center are provided. An Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) is computed for one or more work items in the contact center and work items are distributed within the contact center at least partially based on the ECHT calculations. Thus, a time-based contact routing mechanism is provided to increase the efficiency with which a contact center operates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving a first contact at a contact routing mechanism, the contact routing mechanism adapted to distribute contacts among a plurality of contact center resources; generating a first work item representing the received first contact; determining an Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) of the first work item; and based on the ECHT of the first work item, causing at least one of the following substeps to be performed; (i) placing the first work item in a dynamically generated fast track queue, wherein the dynamically generated fast track queue is newly created to receive the first work item; and (ii) placing the first work item in a higher queue position than a second work item having an ECHT larger than the ECHT of the first work item, wherein, in the absence of considering the ECHT of the first work item, the second work item would be in a higher queue position than the first work item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An automated contact distributor configured to distribute contacts among a plurality of resources in a contact center, the automated contact distributor comprising:
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at least one work item queue comprising a plurality of queue positions for assignment to one or more work items received at the automated contact distributor; an Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) calculator adapted to determine an ECHT for work items received at the contact distributor; and a routing engine adapted to, based on the ECHT calculated for a first work item, perform at least one of the following; (i) place the first work item in a dynamically generated fast track queue, wherein the dynamically generated fast track queue is created in response to calculating the ECHT for the first work item; and (ii) place the first work item in a higher queue position than a second work item having an ECHT larger than the ECHT of the first work item, wherein, in the absence of considering the ECHT of the first work item, the second work item would be in a higher queue position than the first work item. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A contact center, comprising:
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a plurality of contact center resources; a contact routing mechanism configured to distribute work items among the plurality of contact center resources; at least one work item queue comprising a plurality of queue positions for assignment to one or more work items received at the contact routing mechanism; an Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) calculator adapted to determine an ECHT for work items received at the contact distributor; and a routing engine adapted to, based on the ECHT calculated for a first work item, perform at least one of the following; (i) place the first work item in a dynamically generated fast track queue, wherein the dynamically generated fast track queue is newly created to receive the first work item; and (ii) place the first work item in a higher queue position than a second work item having an ECHT larger than the ECHT of the first work item, wherein, in the absence of considering the ECHT of the first work item, the second work item would be in a higher queue position than the first work item. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification