Method and system using presence information to improve services provided by automatic call distribution centers

• US 8,345,854 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaffer, Shmuel, Chahrouri, Gebran G., Patel, Labhesh, Khouri, Joseph F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahee, MD S
• Application Number:
  US11/058,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20060182259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,876 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.1, 37926501-2661, 379/265.04, 379/210.01, 370/352, 709/224
• US Class Current: 379/265.04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms

Abstract

In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, a method using presence information to improve automatic call distribution includes receiving a call for connection with one of a plurality of agents. An indicator of a service level problem is detected, and presence information is used to identify one or more draftable agents that are not in a ready state in response to detecting the indicator. The call is distributed to a selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents.

Claims

1. A method for using presence information to improve automatic call distribution, comprising:

receiving a call for connection with one of a plurality of agents;

receiving presence information from the plurality of agents, the plurality of agents comprising at least one agent that is logged off of an automatic call distributor, the presence information indicating whether the plurality of agents are draftable to receive the call;

storing the received presence information in a presence server;

detecting an indicator of a service level problem;

in response to detecting the indicator, using the presence information to identify one or more draftable agents that are not in a ready state, including using the presence information to identify at least one draftable agent of the plurality of agents that is logged off of an automatic call distributor; and

distributing the call to a selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more draftable agents are logged into an automatic call distributor but are in a not ready state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein using the presence information comprises using log-off reason codes associated with at least one of the one or more draftable agents to identify the one or more draftable agents.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more draftable agents are participating a non-automatic call distributor call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the indicator of the service level problem comprises determining that service level commitments are not being met.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the indicator of the service level problem comprises determining the amount of time that one or more previous calls remain in a queue before the one or more previous calls are distributed to one or more selected agents in a ready state.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the indicator of the service level problem comprises determining a number of agents that are logged into an automatic call distributor in relation to a number of previous calls stored in a queue.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing the call to the selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents comprises:

notifying the selected draftable agent that the selected draftable agent is needed to receive the call;

receiving login information from the selected draftable agent; and

transferring the selected draftable agent to the ready state.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining presence information for a plurality of agents that are logged into an automatic call distributor but are in a not ready state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein notifying the one or more draftable agents comprises playing a whisper message for the one or more draftable agents while the one or more draftable agents are on a call.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining presence information for a plurality of agents that are logged off of an automatic call distributor.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the response time of the selected one of the identified draftable agents; and

providing response time information comprising the response time to a manager of the selected one of the identified draftable agents.

13. An automatic call distribution system, comprising:

a presence server operable to;

receive presence information from a plurality of agents, the plurality of agents comprising at least one agent that is logged off of an automatic call distributor, the presence information indicating whether the plurality of agents are draftable to receive a call; and

store the presence information for the plurality of agents;

a processor in communication with the presence server and operable to;

receive the call for connection with one of the plurality of agents;

detect an indicator of a service level problem; and

in response to detecting the indicator, use the presence information to identify one or more draftable agents that are not in a ready state, including using the presence information to identify at least one draftable agent of the plurality of agents that is logged off of the automatic call distributor; and

a distributor in communication with the processor and operable to distribute the call to a selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more draftable agents are logged into an automatic call distributor but are in a not ready state.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to use log-off reason codes associated with at least one of the one or more draftable agents when using the presence information to identify the one or more draftable agents.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more draftable agents are participating in a non-automatic call distributor call.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to detect the indicator of the service level problem by determining that service level commitments are not being met.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to detect the indicator of the service level problem by determining the amount of time that one or more previous calls remain in a queue before the one or more previous calls are distributed to one or more selected agents in a ready state.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to detect the indicator of the service level problem by determining a number of agents that are logged into an automatic call distributor in relation to a number of previous calls stored in a queue.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to:

notify the selected draftable agent that the selected draftable agent is needed to receive the call; and

receive login information from the selected draftable agent; and

transfer the selected draftable agent to the ready state.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to maintain presence information for a plurality of agents that are logged into an automatic call distributor but are in a not ready state.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further operable to notify the one or more draftable agents by playing a whisper message for the one or more draftable agents while the one or more draftable agents are on a call.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to maintain presence information for a plurality of agents that are logged off of an automatic call distributor.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to:

monitor the response time of the selected one of the identified draftable agents; and

provide response time information comprising the response time to a manager of the selected one of the identified draftable agents.

25. An automatic call distribution system, comprising:

means for receiving a call for connection with one of a plurality of agents;

means for receiving presence information from the plurality of agents, the plurality of agents comprising at least one agent that is logged off of an automatic call distributor, the presence information indicating whether the plurality of agents are draftable to receive the call;

means for storing the received presence information;

means for detecting an indicator of a service level problem;

means for using the presence information to identify one or more draftable agents that are not in a ready state in response to detecting the indicator, including using the presence information to identify at least one draftable agent of the plurality of agents that is logged off of the automatic call distributor; and

means for distributing the call to a selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents.

26. Logic embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor operable to cause the processor to:

receive a call for connection with one of a plurality of agents;

receive presence information from the plurality of agents, the plurality of agents comprising at least one agent that is logged off of an automatic call distributor, the presence information indicating whether the plurality of agents are draftable to receive the call;

store the received presence information in a presence server;

detect an indicator of a service level problem;

in response to detecting the indicator, use the presence information to identify one or more draftable agents that are not in a ready state, including using the presence information to identify at least one draftable agent of the plurality of agents that is logged off of the automatic call distributor; and

distribute the call to a selected one of the identified one or more draftable agents.