Method and apparatus for managing customer data

• US 8,416,941 B1
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concentrix CVG Customer Management Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Convergys Customer Management Group Incorporated (Convergys Corporation)
• Inventors: Vos, Chad, Thompson, Deborah, Larrabee, Josh
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Assistant Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/087,815
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: 379/218.01, 379/221.08, 704/275, 704/8, 705/8, 709/200, 709/223
• US Class Current: 379/218.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein provide an overall, or holistic view, of an enterprise'"'"'s interaction with its customers. These embodiments can also provide a holistic view of other types of interactions. In one particular embodiment, a system collects and aggregates information related to user inquiries and/or response generated by different types of response systems. Such an embodiment could collect data about phone response system activities and aggregate that information with data about automated response system activities. Other embodiments collect and aggregate information related to customer information, contact resolutions and other information. Other embodiments of the disclosed technology generate reports based on aggregated information and/or generate recommendations to address problems with the individual response systems or the overall strategy for responding to customer inquiries.

Claims

1. A system for processing user inquiries, the system comprising:

(a) a global knowledge database including a plurality of responses corresponding to a plurality of user inquiries;

(b) a first response system in communication with the global knowledge database, the first response system configured to provide a first response to a first user inquiry using a response included in the global knowledge database, the first response system being of a first type of response system;

(c) a second response system in communication with the global knowledge database, the second response system configured to provide a second response to a second user inquiry using a response included in the global knowledge database, the second response system being of a second type of response system;

(d) an analysis database configured to store indications of responses provided by the first response system and the second response system; and

(e) a report generator configured to generate a report using the stored indications of the responses provided by the first response system and the second response system, wherein the report generator is configured to generate the report by performing a set of tasks comprising generating an overlaid contact graph.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first response system comprises a live-agent response system.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the live-agent response system comprises a telephone response system.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the second response system comprises an automated response system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

(a) the system further comprises a user information database configured to store user information; and

(b) the first response system is configured to retrieve information from the user information database in responding to the first user inquiry.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first response system and the second response system are distributed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first response system and the second response system are integrated.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the global knowledge database comprises a plurality of templates for responding to inquiries from users.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first response system is configured to use a first of the plurality of templates to respond to the first user inquiry and wherein the second response system is configured to use the first of the plurality of templates to respond to the second user inquiry.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first response system comprises a live agent response system and the second response system comprises an automated response system.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising an analysis engine configured to determine the number of times the first response is generated by the first response system.

12. The system of claim 1, comprising an analysis engine configured to update the analysis database when the first response is generated by the first response system.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the overlaid contract graph comprises:

(a) a first pie chart comprising a first plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(i) corresponds to a category of responses provided in response to inquiries;

(ii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses corresponding to the category corresponding to the wedge;

(b) a second pie chart, said second pie chart concentric with said first pie chart, and comprising a second plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from said second plurality of wedges;

(i) corresponds to a wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(ii) corresponds to a subcategory of the category of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(iii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the first plurality of wedges from the subcategory represented by the wedge from the second plurality of wedges; and

(c) a third pie chart, said third pie chart concentric with said first pie chart, and comprising a third plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from said third plurality of wedges;

(i) corresponds to a wedge from the second plurality of wedges;

(ii) corresponds to a response system from a plurality of response systems used to provide responses to inquiries; and

(iii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the second plurality of wedges which were provided by the response system corresponding to the wedge from the third plurality of wedges.

14. A method for managing user inquiries, the method comprising:

(a) receiving an inquiry from a user;

(b) retrieving a response to the user inquiry from a global knowledge system;

(c) providing the response to the user with a response system;

(d) storing an indication of the response in an analysis database;

(e) storing an indication of the response system in the analysis database; and

(f) generating a report using the indication of the response and the indication of the response system, wherein generating the report comprises generating an overlaid contact graph.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein storing the indication of the response and storing the indication of the response system comprises storing a joint indication of both the response and the response system.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising, using the generated report, indicating when the retrieved response does not satisfactorily address the inquiry from the user.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said overlaid contact graph comprises:

(a) a first pie chart comprising a first plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(i) corresponds to a category of responses provided in response to inquiries;

(ii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses corresponding to the category corresponding to the wedge;

(c) a second pie chart, said second pie chart concentric with said first pie chart, and comprising a second plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from said second plurality of wedges;

(i) corresponds to a response system from a plurality of response systems used to provide responses to inquiries; and

(ii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses which were provided by the response system corresponding to the wedge from the second plurality of wedges.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

(a) said overlaid contact graph comprises a third pie chart, said third pie chart concentric with said first pie chart, and comprising a third plurality of wedges, wherein each wedge from said third plurality of wedges

(i) corresponds to a wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(ii) corresponds to a subcategory of the category of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the first plurality of wedges;

(iii) has an angle, said angle based on a proportion of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the first plurality of wedges from the subcategory represented by the wedge from the second plurality of wedges; and

(b) each wedge from said second plurality of wedges corresponds to a wedge from the third plurality of wedges; and

(c) for each wedge from said second plurality of wedges, the proportion of responses on which the angle for the wedge is based is a proportion of responses represented by the corresponding wedge from the third plurality of wedges which were provided by the response system corresponding to the wedge from the second plurality of wedges.

19. A system for processing user inquiries, the system comprising:

(a) a first response system configured to provide a first response to a first user inquiry, the first response system being a first type of response system;

(b) a second response system configured to provide a second response to a second user inquiry, the second response system being a second type of response system;

(c) a global knowledge database configured to communicate with the first response system and the second response system;

(d) an analysis database configured to store indications of responses provided by the first response system and the second response system; and

(e) a report generator configured to generate a report using the stored indications of the responses provided by the first response system and the second response system;

wherein the report generator is configured to generate a report by performing a set of tasks comprising generating an overlaid contact graph.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the report generator is configured to generate the overlaid contact graph using a means for generating an overlaid contact graph.