Customer service methods, apparatus and report/alert generation based on customer service call information

• US 8,588,395 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2008
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hendricks, James William, Somers, Joy, Blackwood, Dianne Keener, Curtis, Suzanne Elizabeth
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): GAY, SONIA L
• Application Number:
  US12/136,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20090310774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,987 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/266.07, 705/7.11
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements

Abstract

Methods and apparatus that provide customer service representatives with information for supporting a customer service call are described. Also described are method and apparatus for collecting customer service call information and generating reports and/or alerts there from. Through the use of customer service call data from multiple divisions, problems and/or underperformance at a division can be identified and rectified in a timely manner. Information from one division can also be used to predict possible problems at other divisions allowing problems to be addressed, in some cases, prior to customer complaints at a division to be addressed in some cases before an increase in the number of customer service calls at the individual division triggers an alert.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving customer service calls from service subscribers corresponding to a plurality of different divisions of a company;

assigning the individual received calls, from said received customer service calls, to call queues based on the reason for the individual calls;

storing call disposition information indicating the disposition of customer service calls, said stored call disposition information indicating a reason for each of the customer service calls and an action taken to address the reason for each of the customer service calls;

generating a plurality of division reports, different division reports corresponding to different divisions, different divisions corresponding to different geographic service regions, each individual report of said plurality of division reports indicating a ratio of a number of customer service calls of a first type, received during a predetermined time period from service subscriber of the division to which the individual report corresponds, to a predetermined number of service subscribers;

automatically determining if a division is encountering a problem by comparing the information included in reports corresponding to different divisions that indicate a number of calls for a first particular reason, above a threshold level, to identify disparities between different divisions with regard to the number of calls for said first particular reason;

generating an alert when it is determined that a division is encountering a problem, said generating an alert including providing information on the call reason which triggered the alert; and

wherein the call reason is one of a network fault condition, billing error, or faulty service by a company technician.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the predetermined number of service subscribers is one;

and

wherein the ratio of the number customer service calls of the first type received, during a predetermined time period indicates the per subscriber number of calls of the first type relieved, during said predetermined time period, for the division to which the division report corresponds.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said call queues include at least two of:

a service call queue;

a billing inquiry queue; and

a sales queue.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein said call queues include a service call queue.

5. The method of claim 4,

wherein said call queues include a billing inquiry queue.

6. The method of claim 3,

wherein said call queues include a billing inquiry queue.

7. The method of claim 3,

wherein said call queues include a sales queue.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a report including information obtained from said stored call disposition information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a report includes:

grouping call information according to different disposition categories indicated by said stored call disposition information; and

incorporating information on the resolution of calls corresponding to the different disposition categories.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

incorporating in said report information indicating the reasons for calls received for a disposition category.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of division reports for a division over an extended period of time, each of said division reports corresponding to a different time period;

compare call data in sequential reports corresponding to a division to determine if there has been an increase in calls of the first type between reporting time periods to which the reports correspond; and

automatically generating an alert when a division report indicates an increase in calls from one reporting time period to the next over a predetermined percentage change.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically generating an alert when a division report indicates calls for a call category corresponding to reporting of a service or billing problem for one division exceeds an average call level generated from call information from multiple divisions for the call category by a predetermined amount.

12. A method comprising:

receiving customer service calls from service subscribers corresponding to a plurality of different divisions of a company;

assigning the individual received calls, from said received customer service calls, to call queues based on the reason for the individual calls;

storing call disposition information indicating the disposition of customer service calls, said stored call disposition information indicating a reason for each of the customer service calls and an action taken to address the reason for each of the customer service calls;

generating a plurality of division reports, different division reports corresponding to different divisions, different divisions corresponding to different geographic service regions, each individual report of said plurality of division reports indicating a ratio of a number of customer service calls of a first type, received during a predetermined time period from service subscriber of the division to which the individual report corresponds, to a predetermined number of service subscribers;

automatically determining if a division is encountering a problem by comparing the information included in reports corresponding to different divisions that indicate a number of calls for a first particular reason, above a threshold level, to identify disparities between different divisions with regard to the number of calls for said first particular reason;

generating a plurality of division reports for a division over an extended period of time, each of said division reports corresponding to a different time period;

comparing call data in sequential reports corresponding to a division to determine if there has been an increase in calls of the first type between reporting time periods to which the reports correspond; and

automatically generating an alert when a division report indicates an increase in calls from one reporting time period to the next over a predetermined percentage change, said alert being generated when said increase in calls is an increase of at least 20%.

14. A system for processing customer service representative call data comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to said memory;

an extended time period report generation module, stored in said memory, for generating a plurality of division reports for a division over an extended period of time, different division reports corresponding to different divisions, each individual report of said plurality of division reports indicating a ratio of a number of customer service calls of a first type received during a predetermined time period from service subscriber of the division to which the individual report corresponds to a predetermined number of service subscribers; and

an alert generation module, stored in said memory, for automatically generating an alert when a division report indicates a significant increase in calls, relative to the division report for the same division in an immediately preceding report period, for a call category corresponding to reporting of a service or billing problem, said alert being generated when said increase is an increase of at least 20% relative to the preceding report period.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a time period report generation module, stored in said memory, for generating a plurality of division reports corresponding to different divisions for a given time period; and

wherein said alert generation module is also for generating an alert when a division report indicates calls for a call category corresponding to reporting of a service or billing problem for one division exceeds an average level generated for multiple divisions for the call category by a predetermined amount.