Enhancing contact centers with dialog contracts

• US 8,594,305 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2007
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Da Palma, William V., Mandalia, Baiju D., Moore, Victor S., Nusbickel, Wendi L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Intavong, Jirapon
• Application Number:
  US11/684,333
• Publication Number:
  US 20080152121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,454 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.12, 37926501-26509, 379/88.01, 379 8808- 8809
• US Class Current: 379/265.07
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/357 Autocues for dialog assistance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

The present solution can include a method for using dialog contracts for contact center interactions. The method can include a step of determining a context that applies to a caller who is communicating with a contact center. A dialog contract can be identified that corresponds to the determined context. The dialog contract can specify requirements for a real-time contact center session. The contact center can transfer the caller to a contact center agent. The real-time communication session can be conducted. A software program, referred to as an agent monitor, can analyze input of the caller and the contact center agent during the communication session and can automatically update a session file as requirements of the dialog contract are satisfied. The session file can be used as a quality measurement of the communication session.

Claims

1. A method for using dialog contracts for contact center interactions comprising:

determining a context that applies to a caller who is communicating with a contact center;

identifying a dialog contract that corresponds to the determined context, said dialog contract specifying requirements for a real-time free form communication session, the requirements including input requirements for both the caller and a contact center agent;

the contact center transferring the caller to a contact center agent;

conducting the real-time free form communication session involving the caller and the contact center agent;

a software program analyzing input of the caller and the contact center agent during the real time free form communication session and automatically updating a session file as requirements of the dialog contract for both the caller and the contact center agent are satisfied; and

utilizing the session file as a quality measurement of the communication session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dialog contract is established using a Document Type Definition (DTD) document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the software program is written in a Voice XML based language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzed input is free form input, and wherein a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) engine is used to map the input to the requirements of the dialog contract.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing live feedback to the contact center agent during the real time free form communication session, said live feedback indicating the requirements of the dialog contract and whether each of these requirements has been satisfied.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

presenting the live feedback within a commercial off-the-shelf Web browser used by the contact center agent, wherein the Web browser communicates with the contact center over a standard Internet Protocol based network using standard communication protocols.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the contact center processing the session file to determine whether the dialog contract was satisfied; and

when the processing step determines that the dialog contract is not satisfied, automatically notifying at least one of the contact center agent and a supervisor of the contact center agent of this fact.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact center agent and the caller communicate during the real-time free form communication session using a voice modality.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact center agent and the caller communicate during the real-time free form communication session using a text exchange modality.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the software and hardware of the contact center is based upon open standards, which permit the contact center to operate without reliance on proprietary communication protocols, without reliance upon proprietary, vendor-specific contact center hardware, and without reliance upon vendor-specific contact center software.

11. A contact center system for comprising:

a data storage area configured to store a plurality of dialog contracts, wherein each dialog contract corresponds to a communication context, and wherein each dialog contract includes a plurality of data fields that are to be completed in a contract table during a real-time communication session between a contact center agent and a caller, wherein the data fields correspond to input requirements for both the caller and the contact center agent, the contract table being separately stored from the dialog contract, wherein a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) engine is configured to map in real time free form text input provided by the contact center agent and the caller to the data fields and values for the real-time communication sessions in the contract table, wherein a quality of the real-time communication session is determined based upon whether the data fields of a session specific dialog contract are satisfactorily completed in the contract table.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein data storage area is a storage area of a composite services environment in which a composite services application executes, said composite services application being a contact center application.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the data storage area and the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) engine are components of a contact center, wherein the software and hardware of the contact center is based upon open standards, which permit the contact center to operate without reliance on proprietary communication protocols and without reliance upon proprietary, vendor-specific contact center hardware.

14. The contact center system of claim 11, further comprising:

a commercial off-the-shelf Web browser used by the contact center agent, wherein the Web browser communicates with a contact center over a standard Internet Protocol based network using standard communication protocols, wherein the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) engine and the data storage area are components of the contact center, and wherein during the real-time communication session the data fields and values associated with the dialog contract are presented and are updated live as the free form input is mapped to the data fields.

15. A computer program product for a contact center software solution including computer program code stored in a non-transitory medium and comprising:

computer program code for an agent monitor software program configured to dynamically map free form input of a contact center agent and a caller during communication between the contact center agent and the caller against a set of fields specified by a context specific dialog contract, the fields corresponding to input requirements of the dialog contract for both the caller and the contact center agent, wherein the agent monitor program automatically generates reports that indicate a quality of an associated real-time communication between the contact center agent and the caller based upon whether values have been placed in the set of fields, wherein the values are derived from the free form input.

16. The computer program product for a contact center software solution of claim 15, further comprising:

computer program code for a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) engine that is used when dynamically mapping the free form input against fields of the dialog contract.

17. The computer program product for a contact center software solution of claim 15, wherein the agent monitor software program is configured to automatically notify a contact center supervisor whenever the agent monitor software program determines an agent'"'"'s performance is unsatisfactory, wherein unsatisfactory performance consists of at least one of the contact center agent completing the real-time communication without providing values for at least one of the fields and the agent monitor software program predicting that the contact center agent will not satisfy conditions of the dialog contract before the real-time communication session completes.

18. The computer program product for a contact center software solution of claim 15, wherein the real-time communication session is a text-exchange communication, and wherein the agent monitor software program interjects comments prompting the caller to provide values for at least one of the fields.

19. The computer program product for a contact center software solution of claim 15, wherein the agent monitor software program is considered an entity participating in the real-time communication session, which includes the caller, the contact center agent, and the agent monitor software program.

20. The computer program product for a contact center software solution of claim 15, wherein the agent monitor software program is configured to automatically generate a report for the real-time communication session that indicates whether the dialog contract was satisfied, wherein the report is used by a contact center for at least one of agent compensation and client billing.