Automatic call notification groups

• US 8,699,695 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Flockhart, Andrew D., Steiner, Robert C., Kohler, Joylee
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US13/622,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20140079209A1
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.09, 379/265.12, 379/265.05, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 705/1, 705/9
• US Class Current: 379/265.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/404 Collaboration among agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms

Abstract

A contact center is provided that pushes notifications to one or more resources about available work item opportunities. The one or more resources can pull the work item from the notification groups to handle the work item. Moreover, the pushed notifications can be added to a traditional work assignment scheme to aid in the answering of work items and/or offer training to a plurality of resources.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a work item at a contact center;

determining, by a processor, to push notification of the work item to at least one telephone communication device utilized by one or more resources, wherein the one or more resources are not required to register to receive the notification of the work item;

prior to assigning the work item, pushing notification of the work item to the at least one telephone communication device utilized by the one or more resources, wherein the pushed notification of the work item is configured to cause the at least one telephone communication device to alert, and wherein the pushed notification is configured to allow at least one resource of the one or more resources to handle the work item by accepting the pushed notification; and

routing the work item to the at least one resource based at least partially on the acceptance of the pushed notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining to push notification of the work item further comprises:

analyzing the work item for resource-matching information; and

selecting the one or more resources that at least partially matches the resource-matching information of the work item.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selection of the one or more resources further comprises:

determining a rank for each resource in the one or more resources, wherein the rank is based on a percentage of matched resource-matching information between the work item and each resource in the one or more resources; and

assigning a well-matched rank to at least a first resource in the one or more resources with the highest percentage of resource-matching information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the pushed notification is sent to the at least a first resource with a first alert, wherein the first alert is configured to indicate that the pushed notification relates to the well-matched rank.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more resources are not registered to receive work assignments from the contact center.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein pushing notification of the work item is at least partially based on presence associated with the one or more resources, and wherein the at least one telephone communication device is caused to alert via ringing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the work item is processed through a work assignment engine prior to being routed to the at least one resource.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pushed notification is configured to provide the one or more resources with options, the options comprising one or more of accepting, denying, and ignoring the pushed notification.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein after the work item is routed to the at least one resource, determining to push second notification of the contact to another telephone communication device utilized by at least one other resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the work item is handled by the at least one resource and the at least one other resource, wherein the at least one other resource accepted the push second notification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining to push notification of the work item further comprises:

referring to a state associated with the contact center, wherein the state represents a condition of operation of the contact center; and

adjusting a number of pushed notifications based on the state of the contact center.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the work item is routed to a first training resource of the at least one resource; and

routing the work item to a second training resource, wherein the second training resource may participate in handling the work item.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification of the work item is pushed to the one or more resources based on a state or a busyness associated with the one or more resources.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

receiving a work item at a contact center;

determining, by a processor, to push notification of the work item to at least one telephone communication device utilized by one or more resources, wherein the one or more resources are not required to register to receive the notification of the work item;

prior to assigning the work item, pushing notification of the work item to the at least one telephone communication device utilized by the one or more resources, wherein the pushed notification of the work item is configured to cause the at least one telephone communication device to alert, and wherein the pushed notification is configured to allow at least one resource of the one or more resources to handle the work item by accepting the pushed notification; and

routing the work item to the at least one resource based at least partially on the acceptance of the pushed notification.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the determining step of the method further comprises:

analyzing the work item for resource-matching information; and

selecting the one or more resources that at least partially matches the resource-matching information of the work item.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the selection of the one or more resources further comprises:

determining a rank for each resource in the one or more resources, wherein the rank is based on a percentage of matched resource-matching information between the work item and each resource in the one or more resources; and

assigning a well-matched rank to at least a first resource in the one or more resources with the highest percentage of resource-matching information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the determining step of the method further comprises:

referring to a state associated with the contact center, wherein the state represents a condition of operation of the contact center; and

adjusting a number of pushed notifications based on the state of the contact center.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

determining the work item is routed to a first training resource of the at least one resource; and

routing the work item to a second training resource, wherein the second training resource may participate in handling the work item.

18. A contact center, comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a work assignment mechanism including;

a work assignment engine configured to compare attributes of work items in a work pool with attributes of resources in a resource pool and match the work items to resources based on the comparison of attributes; and

an automatic call notification groups module configured to determine, by the processor, to push notification of a received work item to at least one telephone communication device utilized by one or more resources, wherein the one or more resources are not required to register to receive the notification of the work item, and push notification of the work item to the at least one telephone communication device utilized by the one or more resources before assigning the work item, wherein the pushed notification of the work item is configured to cause the at least one telephone communication device to alert, and wherein the pushed notification is configured to allow at least one resource of the one or more resources to handle the work item by accepting the pushed notification.

19. The contact center of claim 18, further comprising:

a routing engine, wherein the routing engine is configured to route the work item to the at least one resource based at least partially on acceptance of the pushed notification by the at least one resource.

20. The contact center of claim 18, wherein the automatic call notification groups module is further configured to analyze the work item for resource-matching information, and select the one or more resources that at least partially matches the resource-matching information of the work item.