Customer service teaming

• US 8,718,268 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2012
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Steiner, Robert C., Flockhart, Andrew D., Kohler, Joylee
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoque, Nafiz E
• Application Number:
  US13/407,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20130223617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13
• US Class Current: 379/265.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group

Abstract

The present disclosure describes various ways of providing agents with a configurable mechanism by which they may bid on training opportunities with contacts in a given contact center. Specifically, an architecture providing a team of agents and agents-in-training to service a contact or set of contacts and methods of employing that team architecture are described. The bids of one or more agents may be collected and evaluated to determine at least one winning agent that will team together with at least one subject matter expert, qualified agent, or team in handling a contact for the purposes of training.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a contact center, a contact with at least a first customer, wherein the contact includes an identifier to classify a contact context;

determining, by at least one processor of the contact center, a subject matter expert to assign to the contact, wherein the subject matter expert is qualified to provide training associated with the contact;

assigning, by the at least one processor of the contact center, the subject matter expert to the contact;

determining, by the at least one processor of the contact center, based on the contact context, whether servicing the contact qualifies as a training event;

in response to determining that servicing the contact qualifies as a training event, and after assigning the subject matter expert to service the contact, selecting, by the at least one processor of the contact center, one or more resources to participate with the subject matter expert in servicing the contact;

referring to a first memory location to determine whether the one or more resources will be sent a bid invitation to bid on the training event;

sending the bid invitation to the determined one or more resources;

receiving one or more bid responses from the determined one or more resources;

determining, by the at least one processor of the contact center, at least one winning bid response from the one or more bid responses, wherein the at least one winning bid response is made by a winning bidder; and

joining the winning bidder with the subject matter expert and the at least a first customer contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a characteristic that is associated with one or more of the contact, training event, a resource, a processing capability, and the customer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the contact qualifies as a training event further comprises:

referring to a second memory location containing data related to at least one training event;

comparing the data related to the at least one training event to data associated with the contact; and

coding the contact such that (i) the contact qualifies as a training event, where the data relating to the at least one training event matches the data associated with the contact, and (ii) the contact does not qualify as a training event, where the data relating to the at least one training event does not match the data associated with the contact.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more resources participate with the contact by at least one of observing, interacting, handling, and teaming with another resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the referring step further comprises:

determining that the first memory location stores at least one reservation for a training event;

analyzing the at least one reservation for a score identifier; and

sending a bid invitation to the one or more resources associated with the at least one reservation containing the score identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the bid invitation is only sent to the one or more resources associated with the at least one reservation containing the score identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the referring step further comprises:

determining that the first memory location stores at least one reservation for a training event;

analyzing the at least one reservation for a score identifier;

determining that the score identifier associated with at least one reservation is of a specific rank that requires sending at least one bid invitation to one or more resources listed in memory;

sending at least one bid invitation to the one or more resources listed in the first memory location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid invitation includes an alert configured to notify a resource of the presence of the bid invitation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid response includes at least one of an acceptance, a denial, and a reservation of a future training event.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reservation is stored in the first memory location and is associated with one or more resources, and wherein the reservation is configured to match a similar contact context of the present bid invitation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one winning bid response further comprises:

reviewing, by the at least one processor of the contact center, the received one or more bid responses;

referring to the first memory location for rules to apply in selecting at least one winning bid response;

selecting, by the at least one processor of the contact center, the at least one winning bid response based on the rules; and

sending a notification to the one or more resources associated with the one or more bid responses, wherein the notification is configured to inform the one or more resources as to a status of the bid invitation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification is sent to the winning bidder having the at least one winning bid response and further informing the one or more resources that the bid has been won.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the notification is sent to at least one losing bidder having at least one losing bid response and further informing the at least one losing bidder that the bid has been won by at least one other resource.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein joining the winning bidder further comprises:

determining whether to introduce an agent to the contact; and

connecting the agent with the contact as allowed by the determined introduction.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether to introduce the agent depends on rules stored in the first memory location.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform the method of claim 1.

17. A contact center, comprising:

an input operable to receive a first contact from a first customer;

a memory configured to store processing rules and instructions that determine a subject matter expert to assign to service the first contact, wherein the subject matter expert is qualified to provide training associated with servicing the contact, assign the subject matter expert to service the first contact, determine that the contact qualifies as a training event, select one or more resources to participate with the subject matter in servicing the contact, refer to a first memory location to determine whether the one or more resources will be sent at least one bid invitation to bid on the training event, create and send the at least one bid invitation to the determined one or more resources, receive one or more bid responses, determine at least one winning bid response from the received one or more bid response, wherein the at least one winning bid response is made by a winning bidder, and join the winning bidder with the subject matter expert and the first customer; and

a processor configured to execute the rules and instructions stored in the memory.

18. The contact center of claim 17, wherein the notification is sent to the winning bidder having the at least one winning bid response and further informing the one or more resources that the bid has been won.

19. The contact center of claim 17, wherein the memory further comprises instructions to evaluate skills associated with at least one agent of the one or more resources.

20. The contact center of claim 17, wherein the memory further comprises instructions to create at least one alert to accompany the at least one bid invitation, wherein the alert is configured to notify the one or more resources of the bid invitation.