Problem centric knowledge management tool for call center

• US 8,724,795 B1
• Filed: 03/09/2011
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Sullivan, Thomas S., Aldrich, Daniel J., Studer, Ryan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gay, Sonia
• Application Number:
  US13/043,636
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 705/304
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/05 related to OAM&P
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

A call center problem resolution system is provided. The system comprises, a computer system comprising at least one processor and a memory, a data store coupled to the computer, and an application stored in the memory. When executed by the processor, the application receives call information comprising a calling number, and it retrieves communication equipment information based on the calling number, communication service plan information based on the calling number, and communication network operations information based on the communication service plan information. When executed, the application further receives words describing a problem experienced by communication equipment associated with the calling number. Based on the plurality of words describing the problem, the communication network operations information, the communication service plan information, and the communication equipment information, the application identifies a plurality of information items, and presents the plurality of information items in a prioritized order to a call agent.

Claims

1. A call center problem resolution system, comprising:

a knowledge dictionary, wherein the knowledge dictionary comprises information about communication networks and communication devices, wherein the information is tagged for searching based on a context of a call;

a computer system comprising at least one processor and a memory;

a data store coupled to the computer system; and

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor,

receives call information comprising a calling number, wherein the call is directed to a call center,

retrieves communication equipment information based on the calling number,

retrieves communication service plan information based on the calling number,

retrieves communication network operations information based on the communication service plan information,

receives a plurality of words describing a problem experienced by communication equipment associated with the calling number,

based on at least one of the plurality of words describing the problem, the communication network operations information, the communication service plan information, the communication equipment information, or searching the knowledge dictionary, identifies a plurality of information items,

determines a prioritized order of the plurality of information items based on an identity of an information source that contributed a corresponding information item of the plurality of information items and at least one of an identity of a call agent handling the call, how quickly previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved, or how successfully previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved, and

presents the plurality of information items in the prioritized order to the call agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication equipment information comprises at least one of an equipment manufacturer identity, an equipment model identity, an electronic serial number (ESN), or a mobile subscriber identity (MSID).

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication network operations information indicates a status of a communication network providing communication service to a communication device associated with the calling number.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a synonym library, wherein the application searches the synonym library using the words describing the problem, and wherein the application identifies the plurality of information items based additionally on synonyms of the words describing the problem.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the application further receives a description of an actual problem resolution, stores the context of the call, stores the actual problem resolution, and wherein the application identifies the plurality of information items based further on stored call contexts and stored problem resolutions.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the context of the call comprises at least one of the calling number, the communication equipment information, the communication service plan information, the communication network operations information, and the words describing the problem.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the prioritized plurality of information items is presented in a format based on one of the identity of the call agent handling the call, an identity of a group in which the call agent handling the call works, or an identity of an organization to which the call agent handling the call belongs.

7. A method of addressing problem reports in a call center, comprising:

receiving a call reporting a communication problem;

determining, by an application stored on the non-transitory computer readable memory and executed by a processor, a calling number of the call based on a call origination message;

retrieving, by the application, communication equipment information based on the calling number from a data store containing information about communication equipment provisioned to receive communication service;

retrieving, by the application, communication service plan information based on the calling number from a data store containing information about communication customer accounts;

retrieving, by the application, billing information based on the calling number from a data store containing information about a current account balance associated with the calling number;

retrieving, by the application, communication network operations information from a network management system based on the communication equipment information;

receiving, by the application, a plurality of words at least in part describing a communication problem;

identifying, by the application, a plurality of information items based on at least one of the plurality of words, the communication equipment information, the billing information, the communication network operations information, the service plan information, or searching a knowledge dictionary, wherein the knowledge dictionary comprises information about communication networks and communication devices, and wherein the information is tagged for searching based on a context of the call;

determining, by the application, a prioritized order of the plurality of information items based on an identity of an information source that contributed a corresponding information item of the plurality of information items and at least one of an identity of a call agent handling the call, how quickly previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved, or how successfully previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved; and

presenting, by the application, the information items in the priority order.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication equipment is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, and a wireless interface card.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the information in the knowledge dictionary comprises information submitted by call center agents.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising evaluating, by the application, the utility of information submitted by call center agents and associating the evaluation with the information submitted by each call center agent.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the information items is based at least in part on searching a synonym library to identify synonyms of the words describing the communication problem and searching the knowledge dictionary based further on the synonyms identified.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising identifying, by the application, the call agent assigned to handle the call, wherein identifying the information items is based at least in part on a profile associated with the call agent.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information items are presented based at least in part on the profile of the call agent.

14. A method of providing customer care, comprising:

receiving a call to customer care;

based on a calling number associated with the call, automatically establishing, by an application stored on the non-transitory computer readable memory and executed by a processor, a context of the call;

automatically receiving, by the application, words describing a problem experienced with a communication equipment associated with the call;

based on the context of the call and based on the words describing the problem, searching, by the application, in a knowledge management system for a prioritized list of potential problem resolutions, wherein the knowledge management system comprises a knowledge dictionary, wherein the knowledge dictionary comprises information about communication networks and communication devices, and wherein the information is tagged for searching based on a context of the call;

determining, by the application, a prioritized order of the potential problem resolutions based on an identity of an information source that contributed a corresponding potential problem resolution of the potential problem resolutions and at least one of an identity of a call agent handling the call, how quickly previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved, or how successfully previous calls with similar symptoms were resolved;

presenting, by the application, the potential problem resolutions in the prioritized order;

storing, by the application, the context of the call;

storing, by the application, an actual problem resolution;

analyzing, by the application, the context of the call and the actual problem resolution; and

updating, by the application, based on the analysis, the knowledge management system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the context of the call comprises at least one of a communication service account identity associated with the calling number, an account balance associated with the calling number, a service plan associated with the calling number, and a network operation condition at the time of the call.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein analyzing the context of the call and the actual problem resolution comprises determining a correlation of the context of the call with the actual problem resolution based at least in part on a history of previous calls to customer care.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the knowledge management system comprises information about a communication network and information about communication equipment, wherein the information is tagged for association, and wherein the knowledge management system is searched at least in part based on the association of the words describing the problem and the tags associated with the information.