Customer-enabled evaluation and control of communication center agent contact
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A communication center comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;
identify a particular customer in response to an incoming transaction;
identify a preference of the particular customer to be routed or avoid being routed to a particular agent; and
in response to the particular agent being identified as an only available agent, and further in response to the preference of the particular customer being set as desiring to avoid being routed to the particular agent, transmit a notification to the particular customer of an opportunity for a later transaction when another agent is available.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communication center has agents operating at workstations and enabled to interact with customers, a router for routing incoming transactions from customers to agents, and routing rule sets associated with specific customers. Individual ones of the rule sets include one or more contact constraints set by the customer associated with the rule set.
21 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A communication center comprising:
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a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to; identify a particular customer in response to an incoming transaction; identify a preference of the particular customer to be routed or avoid being routed to a particular agent; and in response to the particular agent being identified as an only available agent, and further in response to the preference of the particular customer being set as desiring to avoid being routed to the particular agent, transmit a notification to the particular customer of an opportunity for a later transaction when another agent is available. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for managing a contact preference in a communication center, the method comprising:
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identifying, by a processor, a particular customer in response to an incoming transaction; identifying, by the processor, a preference of the particular customer to be routed or avoid being routed to a particular agent; and in response to the particular agent being identified as an only available agent, and further in response to the preference of the particular customer being set as desiring to avoid being routed to the particular agent, transmitting, by the processor, a notification to the particular customer of an opportunity for a later transaction when another agent is available. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A router for routing transactions to agents in a communication center, wherein the router is configured to:
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identify a customer upon receiving a transaction to route; access stored rule sets associated with a plurality of customers; and find a stored rule set associated with the customer who initiated the transaction, and apply the rule set in routing the transaction, wherein individual ones of the rule sets include one or more constraints created and/or edited by the customer associated with the rule set, said one or more constraints including at least a preference for contact or for avoiding contact with a particular agent of the agents in the communication center, wherein if the particular agent is an only agent of the agents available at a time of a live transaction from the customer, routing the transaction to the particular agent if the constraint is set for contact and notifying the customer if the constraint is set for avoiding contact and offering the customer an opportunity to call back when the constraint can be met. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification