Contact center skills modeling using customer relationship management (CRM) incident categorization structure

• US 9,225,834 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chan, Victor Chung-Wai, Tung, Peter S., Hamson, Justin, Herron, Devin, Wack, Alice, Seebauer, W. Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, ANTIM G
• Application Number:
  US13/903,141
• Publication Number:
  US 20140355750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.05, 379/265.06, 379/265.07, 379/265.08, 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.01, 379/266.02, 379/266.03
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for modeling of agent skills based on or more closely matching categorization structures of the CRM system. According to one embodiment, defining skills of each of a plurality of customer service agents in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can comprise defining a set of product information representing products or services for which support is available through the CRM system. A set of incident information representing incidents handled by the CRM for one or more of the products or services can also be defined and a structure of the incident information can be based on a structure of the product information. A set of skills information for each of the plurality of customer service agents can also be defined. A structure of the skills information can be based on the structure of the product information and the structure of the incident information.

Claims

1. A method for defining skills of each of a plurality of customer service agents in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, the method comprising:

defining, by a computer system, a set of product information representing products or services for which support is available through the CRM system and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of product information;

defining, by the computer system, a set of incident information representing customer incidents handled by the CRM for one or more of the products or services and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of incident information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information, wherein the structure of the incident information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the incident information maps to the hierarchy of the product information;

defining, by the computer system, a set of skills information for each of the plurality of customer service agents and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of skills information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information and the multi-level hierarchical structure of the incident information, and wherein the structure of the skills information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information; and

routing, by the computer system, a customer contact to one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the mapping of the hierarchy of the incident information and the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the product information comprise more detailed information about the products or services than higher levels of the hierarchy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the incident information comprise more detailed information about the customer incidents than higher levels of the hierarchy.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, information related to a customer incident based on an interaction with a customer;

determining, by the computer system, a customer intent based on the information related to the customer incident and the interaction with the customer, wherein the customer intent is expressed in terms based on the structure of the product information and the structure of the incident information; and

routing, by the computer system, a communication with the customer to a selected at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the determined customer intent and skills information for the selected customer service agent.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein routing comprises:

comparing the determined customer intent to the skills information for the plurality of customer service agents;

in response to identifying an exact match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents having the exact match for handling of the communication with the customer;

in response to identifying a partial match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having an exact match for one of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent and a best match for the other of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent; and

in response to identifying no match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having a best match for product information and category information expressed in the customer intent.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising dynamically scoring, by the computer system, performance of a customer service agent in handling a communication with a customer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein dynamically scoring performance of the customer service agent in handling the communication with the customer comprises:

receiving information related to handling of a customer incident;

identifying a customer service agent based on the received information;

determining agent skills related to handling of the incident based on the received information;

determining agent performance based for the incident based on the received information; and

updating the skills information for the identified customer service agent based on the determined agent performance.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to define skills of each of a plurality of customer service agents in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system by;

defining a set of product information representing products or services for which support is available through the CRM system and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of product information;

defining a set of incident information representing customer incidents handled by the CRM for one or more of the products or services and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of incident information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information, wherein the structure of the incident information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the incident information maps to the hierarchy of the product information;

defining a set of skills information for each of the plurality of customer service agents and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of skills information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information and the multi-level hierarchical structure of the incident information, and wherein the structure of the skills information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information; and

routing a customer contact to one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the mapping of the hierarchy of the incident information and the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the product information comprise more detailed information about the products or services than higher levels of the hierarchy.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the incident information comprise more detailed information about the customer incidents than higher levels of the hierarchy.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving information related to a customer incident based on an interaction with a customer;

determining a customer intent based on the information related to the customer incident and the interaction with the customer, wherein the customer intent is expressed in terms based on the structure of the product information and the structure of the incident information; and

routing a communication with the customer to a selected at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the determined customer intent and skills information for the selected customer service agent.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein routing comprises:

comparing the determined customer intent to the skills information for the plurality of customer service agents;

in response to identifying an exact match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents having the exact match for handling of the communication with the customer;

in response to identifying a partial match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having an exact match for one of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent and a best match for the other of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent; and

in response to identifying no match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having a best match for product information and category information expressed in the customer intent.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising dynamically scoring performance of a customer service agent in handling a communication with a customer by:

receiving information related to handling of a customer incident;

identifying a customer service agent based on the received information;

determining agent skills related to handling of the incident based on the received information;

determining agent performance based for the incident based on the received information; and

updating the skills information for the identified customer service agent based on the determined agent performance.

14. A computer-readable memory comprising a set of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to define skills of each of a plurality of customer service agents in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system by:

defining a set of product information representing products or services for which support is available through the CRM system and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of product information;

defining a set of incident information representing customer incidents handled by the CRM for one or more of the products or services and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of incident information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information, wherein the structure of the incident information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the incident information maps to the hierarchy of the product information;

defining a set of skills information for each of the plurality of customer service agents and a multi-level hierarchical structure for the set of skills information based on the multi-level hierarchical structure of the product information and the multi-level hierarchical structure of the incident information, and wherein the structure of the skills information is substantially similar to the structure of the product information and wherein the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information; and

routing a customer contact to one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the mapping of the hierarchy of the incident information and the hierarchy of the skills information maps to the hierarchy of the product information.

15. The computer-readable memory of claim 14, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the product information comprise more detailed information about the products or services than higher levels of the hierarchy.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein lower levels of the hierarchy of the incident information comprise more detailed information about the customer incidents than higher levels of the hierarchy.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving information related to a customer incident based on an interaction with a customer;

determining a customer intent based on the information related to the customer incident and the interaction with the customer, wherein the customer intent is expressed in terms based on the structure of the product information and the structure of the incident information; and

routing a communication with the customer to a selected at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on the determined customer intent and skills information for the selected customer service agent.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 17, wherein routing comprises:

comparing the determined customer intent to the skills information for the plurality of customer service agents;

in response to identifying an exact match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents having the exact match for handling of the communication with the customer;

in response to identifying a partial match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having an exact match for one of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent and a best match for the other of product information or category information expressed in the customer intent; and

in response to identifying no match between the customer intent and the skills information for at least one of the plurality of customer service agents based on said comparing, selecting the at least one of the plurality of customer service agents for handling of the communication with the customer having a best match for product information and category information expressed in the customer intent.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, further comprising dynamically scoring performance of a customer service agent in handling a communication with a customer by:

receiving information related to handling of a customer incident;

identifying a customer service agent based on the received information;

determining agent skills related to handling of the incident based on the received information;

determining agent performance based for the incident based on the received information; and

updating the skills information for the identified customer service agent based on the determined agent performance.