System and method for selecting agent in a contact center for improved call routing

• US 9,491,295 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2015
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Shaffer, Shmuel, Klemm, Reinhard P.
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US14/674,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20150207938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.11, 379/265.05, 379/265.12, 379/265.01, 705/304, 706/12, 370/352
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/18 Comparators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/555 Statistics, e.g. about subscribers but not being call statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

An agent selection system for selecting agents during call routing in a contact center is provided. The agent selection system includes a data mining module to mine agent related data from preconfigured resources e.g., social networking sites. The agent selection system further includes a profile module to build one or more agent profile based on the mined agent related data. The agent selection system further includes a mapping module configured to map a customer profile in a customer work request with the one or more agent profile. The agent selection system further includes a selection module to select an agent for handling the customer work request based on mapping between the customer profile and the one or more agent profile.

Claims

1. An agent computer selection system for selecting agent computers during call routing in a contact center, comprising:

a memory device storing executable instructions, and

a processor in communication with the memory device, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions;

mines respective agent related data from preconfigured resources for each of a plurality of agents of the contact center,

wherein each of the plurality of agents is associated with a respective agent computer, and

wherein the preconfigured resources comprise social networking sites;

builds a respective agent profile for each of the plurality of agents based on the mined agent related data;

maps a customer profile in a customer work request with one or more of the respective agent profiles; and

selects one of the respective agent computers for handling the customer work request based on the mapping with the customer profile and the one or more respective agent profiles.

2. The agent computer selection system of claim 1, wherein the respective agent related data comprises data posted by that agent on the social networking sites.

3. The agent computer selection system of claim 1, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions utilizes preconfigured keywords to identify and mine respective agent related data from the preconfigured resources.

4. The agent computer selection system of claim 1, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions updates the respective agent profile based on the mined respective agent related data.

5. The agent computer selection system of claim 1, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions prepares, for each of the plurality of agents, a respective extended agent skill set based on the mined respective agent related data.

6. The agent computer selection system of claim 5, wherein each of the respective extended agent skill sets comprises one or more interests of that agent, education and work histories of that agent, hobbies of that agent, a geographic location of that agent, a hometown of that agent, one or more favorite sports teams of that agent, one or more favorite TV shows of that agent, and a cultural background of that agent.

7. The agent computer selection system of claim 5, wherein each of the respective extended agent skill sets comprises one or more skills of that agent related to business, eloquence of that agent, communication style of that agent, enthusiasm of that agent, and one or more personality traits of that agent.

8. The agent computer selection system of claim 5, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions maps customer profile elements of the customer profile to extended agent skill set elements of each of the respective extended agent skill sets based on predefined mapping rules stored in a rules database.

9. The agent computer selection system of claim 8, wherein the predefined mapping rules relate to identifying whether there is a match between the customer profile elements and the extended agent skill set elements.

10. The agent computer selection system of claim 1, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions computes a respective matching score based on the mapping between the customer profile and each of the one or more respective agent profiles.

11. The agent computer selection system of claim 10, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions determines the respective agent profile with a highest respective matching score and selects the associated agent computer.

12. The agent computer selection system of claim 10, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions determines a respective agent profile having less than a highest respective matching score and selects the associated agent computer when the highest matching score is less than a predetermined threshold.

13. A computer-implemented method for selecting agent computers during call routing in a contact center, the computer-implemented method comprising:

mining, by a computer of the contact center, respective agent related data from preconfigured resources for each of a plurality of agents of the contact center,

wherein each of the plurality of agents is associated with a respective agent computer and,

wherein the preconfigured resources comprise social networking sites;

building, by the computer of the contact center, a respective agent profile for each of the plurality of agents based on the mined agent related data;

mapping, by the computer of the contact center, a customer profile in a customer work request with one or more of the respective agent profiles; and

selecting, by the computer of the contact center, one of the respective agent computers for handling the customer work request based on the mapping between the customer profile and the one or more respective agent profiles.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the respective agent related data comprises data posted by that agent on the social networking sites.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein mining respective agent related data comprises:

mining agent related data from the preconfigured resources based on preconfigured keywords.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein building respective agent profiles comprises:

preparing for each of the plurality of agents a respective extended agent skill set based on the mined respective agent related data.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein each respective extended agent skill set comprises a name of that agent, a gender of that agent, a home location of that agent, a work location of that agent, an education level of that agent, a work history of that agent, one or more favorite TV shows of that agent, one or more favorite books of that agent, favorite music of that agent, one or more hobbies of that agent, a list of friends of that agent, a name of a spouse of that agent, one or more posts from that agent, one or more comments from that agent, a communication style of that agent, an eloquence of that agent, an enthusiasm of that agent, and one or more personality traits of that agent.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein mapping a customer profile comprises:

computing a respective matching score based on the mapping between the customer profile and each of the one or more respective agent profiles.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the step of selecting an agent computer comprises:

selecting the agent computer associated with the respective agent profile with a highest matching score.

20. A system in a contact center for selecting agent computers during call routing in a contact center, the computer-implemented method comprising:

a telecommunications device receiving a customer work request for the contact center from a customer computer;

a first memory device storing a database of a respective agent profile for each of a plurality of agents of the contact center,

wherein each respective agent profile is based at least in part on agent-related data mined from a plurality of social media channels; and

wherein each of the plurality of agents is associated with a respective agent computer;

a server computer, comprising;

a second memory device storing executable instructions, and

a processor in communication with the first memory device and the second memory device, wherein the processor when executing the executable instructions;

maps a customer profile associated with the customer work request with one or more of the respective agent profiles;

computes a respective matching score based on the mapping between the customer profile and each of the one or more respective agent profiles; and

selects the one of the respective agent computers associated with the respective agent profile with a highest matching score;

an agent router establishing a communications link between the customer computer and the selected one agent computer; and

a network medium coupled with the telecommunications device, the first memory device, the server computer, and the agent router.