Systems and methods for data synchronization management between call centers and CRM systems

• US 9,723,075 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2014
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: inContact Incorporated (Nice Ltd)
• Original Assignee: inContact Incorporated (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Ryskamp, Rix, Pino, Bryan, Walburger, Derick, Mayberry, Kacie, Seaman, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Tiv, Backhean
• Application Number:
  US14/485,499
• Publication Number:
  US 20150081841A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Systems and methods for synchronizing data between a communications management system and data management system. In some implementations, contact data may be requested from a data management system external to and/or operated by a distinct entity with respect to a communications management system. The requested contact data may be received at the communications management system and the communications management system may be used to establish a communication using at least one contact from the requested contact data. The requested contact data may be updated using data generated during the communication and then updated contact data may be transmitted to the data management system to synchronize the two systems.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing data between a communications management system and an external customer relationship management system, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting contact data from the customer relationship management system;

filtering the contact data by the time window in which customers associated with the contact data are available to be contacted to obtain a filtered set of contact data;

receiving the filtered set of contact data at a communications management system, wherein the communications management system is external to the customer relationship management system, and wherein the communications management system is operated by an entity distinct from an entity operating the customer relationship management system;

scoring contact data, and sorting communications such that communications using contact data having higher scores occur earlier than contacts with lower scores;

if the time window has not expired, using the communications management system to establish a communication using at least one contact from the filtered set of contact data; and

synchronizing, during the communication in real time, contact data between the communications management system and the customer relationship management system using data generated during the communication, by transmitting contact data to the customer relationship management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications management system comprises a call center dialer system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of using the communications management system to establish a communication comprises using the call center dialer system to dial a telephone call to at least one contact from the filtered set of contact data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing one or more triggers for automatically requesting contact data from the customer relationship management system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more triggers comprise at least one threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one threshold comprises a lower threshold of currently available contact records.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising comparing a parameter of a set of contact records with the one or more triggers.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of comparing a parameter of a set of contact records with the one or more triggers comprises comparing a number of contacts in a set of contact records at the communications management system with a threshold number of contact records.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold number of contact records comprises a lower threshold of currently available contact records.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a data synchronization and communication workflow using a workflow creation user interface;

using the data synchronization and communication workflow to manage one or more communication sessions with one or more contacts from the filtered set of contact data; and

using the data synchronization and communication workflow to manage synchronization of data between the communications management system and the customer relationship management system.

11. A method for synchronizing data between a communications management system and data management system, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting contact data from the data management system;

filtering the contact data by the time window in which customers are available to be contacted to obtain a filtered set of contact data;

receiving requested contact data at a communications management system, wherein the communications management system is external to the data management system, and wherein the step of receiving requested contact data at the communications management system comprises receiving the filtered set of contact data from the data management system;

scoring contact data, and sorting communications such that communications with customers associated with contact data having higher scores occur earlier than communications with customers associated with contact data with lower scores;

if the time window has not expired, using the communications management system to establish a communication using at least one contact from the requested contact data;

updating the requested contact data, during the communication in real time, using data generated during the communication; and

transmitting updated contact data to the data management system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the communications management system is operated by an entity distinct from an entity operating the data management system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the data management system comprises a customer relationship management system.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the communication comprises an outbound communication.

15. A communications management and data synchronization system for managing communications and synchronizing communications data between a communications management system and an external customer relationship management system, the system comprising:

a workflow creation user interface executed on computer hardware components to allow a user to customize a workflow associated with communications between one or more agents and one or more contacts, wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to allow a user to control the flow of communications data comprising data associated with communication between one or more agents and one or more contacts, wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to prevent communications between agents and contacts from taking place after a time window in which customers are available to be contacted has expired, and to sort communications such that communications with contacts having higher scores occur earlier than contacts with lower scores;

a communications system datastore executed on computer hardware components to store internal communications data comprising data associated with communication between one or more agents and one or more contacts generated by the communications management and data synchronization system; and

a computer execution module executed on computer hardware components to receive external communications data from a customer relationship management system external to the communications management and data synchronization system, wherein the execution module is further configured to receive internal communications data from a communications system datastore, wherein the execution module is further configured to synchronize communications data, during the relevant communication in real time, between the communications management and data synchronization system and the external customer relationship management system, by transmitting data to the external customer relationship management system, and wherein the execution module is configured to access contact data from the customer relationship management system and filter the contact data by the time window in which contacts are available to be contacted to obtain a filtered set of contact data according to a set of pre-specified criteria.

16. The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15, wherein the execution module is further configured to execute synchronization of communications data between the communications management and data synchronization system and the external customer relationship management system based upon instructions contained in metadata.

17. The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 16, wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to use user interface abstractions comprising graphical representations to create a synchronization workflow instruction set and encapsulate the synchronization workflow instruction set in the metadata.

18. The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 17, wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to allow the graphical representations to be at least one of dragged and dropped, stretched, and connected with flow process lines to abstract the synchronization workflow instruction set.

19. The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15, wherein the communications data comprises data automatically generated by the communications management and data synchronization system during communications with contacts.

20. The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15, wherein the communications data comprises data manually entered by an agent of the communications management and data synchronization system.