Agent assisting system for processing customer enquiries in a contact center

• US 9,848,082 B1
• Filed: 03/28/2016
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Lillard, Brian T., Koster, Karl H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hashem, Lisa
• Application Number:
  US15/082,301
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/083 Recognition networks G10L15/142, G10L15/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/651 Text message transmission triggered by call automatic reactions in messaging within packet-switching networks H04L51/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5231 with call back arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53308 Message originator indirectly connected to the message centre, e.g. after detection of busy or absent state of a called party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53341 Message reply
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A system is disclosed that assists contact center agents with servicing customer enquiries. A wireless caller with an enquiry calls a contact center and is prompted to leave a voice message and accept a text callback as a response. The voice message is processed by a speech analytics system that extracts certain keywords in the voice message and develops a transcript as well. Upon selecting an available agent to provide the response, the keywords and transcript are presented to the agent along with a draft text response, formulated by the system using the identified keywords. Additional resources may be provided as necessary to the agent, who can also review the original audio recording. Upon reviewing and potentially editing the text response, the agent causes the text to be sent to the wireless caller, which may be sent as an SMS text, or in some other form.

Claims

1. A system for responding to an enquiry from a caller, comprising:

a call handler configured to;

receive a voice call from the caller, wherein the voice call originates from a wireless device,

answer the voice call,

place the voice call in a hold queue,

play a first announcement to the caller indicating the voice call is in the hold queue,

ascertain the voice call originated from a wireless telephone number,

in response to ascertaining the voice call originated from the wireless telephone number, play a second announcement to the caller requesting a voice message be left by the caller in order to subsequently receive a response comprising a short message service (“

SMS”

) text message, and

receive the voice message;

a speech analytics subsystem configured to;

process the voice message to generate a transcript of the voice message; and

a caller enquiry agent assisting module configured to;

select an agent of a contact center to receive information about the voice message,

present the transcript on a display of a computer used by the agent selected to receive the information about the voice message,

display an icon to the agent on the display of the computer for playing audio of the voice message,

receive a selection of the icon from the computer for playing the audio of the voice message,

in response to receiving the selection of the icon, cause the audio of the voice message to be played to the agent,

receive input from the computer after the audio of the voice message is played to the agent, wherein the input is used to produce the SMS text message,

receive a command from the computer in response to the agent requesting to send the SMS text message to the caller as the response, and

cause the SMS text message to be sent to the wireless telephone number.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the caller enquiry agent assisting module is further configured to:

generate a draft SMS text message; and

present the draft SMS text message to the agent on the display, wherein the input from the agent used to generate the SMS text message comprises editing the draft SMS text message.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the caller enquiry agent assisting module is further configured to:

receive one or more keywords detected by the speech analytics subsystem in the voice message;

use the one or more keywords as search terms to identify a plurality of resources; and

present a plurality of links corresponding to the plurality of resources on the display to the agent.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the caller enquiry agent assisting module is further configured to:

receive one or more keywords detected by the speech analytics subsystem in the voice message; and

present the one or more keywords on the display to the agent.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the caller enquiry agent assisting module is further configured to:

receive a selection input from the computer used by the agent to select one of the plurality of links; and

displaying one of the plurality of resources corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of links on the display to the agent.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the caller enquiry agent assisting module is further configured to:

receive account information associated with an account associated with the wireless telephone number; and

present at least a subset of the account information on the display of a computer used by the agent selected to receive the information about the voice message.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive a voice call from a caller, wherein the voice call originates from a wireless device;

place the voice call in a hold queue,

play a first announcement to the caller indicating the voice call is in the hold queue;

ascertain the voice call originated from a wireless telephone number;

in response to ascertaining the voice call originated from the wireless telephone number, play a second announcement to the caller requesting a voice message be left by the caller in order to subsequently receive a response comprising a short message service (“

SMS”

) text message;

receive the voice message;

receive a transcript from a speech analytics system generated from the speech analytics system processing the voice message left by a caller after originating the voice call to a contact center;

select an agent from a plurality of agents of the contact center to receive the transcript;

transmit the transcript for display on a monitor of a computer used by the agent;

retrieve account information of an account associated with the wireless telephone number used by the caller;

transmit the account information for display on a monitor of a computer used by the agent;

display an icon to the agent for playing audio of the voice message;

receive a selection of the icon from the agent for playing the audio of the voice message;

in response to receiving the selection of the icon, play the audio of the voice message to the agent, wherein the audio is played prior to receiving an input from the agent used to generate the SMS text message;

receive the input received from the computer used by the agent providing text to be sent in the SMS text message to the wireless telephone number; and

process a command received from the computer used by the agent to cause the SMS text message to be sent to the wireless telephone number.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 storing further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

generate a draft SMS text message; and

transmit the draft SMS text message for display on the monitor of the computer used by the agent, wherein the input from the agent providing the text message comprises editing the draft SMS text message.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 storing further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

process one or more keywords received from the speech analytics system derived from processing the voice message; and

display the one or more keywords on the monitor of the computer.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 storing further instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

process one or more keywords received from the speech analytics system derived from processing the voice message;

use the one or more keywords to search a knowledge base to identify one or more resources; and

transmit one or more links corresponding to the one or more resources for display on the monitor of the computer.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive a voice call from a caller, wherein the voice call originates from a wireless device;

answer the voice call,

place the voice call in a hold queue,

play a first announcement to the caller indicating the call is in the hold queue;

ascertain the voice call originated from a wireless telephone number;

in response to ascertaining the voice call originated from the wireless telephone number, play a second announcement to the caller requesting a voice message be left by the caller in order to subsequently receive a response comprising a short message service (“

SMS”

) text message;

receive the voice message;

receive a transcript from a speech analytics system generated from processing the voice message left by the caller after originating the voice call to a contact center;

select an agent from a plurality of agents of the contact center to receive the transcript;

transmit the transcript for display on a monitor of a computer used by the agent;

retrieve account information of an account associated with the wireless telephone number used by the caller;

transmit the account information for display on a monitor of a computer used by the agent; and

display an icon on the monitor to the agent for playing audio of the voice message;

receive a selection of the icon from the agent for playing the audio of the voice message;

in response to receiving the selection of the icon, play the audio of the voice message to the agent;

process a command received from the computer used by the agent indicating to re-queue the voice message.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, storing further instructions that when executed by a processor to:

select another agent from the plurality of agents of the contact center to receive the transcript;

transmit the transcript for display on another monitor of another computer used by the another agent;

retrieve the account information of the account associated with the wireless telephone number used by the caller;

transmit the account information for display on the another monitor of the another agent;

receive a second input from the another agent generating another SMS text message to be sent to the wireless telephone number; and

receive a second command from the another agent to send the another SMS text message to the wireless telephone number.

13. A method for assisting an agent in a contact center in responding to an enquiry of a caller comprising:

receiving an incoming voice call from the caller at the contact center;

answering the incoming voice call by an interactive voice response unit (“

IVR”

) of the contact center;

place the voice call in a hold queue,

playing a first announcement to the caller indicating the incoming voice call is in the hold queue,

ascertaining the incoming voice call originated from a wireless telephone number,

in response to ascertaining the incoming voice call originated from the wireless telephone number, playing a second announcement to the caller requesting a voice message be left by the caller in expectation of receiving a subsequent communication comprising a short message service (“

SMS”

) text message responding to the voice message;

receiving the voice message from the caller;

storing the voice message in a memory store;

processing the voice message from the caller to identify one or more keywords in speech from the caller;

determining an agent is available to provide the subsequent communication to the caller;

presenting the agent with information related to the voice message including a transcript of the voice message;

displaying an icon to the agent for playing audio of the voice message;

receiving a selection of the icon from the agent for playing the audio of the voice message;

in response to receiving the selection of the icon, playing the audio of the voice message to the agent;

and

presenting information on a monitor of a computer used by the agent, wherein the information relates to the subsequent communication to be conveyed to the caller.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information related to the voice message comprises a draft SMS text message, and the method further comprises:

receiving an input from the agent editing the draft SMS text message thereby generating a final SMS text message; and

sending the final SMS text message as the subsequent communication to a wireless number associated with the voice call from the caller.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a command from the computer used by the agent to send the final SMS text message as the subsequent communication to the caller.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a command from the computer used by the agent to initiate the subsequent communication as an outbound voice call to the caller.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a command from the computer used by the agent to review audio of the voice message.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a command from the computer used by the agent to review a resource associated with one or more keywords derived by a speech analytics system processing the voice message.