Preventing contact by locking

• US 9,911,125 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2013
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Heller, Ryan Scott, Chou, Chung-Di, Gately, John J., Hoen, IV, Hudson Philip, Sheldon, Andrew, Smith, Patrick B., Vattikuti, Veera Venkata
• Primary Examiner(s): Ouellette, Jonathan P
• Application Number:
  US14/071,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: 705 11-912, 705304, 705348
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for preventing a customer communication by locking access to customer information. The system, method, and computer program product are configured to a) identify information relating to an event or condition that triggers a lock of customer information associated with a customer; b) lock at least a portion of the customer information associated with the customer based at least partially on the identifying; and c) generate a notification indicating that at least the portion of the customer information associated with the customer is locked based at least partially on the locking.

Claims

1. A system for preventing a customer communication by locking access to customer information, the system comprising:

a representative workstation, comprising one or more devices allowing a representative associated with an entity to control the representative workstation and communicate to a customer;

a computer apparatus including a processor and a memory; and

a software module stored in the memory, comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

identify information relating to an event or condition that triggers a lock of customer information associated with a customer, wherein the event or condition is identifying that the customer is engaged in communication with a second representative, wherein the customer information associated with the customer is a customer contact information and customer account information;

based at least partially on identifying information relating to the event or condition that triggers the lock, lock at least a portion of the customer information associated with the customer by placing at least the portion of the customer information in a restricted access folder to disable use of at least the portion of the customer information on the representative workstation, wherein at least one of the one or more devices of the representative workstation is prevented from communicating with the customer;

generate a notification indicating that at least the portion of the customer information associated with the customer is locked; and

allow for override of the lock by the representative, wherein the representative inputs a reason for overriding the lock.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the software module further comprises executable instructions for flagging for review and/or specific validation the identifying information relating to the event or condition that triggers the lock.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the entity attempting to communicate with the customer has received a cease and desist letter from said customer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer or information associated with the customer is attributed to an exclusion list for not contacting the customer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer is in real-time communication with an agent of the entity attempting to communicate with the customer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein locking at least the portion of the customer information associated with the customer comprises preventing dialing of a phone contact or transmission of an email.

7. A computer program product for preventing a customer communication by locking access to customer information, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprises one or more computer-executable program code portions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

identify information relating to an event or condition that triggers a lock of customer information associated with a customer, wherein the event or condition is identifying that the customer is engaged in communication with a second representative, wherein the customer information associated with the customer is a customer contact information and customer account information;

based at least partially on identifying information relating to the event or condition that triggers the lock, lock at least a portion of the customer information associated with the customer by placing at least the portion of the customer information in a restricted access folder to disable use of at least the portion of the customer information on the representative workstation, wherein at least one of the one or more devices of the representative workstation is prevented from communicating with the customer;

generate a notification indicating that at least the portion of the customer information associated with the customer is locked; and

allow for override of the lock by a representative associated with the representative workstation, wherein the representative inputs a reason for overriding the lock.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, the one or more computer-executable program code portions cause the computer to flag for review and/or specific validation the identifying information relating to the event or condition that triggers the lock.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that an entity attempting to communicate with the customer has received a cease and desist letter from said customer.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer or information associated with the customer is attributed to an exclusion list for not contacting the customer.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer is in real-time communication with an agent of an entity attempting to communicate with the customer.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein locking at least the portion of the customer information associated with the customer comprises preventing dialing of a phone contact or transmission of an email.

13. A method for preventing a customer communication by locking access to customer information, the method comprising:

determining one or more contacts for a customer, wherein the one or more contacts include customer contact information and customer account information;

determining regulations and/or policies associated with communicating with customers;

determining that a merchant has received conditional explicit denial to communicate with the customer using the customer contact information associated with the customer;

identifying information relating to an event or condition that triggers a lock of customer information associated with a customer, wherein the event or condition is identifying that the customer is engaged in communication with a second representative

based at least partially on determining that the merchant has received conditional explicit denial to communicate with the customer or identifying information relating to the event or condition, locking at least a portion of the one or more contacts for the customer by placing at least the portion of the customer information in a restricted access folder to disable use of at least the portion of the one or more contacts for the customer on a representative workstation, wherein at least one of one or more devices of the representative workstation is prevented from communicating with the customer;

generating a notification indicating that at least the portion of the one or more contacts for the customer is locked; and

allowing for override of the lock by the representative, wherein the representative inputs a reason for overriding the lock.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising flagging for review and/or specific validation identifying information relating to an event or condition that triggers the lock.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the regulations and/or policies associated with communicating with customers relate to rules for restricting times of day the customer may be contacted by a business entity.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer or information associated with the customer is attributed to an exclusion list for not contacting the customer.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the event or condition relates to a determination that the customer is in real-time communication with an agent of an entity attempting to communicate with the customer.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein locking at least the portion of the one or more contacts for the customer includes preventing an access to at least the portion of the one or more contacts customer information by an agent of an entity attempting to contact the customer by denying access to at least a portion of electronic data associated with the customer.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein locking at least the portion of the one or more contacts for the customer comprises preventing dialing of a phone contact or transmission of an email.