Contact center system and method for advanced outbound communications to a contact group

• US 9,979,823 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mitchell, Theodore Wallace, Decker, Christopher John, Stoops, Daniel S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US15/250,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20180063329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• Field of Search: 37921001, 37926501, 37926502, 37926503, 37926504, 37926505, 37926506, 37926507, 37926508, 37926509, 3792651, 37926511, 37926512, 37926513, 37926514, 37926601, 37926602, 37926603, 37926604, 37926605, 37926606, 37926607, 37926608, 37926609, 3792661
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1872 avoiding ACK or NACK implosion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method for managing outbound communications for a contact center includes: detecting, by a processor associated with the contact center, a trigger for transmitting outbound messages to a customer of the contact center, determining, by the processor, a notification strategy for the customer in response to the detected trigger, identifying, by the processor, a contact group designated for the customer, initiating, by the processor, first and second conversations with respectively first and second contacts in the contact group for transmitting first and second outbound communications according to the notification strategy, monitoring, by the processor, progress of the first and second conversations, and modifying, by the processor, a state of the second conversation with the second contact based on the progress of the first conversation with the first contact.

Claims

1. A method for managing outbound communications for a contact center, the method comprising:

detecting, by a processor associated with the contact center, a trigger for transmitting outbound communications to a customer of the contact center;

determining, by the processor, a notification strategy for the customer in response to the detected trigger;

identifying, by the processor, a contact group designated for the customer;

initiating, by the processor, a first conversation with a first contact in the contact group designated for the customer and a second conversation with a second contact in the contact group for transmitting first and second outbound communications, respectively, according to the notification strategy;

monitoring, by the processor, progress of the first and second conversations; and

modifying, by the processor, a state of the second conversation with the second contact based on the progress of the first conversation with the first contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the progress of the conversations comprises monitoring for return responses to the first and second outbound communications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the modifying the state of the second conversation comprises transmitting a notification to the second contact indicative of a return response from the first contact.

4. A method for managing outbound communications for a customer contact center, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a notification request from an external source requesting performance of an action by a customer;

identifying, by the processor, a plurality of recipients associated with the customer;

identifying, by the processor, a notification strategy associated with the customer, the notification strategy defining a plurality of conversations with the plurality of recipients that are parallel and co-dependent, each of the plurality of conversations comprising an ordered set of notifications separated in time and conducted across a plurality of communication channels to one of the plurality of recipients, the ordered set of notifications originating from the customer contact center;

conducting, by the processor, each one of the plurality of conversations by directing, to each one of the plurality of recipients, transmission of a corresponding ordered set of notifications according to the notification strategy;

receiving, by the processor, an acknowledgment from an acknowledging recipient from among the plurality of recipients indicating the performance of the action; and

in response to receiving the acknowledgment, terminating, by the processor, the plurality of conversations by ceasing remaining notifications of the plurality of conversations.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

initiating, by the processor, transmission of final communications to remaining ones of the plurality of recipients indicating the performance of the action by the acknowledging recipient.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the conducting of each one of the plurality of conversations comprises directing concurrent transmission of a first notification of the corresponding ordered set of notifications.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the conducting of each one of the plurality of conversations comprises directing a cloud server to transmit the ordered set of notifications to each one of the plurality of recipients.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

recording, by the processor, the acknowledgment by recording an identity of the acknowledging recipient, a time of acknowledgment, and a communication channel of the plurality of communication channels by which the acknowledgment was made.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the notification strategy further defines a timing schedule for sending each one of the ordered set of notifications.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

formulating the notification strategy based on notification rules and a timing schedule received from the external source.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprises email, telephony channels, short message service.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein each notification of the ordered set of notifications comprises a message requesting the performance of the action.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the action comprises removing a blocked bin.

14. A system for managing outbound communications for a customer contact center, the system comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform;

receiving a notification request from an external source requesting performance of an action by a customer;

identifying a plurality of recipients associated with the customer;

identifying a notification strategy associated with the customer, the notification strategy defining a plurality of conversations with the plurality of recipients that are parallel and co-dependent, each of the plurality of conversations comprising an ordered set of notifications separated in time and conducted across a plurality of communication channels to one of the plurality of recipients, the ordered set of notifications originating from the customer contact center;

conducting each one of the plurality of conversations by directing, to each one of the plurality of recipients, transmission of a corresponding ordered set of notifications according to the notification strategy;

receiving an acknowledgment from an acknowledging recipient from among the plurality of recipients indicating the performance of the action; and

in response to receiving the acknowledgment, terminating the plurality of conversations by ceasing remaining notifications of the plurality of conversations.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform:

initiating transmission of final communications to remaining ones of the plurality of recipients indicating the performance of the action by the acknowledging recipient.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the conducting of each one of the plurality of conversations comprises directing concurrent transmission of a first notification of the corresponding ordered set of notifications.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the conducting of each one of the plurality of conversations comprises directing a cloud server to transmit the ordered set of notifications to each one of the plurality of recipients.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform:

recording the acknowledgment by recording an identity of the acknowledging recipient, a time of acknowledgment, and a communication channel of the plurality of communication channels by which the acknowledgment was made.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the notification strategy further defines a timing schedule for sending each one of the ordered set of notifications.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform:

formulating the notification strategy based on notification rules and a timing schedule received from the external source.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprises email, telephony, and short message service.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein each notification of the ordered set of notifications comprises a message requesting the performance of the action.

23. A system for managing outbound communications for a customer contact center, the system comprising:

means for receiving a notification request from an external source requesting performance of an action by a customer;

means for identifying a plurality of recipients associated with the customer;

means for identifying a notification strategy associated with the customer, the notification strategy defining a plurality of conversations with the plurality of recipients that are parallel and co-dependent, each of the plurality of conversations comprising an ordered set of notifications separated in time and conducted across a plurality of communication channels to one of the plurality of recipients, the ordered set of notifications originating from the customer contact center;

means for conducting each one of the plurality of conversations by directing, to each one of the plurality of recipients, transmission of a corresponding ordered set of notifications according to the notification strategy;

means for receiving an acknowledgment from an acknowledging recipient from among the plurality of recipients indicating the performance of the action; and

means for terminating the plurality of conversations by ceasing remaining notifications of the plurality of conversations, in response to receiving the acknowledgment.