Management system for a contact centre

• US 20040088300A1
• Filed: 12/08/2003
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nakhla, Thab, Wong, Eldon Chun-Keung, Avery, Brett Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,828 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An application management system, including a learning robot/learning agent adapted to generate control data (eg automation script) by monitoring interactions (404,406) between a customer service application (CSA) and a user of the application and an execution robot for sending application data to the application on the basis of the control data, is described. A contact centre management system whose components are configurable by a contact centre administrator is also described. A relationship management system that manages a relationship between a business requiring a contact centre and a customer service representative broker is also described.

Claims

1. A method for sending application data to an application, including

generating control data by monitoring interactions between said application and a user of said application;

and

sending application data to said application on the basis of said control data.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said step of generating said control data includes storing a stream of interaction data representing interactions between said application and said user, and inserting location data representing locations for application data into said interaction data.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said location data includes tagged parameter data of said application data.

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 3, wherein said control data includes location data, and said method includes generating execution data by inserting said application data into said control data at locations indicated by said location data, and sending said execution data to said application.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said tagged parameter data includes a tagged call parameter for a call received at a contact centre.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said application data includes a username and password.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, including establishing a network connection to access said application.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, including displaying instructions to assist in configuring said application.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said instructions include instructions to assist in configuring network access to said application.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, including controlling said application on the basis of said control data to return said application to a predetermined state.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said monitoring includes monitoring operating system events.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said operating system events include events associated with an input device of said user.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said wherein said input device includes a keyboard.

15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said wherein said input device includes a mouse.

22. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 21, including configuring network access to said application.

23. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein said application is a database application for use in a call centre.

24. An application management system, including software having program code for executing the steps of any one of claims 1 to 23.

25. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereupon program code for executing the steps of any one of claims 1 to 23.

26. An application management system, including components for executing the steps of any one of claims 1 to 23.

2. A method for extracting application data from output of an application, including

generating control data by monitoring interactions between said application and a user of said application;

and

extracting application data from output of said application on the basis of said control data.

16. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said step of extracting includes matching said output with said control data to identify said application data.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said matching includes regular expression matching.

18. A method for extracting data from an application, including:

generating control data by monitoring interactions between said application and a user of said application;

sending first application data to said application on the basis of said control data; and

extracting second application data from output of said application on the basis of said control data.

19. A method for transferring application data from a first application to a second application, including:

generating first control data by monitoring interactions between said first application and a user of said first application;

generating second control data by monitoring interactions between said second application and a user of said second application;

extracting application data from output of said first application on the basis of said first control data; and

sending said application data to said second application on the basis of said second control data.

20. A method for sending application data to an application, including

sending, to a computer system hosting said application, a learning robot adapted to generate control data by monitoring interactions between said application and a user of said application;

and

sending application data to said application on the basis of said control data.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein said application data is sent to said application over a communications network.

27. An application management system, including

a learning robot adapted to generate control data by monitoring interactions between an application and a user of said application;

an execution robot for sending application data to said application on the basis of said control data.

28. A management system, including:

an access component for obtaining access data for connecting to a system of a business adapted to execute an application;

a learning robot for monitoring execution of events to use said application; and

an execution robot adapted to provide remote access to said application on the basis of said access data and said events.

29. A method for configuring access to an application, including:

receiving at a server interface access data for connecting to a business system adapted to execute the application;

transmitting to the business system a learning robot adapted to monitor operating system events generated during use of the application; and

remotely accessing and executing the application on the basis of said access data and said events.

30. A management system for a contact centre, including:

an interface for receiving configuration data from an administrator of said contact centre;

a database for storing said configuration data; and

a configuration component adapted to configure components of a contact centre on the basis of said configuration data.

31. A management system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said configuration data includes profile data for a plurality of customer service representatives and one or more customer service applications.

32. A management system as claimed in claim 31, wherein said configuration data includes profile data for one or more customer service representative brokers.

33. A management system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said configuration data includes media profile data for specifying which media are configured to handle contacts for said centre.

34. A management system as claimed in claim 33, wherein said media include at least two of the public switched telephone network, voice over IP, email, chat, and interactive voice response.

35. A management system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said configuration component is adapted to create, redimension, start, pause, and/or terminate said contact centre.

36. A management system as claimed in claim 30, wherein said configuration data relates to a plurality of respective contact centres, and said configuration component is adapted to configure components of said contact centres on the basis of the respective configuration data.

37. A management system as claimed in claim 36, wherein said contact centres are operated on behalf of a plurality of businesses, and said configuration data includes respective profile data for said businesses.

38. A management system as claimed in claim 30, including an application management module for controlling a customer service application on behalf of a customer service representative.

39. A management system as claimed in claim 30, including a relationship management module for receiving, storing, and sending data representing interactions and associations between parties involved in operating said contact centre.

40. A management system as claimed in claim 39, wherein said parties include at least two of a contact centre administrator, a customer service representative, and a customer service representative broker.

41. A management system as claimed in claim 30, including a performance module for determining performance statistics for said contact centre.

42. A relationship management system, including:

a messaging component for receiving and sending relationship data between parties involved in operating a contact centre; and

a database component for maintaining profile data on said parties, said profile data including association data representing associations established between said parties.

43. A relationship management system as claimed in claim 42, wherein said parties include at least two of a contact centre administrator, a customer service representative, and a customer service representative broker.

44. A relationship management system as claimed in claim 42, including a trading platform component for operating a trading platform whereby customer service representative brokers bid against each other to provide their services to said call centre.

45. A relationship management system as claimed in claim 42, including a scheduling component for scheduling customer service representatives for said call centre.

46. A relationship management system as claimed in claim 42, including a portfolio component for displaying party portfolios stored in said database.

47. A relationship management system as claimed in claim 42, wherein said relationship messages include a request from a first party for the services of a second party.