Routine communication sessions for recording

• US 20080080698A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dong, Thomas Z., Williams, Jamie Richard, Calahan, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,570,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/266.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

Systems and methods for recording a communication session between a customer and an agent are provided. In this regard, a representative method comprises: routing a media stream associated with the communication session based on information corresponding to routing criteria, wherein the routing criteria include call control protocols or policies; receiving the media stream associated with the communication session from the customer center communication system; and recording the received media stream.

Claims

1. A method for recording a communication session between a customer and an agent, comprising the steps of:

routing by a customer center communication system a media stream associated with a communication session based on information corresponding to routing criteria, wherein the routing criteria include call control protocols or policies;

receiving the media stream associated with the communication session from the customer center communication system; and

recording the received media stream.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein receiving and recording the media is achieved by a recording system.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further comprising managing the recording system by a proxy server.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the call control protocols include at least one of a session initiation protocol (SIP) and H323.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the call control protocols include tying two or more streams associated with the communication session to the same recording system.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the policies include co-residency of media.

7. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein the routing the media stream to the recording system includes balancing call load based on the information of the recording system, the information including recording load and CPU usage.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the routing criteria include network topology criteria.

9. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein routing the media stream to the recording system includes redirecting the media stream to proxy servers based on the network topology or the recording load.

10. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein routing the media stream to the recording system includes rejecting the media stream if a hybrid recording mode is configured on the recording system and the recording system is already recording the media stream via a passive method.

11. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein routing the media stream to the recording system includes rejecting the media stream based on recorder configuration criteria, the criteria including the recorder being over-loaded.

12. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining whether to record the media stream associated with the communication session based on the information corresponding to the routing criteria.

13. The method as defined in claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting instructions to the customer center communication system to duplicate the media stream; and

receiving the duplicated media stream by the recording system.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

planning at least one campaign to implement the goals;

scheduling and deploying a workforce in accordance with the campaign to produce a plurality of agent-customer interactions;

measuring performance of an agent on at least a portion of the agent-customer interactions to produce a set of quality metrics for the agent;

analyzing the quality metrics to produce a rating of the measured interactions;

combining at least a portion of quality metrics to produce performance indicators; and

using the performance indicators in the planning step of a second campaign or another iteration of the at least one campaign.

15. A system for recording a communication session between a customer and an agent, comprising:

a customer center communication system having a communication component, the communication component being operative to route a media stream associated with a communication session based on information corresponding to routing criteria, wherein the routing criteria include call control protocols or policies; and

a recording system being operative to receive the media stream over the network and record the received media stream.

16. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the call control protocols include at least one of a session initiation protocol (SIP) and H323.

17. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the call control protocols include tying two or more streams associated with the communication session to the same recording system.

18. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the policies include co-residency of media.

19. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the routing criteria includes balancing call load based on the information of the recording system, the information including recording load and CPU usage.

20. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the routing criteria include network topology criteria.

21. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the routing criteria include redirecting the media stream to proxy servers based on the network topology or the recording load.

22. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the routing criteria include rejecting the media stream if a hybrid recording mode is configured on the recording system and the recording system is already recording the media stream via a passive method.

23. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the routing criteria include rejecting the media stream based on configuration criteria, the criteria including the recorder being over-loaded.

24. The system as defined in claim 15, further comprising a proxy server that facilitates the communication between the customer center communication system and the recording system.

25. The system as defined in claim 24, wherein the proxy server is operative to determine whether to record the media stream associated with the communication session based on the recording information from the customer center communication system.

26. The system as defined in claim 25, wherein the proxy server transmits instructions to the customer center communication system to duplicate the media stream and transmit the duplicated media stream to the recording system.

27. The system as defined in claim 24, wherein the proxy server is further operative to manage the recording system.

28. The system as defined in claim 24, wherein the communication component routes the media stream to the proxy server, the proxy server being operative to route the media stream to the recording system based on the information corresponding to the routing criteria.

29. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a workforce manager comprising a scheduler; and

a quality monitor configured to provide, to the scheduler, at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score,

wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities,

wherein the workforce schedule is based at least in part on the at least one quality goal and the at least one agent quality score.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising a lesson assignment component configured to receive at least one indicator of performance of an agent, and further configured to assign a lesson to the agent based on the at least one indicator.

31. A system for recording a communication session between a customer and an agent, comprising:

a customer center communication system having a communication component, the communication component being operative to route a media stream associated with a communication session over a network based on information corresponding to routing criteria, wherein the routing criteria include call control protocols or policies;

a proxy server being operative to receive the media stream based on the information corresponding to the routing criteria and determine whether to record the media stream, responsive to the determination, the proxy server being operative to transmit instructions to the customer center communication system to duplicate the media stream and transmit the duplicated media stream over the network; and

a recording system being operative to receive and record the duplicated media stream over the network.