Rule based routing system and method for a virtual sales and service center

• US 6,134,530 A
• Filed: 04/17/1998
• Issued: 10/17/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Andersen Consulting (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Bunting, Bryan, Walters, Jim, Smith, Jim, McDonough, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US09/062,335
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/9, 370/237, 455/445, 379/34, 379/220, 379/225
• US Class Current: 705/7.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• 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 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/72 Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber

Abstract

A rule based routing system and method is disclosed. The rule based routing system and method matches employee skills with a customer profile thereby facilitating improved customer service and identifying cross-sell opportunities. The rule based routing system and method identifies a call profile for the call, matches the call profile to 3 sales and service resource profile representing an identified resource, generates an instruction signal and routes the call to the identified resource in response to the instruction signal. The virtual sales and service center is monitored for overflow or overload conditions and load balancing and overflow rules are applied to the call in response to detection of overflow or overload conditions. The customer profile includes a language type, a customer type, a business segment identifier, a request type and a product associated with the customer.

Claims

1. A rule based routing engine for routing a customer to any type of sales and service resource, comprising:

a customer profile database for storing a plurality of customer types;

a sales and service resource profile data base for storing a plurality of primary resource types, first overflow resource types and second overflow resource types;

a receiver for receiving customer data from an access resource handling a customer contact; and

a processor for determining a customer type based upon the customer data, identifying a matching primary resource within the sales and service resource profile data base that is best suited to handle the call, and routing the customer to the matching primary resource;

wherein the customer profile database is updated with the matching primary resource identified for handling the call in order to provide additional information to the processor when identifying a matching primary resource during subsequent calls.

2. The rule based routing engine of claim 1 wherein the customer types comprise an identification of customer subfields, wherein the subfields comprise a language, a type of customer, a segment, a request type, opportunity type and a product.

3. The rule based routing engine of claim 2 wherein the segment comprises a grouping of like customers based on an analysis of the available subfields.

4. The rule, based routing engine of claim 2 wherein the request type comprises a service or sales request.

5. The rule based routing engine of claim 2 wherein the opportunity type comprises a cross-sell opportunity.

6. The rule based routing engine of claim 1, wherein the processor identifies a first overflow resource and a second overflow resource for routing the customer when the identified primary resource is unavailable.

7. The rule based routing engine of claim 1, further comprising a timing device for placing the customer on hold for a first predetermined period of time when the matching primary resource is unavailable.

8. The rule based routing engine of claim 7, wherein the processor identifies a first overflow resource for routing the customer to when the matching primary resource is unavailable.

9. The rule based routing engine of claim 8, wherein the processor routes the customer to the first overflow resource when the first predetermined period of time has expired.

10. The rule based routing engine of claim 9 wherein the timing device placing the customer on hold for a second predetermined period of time when the first overflow resource is unavailable.

11. The rule based routing engine of claim 10 wherein the processor identifies a second overflow resource for routing the customer to when the identified first overflow resource is unavailable.

12. The rule based routing engine of claim 11 wherein the processor routes the customer to the second overflow resource when the second predetermined period of time has expired.

13. A routing system for developing a routing profile for making a sales and service resource match to a customer during a call, comprising:

a call profile processor for identifying a call profile for the call;

a match processor for matching the call profile to a sales and service resource profile representing an identified resource and generating an instruction signal;

customer interaction devices capable of receiving an instruction signal and accepting data from the customer during the call; and

a switch for receiving the instruction signal and routing the call to the identified resource in response thereto;

wherein the call profile processor updates the call profile identified for the call with the routing profile for use in subsequent contacts with the customer; and

the routing profile comprises the identified resource and instruction signal used in routing the call.

14. The routing system of claim 13 further comprising a individual resource level load balancer for monitoring for overflow or overload conditions and applying load balancing and overflow rules to the call in response to detection of overflow or overload conditions.

15. The routing system of claim 13 wherein the call profile processor comprises a number identification system for identifying a number from which a customer place the call and for identifying the number called by the customer, a customer profile database for storing customer attributes, and a VRU interface for receiving VRU activity, wherein the call profile is based upon the number from which the customer placed the call, the number dialed by the customer, the customer attributes and the received VRU activity.

16. A method of routing customer contacts, comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of customer types in a customer profile database;

storing a plurality of primary resource types, first overflow resource types and second overflow resource types in a sales and service resource profile data base;

receiving customer data from a device handling a customer contact;

determining a customer type based upon the customer data by identifying customer subfields;

identifying a matching primary resource within the sales and service resource profile data base to handle the call for routing the customer to the matching primary resource; and

routing the customer to the matching primary resource, and

updating the customer profile database identified for the call with the matching primary resource for use in identifying the matching primary resource during subsequent contacts with the customer.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of determining a customer type further comprises the step of identifying customer subfields, wherein the subfields comprise a language, a type of customer, a segment, a request type, an opportunity type and a product associated with the customer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying the customer subfields further comprises the step of analyzing relevant customer subfields.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of identifying the request type further comprises the step of confirming the request type is a service request.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of identifying the request type further comprises the step of confirming the opportunity type is a cross-sell opportunity.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of identifying a first overflow resource and a second overflow resource for routing the customer to when the identified primary resource is unavailable.

22. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of placing the customer on hold for a first predetermined period of time when the identified resource is unavailable.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising the step of identifying a first overflow resource for routing the customer to when the identified primary resource is unavailable.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of routing the customer to the first overflow resource when the predetermined period of time has expired.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of placing the customer on hold for a second predetermined period of time when the first overflow resource is unavailable.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of identifying a second overflow employee for routing the customer to when the identified first overflow resource is unavailable.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising the step of routing the customer to the second overflow resource when the second predetermined period of time has expired.

28. A method for developing a routing profile for making a sales and service resource match to a customer during a call, comprising:

identifying a call profile for the call;

matching the call profile to a sales and service resource profile representing an identified resource in a call center;

generating an instruction signal;

routing the call to the identified resource in response to the instruction signal; and

updating the call profile identified for the call with the routing profile for use in matching the call profile to the sales and service resource profile during subsequent contacts with the customer;

wherein the routing profile comprises the identified resource and instruction signal used in routing the call.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising the steps of monitoring the virtual sales and service center for overflow or overload conditions and applying resource level load balancing and overflow rules to the call in response to detection of overflow or overload conditions.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of identifying the call profile further comprises the steps of identifying a number from which a customer place the call, identifying the number called by the customer, storing customer attributes in a customer profile database, and receiving VRU activity.