Topical dynamic chat

• US 7,336,779 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2002
• Issued: 02/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Technology Corporation Miami Lakes FLA US
• Inventors: Cartwright, Sally, Kohler, Joylee, Seligmann, Doree Duncan, Hemm, Thomas L., Boyer, David G., Harkreader, Susan K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Deane, Jr.; William J.
• Application Number:
  US10/098,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20030174830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,174 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501-26514, 37926601-2661
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a customer contact 100 in which a session monitor 140 identifies and implements multi-customer sessions. A conferencing function 136 connects the plurality of customers 110-118 simultaneously to the same resource and/or to each other. Participation in the sessions can be mandatory or optional. The sessions can be created continually or periodically, such as when the contact center 100 is in an session mode. The sessions can be closed or open to new customers after commencement.

Claims

1. A method of servicing customers'"'"' communications in a customer contact center which distributes customers'"'"' communications for servicing among resources based on skills needed by the communications and possessed by the resources, comprising:

collecting first customer information about a first customer communicating with the contact center;

collecting first contact center information about the contact center, the contact center capable of operating in one of a session state in which multi-customer sessions are set up and a non-session state in which multi-customer sessions are not set up, and wherein the session and non-session states are used at different times; and

identifying, based on the first customer and contact center information, at least one multi-customer session available and of potential interest to the first customer;

presenting the first customer with the opportunity to participate in the at least one multi-customer session; and

when the first customer elects to participate in the at least one multi-customer session, connecting the first customer with the at least one multi-customer session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first customer information comprises a value of the customer, contact mode of the first customer'"'"'s communication, contact media of the first customer'"'"'s communication, multi-customer session history, contact center history, staffing levels, service levels, purpose of the first customers communication, communication path for first customer s communication, and conduct of first customer during the first customer'"'"'s communication and the first contact center information comprises the number of customers enqueued in a queue corresponding to a skill, information regarding at least one of ongoing and scheduled multi-customer sessions, at least one of ongoing and scheduled demonstrations, and at least one of ongoing and scheduled discussion groups.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

determining whether the at least one multi-customer session has an opening for the first customer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

when the at least one multi-customer session has no opening, setting a flag to contact the first customer in the event that the multi-customer session later has an opening.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first customer'"'"'s communication is placed into a first queue and further comprising:

maintaining the first customer'"'"'s position in the first queue after the first customer is connected with the at least one multi-customer session.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the first customer with a message when the multi-customer session will commence.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling the at least one multi-customer session to commence after termination of the current contact of the first customer with the contact center.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising while the first customer is connected to the at least one multi-customer session:

providing the first customer with an opportunity to participate in a second multi-customer session different from the at least one multi-customer session.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising before the connecting step:

connecting the first customer with a second customer while the first and second customers are enqueued in the contact center.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disclosing at least one attribute of the first customer to another customer in the at least one multi-customer session.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one attribute is at least one of a video image of the first customer, a voice of the first customer, and a status of the first customer assigned by the contact center.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising during the first customer communication:

changing the first customer from a first contact mode to a different contact mode.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a second customer is participating in the at least one multi-customer session and further comprising during the at least one multi-customer session:

broadcasting a message to the first customer in a first language and to the second customer in a second, different language.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a second customer is participating in the at least one multi-customer session and further comprising during the at least one multi-customer session:

broadcasting a first message to the first customer and not the second customer and a second, different message to the second customer and not the first customer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first customer and a second customer are participating in a common multi-customer session and wherein the first customer is participating in the common multi-customer session in a first mode and the second customer is participating in the common multi-customer session in a second, different mode, and wherein the first mode is in real time and the second mode is not in real time.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the method steps are embodied as instructions on an information storage media.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating background audio and/or video during the at least one multi-customer session to simulate a desired perceived physical setting for the participants.

18. A method of servicing customers'"'"' communications in a customer contact center which distributes customers'"'"' communications for servicing among resources based on skills needed by the communications and possessed by the resources, comprising:

determining whether a selected state of a plurality of operational states, exists for the customer contact center;

when the selected state exists, connecting a plurality of communications for servicing simultaneously to at least one said resource having a first skill, when the plurality of communications need the first skill; and

wherein during a first operational state multi-customer sessions are set up and during a second operational state multi-customer sessions are not set up and wherein the states are used at different times.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the selected state exists when at least one of the following conditions exists:

a wait time for a queue exceeds a selected threshold, when a queue population exceeds a selected threshold, a staffing level is below a selected level, a predicted wait time exceeds a predetermined threshold, an expected wait time exceeds a predetermined threshold, a service goal is unmet, a business goal is unmet, an emergency condition is in existence, and at least one customer in communication with the contact center has a preference to participate in a session, and

wherein the operational states can include, an In Session-Vacancies State, a Session Ending State, a New Session Scheduled State, a New Session Needed State and a New Session Not Needed State.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying a first customer associated with a first customer communication;

determining whether additional information associated with the first customer is needed; and

when additional information is needed, forwarding the first customer to a first resource.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining whether a resource is available for a first skill and a first mode; and

when a resource is available, identifying customers corresponding to the first skill and mode.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

when a plurality of customers need the first skill and share the first mode, connecting the plurality of customers for servicing simultaneously to the resource having the first skill.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining whether the selected state is no longer in existence.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein, when the selected state is not in existence, the connecting step is not performed.

25. A method of servicing customers'"'"' communications in a customer contact center which distributes customers'"'"' communications for servicing among resources based on skills needed by the customers and possessed by the resources, comprising:

determining whether at least one resource is available for a first skill and a first contact mode;

when at least one resource is available, identifying customers corresponding to the first skill and contact mode; and

when a plurality of customers need the first skill and share the first contact mode, connecting the plurality of customers in a multi-party session for servicing simultaneously to the resource having the first skill; and

disabling during the multi-party session at least one of the plurality of customers from communicating with another customer and/or the resource.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the resource is a human agent and wherein, during a first operational state, multi-customer sessions are set up and, during a second operational state, multi-customer sessions are not set up and wherein the states are used at different times.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the resource is a single port of an automated communications-servicing arrangement and wherein the communications are voice calls or text chats.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

collecting, from a first customer, customer and contact center state information;

based on the collected customer and contact center state information, filtering through a plurality of possible service options for the first customer;

thereafter presenting a smaller subset of the possible service options to the first customer for selection, the subset including the selected one of the first and second multi-customer sessions;

receiving, from the first customer, a selection of one of the subset of service options; and

effecting the provision of the selected service option to the first customer.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the first contact mode is at least one of voice-only wired telephony, voice-over IP telephony, voice-only wireless telephony, multi-media telephony, non-voice IP telephony, and voice recordings.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

comparing the number of the plurality of customers with a predetermined session population;

when the number of the plurality of customers at least one of equals or is less than the predetermined session population, performing the connecting step; and

when the number of the plurality of customers at least one of equals or is more than the predetermined session population, not performing the connecting step.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the connecting step comprises:

preparing the resource for the multi-customer session;

configuring the multi-customer session; and

preparing the plurality of customers for the multi-customer session.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a request from a first customer of the plurality of customers to transmit a communication to a second customer of the plurality of customers; and

enabling the first customer to transmit the communication to the second customer.

33. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

transmitting a token to a first customer of the plurality of customers, the token enabling the first customer to transmit a communication to a second customer and/or to the resource having the first skill.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising one or more of:

enabling a first customer to play a game with a second customer, and

allowing first and second customers that are part of the session to send communications to one another.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein the method steps are embodied as instructions on an information storage media.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

providing a transcript of the session to a customer.

37. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

changing a second, different contact mode of a first customer to the first contact mode to permit the first customer to participate in a session.

38. A method of servicing customers'"'"' communications in a customer contact center, in which customers'"'"' communications are distributed for servicing among resources based on skills needed by the communications and possessed by the resources, comprising:

identifying first and second sets of customers having first and second needs, respectively;

identifying first and second resources having first and second skills, wherein the first and second skills correspond to the first and second needs, respectively; and

connecting the first set of customers simultaneously with the first resource and the second set of customers simultaneously with the second resource, wherein, during a first operational state, multi-customer sessions are set up and, during a second operational state, multi-customer sessions are not set up and wherein the states are used at different times.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein at least two customers in the first set of customers are enqueued in different queues.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein at least two customers in the first set of customers are connected to the first resource by means of different contact modes.

41. The method of claim 38 wherein a third set of customers have third needs, wherein the first and third needs relate to the same topic, and wherein the third set of customers are connected simultaneously with the first set of customers and the first resource.

45. The method of claim 38, wherein the method steps are encoded as program instructions and recorded on an information storage media.

42. A method for selecting a multi-customer session from among a plurality of possible multi-customer sessions for a resource in a contact center, comprising:

identifying a possible first multi-customer session for a contact center resource;

assigning a first value to the first multi-customer session;

identifying a possible second multi-customer session for the resource;

assigning a second value to the second multi-customer session;

comparing the relative magnitudes of the first value with the second value; and

based on the comparing step, selecting one of the first and second multi-customer sessions.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the first value is greater than the second value and the first multi-customer session is selected.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the first and second values are indicative of a value of the corresponding multi-customer session to the contact center.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein the method steps are encoded as program instructions and recorded on an information storage media.

47. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

collecting, from a first customer, customer and contact center state information;

based on the collected customer and contact center state information, filtering through a plurality of possible service options for the first customer;

thereafter presenting a smaller subset of the possible service options to the first customer for selection, the subset including the selected one of the first and second multi-customer sessions;

receiving, from the first customer, a selection of one of the subset of service options; and

effecting the provision of the selected service option to the first customer.