Outbound dialing decision criteria based

• US 7,995,742 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2007
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Lenard, Rohan
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwah; Olisa
• Application Number:
  US11/621,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20070127699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,673 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.09, 379/265.02, 379/266.01, 379/266.07, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/265.01
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26

Abstract

A dialer for managing outgoing contacts is provided that includes a contact filtration agent 144 operable to retrieve presence information associated with a party to be contacted and determine, based on the presence information, whether or not to contact the party and, if so, when and where to contact the party.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) selecting a first contactee to be contacted by a resource of a contact center, the first contactee having a first address associated with a first communication device, the first communication device communicating by at least a first communication mode;

(b) immediately prior to contacting the first contactee, querying a presence server for presence information associated with the first contactee;

(c) based on the presence information, performing at least one of the following substeps;

(c1) immediately contacting the first contactee if the presence information indicates current availability of the first contactee and postponing contact of the first contactee if the presence information does not indicate current availability of the first contactee;

(c2) selecting a second communication device associated with the first contactee, the first and second communication devices having differing addresses and contacting the first contactee via the second communication device; and

(c3) selecting a second communication mode to communicate with the first contactee, the first and second communication modes being different, and contacting the first contactee via the second communication mode,

wherein the contact center resource is a human agent and wherein a contact list contains a list of party identifiers, including an identifier of the first contactee, and contact information for each party identifier the contact information associating the selected first address with a first party identifier for the first contactee, and further comprising;

(d) notifying the agent before the contact with the first contactee is initiated; and

(e) waiting, by a dialer, for confirmation from the agent before initiating the contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presence information describes presence of the first contactee, wherein the first contactee is a customer of the contact center, and wherein the presence server is operated independently of an enterprise associated with the contact center.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the presence information comprises one or more of registration information, information regarding accessibility of one or more communication devices associated with the first contactee, recency of use of one or more of the communication devices associated with the first contactee, and preferences of the first contactee.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact is a voice contact and further comprising:

(f) when the contact is initiated, assigning a contact classifier to the contact to classify audible signals received from the first contactee'"'"'s location during the contact;

(g) determining from the classified audible signals whether a live party has answered the contact;

(h) when a live party has answered the contact, connecting the agent with the contact; and

(i) when a live party has not answered the contact, not connecting the agent with the contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein substep (c1) is performed.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

based on the presence information, determining whether or not it is desirable to contact the first contactee; and

when it is not desirable to contact currently the first contactee, storing contact information associated with the contact to be initiated is stored in an appropriate time slot in a to-be-contacted queue.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein substep (c2) is performed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein substep (c3) is performed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first address is one of a telephone number, an Internet Protocol address, an electronic message address, an instant message handle, and chat user identifier, and wherein each of the first and second modes of communication is at least one of a wired voice contact, a wireless voice contact, electronic mail, facsimile, instant message, paging signal, chat session, video conference, multimedia multi-part message, and cross-media message.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions to perform the steps of claim 1.

11. A contact center, comprising:

(a) a plurality of resources for servicing customer contacts; and

(b) a processor operable to select a first customer for contacting, the first customer having a first address associated with a first communication device, the first communication device communicating by at least a first communication mode;

further operable, prior to contacting the customer, to query a presence server for presence information associated with the first customer; and

, based on the presence information, further operable to perform at least one of the following suboperations;

(b1) immediately contact the first customer if the presence information indicates current availability of the customer and postpone contacting the customer if the presence information does not indicate currently availability of the customer for the contact;

(b2) select a second communication device associated with the first customer, the first and second communication devices having differing addresses and contact the first customer via the second communication device; and

(b3) select a second communication mode to communicate with the first customer, the first and second communication modes being different and contact the first customer via the second communication mode,

wherein a contact list contains a list of party identifiers, including an identifier of the first customer, and contact information for each party identifier, the contact information associating the selected first address with a first party identifier for the first customer, and wherein the processor is further operable to notify an agent before the contact with the first customer is initiated; and

wait for confirmation from the agent before initiating the contact.

12. The contact center of claim 11, wherein the presence information describes presence of the first customer and wherein the presence server is maintained by an entity independent of an enterprise associated with the contact center.

13. The contact center of claim 12, wherein the presence information comprises one or more of registration information, information regarding accessibility of one or more communication devices associated with the first customer, recency of use of one or more of the communication devices associated with the first customer, and preferences of the first customer.

14. The contact center of claim 11, wherein the contact is a voice contact and wherein the processor is further operable, when the contact is initiated, to assign a contact classifier to the contact to classify audible signals received from the first customer'"'"'s location during the contact;

to determine from the classified audible signals whether a live party has answered the contact;

when a live party has answered the contact, to connect the agent with the contact; and

, when a live party has not answered the contact, not connect the agent with the contact.

15. The contact center of claim 11, wherein suboperation (b1) is performed.

16. The contact center of claim 15, wherein the processor is further operable, based on the presence information, to determine whether or not it is desirable to contact the first customer;

and, when it is not desirable to contact currently the first customer, store contact information associated with the contact in an appropriate time slot in a to-be-contacted queue.

17. The contact center of claim 11, wherein suboperation (b2) is performed.

18. The contact center of claim 11, wherein suboperation (b3) is performed.

19. The contact center of claim 18, wherein the first address is one of a telephone number, an Internet Protocol address, an electronic message address, an instant message handle, and chat user identifier and wherein each of the first and second modes of communication is at least one of a wired voice contact, a wireless voice contact, electronic mail, facsimile, instant message, paging signal, chat session, video conference, multimedia multi-part message, and cross-media message