Systems and methods for managing call processing for a specific agent

• US 8,233,609 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2005
• Issued: 07/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Noble, James K. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Joseph J
• Application Number:
  US11/290,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20070121894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,435 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.06, 379/265.09, 379/266.01
• US Class Current: 379/265.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing calls, both inbound and outbound, for available agents over a plurality of lines, where each call received or placed is pre-identified to be connected to one specific agent and upon the automatic detection of the call being received or answered, the call is either connected to the specific agent or placed in a queue for that specific agent.

Claims

1. A method for simultaneously managing connection of outbound calls associated with a specific agent and routing an inbound call associated with the specific agent comprising:

associating, by a telephony server, the specific agent of a call center with a plurality of outbound calls to be placed from a predictive dialer to a plurality of called parties through a network prior to placing the plurality of outbound calls;

automatically placing the plurality of outbound calls;

receiving the inbound call at the call center from a caller;

associating, by the telephony server, the specific agent of the call center with the inbound call based at least in part on identifying information associated with the inbound call, wherein the specific agent is identified based at least in part on the identifying information;

routing the received inbound call to the specific agent;

playing a message offering another caller of one other call to leave a voicemail message;

playing the voicemail message from the another caller for the specific agent after the specific agent becomes available; and

placing a return call to the another caller that left the voicemail message as a placed outbound call associated with the specific agent after the specific agent has listened to the voicemail message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information includes a phone number associated with the caller.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information includes at least one digit selected by the caller.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information is determined by having the caller speak an identifier associated with the specific agent.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information is selected from a group consisting of a name of the specific agent, a title of the specific agent, and a service number associated with the specific agent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a number and a timing of the outbound calls to be placed for the specific agent are determined using a mathematical formula.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of terminating unconnected placed outbound calls for the specific agent once the specific agent has been connected to the inbound call.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message asks the another caller to schedule a time for the return call.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically routing one other second call to a different agent.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating all pending unconnected placed outbound calls from the predictive dialer associated with the specific agent in the call center in response to connecting the inbound call to the specific agent.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering the caller the option to hold for the specific agent to become available or to leave a voicemail message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony server comprises a computer telephony integration (CTI) server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at the telephony server is combined with at least one of:

the predictive dialer or the automated call distributor (ACD).

14. A system for simultaneously managing outbound calls and inbound calls routed to a specific agent comprising:

an automatic call distributor connected to a network, wherein the automatic call distributor associates inbound calls from the network with the specific agent from a plurality of agents in a call center, wherein the association of the inbound calls to the specific agent is based at least in part on call identifying information respectively associated with the inbound calls, and wherein the specific agent is identified based at least in part on the call identifying information;

a predictive dialer connected to the network and the automatic call distributor, wherein the predictive dialer places a plurality of outbound calls to the network, wherein the plurality of outbound calls are associated with the specific agent before the plurality of outbound calls are placed, and wherein the specific agent is connected to one of the plurality of outbound calls placed from the predictive dialer when a connection of the one of the plurality of outbound calls with a called party is detected; and

a telephony server in communication with the predictive dialer and the automatic call distributor, wherein the telephony server plays a message offering another caller of one other call to leave a voicemail message that is played for the specific agent after the specific agent becomes available and the predictive dialer places a return call to the another caller that left the voicemail message as a placed outbound call associated with the specific agent after the specific agent has listened to the voicemail message.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the telephony server is configured to allocate the specific agent from the plurality of agents to handle the connected outbound call associated with the specific agent, wherein the outbound call is routed from the predictive dialer through the automatic call distributor to the specific agent.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the telephony server is also configured to allocate the specific agent from the plurality of agents to handle the connected inbound call associated with the specific agent, wherein the inbound call is routed from the automatic call distributor to the specific agent.