Method and system for managing interactive communications campaigns
First Claim
1. Apparatus, comprising:
- a set of machines, each machine comprising a processor, and computer memory holding program instructions that are executed by the processor;
a web server executing on one of the machines and through which a business entity creates and manages an interactive communications campaign, the campaign including a set of one more rules that may be triggered during the campaign;
a telephony server executing on one of the machines to initiate outbound calls to recipients over a plurality of voice connections during the campaign, wherein a recipient of an outbound call initiated by the telephony server is afforded an option to connect, via a voice connection through the telephony server, to a third party contact center having an automatic call distributor (ACD); and
an application server executing on one of the machines (i) to monitor the voice connections through the telephony server as the campaign is executed to infer a contact center performance metric, (ii) to evaluate the contact center performance metric to determine whether a rule from the set of one or more rules has been triggered, (iii) to take a given action if the rule has been triggered, and (iv) to provide the business entity information identifying the rule, together with a status of the campaign;
wherein the contact center performance metric is inferred without requiring a direct data connection from the third party contact center ACD.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A web-based hosted solution through which business entities create and manage communications campaigns, such as interactive campaigns that afford target recipients an opportunity to be connected to a third party call center. A web interface is provided to enable a business entity customer to create a set of one or more rules that, when triggered during the campaign, cause the hosted solution to take certain control actions in real-time, based on campaign performance. Preferably, this “campaign performance” is measured indirectly, i.e. without requiring a direct connection to an on-premises call center ACD. Rather, preferably all information about the call center'"'"'s performance during the campaign is derived from information (gathered by the hosted solution) about calls delivered, or attempted to be delivered, to the call center. In effect, the call center performance is inferred, and this performance is then exposed to the business entity customer through a web-based interface. In particular, the interface provides the business entity customer with a convenient and easy-to-use display that identifies any rule that has been (or may be getting ready to be) triggered, together with a then current status of the campaign. The system is programmed to take a given control action (e.g., campaign suspension, adjusting an outbound call rate, or the like) when a customer-configurable rule is triggered.
22 Citations
18 Claims
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1. Apparatus, comprising:
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a set of machines, each machine comprising a processor, and computer memory holding program instructions that are executed by the processor; a web server executing on one of the machines and through which a business entity creates and manages an interactive communications campaign, the campaign including a set of one more rules that may be triggered during the campaign; a telephony server executing on one of the machines to initiate outbound calls to recipients over a plurality of voice connections during the campaign, wherein a recipient of an outbound call initiated by the telephony server is afforded an option to connect, via a voice connection through the telephony server, to a third party contact center having an automatic call distributor (ACD); and an application server executing on one of the machines (i) to monitor the voice connections through the telephony server as the campaign is executed to infer a contact center performance metric, (ii) to evaluate the contact center performance metric to determine whether a rule from the set of one or more rules has been triggered, (iii) to take a given action if the rule has been triggered, and (iv) to provide the business entity information identifying the rule, together with a status of the campaign; wherein the contact center performance metric is inferred without requiring a direct data connection from the third party contact center ACD. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification