Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-28
2004-10-05
Matar, Ahmad F. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S309000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06801619
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a device, system and process for facilitating remote customer service. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data transfer device to facilitate communication between a plurality of users and a plurality of human customer service representatives using text, audio, video and workspace remote-control mechanisms to improve the human-to-human aspect of the customer service experience.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the competitive market of internet services, from book selling to banking, from furniture selling to tax advice, customer confusion using web-tools is a large source of lost revenue. Customers engaged in online-transactions will often find themselves confused, or in doubt as to the meaning or purpose of part of the process they are following. Customers unable to instantaneously find the answers they need in order to continue will often simply cancel their transaction, or look for services or product elsewhere. In the past, solutions such as one-click shopping, have been proposed to reduce the confusion of filling out forms by simplifying the process. However, in some specific fields, such as tax services, the process by its very nature cannot be simplified. In these fields, searchable online text-help has been proposed. While these systems aid internet-literate customers with common problems, it often alienates novice internet users and trepidatious customers. These customers generally require human help which-may be provided via a multimedia call center.
A call center is a business entity that provides a pool of trained call operators answering telephone queries of a similar nature. Call centers include specialized software to pool the body of knowledge upon which help is offered, and to allow call operators to provide consistent, accurate, helpful information instantly. A multimedia call center is an extension of the above, adding a plurality of access means. Included in a multi-media call center are video-conferencing, so that the call operator and customer can view each other's images. Additionally, multimedia call centers include a remote-control method so that the customer and an operator can collaborate on web-navigation, data-entry, and walk-through various scenarios together. Multimedia adds the foregoing, as well as a process by which to synchronize and queue the various components such that the video, telephone and remote-control network connections are directed to the appropriate call operator simultaneously.
A multimedia call center overcomes some of the customer difficulties mentioned above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,762 to Sonesh, for instance, discloses such a multimedia call center. However, despite the obvious advantages of a multimedia call center over previous methods for providing customer help online, there are several disadvantages to the current technology.
One of the disadvantages to the existing technology arises out of the concept of a pool of help operators. Non-multimedia help sessions, where the customer hears the call operator's voice, but does not see the operator, results in a level of impersonal service, such that the customer and operator develop very little rapport. To the customer, the operator is an anonymous agent of the company or service they are calling. As a result, call centers treat the operators in an operator pool as equal resources, and attach no specific benefit to a customer talking to one operator over another. In the multimedia system, where the customer can view the operator, there is a very large element of rapport that comes into play. The customer perception will change, and the customer will think of the operator as an individual. The customer will experience an increased level of comfort and confidence when that rapport has been developed. The customer-operator rapport is potentially one of the key benefits of using video technology in a multimedia call center application.
However, customer-operator rapport takes time to develop. In fact, the customer operator rapport may take more than one call to establish. Furthermore, the customer-operator rapport will be strengthened with each subsequent call for a customer to the same operator. However, this violates one of the basic precepts of existing call queuing systems, namely that all call operators are equivalent. Existing queue management systems cannot take this into account, but rather simply send a customer to one of the operators in the pool each time a customer calls. As a result, there is a need in the prior art for a system and method for the ability of a customer to access the same operator each time they make a call.
A further disadvantage of existing queue management techniques in existing multimedia call center technology is that operator queues are managed in terms of the companies for which help service is being offered, rather than being centered around the customer-operator relationship. As stated above, the rapport developed between an operator and a user is a very powerful means of gaining user trust. Due to the absence of the concept of rapport in existing call center domains, call center queue management has centered on means of pooling help operators around a help database for a particular company. Since in previous models, the operator was anonymous and generic, the central help database—the repository of knowledge used by operators to help users during calls—became the object around which the model was built. Therefore, prior art queue management techniques suffered for the disadvantage that they were focussed around the central help database, rather than the customer.
Another disadvantage of the existing technology is that video conferencing means employed do not take into account optimizations which can be made for one-way conferencing. Multimedia call centers treat multimedia calls as two way communication in the same manner as their precursor telephone calls. However, while the customer and operator must engage in two-way communication, there is very little value added when the operator can see the customer. First, the rapport generated between the customer and operator is intended for the customer's benefit, so seeing the customer does not help the operator. Secondly, the operator must access knowledge-based software and perform remote-control functions to facilitate explanations to the customer, which effectiveness would be lessened by the presence of a video feed from the customer. Thirdly, customer privacy is impinged by the use of a customer to operator video feed. Finally, customers do not tend to own video acquisition devices to supply the video feed. As a result, the desired mechanism for video transfer is one-way-only. Due to this limitation, a number of performance enhancements can be made to the system to take advantage of this condition.
Another disadvantage of the existing technology is that during the customer idle time, as the customer's call has been initiated, and the queue management system is locating and queuing the operator, there is no mechanism to use the captured customer data to help retain the customer during the wait period.
A further disadvantage of the existing technology as it applies to the remote control aspect of multimedia call center systems, is that existing remote-control applications allow the operator access to the entire user desktop. The user's entire computer becomes accessible to the operator, whereas only the portion enclosed in the web-browser has relevance to the help call. Access to the entire desktop represents a security compromise that may cause many would-be-users to avoid the multimedia call center service, on grounds that relinquishing control of the desktop is too great a risk, or a violation of security policy.
A further disadvantage of the existing technology in the domain of remote control, applies to the possibility of intercepted communications between the user and the operator. A scenario exists in the current technology whereby a third-party can intercept and monitor the application u
Helpcaster Technologies Inc.
Matar Ahmad F.
Nguyen Quynh H.
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