Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2004-06-01
Bui, Bing (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S142040, C379S142060, C379S265090, C379S265120, C379S266020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744877
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates generally to the processing and distribution of customer communications within an enterprise and, more particularly, to analyzing and processing each customer communication entering the enterprise to provide communication processing consistent with enterprise business objectives.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A business enterprise, or simply “enterprise,” may utilize one or more call centers to handle inbound and outbound customer calls. A typical call center includes a number of agents who field inbound telephone calls and place outbound telephone calls. Call center telephone calls frequently have associated data, such as customer information that the agents utilize in processing the calls. The call center's communication system may organize the agents into groups, known as skill/split hunt groups, based on their skills and qualifications.
A conventional call center typically comprises either an automatic call distributor (“ACD”) or private branch exchange (“PBX”) that receives incoming calls through a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) and routes the calls to a skill/split hunt group, rather than to a specific agent. Agents are associated with these skill/split hunt groups to receive incoming calls. An ACD typically contains a superset of the functions provided by a PBX. The ACD/PBX typically queues incoming calls to one or more skill/split hunt groups with available agents on the basis of statistical information that these skill/split groups satisfy an objective level of service. An objective level of service might be “calls answered on the average in 10 seconds” or “90% of calls are answered in 20 seconds.” When multiple agents are available to handle a call, typically they will deliver the call to the agent who has been idle—waiting for a next call the longest period of time. Other criteria for agent selection are also used. The agents typically process customer calls utilizing either specialized telephones, known as ACD/PBX feature phones, that interface with a specific ACD/PBX or utilize software-controlled telephony applications (“softphones”) that can coexist with a proprietary ACD/PBX feature phone or can utilize telephone sets not necessarily designed for the call center's particular ACD/PBX. Softphones provide a less expensive means for attaining many of the capabilities of an ACD/PBX feature phone while using only software in combination with a “plain-old-telephone set” (“POTS”).
Call center agents typically have access to customer data to facilitate call processing. For example, a call center agent may utilize a graphical user interface (“GUI”) program that provides calling scripts and access to a customer database. In a softphone environment, the GUI program may also control telephony functions. While interacting with a caller, the agent uses hot keys or an electronic mouse to select telephony functions on a workstation screen. A hot key is a keystroke or combination of keystrokes that sends a command to a computing system that processes the agent's commands.
FIG. 1
illustrates a conventional softphone-configured call center
130
. In the softphone call center
130
, an ACD
102
interfaces between the customer telephone call
100
and an agent telephone
108
in an agent workstation
120
. The softphone call center
130
will comprise multiple agent workstations
120
having multiple agent telephones
108
. Customers typically place telephone calls to the agent telephones
108
via the PSTN
101
. When a customer telephone call
100
arrives at the ACD
102
, an ACD route point
103
receives the call. The ACD
102
routes incoming calls through the ACD route point
103
which typically comprises a phone number (e.g., a directory number (“DN”)) in the numbering plan of the ACD
102
that works in conjunction with a routing program
104
that provides a call-handling instructions script. An ACD vector
105
, typically a computer program, controls the routing program
104
to enable customized call processing specifications in the ACD
102
. The routing program
104
tells the ACD's call processing software how to treat the customer call
100
. The routing program
104
typically includes at least one announcement and at least one queue statement. The ACD vector
105
and the routing program
104
may be combined in some conventional ACDs. The queue statement directs the call to a specific ACD skill/split hunt group
106
based on the assumption that the skill/hunt group
106
provides the best service to the incoming caller. The ACD skill/split hunt group
106
has a single phone number, a Pilot Directory Number (“Pilot DN”)
107
, that subsequently directs the client telephone call to one of the available agent telephones
108
within the particular ACD skill/split hunt group
106
. The ACD skill/split hunt group
106
may select an agent telephone
108
if this is the only agent available to take a call or on the basis of an agent being idle the longest if multiple agents are available to take a call. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the ACD
102
may have multiple route points
103
, multiple routing programs
104
, multiple ACD vectors
105
, and multiple ACD skill/split hunt groups
106
. Each ACD skill/split hunt group
106
will usually include multiple agent workstations
120
.
A call control application server
110
communicates with the ACD
102
through a computer-telephony integration (“CTI”) link
109
. The call control application server
110
comprises a standard computing system, such as a personal computer (“PC”), and a CTI server application that processes calling information for an agent via a softphone application
111
at the agent workstation
120
. Each agent typically has a terminal that provides a GUI to the softphone application
111
. The softphone application
111
emulates the button functions of a conventional ACD/PBX feature phone. The call control application server
110
synchronizes the softphone application
111
with the ACD
102
by sending event messages to the softphone application
111
pertaining to the agent's telephone
108
. The call control application server
110
services telephony commands from the softphone application
111
to provide the agent with a softphone. In a typical configuration, each agent has access to an individual copy of the softphone application
111
at his or her workstation
108
. The softphone application
111
servicing each agent workstation
108
may be run from the call control application server
110
, for example, in an internet browser-based implementation. The combination of the agent workstation
120
utilizing a POTS such as the telephone
108
and the softphone application
111
provides the agent with the features available on more expensive ACD/PBX feature phones.
The agent telephones
108
typically receive calls directed to either of two numbers. The first number is the telephone number for the telephone instrument itself, known as the Phone Directory Number (“Phone DN”). The second number is a telephone number corresponding to the agent, known as an Agent Directory Number (“Agent DN”). The Agent DN follows an individual call center agent. Thus, an agent may switch from one agent workstation
120
to another agent workstation
120
and still retain the same Agent DN. The Agent DN constitutes a personal telephone number for the agent and returns a fast busy signal if the agent is not logged into the ACD
102
or a busy signal when the agent is on another call.
In a softphone-equipped call center, such as the call center shown in
FIG. 1
, a customer call
100
may reach an individual agent in several different ways. The customer call
100
may reach the agent through the ACD route point
103
. This method of calling does not necessarily reach a specific agent but instead reaches any available agent in the ACD skill/split hunt group
106
. This method provides general calling but is unsuitable for reaching a specific agent. If no agent is available in the ACD skill/split hunt group
106
when a call arrives, the ACD
102
Avaya Technology Corp.
Bui Bing
Sheridan & Ross P.C.
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