Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-16
2002-04-23
Nguyen, Chau (Department: 2663)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C379S265090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06377567
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and, more particularly, to a system for delivering data collected from call center services.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A typical call center includes a number of agents who handle inbound telephone calls and place outbound telephone calls on behalf of business clients, known as “customers”. Each agent within a call center may receive or place calls on behalf of multiple customers at an agent station, which typically includes a computer system, a phone pad, and a telephone headset. The services that are provided to the customers may include conducting caller surveys, performing telemarketing, providing technical assistance, obtaining orders, or other activities. The call center includes a system for receiving and distributing telephone calls to the agents at their respective stations. The call center may also include other intelligent peripheral devices, such as audio response units.
Application programs are typically run on the computer systems at agent stations to assist agents in handling calls. These application programs may provide scripts to the agent that present textual questions for the agent to ask the caller. The application programs may also include functions for entering the caller's responses to the questions, taking orders from the caller, and providing the agent with a series of options under predefined decision trees. The application programs may also include automated functions for processing incoming calls, such as the creation of billing records and the interaction with an automated call distributor (ACD).
The customers that are serviced by a call center may be in different types of businesses. For example, a first customer may run a mail order catalog, whereas the second customer may seek survey information based upon a current advertising campaign. As a result, the information gathered from callers may vary dramatically from customer to customer. Another complication is that the customers may require data derived from the calls by callers to be delivered to the customers. The data may need to be collected for a customer from calls that are handled by geographically distributed call centers. Hence, it is difficult to provide such data to the customers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a mechanism for gathering and consolidating information from callers on behalf of customers into reports that are sent to the customers. The reports may include call statistics regarding calls handled on behalf of customers and may also include billing details. The reports may be generated in near real time such that the information about calls contained in the reports is posted for customers shortly after calls complete. The reports may be posted for access via an intranet, and extranet or the Internet.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method is practiced in a telecommunications system that has a computer system and call centers. The call centers include agents stationed at agent consoles for handling calls with callers on behalf of customers. Data is gathered from calls that are handled on behalf of a selected customer at multiple ones of the agent consoles at multiple call centers. The gathered data is then consolidated into a report that is made available to the selected customer.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method is practiced in a system that has a computer system and geographically distributed call centers. Each call center has agents stationed at agent consoles for handling calls on behalf of customers. Data is collected from the calls at agent consoles in the call centers. For each of the customers, a report is generated that holds at least some of the data that was collected from calls that were handled on behalf of the client. These reports are then posted for the customers.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, a customer report server is provided for generating reports regarding call activity by agents in call centers on behalf of customers. The server includes a database that holds data gathered by agents in the call center regarding calling activity by the agents on behalf of the customers. The server also includes a report generator for generating reports for the customers regarding call activity by the agents on behalf of the customers. An access subsystem is provided in the server for making the reports that are generated by the report generator accessible to the customers.
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Kwoh Jasper
MCI Communications Corporation
Nguyen Chau
LandOfFree
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