Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-26
2004-12-07
Bui, Bing Q. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S265020, C379S265030, C379S265040
Reexamination Certificate
active
06829348
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to managing customer contact information. Particularly, the present invention relates to a contact information management system for receiving and reporting customer contact information received from a plurality of customer contact sources, such as, but not limited to, hard copy correspondence, telephone, facsimile, the Internet, and electronic messages. More particularly, the present invention relates to receiving, storing, managing, and tracking customer contact information, and to responding to customers' queries about the contact information or other products or services.
2. Related Art
Customer contact management, including conventional customer service functions, has traditionally been provided in two forms: “in-house,” wherein the company performs customer service itself, and outsourced customer service operations, wherein an entity other than the company provides customer service functionality to the company. Conventional outsourced customer management operations have generally provided such services as outsourced telemarketing and traditional customer service operations between customers and clients. “Clients” referring to those companies employing the outsource-based customer management operations.
Conventional outsourced customer service operations have focused predominantly upon the management of call center facilities. With the growth of new modes of communication between customers and clients, such as the Internet and electronic mail (e-mail) communications, the utility of such call center facilities has become limited. Moreover, conventional systems have not provided, for example, a convenient means by which to accumulate, store, and report customer contact information, which is received via the various modes of communication, to clients in an efficient and user-friendly manner.
Moreover, conventional systems have not been successful in providing a cost-efficient and simple method for overall management of the contact information received from a variety of contact sources, such as telephone, e-mail, facsimile, hard-copy correspondence, and Internet-based contacts. Moreover, these attempts have not been successful in providing automated processes for handling the contact information which has resulted in either the same, or higher, number of agents required to fulfill the needs of the customer contact management system.
There is a need for a system and method that provides a complete history of customer contact from all customer contact channels. There is a further need to allow agents to be able to access the complete customer contact information history when in contact with a customer via any one of the customer contact channels. There is yet another need to allow agents to update the contact history during and after a contact without being interrupted by another contact. There is a further need to automatically update the contact information history either during or after a contact. An additional need exists for an integrated system and method for reporting the complete customer contact history and the work performance of agents to a client. A need also exists for an integrated system and method for monitoring the performance of agents on customer contacts received via all modes of communication. In addition, a need exists for an agent to be able to simultaneously log on to multiple subsystems of a communication system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system and method that satisfies one or more of the aforementioned needs.
The present invention relates to a contact information management system. In one example, the system includes a first means for receiving contact information from a first contact channel and a second means for receiving contact information from a second contact channel. The second contact channel may be different from the first contact channel. A first database is also included and is configured to receive the contact information from the first and the second means for receiving contact information. A second database is also included and is configured to receive the contact information in the first database. Also included is a means for transferring the contact information in the first database to the second database.
The present invention also relates to a method for managing contact information. In one example, the method includes receiving contact information from a first contact channel, receiving contact information from a second contact channel, storing the contact information from the first contact channel and the second contact channel in a first database, and transferring the contact information stored in the first database to a second database.
In another example, the present invention relates to a system for managing contact information. The system includes a memory device having embodied therein program code and a processor in communication with the memory device. The processor is preferably configured by the program code for receiving contact information from a first contact channel, receiving contact information from a second contact channel, storing the contact information from the first contact channel and the second contact channel in a first database, and transferring the contact information stored in the first database to a second database.
The present invention also relates to a computer program product including a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a computer system to facilitate managing contact information. The computer program logic includes: first receiving means for enabling the processor to receive contact information from a first contact channel; second receiving means for enabling the processor to receive contact information from a second contact channel; storing means for enabling the processor to store the contact information from the first contact channel and the second contact channel in a first database; and transferring means for enabling the processor to transfer the contact information stored in the first database to a second database.
In another example, the present invention relates to a system for managing at least two types of contact information. The system includes a server for receiving contact information from a first contact channel. The system also includes a call center for receiving contact information from a second contact channel and a first database configured to store the contact information from the server and the call center.
The present invention also relates to a method for managing at least two types of contact information. The method includes receiving contact information at a server from a first contact channel and receiving contact information at a call center from a second contact channel. The method also includes storing the contact information from the server and the call center in a first database.
In another example, the present invention relates to a system for managing at least two types of contact information. The system includes a memory device having embodied therein program code and a processor in communication with the memory device. The processor is preferably configured by the program code for receiving contact information at a server from a first contact channel, receiving contact information at a call center from a second contact channel, and storing the contact information from the server and the call center in a first database.
The present invention also relates to a computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a computer system to facilitate management of contact information. The computer program logic includes: first receiving means for enabling the processor to receive contact information at a server from a first contact channel; second receiving means for enabling the processor to receive contact information at a call center from a second contact channel; and storing means for enabl
Anderson Shawn
Donnelly Keric P.
Jenkins Aaron
Schroeder Kim A.
Smith Greyson
Bui Bing Q.
Convergys CMG Utah Inc.
Frost Brown Todd LLC
LandOfFree
System for customer contact information management and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System for customer contact information management and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System for customer contact information management and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3325362