Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-05
2004-06-15
Bui, Bing (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S265020, C379S265030, C379S265050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06751310
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to telephony management systems and more particularly, to a system and method of prioritizing a plurality of telephone call campaigns based on campaign productivity.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many business and customer service organizations utilize automated call distribution systems which route incoming calls to operators or agents in one or more various departments. Such systems efficiently screen incoming calls and are capable of providing initial, preliminary information to the customer by automated voice in response to system prompts. As a need for an agent occurs, the inbound telephone system distributes the incoming call to an agent based on agent availability.
Additionally, credit collection agencies and other types of business utilize outbound automated dialing systems to efficiently reach customers by automatically dialing telephone numbers contained within a pre-selected group of call records. Upon detecting a live answer, the automated dialing system connects the call to an agent, typically based on agent availability. However, if agents receive incoming or outbound calls without consideration as to their capabilities or experience, many instances are presented where assigned agents are incapable of servicing a call. Placing such a call on hold while a more suitable agent is located is time consuming and cost inefficient, resulting in lost or abandoned calls.
In an attempt to direct specific incoming calls to pre-selected agents, some prior art systems utilize agent splits or hunt groups. These systems require incoming call campaigns to be pre-set such that specific calls are directed to pre-selected agents. However, these system are limited in that agents are not selected dynamically as the call campaign is active based on agent attributes. Rather, agents are bound to an incoming call campaign prior to activation of the call campaign.
More sophisticated prior are systems and methods, such as the system and method disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,543, which is incorporated herein by reference, provide systems and methods for allocating agents to telephone call campaigns by a telephony system for servicing call records contained in call campaigns. Such systems allocate agent resources to service telephone call campaigns based on agent experience and expertise, and not solely on first availability.
With respect to outbound telephone call campaigns, it is a common occurrence to have a call center simultaneously process more than one call campaign. However, with currently available systems and methodologies, each campaign is individually run by the call center telephony system. Like the differing success levels realized by different agents, there are also differences in successes realized by different campaigns. The differences in success may be due to a wide variety of factors, including the type of script being used, the product or service being offered for sale or the price of the product or service. It could also be due other factors, such as the time at which a particular campaign is being run.
Telemarketing companies recognize the fact that certain campaigns will enjoy different success levels at different times and accordingly they quite often vary the types of campaigns that they run at particular times. However, in order to determine which types of campaigns are successful and which types are not, call centers are typically forced to initiate many campaigns at different times and then analyze the success levels achieved. As can be appreciated, this strategy is time consuming since it requires a significant amount of trial and error in order to compile the necessary results.
In addition, simple trial and error does not identify a specific problem with a campaign. For example a campaign may not be successful because it is initiated at the wrong time of day or wrong time of year or to a wrong class of prospective customers (e.g. male customers vs. female customers). Thus, in order to determine the reason why a campaign is or is not successful would require a great deal of trial and error. During this time period, the overall productivity of the call center would be adversely affected.
Accordingly, what is needed is an automated system and method of managing multiple call campaigns that eliminates the manual trial and error strategies that are currently being utilized by call center supervisors. Such a system would allow a call center to initiate multiple campaigns and determine which of those campaigns are successful and which are not and automatically adjust call pacing to take advantage of those call campaigns that are realizing success and reduce the call pacing to those campaigns that are not immediately successful. A desirable system would also be able to detect changes in success levels of call campaigns dynamically and adjust pacing levels accordingly to account for dynamic changes in success levels realized by the call campaigns.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a method for allocating agents to a plurality of telephone call campaigns by a telephony system is provided for servicing call records contained within the plurality of telephone call campaigns. The method is aimed at maximizing productivity of a call center by prioritizing call distribution along with agent resource allocation to those campaigns enjoying a high level of success during a particular period of time.
In one preferred embodiment, the method begins by providing a plurality of agent resources to participate in a plurality of call campaigns to be managed by a telephony system. The plurality of call campaigns are grouped together to form a pacing group. Each call campaign in the pacing group is then assigned a campaign pacing ratio which is a function of an assigned overall group pacing ratio and a fractional amount of agent resources allocated to each call campaign.
Next, a call center supervisor or other person responsible for the success or productivity of the call center establishes success criteria for each call campaign in the pacing group. Then, during the processing of the call campaigns, each connected call is monitored to determine if the established success criteria has been met. Based on a level of recognized success, the pacing ratio of each call campaign will then be adjusted, whereby those campaigns realizing higher levels of current success will have their pacing ratios increased while those experiencing lower levels of current success will have their pacing ratios decreased. Given a constant amount of agent resources to allocate amongst the plurality of call campaigns, the overall campaign group pacing ratio will remain constant.
Since the updating step occurs dynamically, as particular campaigns become increasingly or decreasingly successful, the system will reallocate the prioritization of calls thus taking advantage of those immediately successful call campaigns. Since call campaigns experiencing a high degree of current success will be assigned higher pacing indexes, more calls will be directed those campaigns and more agent resources will be allocated thereto to handle the increase in the number of calls initiated on those successful campaigns. Accordingly, the overall efficiency and productivity of the call center will be enhanced.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5517566 (1996-05-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5592543 (1997-01-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5594790 (1997-01-01), Curreri et al.
patent: 5594791 (1997-01-01), Szlam et al.
patent: 5987117 (1999-11-01), McNeil et al.
patent: 6584191 (2003-06-01), McPartlan et al.
Bourque & Associates P.A.
Bui Bing
Concerto Software, Inc.
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