Aspect Communications Corporation

Intervoice, Inc.

Kevin J McPartlan

Edward Komissarchik

Justin Broughton

Gary Sorensen

Lauren O'Brien

John Rafter

Robert Chastain Hayes

Katherine McElroy

David Glassman

Ivan Valentine Covdy

Carl Raymond Kowalski

Roy Ho

D Thompson McCalmont

Art Stine

Elizabeth Rodgers

Robert S Rodgers

Timothy Bean

Charles Hymes

Chandra Pisupati

A tiered service model for a digital multimedia contact center assigns an entering contact to an initial service tier based on routing criteria for the contact and may escalate or de-escalate the contact to a different service tier if the routing criteria chances. The routing criteria is initially determined based on a media type associated with the contact. The digital multimedia contact center contains a set of media routers, each of which passes a contact of a particular media type to a workflow engine which executes workflows to direct the processing of contacts at service tiers that require agent activity. Agents are allocated to contacts by a dynamic automate contact distributor and the appropriate media router is used to route the contact to an agent. The workflow engine also executes workflows for agents to control the allocation of agents to contacts.

Digital multimedia contact center

A graphical user interface and method for displaying on an agent's desktop. The graphical user interface of the present invention being capable of automatically displaying, in a designated area, a managed application according to a workflow. The graphical user interface of the present invention also includes the ability to control the display of managed applications manually. Further, the graphical user interface and method of the present invention allows an Agent access to non-managed applications without restricting the agent's access to the managed applications.

Automatic management of the visual space while performing a task

A system and method of escalating non-realtime communications entering a Contact Center. The present invention removes communications that may initially be viewed as requiring deferred assistance, such as those near missing their SLA or those determined to require immediate handling based on identifying a particular important customer, from its shared file folders and 'escalating' them to be routed as a live communications, for immediate response by a designated agent. An alternative tiered service model for a digital multimedia contact center assigns an entering contact to an initial immediate or deferred service tier based on routing criteria for the contact and may escalate or de-escalate the contact to a different service tier if the routing criteria changes. The service tier is initially determined based on a media type associated with the contact. The digital multimedia contact center contains a set of media servers, each of which passes a contact of a particular media type to a workflow engine (one for each service tier&#x2014;immediate and deferred), which executes workflows to direct the processing of contacts at service tiers that require agent activity, for the immediate service tier contacts pass through a set of media routers. Agents are allocated to contacts by a dynamic automated contact distributor and the appropriate media router is used to route the contact to an agent. The workflow engines also execute workflows for agents to control the allocation of agents to contacts.

Escalated handling of non-realtime communications

A tiered service model for a digital multimedia contact center assigns an entering contact to an initial service tier based on routing criteria for the contact and may escalate or de-escalate the contact to a different service tier if the routing criteria changes. The routing criteria is initially determined based on a media type associated with the contact. The digital multimedia contact center contains a set of media routers, each of which passes a contact of a particular media type to a workflow engine which executes workflows to direct the processing of contacts at service tiers that require agent activity. Agents are allocated to contacts by a dynamic automate contact distributor and the appropriate media router is used to route the contact to an agent. The workflow engine also executes workflows for agents to control the allocation of agents to contacts.

Digital multimedia contact center with tier escalation and deescalation in response to changed criteria

A method to determine transaction distribution among a plurality of transaction processing systems may include calculating estimated handling resources for each of the plurality of transaction processing systems based upon measured actual handling resources and identified scheduled handling resources. Transaction allocations may be determined for each of the transaction processing systems based upon the estimated handling resources.

System and method to allocate transactions

A method and apparatus for performing customer service request allocations based upon real-time data and forecast data, calculates estimated handling resources for each of the transaction processing systems based upon actual handling resources and scheduled handling resources. Customer service transaction workloads are forecasted for the handling resources for each of the transaction processing systems. Then, customer service request allocations are determined using estimated handling resources and the forecasted customer service transaction workload.

Customer service request allocations based upon real-time data and forecast data

A method and apparatus for routing a transaction. Initially, a resource is identified which is capable of servicing a transaction based upon resource data indicative of the capabilities of resources associated with a transactional processing system and a transaction request indicative of a request associated with the transaction. Upon identifying the resource capable of servicing the transaction, the transaction is supplied to the identified resource.

Method and apparatus for routing a transaction within a network environment

A method and apparatus are provided for performing real-time transaction routing augmented with forecast data and agent schedules. According to one aspect of the present invention, transactions are distributed among multiple transaction processing systems using both scheduled and actual handling resources. Actual handling resources associated with each of the transaction processing systems, such as automatic call distributors (ACDs), is measured at time t. Scheduled handling resources associated with each of the transaction processing systems for time t are also are identified. Then, estimated handling resources are calculated for each of the transaction processing systems for time t&plus;n based upon the actual handling resources and the scheduled handling resources. Based upon the estimated handling resources, transaction allocations for each of the transaction processing systems is determined. Finally, responsive to a routing query from a network interface, a routing decision is communicated to the network interface based upon the transaction allocations. According to another aspect of the present invention, a virtual call center is provided. The virtual call center includes a wide area network (WAN), multiple call centers coupled to the WAN, and a transaction routing controller coupled to the WAN. Each of the call centers includes a transaction processing system. The transaction routing controller is configured to calculate allocation percentages for each of the call centers based upon scheduled staffing levels and actual staffing level information received from the transaction processing systems. The transaction routing controller is additionally configured to load balance incoming calls according to the allocation percentages.

Real-time transaction routing augmented with forecast data and agent schedules

A method and apparatus are provided for performing staffing-based percentage-allocation routing using real-time data. According to one aspect of the present invention, transaction allocation is determined using both scheduled and actual handling resources. Actual handling resources associated with each of several transaction processing systems, such as automatic call distributors (ACDs), are measured at times t and t&plus;n. Scheduled handling resources associated with each of the transaction processing systems for times t and t&plus;n are also identified. Then, estimated handling resources are calculated for each of the transaction processing systems for time t&plus;n based upon the actual handling resources and the scheduled handling resources. Finally, based upon the estimated handling resources, transaction allocations for each of the transaction processing systems are determined. According to another aspect of the present invention, a virtual call center is provided. The virtual call center includes a wide area network (WAN), multiple call centers coupled to the WAN, and an allocation controller coupled to the WAN. Each of the call centers includes a transaction processing system. The allocation controller is configured to calculate allocation sets for one or more forecast periods based upon scheduled staffing levels and actual staffing level information received from the transaction processing systems. The allocation sets include percent allocations for each of the transaction processing systems. The allocation controller is additionally configured to balance call distribution among the transaction processing systems by uploading the allocation sets to an inter-exchange carrier interface.

Growing community of inventors

Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Kevin J McPartlan