A system for adaptive cloud-based work routing comprising a work router for assigning work tasks and a routing configuration server for configuring operation or monitoring performance of a work router, and a graphical user interface for configuration of a cloud-based work router.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Art

The disclosure relates to the field of task management, and more particularly to the field of routing and assigning work tasks.

Discussion of the State of the Art

It is common for enterprises and corporations in the art to employ internal work routing systems, to assign work tasks to resources such as software systems or human personnel. Generally, these routing systems require the manual configuration of complex routing strategies, to instruct the system regarding how to assign work properly. Rules are configured and followed, and any change to routing must be effected by updating and rewriting these routing strategies.

Such arrangements can be very costly, in terms of resources (hardware and software resources must be dedicated to performing routing operations), time and money (employing someone to maintain the routing strategies). Additionally, such arrangements do not allow for adaptive behavior, and must be manually updated if any changes are desired. Again, this can be quite costly as changes to routing must now be performed manually, based on any observed results or metrics from prior routing decisions, which therefore requires personnel to review or monitor operations to determine if changes are needed.

What is needed, is a means to enable a human user to configure operation of an adaptive work routing solution, requiring minimal technical knowledge or familiarity with a specific cloud-based routing platform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for adaptive cloud-based work routing and means for a human user to configure operation of the system with minimal technical knowledge.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for adaptive cloud-based work routing comprising a work router for assigning work tasks and a routing configuration server for configuring operation or monitoring performance of a work router, is disclosed. According to the embodiment, the work router and configuration system may be software components operating on a network-connected device (for example, a server or other network-connected computing device), and it should be appreciated that they may (as appropriate, according to a particular arrangement) operate independently (that is, on separate physical devices, such as in a distributed arrangement where interaction may occur over a network connection) or jointly on a single device.

According to the embodiment, a work router may receive work tasks from a plurality of clients (such as contact centers, individual devices, or any other potential source of work information), such as via communication over a network such as the Internet or other appropriate communications network. Work tasks may be any assignment that may be desired, such as (for example) a particular inbound call from a customer (as may be received from a contact center) or a scheduled meeting between two parties (as might be received from a business or enterprise client). Such work tasks may then be compared by the work router to any known or retrieved criteria, such as (for example) checking known statistics pertaining to a contact center to see what agents are available, what skills or training they have had, how long they may have been waiting for a customer interaction, or any other of a variety of relevant metrics. The work router may then send a work assignment to a resource, based at least in part on the results of comparison performed (such as returning a specific agent to route a customer interaction to).

According to the embodiment, a “resource” may be any potential endpoint for a work assignment, such as a human operator or a software or hardware device or service that may handle a work assignment, and may vary according to the nature of a particular assignment. Exemplary resources may include the client itself (such as an interactive voice response (IVR) system being assigned a work task such as for placing a call in a particular queue) or a resource operated by the client (such as giving an assignment to a particular agent in the contact center that the work task originated from), or a resource not related to the client such as an agent in a different contact center or a third-party assignment service as is described below. It should be appreciated that the destination for a work assignment may not be the same as the source of a work task—for example, in a distributed contact center arrangement (such as a single corporation operating multiple separate contact centers and utilizing a single cloud-based work router), a contact center A may submit a work task, and based on the results of comparison performed the work assignment may be sent to another contact center B (for example if the optimal agent for the interaction is in contact center B, or if a custom called contact center A after the close of business hours). Additionally (and continuing with the exemplary contact center use case), a work assignment may be given to a contact center in general (such as to then be routed according to a contact center's normal operation, for example based on internal call queuing protocols) or to a specific agent (such as when a work router is used to perform call queuing functions and no internal system is needed), as may be appropriate according to a particular arrangement. It should be appreciated that such behavior may be configurable (as described below), and a single work router may perform a variety of functions or operate according to a variety of configurations based on a particular client or work task, such that a single work router may facilitate operation for a variety of clients and resources that may have varying needs or preferences regarding operation (for example, one contact center may wish to perform internal call queuing and only utilize a work router for non-customer interaction work tasks, while another contact center may utilize a work router for all call queuing and interaction assignments). In this manner, work routing may be made more efficient than ordinarily possible using in-house solution, that may be more limited in the scope of their assigning abilities. It should be further appreciated that not all communication between clients and a work router may be work tasks or assignments. For example, a client may submit periodic status reports to a work router for use in routing operations, such as contact center agent availability or other metrics, or a resource that received a work assignment may send an acknowledgement of the assignment being received, or a further acknowledgement when an assignment is completed. In this manner a work router may maintain a current model of client status and operations, to further enhance operation and provide relevant and efficient routing service.

Further according to the embodiment, operation of a work router may be configurable via a configuration server. Such configuration server may vary in nature, such as website or other online interface, or via a specific software component operating on a network-connected computer or device, or via a software application programming interface (API) for interaction with third-party products or services, or via a graphical user interface such as that described herein (referring toFIG. 6). A user may interact with a configuration server (such as by using a network-connected device to interact with a web interface) for such purposes as to view or alter configuration data for a work router, for example to input new criteria to be used for comparison (such as updating contact center agent skill sets or updating a work router when particular agents receive new training that may affect how work is assigned to them), or to observe operational data relevant to a work router (such as performance metrics of the router itself, for example work task and assignment statistics such as number of tasks received from particular clients or number of assignments fulfilled). Any configuration information may be stored for future reference, such as in a database or other storage medium (such as integral or removable storage media operated by or connected to a configuration server). In this manner, configuration information may be persistent, facilitating consistent operation without repeated configuration by a user.

Further according to the embodiment, machine learning may be utilized by a work router to enhance operations. For example, as described above a work router may receive status updates or work assignment acknowledgements from clients. Such updates may include information pertaining to a particular work assignment, such as length of time before completion, results of completion (such as whether or not a customer's issue was resolved, or whether a successful sale was made, or any other outcome according to a particular assignment), or any other relevant information. A work router may then utilize such information in future routing decisions, such as (for example) incorporating the results of work assignments in future comparisons, such as to ensure that work is assigned to the ideal resource for completion. For example, in a contact center use case, an agent may have been assigned work that they were trained for but not particularly skilled at performing, yielding poor results. In future routing, this agent may be given lower priority as compared to others with similar training, such that similar work assignments may be given to those agents more likely to yield positive results. Additionally, machine learning may be implemented in the form of A-B testing, or experimental routing behaviors. For example, a work router may choose to send a work assignment to a resource based not only on the results of comparison as described above, but also with the intent of collecting results and other information to see how a resource performs (for example, routing a call to an agent for which no prior calls of this type have been routed). In this manner, a degree of “trial and error” operation may be performed, to attempt to discern unexpected results that may be used to improve operation and that might otherwise not have been realized. Such testing behavior may be configurable, such as allowing a particular percentage of work assignments to be used for testing rather than strict comparison-based routing, and it should be appreciated that machine learning may also be used to improve operation of the testing itself—for example, a work router may find that the results of a particular test were undesirable, and reduce the percentage of tests involving that resource or that work assignment type, or alternately if a test yields positive results then more tests may be performed. In this manner, not only may operations be manually configured as described above, but they may also be seen to adapt and improve through continuous operation.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a graphical user interface (GUI) for configuration of a cloud-based work router is disclosed. According to the invention, such configuration should be possible for a user with minimal technical training and should not require programming knowledge (as is common with current implementations), to maximize effectiveness of configurable routing regardless of user familiarity. Accordingly, the inventor has conceived a user-friendly means for configuration wherein no program code is used, instead utilizing easily-recognizable text- and graphic-based interface elements that may be descriptive of their internal operation. According to the embodiment, a work routing system may internally identify routing elements such as agent skills (“sales”, “technical support”, etc.), and present these skills in a user-friendly configuration interface for a user to modify routing rules associated with them. Such configuration may be facilitated by easily-understood text fields and menus, with the necessary programming being handled by the router and the configuration interface serving to “fill in the blanks”, and populate variables and values based on user input to modify router operation. For example, each skill might have default rules (or previously-configured rules), and these rules may be presented to a user by parsing them into the various text fields and menus in the configuration interface, so a user may easily view existing routing behaviors in an organized fashion. In this manner, a user of unknown skill may be expected to reliably and effectively configure operation of a work router.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for configurable cloud-based work routing.

One or more different inventions may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the inventions described herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should be appreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting of the inventions contained herein or the claims presented herein in any way. One or more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as may be readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it should be appreciated that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly, one skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of the inventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventions described herein may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be appreciated, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventions that must be present in all embodiments.

Hardware Architecture

In one embodiment, computing device100includes one or more central processing units (CPU)102, one or more interfaces110, and one or more busses106(such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU102may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated with the functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. For example, in at least one embodiment, a computing device100may be configured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU102, local memory101and/or remote memory120, and interface(s)110. In at least one embodiment, CPU102may be caused to perform one or more of the different types of functions and/or operations under the control of software modules or components, which for example, may include an operating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like.

CPU102may include one or more processors103such as, for example, a processor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some embodiments, processors103may include specially designed hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computing device100. In a specific embodiment, a local memory101(such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also form part of CPU102. However, there are many different ways in which memory may be coupled to system100. Memory101may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like.

In one embodiment, interfaces110are provided as network interface cards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of data packets over a computer network; other types of interfaces110may for example support other peripherals used with computing device100. Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types of interfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus (USB), Serial, Ethernet, Firewire™, PCI, parallel, radio frequency (RF), Bluetooth™ near-field communications (e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fast Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speed serial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces, fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, such interfaces110may include ports appropriate for communication with appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor and, in some in stances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).

Although the system shown inFIG. 1illustrates one specific architecture for a computing device100for implementing one or more of the inventions described herein, it is by no means the only device architecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniques described herein may be implemented. For example, architectures having one or any number of processors103may be used, and such processors103may be present in a single device or distributed among any number of devices. In one embodiment, a single processor103handles communications as well as routing computations, while in other embodiments a separate dedicated communications processor may be provided. In various embodiments, different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in a system according to the invention that includes a client device (such as a tablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems (such as a server system described in more detail below).

Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the present invention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example, remote memory block120and local memory101) configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, or other information relating to the functionality of the embodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions may control execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Memory120or memories101,120may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data, encryption data, historical system operations information, or any other specific or generic non-program information described herein.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed to implement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least some network device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readable storage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed to store program instructions, state information, and the like for performing various operations described herein. Examples of such nontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as optical disks, and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM), flash memory, solid state drives, memristor memory, random access memory (RAM), and the like. Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as may be produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by an assembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by for example a Java™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtual machine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scripts written in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).

In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may be implemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now toFIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more embodiments or components thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device200includes processors210that may run software that carry out one or more functions or applications of embodiments of the invention, such as for example a client application230. Processors210may carry out computing instructions under control of an operating system220such as, for example, a version of Microsoft's Windows™ operating system, Apple's Mac OS/X or iOS operating systems, some variety of the Linux operating system, Google's Android™ operating system, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services225may be operable in system200, and may be useful for providing common services to client applications230. Services225may for example be Windows™ services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, or any other type of common service architecture used with operating system210. Input devices270may be of any type suitable for receiving user input, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or any combination thereof. Output devices260may be of any type suitable for providing output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system200, and may include for example one or more screens for visual output, speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory240may be random-access memory having any structure and architecture known in the art, for use by processors210, for example to run software. Storage devices250may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, or electrical storage device for storage of data in digital form. Examples of storage devices250include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implemented on a distributed computing network, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers. Referring now toFIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary architecture300for implementing at least a portion of a system according to an embodiment of the invention on a distributed computing network. According to the embodiment, any number of clients330may be provided. Each client330may run software for implementing client-side portions of the present invention; clients may comprise a system200such as that illustrated inFIG. 2. In addition, any number of servers320may be provided for handling requests received from one or more clients330. Clients330and servers320may communicate with one another via one or more electronic networks310, which may be in various embodiments any of the Internet, a wide area network, a mobile telephony network, a wireless network (such as WiFi, Wimax, and so forth), or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in the art; the invention does not prefer any one network topology over any other). Networks310may be implemented using any known network protocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols.

In addition, in some embodiments, servers320may call external services370when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additional data concerning a particular call. Communications with external services370may take place, for example, via one or more networks310. In various embodiments, external services370may comprise web-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where client applications230are implemented on a smartphone or other electronic device, client applications230may obtain information stored in a server system320in the cloud or on an external service370deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise's or user's premises.

Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or more security systems360and configuration systems350. Security and configuration management are common information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the art now or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the invention without limitation, unless a specific security360or configuration system350or approach is specifically required by the description of any specific embodiment.

FIG. 4shows an exemplary overview of a computer system400as may be used in any of the various locations throughout the system. It is exemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Various modifications and changes may be made to computer system400without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the system and method disclosed herein. CPU401is connected to bus402, to which bus is also connected memory403, nonvolatile memory404, display407, I/O unit408, and network interface card (NIC)413. I/O unit408may, typically, be connected to keyboard409, pointing device410, hard disk412, and real-time clock411. NIC413connects to network414, which may be the Internet or a local network, which local network may or may not have connections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system400is power supply unit405connected, in this example, to ac supply406. Not shown are batteries that could be present, and many other devices and modifications that are well known but are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the current system and method disclosed herein.

Conceptual Architecture

FIG. 5is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture500for providing cloud-based work routing, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. According to the embodiment, a cloud-based work routing system510may comprise a work router511for receiving work tasks and routing work assignments, a configuration server512for configuring operation of a work router, and a database513for storing and providing data (such as, for example, configuration preferences or operation reports) to a work router511and configuration server512. As further illustrated, a cloud-based work routing system510may be connected to a communications network such as the Internet501or other appropriate network, such as to interact with a plurality of clients502and resources503for operation. As described previously, both clients502and resources503may be of varied nature and operation, such as (for example) a contact center or a component system or service of a contact center (such as an IVR, call recording system, or a human resource such as a contact center agent or a review analyst). It should be appreciated that while client502and resource503are illustrated independently for clarity, such an arrangement is exemplary and a single component may operate as both a client and a resource according to the embodiment (for example, a contact center agent might submit a work task for routing, and then be assigned the resulting work assignment based on routing logic described below).

According to the embodiment, clients502may communicate with a cloud-based work router511for such purposes as to send work tasks or status reports. A work task may be any action or operation that may be desirable to assign to a resource, regardless of the nature or scope of that task. For example, when a customer calls a contact center, answering the call and interacting with the customer might be a work task (that would, for example, be routed to a contact center agent able to appropriately handle the call). If the customer needs to be contacted at a later time, for example if they request a follow up call, the requested outbound call might be another work task (that would, for example, be assigned to an appropriate agent and optionally scheduled for a requested time or date). Performing any actions requested as a part of the customer interaction, such as account changes or fulfilling a sale, might be a further work task that would then be routed to an appropriate resource such as an account service specialist or a sales representative. In this manner it can be appreciated that work tasks may vary widely and a key function of a work router may be to determine the nature and needs of a particular work task and assign it accordingly. Similarly, status reports may vary in nature and content, such as periodic reports of contact center agent availability, reports on system status (such as notification if there is an issue with, for example, an IVR or a recording system), updates on agent skills or training, or any other such information that may be relevant to work routing operations. These updates may be utilized by a work router511in making decisions such as how to assign work tasks, for example when selecting a contact center agent to assign a customer interaction, a work router511might check any known agent skills and training to see who is qualified to handle the interaction, as well as availability status to see who is available to receive a work assignment or who has been waiting the longest for one. In this manner, it can be appreciated that a work router511may perform functions common to contact centers or other use cases, alleviating the need to maintain an internal system for such purposes.

Further according to the embodiment, a configuration server512may be utilized to configure or monitor operations or behavior of a cloud-based work routing system510. For example, a user (such as a designed administrator for a contact center) may connect to a configuration server (such as via a web interface or other interaction front end) and establish preferences or parameters for operation. These configuration parameters may then be stored in a database513and utilized in operations. For example, a system utilized by a contact center may be configured to place priority on call handle time rather than number of sales, such that in subsequent routing decisions calls may be routed preferentially to agents with more desirable call handle time metrics and fewer sales, rather than those that may excel at sales but have less desirable handle time. In this manner, operations may be tailored to a particular client's tastes easily, without having to manually configure or maintain detailed routing strategies as are commonly utilized in the art with internal routing solutions.

Detailed Description of Exemplary Embodiments

FIG. 6is an illustration of an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI)600for configuration of a work router, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. As illustrated, a plurality of check boxes611or other interactive means may be presented to a user to easily select what skills612are being applied to an interaction (as illustrated, the interaction being routed has the “English”, “sales”, and “gold customer” skills flagged). This allows a user to easily configure what relevant agent skills apply to a given interaction, to ensure that agents with appropriate training are receiving work tasks. As further illustrated, each skill may have a definition613specified, that may represent an internal definition for identifying whether a particular skill is relevant, such as (for example) if an interaction involves a customer whose account balance is over a specified threshold (as illustrated, the threshold has been set at 10,000) applying the “gold customer” skill to identify the interaction as involving a high-value customer. Additionally, a user may be given an interactive element such as a button614to edit these skill definitions as needed. Numerical fields615may be utilized, such as to specify numerical values such as a skill's time-to-live (TTL) threshold, after which the skill may be removed from an interaction to broaden the scope of routing (for example, by removing skills that may narrow down the number of available agents that are appropriately trained for an interaction). Drop-down menus616may also be utilized, such as to allow a user to select from a predetermined list of options such as for special behavior flags, such as altering an interaction's priority (as illustrated). In this manner, a user may choose to configure routing such that certain interactions may be given preference over others when making a routing decision, such that if only a single agent is available a higher-priority interaction may be given to them first. Interactive buttons may be provided for instantaneous actions such as deleting616or adding617skills to an interaction, such as to alter the available agents for an interaction (by removing skills, the number of agents may be increased by removing limiting factors in routing decisions, likewise adding more skills may narrow down the number of agents by limiting who is allowed to handle the interaction based on their skill qualifications).

According to the embodiment, a timeline620may be displayed such as to illustrate a projected timeline for routing according to a specific configuration. As illustrated, based on the selections made it can be seen that no agents will be available to handle the interaction for at least ten minutes, and that a single agent will be available when the “support” skill expires in fifteen minutes. In thirty minutes, when the “gold customer” skill expires and only the “English” language skill remains (as it has been configured without a TTL value, therefore it will always exist on an interaction such as to ensure the interaction is always routed to any English-speaking agent as a last resort), three agents are projected to be available. In this manner a user may see real-time projections of the outcome of their configurations, and may thereby optimize their own input to improve routing based on projected behavior.

According to the embodiment, all skills may be configurable as item modifiers. For example, a configuration display as illustrated represents the configuration for a single specific work item, or for multiple selected items being modified simultaneously. When a user adds or modifies skills as illustrated, these skills function as modifiers to the routing behavior for the selected work items. For example, as illustrated the skills of “English”, “sales”, and “gold customer” are being applied. When routing work items, any skills that have not yet expired (as determined by the time-to-live variable) apply their associated rules and values to the routing behavior for the work item, such as by limiting which agents are allowed to receive the work item, or what priority the work item is given relative to other work items that may also be eligible for routing at the same time.