Abstract:
A system for a web-based call center to provide assistance to multiple simultaneous customers. The system includes at least one external communication pathway through which a customer can submit a request to the enterprise contact center. The enterprise contact center includes a pool of agents that can provide information in response to requests submitted by customers. The system also includes a software engine that routes and schedules customer request to available agents via internal communication pathways. Agents can view customer data on a user interface. The customer data can aid the agents in providing information to the customers. Agents can multi-task by providing assistance to multiple customers at one time. Agents can respond to customer requests using web and telephone communication pathways.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to systems and methods for providing assistance to multiple customers, and more particularly, to a system and method for a multi-tasking telephone and web-based call center. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Today&#39;s businesses are relying more and more on telecommunications systems to help manage their interaction with others. Customer service often determines how a company is perceived. Businesses want to reduce their customer service costs by enabling their employees to maintain a maximum number of calls and reduce their idle time to a minimum. Conventional or prior art methods typically employ ACD (automatic call distribution) services. 
     ACD systems route incoming telephone calls to a pool of agents or to a specific agent based on the telephone number dialed by the customer, information entered by the customer, or the customer&#39;s phone number. In certain instances when all agents are busy, ACD systems can hold the call in a queue, prompt the caller to leave a voice message for a later call back, or redirect the call to another group of agents with a shorter queue time. 
     Unfortunately, due to the hold times often encountered with ACD systems, customers may become frustrated and perceive that their time is being wasted. This may deter customers from calling the company on future occasions. As companies rely on agents to handle calls, agent productivity becomes a major cost factor. Therefore, a need exists for a method of providing assistance to a customer that reduces the amount of wasted time perceived by the customer, as well as maintain or increase the productivity of agents at a call center. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a system and method for a multi-tasking, web-based call center that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed systems and methods used for providing assistance to multiple customers. 
     More specifically, the present invention provides a system for a telephone and web-based call center that provides assistance to multiple simultaneous customers for a single agent that significantly increases call center productivity. The system includes at least one external communication pathway through which a customer can submit a request to the web-based call center. The web-based call center includes a pool of agents that can provide information in response to requests submitted by customers. The system also includes a software engine that routes and schedules customer request to available agents via internal communication pathways. Agents can view customer data on a user interface. The customer data can aid the agents in providing information to the customs. Agents can multi-task by providing assistance to multiple customer at one time. 
     The present invention provides an important technical advantage in that customers can browse the web while waiting for a response from an agent. This enables the customer to use their time in a more constructive manner rather than just “sitting” and waiting for a response from an available agent. 
     The present invention provides another technical advantage in that it allows the agent to multi-task. Thus, the agent can provide information to a first customer and while this customer is becoming familiar with the information, the agent can assist another customer. By multi-tasking, the agent can reduce the overall cost to the call center. 
     Still yet another technical advantage of the present invention is that customers can interact with more than one agent. For instance a first agent may provide assistance to a customer and then move on to another customer. If the first customer requires further assistance, the customer may be routed to another agent capable of providing follow-up information. This can improve agent productivity since requests do not have to be queued frequently to a single agent. 
     Another technical advantage of the present invention is that customers can be grouped and their requests can be forwarded to a specialized agent or a live event. In this case, a group of customer requests can be serially addressed, thus saving time and money to the web-based call center. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a system network diagram of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention using a customer scheduled contact sequence; 
     FIG. 3 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention using text request-response cycles; 
     FIG. 4 is a time-line diagram illustrating request-response cycles for the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention using voice request-response cycles; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention using multiple communication modes between agent and customer; 
     FIG. 7 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention in which multiple agents serve one customer; and 
     FIG. 8 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention in which customer requests may be grouped and routed to a moderated live event. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the FIGS., like numerals being used to refer to like and corresponding parts of various drawings. 
     The present invention provides a method and system for a web-based call center that efficiently puts customers on hold with information to browse and significantly improves the efficiency of call centers. Methods include scheduling customer interaction, multi-tasking agents, reassigning agents, and grouping customer requests into moderated events. 
     FIG. 1 is a system network diagram including the key components of the present invention. In FIG. 1, multiple customers  10  can view enterprise company&#39;s web presentation presented by Web server  18 . Multiple customers  10  can contact an enterprise company and submit customer requests through a network, such as internet  14  or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)  16 . Contact to an enterprise company can be made using an internet-connected computer with a web browser and/or through a telephone (voice call). Customer requests from multiple customers  10  can be submitted using interactive media formats. Interactive media forms can include telephone calls, sending facsimiles, sending E-mail, looking at web pages, requesting live help from a web page. Live help may include live text, synchronous web pages, voice, video, and/or white boarding. 
     Pool of agents  28  may be available to aid with contact requests initiated by multiple customers  10 . Agents  30  are pooled together in pool of agents  28  so that contact requests can be efficiently routed to the next available agent  30 . In certain cases, such as E-mail auto response, agent  30  may be an automated computer program rather than a person. Pool of agents  28  may have internet-connected workstations and telephone connections. Pool of agents  28  may have user interfaces that can present requests from multiple customers  10 , present information about the requests, and present information, if available, about multiple customers  10 . The user interfaces may also provide capabilities for pool of agents  28  to browse and search for information to be presented to multiple customers  10 . Pool of agents  28  can respond to multiple customers  10  using interactive media formats. 
     Contact Server  20  can manage the sequencing of multiple customers  10  requesting information to pool of agents  28 . Contact Server  20  can receive these requests from either Web Server  18  or Switch Server  22 . With knowledge of the availability of pool of agents  28 , Contact Server  20  can connect a request to an available agent  30  and initiate Web Server  18  and/or Switch Server  22  to establish a live connection with customer  12 . 
     Switch Server  22  can support live voice communication between customer  12  and agent  30 . Example Switch Servers include a Private Branch exchange (PBX) and Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) equipment. Switch Server  22  supports telephony functions like placing telephone calls and answering telephone calls, putting calls on hold, transferring calls and providing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities. Switch Server  22  may have a control link to Contact Server  20  such as CTI, CT Connect or TAPI. Note that it is possible for voice communications, video, and to be entirely over the Internet network (using H. 323 ). In this case Switch Server  22  and associated PSTN  16  and PBX/ACD  26  may not be necessary. 
     FIG. 2 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention. The method incorporates a customer-scheduled contact sequence between agent  30  and multiple customers  10 . FIG. 2 is an example of the contact sequence. The diagram is for a single customer contacting a single agent, but the concept can be applied to any number of simultaneous customers interacting with multiple agents. The contact sequence is as follows: 
     (1) Customer  12  can connect to an enterprise web page via web server  18  or customer  12  can connect to a company call center via a phone call, E-mail or facsimile. 
     (2) Customer  12  can interact with the enterprise web page via web browsing or IVR. 
     (3) Customer  12  can request to be connected to an agent. This request may be a text request via interactive web browsing, E-mail or facsimile, or a voice request via a phone call or IVR. 
     (4) The customer request can be queued at the Contact Server  20 . 
     (5) Customer  12  can be placed on hold while waiting for an available agent. 
     (6) Customer  12  can be provided information about the expected hold time, number in the queue of customer contact requests. Customer  12  can be provided the option to schedule an agent connection at a later time. 
     (7) Customer  12  chooses to schedule an agent connection at a later time and the contact request is recorded and scheduled at the Contact Server  20  for later connection. 
     (8) At the scheduled date and time, agent  30  is notified of the scheduled connection. The notification may take the form of a visual or audio notice that is displayed on a work station of agent  30 . The request also may be a new item in the work tray of agent  30 . 
     (9) Agent  30  attempts to establish connection with customer  12 . This may involve agent  30  telephoning customer  12 , sending a facsimile or E-mail to customer  12 , informing customer  12  to call or connect to the company website or detecting that customer  12  is connected to the company website and sending an alert message to the web browser of customer  12 . Should customer  12  not be available, agent  30  may choose to reschedule the connection or let the system detect the next time customer  12  is available for connection. 
     (10) With acknowledgement from customer  12 , the connection is established between customer  12  and agent  30  to resolve the contact request. The connection may again take numerous forms: talking to customer  12  via telephone, video call, or IP telephony; responding to a facsimile or E-mail; talking to customer  12  via a web-based text chat; sending web pages or other documents to customer  12 ; sharing a web page that both customer  12  and agent  30  are drawing on, etc. Agent  30  satisfies the request of customer  12  and completes the session by disconnecting from customer  12  and documenting the conversation, or the customer may disconnect from the connection. 
     (11) With acknowledgement from customer  12 , the connection, is established between customer  12  and agent  30  to resolve the contact request. The connection may again take numerous forms: talking to customer  12  via telephone, video call, or IP telephony; responding to a facsimile or E-mail; talking to customer  12  via a web-based text chat; sending web pages or other documents to customer  12 ; sharing a web page that both customer  12  and agent  30  are drawing on, etc. 
     (12) Agent  30  satisfies the request of customer  12  and completes the session by disconnecting from customer  12  and documenting the conversation, or the customer may disconnect from the connection. 
     FIG. 3 is a time-line diagram for one embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment incorporates text request-response cycles between agent  30  and multiple customers  10 . In FIG. 3, customer A  32  and customer B  34  can simultaneously interact with agent  30  using a text channel for communications. The user interface of agent  30  can display the status of the communication with each customer and can allow agent  30  to see customer text and respond with text. FIG. 3 is an example of the contact sequence. The diagram is for two simultaneous customers. The concept can be applied to any number of simultaneous customers interacting with multiple agents. The contact sequence in FIG. 3 is as follows: 
     (1) Agent  30  can make himself/herself available to take multiple customer requests. 
     (2) Customer A  32  and customer B  34  can connect to an enterprise web page via Web Server  18 . 
     (3) Customer A  32  and customer B  34  can interact with the enterprise web presentation. 
     (4 a ) Customer A  32  can type a text question and request to be connected to an agent. (4 b ) The request can be queued at Contact Server  20  and (4 c ) routed by Contact Server  20  to agent  30 . Agent  30  can receive a request notification from Contact Server  20 . The request notification may take the form of a visual and audio notice that is displayed on a work station of agent  30 . The request may also be a new item in the work tray of agent  30 . 
     (5) Customer A  32  can be placed on hold awaiting availability of agent  30 . Customer A  32  can continue browsing and searching the web while waiting on hold. 
     (6) Agent  30  can select customer A  32  and receive the text question from customer A  32  while waiting for another customer request. 
     (7) Agent  30  sends a response, such as text, URL, E-mail, to customer A  32  and waits for the next customer request. 
     (8 a ) Customer B  34  can type a text question and request to be connected to an agent. (8 b ) The request can be queued at Contact Server  20  and (8 c ) routed by Contact Server  20  to agent  30 . Agent  30  can receive a request notification. 
     (9) Customer B  34  is placed on hold awaiting availability of agent  30 . Customer B  34  can continue browsing and searching the web while waiting on hold. 
     (10) While waiting on customer A  32  to respond, agent  30  can select customer B  34  and receive the text question from customer B  34 . 
     (11) Agent  30  can send a response, such as text, URL or E-mail, to customer B  34  while waiting for another customer request. 
     Steps  4 - 7  and  8 - 11  can repeat independently. Thus, agent  30  can handle multiple, simultaneous text conversations. It is important to note that customer  32  or customer  34  can at any time ask to schedule an connection at a specific time or date with agent  30 . The scheduling may take the same form as steps (8)-(10) in FIG.  2 . 
     Multi-tasking improves the efficiency of the system by letting agent  30  handle other requests while waiting for customer  12 . Because agent  30  can push substantial amounts of information (web pages, URLs, documents, etc.) to customer  12 , there is likely to be a period of time while customer  12  reads and understands the information forwarded by agent  30 . Where there are overlapping requests, customer  12  may have to wait for agent  30  to get around to answering a request. 
     FIG. 4 is a time-line that illustrates the style of simultaneous conversations and request-response cycles described in FIG.  3  and illustrates the types of overlaps that can occur. The process can repeat until all customer requests have been satisfied. 
     Qa 1 : Customer A  32  sends question  1 . 
     Aa 1 : Agent  30  answers question  1  from customer A  32 . 
     Ra 1 : Customer A  32  reads response of agent  30  to question  1 . 
     Qb 1 : Customer B  34  sends question  1 . 
     Ab 1 : Agent  30  answers question  1  from customer B  34 . 
     Rb 1 : Customer B  34  reads response of agent  30  to question  1 . 
     FIG. 5 is a time-line diagram for another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment incorporates voice request-response cycles between agent  30  and multiple customers  10 . In FIG. 5, customer A  32  and customer B  34  are simultaneously interacting with agent  30 , both using a voice channel for communications. FIG. 5 is an example contact sequence. The diagram is for two simultaneous customers, customer A  32  and customer B  34 . The concept can be applied to any number of simultaneous customers interacting with multiple agents, using a variety of conversation media types, such as telephone, voiceover IP (IP telephony), video, text chat or E-mail. 
     The contact sequence in FIG. 5 is as follows: 
     (1) Agent  30  can make himself/herself available to take multiple customer requests. 
     (2) Customer A  32  and customer B  34  can connect to an enterprise web page via Web Server  18 . 
     (3) Customer A  32  and customer B  34  can interact with the enterprise web presentation. Both the web pages of customer A  32  and customer B  34  can display a “Live voice request button.” Alternatively, customer A  32  or customer B  34  may initiate a phone call to a call center and subsequently a simultaneous web connection with an agent may be established. 
     (4 a ) Customer A  32  can request a voice connection with an agent. (4 b ) The request is queued at Contact Server  20  and (4 c ) routed by Contact Server  20  to agent  30 . Agent  30  can receive a request notification from Contact Server  20 . 
     (5) Customer A  32  can be placed on hold awaiting availability of agent  30 . Customer A  32  can continue browsing and searching the web while waiting on hold. 
     (6) Agent  30  can select customer A  32  and be connected one-to-one with customer A  32  for a voice conversation. This may occur with a web callback (customer A  32  posts the phone number he is at and agent  30  calls customer A  32 ), Voice over IP, or other forms of voice communication. 
     (7) Agent  30  can talk to customer A  32  and can send information (such as text or an URL) to the browser of customer A  32 . Agent  30  can send customer A  32  enough information to respond to the question of customer A  32 . 
     (8) Agent  30  can politely tell customer A  32  that customer A  32  will be placed on hold while customer A  32  reads the information provided to customer A  32 , and that if customer A  32  needs further live assistance, customer A  32  can click on a “live voice request button” displayed on the web page of customer A  32  or some other form of request, such as push to talk to regain contact with agent  30 . Agent  30  can place customer A  32  on hold and wait for the next (another) customer request. Customer A  32  can repeat steps 4-8. 
     (9a) Customer B  34  can request a voice connection with an agent. (9b) The request is queued at Contact Server  20  and (9c) routed by Contact Server  20  to agent  30 . Agent  30  can get a request notification from Contact Server  20 . 
     (10) Customer B  34  can be placed on hold awaiting availability of agent  30 . Customer B  34  can continue browsing and searching the web while waiting on hold. 
     (11) Agent  30  can select customer B  34  and can be connected one-to-one with customer B  34  for a voice conversation. This may occur with a web callback (customer B  34  can post the phone number customer B  34  is at and agent  30  can call customer B  34 ), Voice over IP, or other forms of voice communication. 
     (12) Agent  30  can talk to customer B  34  and can send information, such as text or an URL, to a browser of customer B  34 . Agent  30  can send customer B  34  enough information to respond to questions of customer B  34 . 
     (13) Agent  30  can politely tell customer B  34  that customer B  34  will be placed on hold while customer B  34  reads the information provided to customer B  34  and that if customer B  34  needs further live assistance, customer B  34  can click on a “live voice request button” displayed on the web page of customer B  34  to regain contact with agent  30 . Agent  30  can place customer B  34  on hold and wait for the next (another) customer request. Customer B  34  can repeat steps 9-13. 
     Steps 4-8 and 9-13 repeat independently. Thus, agent  30  can handle multiple, simultaneous voice conversations. It is important to note that customer  32  or customer  34  can at any time ask to schedule an connection at a specific time or date with agent  30 . The scheduling may take the same form as steps (8)-(10) in FIG.  2 . 
     Multi-tasking improves the efficiency of the system by letting agent  30  handle other requests while waiting for customer  12 . Like the previous multi-tasking text sequence, agent  30  can push substantial amounts of information to customer  12  to read while on hold. When there are overlapping requests, customer  12  may have to wait for agent  30  to reconnect with customer A  32  or customer B  34 . 
     Note this description can use a web-based interface between customer  12  and agent  30  along with a voice channel. The concept applies equally to a voice only connection. In the voice only connection, agent  30  would “push” an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system to customer  12  and then place customer  12  on hold. Customer  12  would then hear a prerecorded answer and have the option to interact by pressing a button on his phone. One of the button sequences would be to request voice reconnection to agent  30 . 
     FIG. 6 represents another embodiment of the present invention in which agent  30  can multi-task across multimedia conversation types. For example, agent  30  can simultaneously handle a live voice conversation, a live text conversation, and an offline E-mail task. Customer  42  may request E-mail response  48 , customer  44  may request voice response  50 , and customer  46  may request text response  52 . Text response  52  and voice response  50  can be made in the manner as described by FIGS. 2 and 4, respectively. E-mail response  48  can be made by customer  42  specifying his E-mail address in a voice connection as described by FIG. 5, or in a text connection as described by FIG.  3 . Customer  42  may also access the enterprise company E-mail address from the enterprise company presentation page. By clicking on the E-mail address, customer  42  can E-mail a question which is queued for agent  30 . Agent  30  can respond to the question with E-mail response  48 . 
     Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.  7 . FIG. 7 represents a time-line where customer  12  is reconnected to different agents, agent x  54  and agent y  56 . Both agent x  54  and agent y  56  are from a pool of qualified agents. This can reduce possible hold times customer  12  may experience. 
     Customer  12  can request information in a manner as described in FIG. 4, steps  1 - 3 . The steps for the contact sequence are for voice request-response cycles, but the concepts can easily be applied to text request-response cycles. In FIG. 7, steps 4 through 8 from FIG. 5 can repeat twice. The first connection for steps  4  through  8  is with agent x  54 , while the second connection for steps  4  through  8  is with agent y  56 . This type of switching of agents can continue until the questions of customer  12  have been satisfied. The connections can occur in voice or text format. FIG. 7 illustrates a small representative example of customer  12  with two agents. 
     The method of reconnecting customer  12  to possible different agents can be accomplished by keeping a complete history of the contact of customer  12 . As agent x  54  or agent y  56  selects a request to handle, agent x  54  or agent y  56  can be presented with all of the background information and history relevant to the state of customer  12  at the moment. Agent x  54  or agent y  56  is thus informed of the history of the request of customer  12  and prepared to respond to the request of customer  12 . 
     Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.  8 . FIG. 8 illustrates a time-line where moderator  58  is used to interact with multiple customers  10  requesting similar information. The contact sequence is shown for customer A  32  and customer B  34  with agent x  54  and agent y  56 . The sequence can be applied, however, to multiple customers and multiple agents. In FIG. 8, the first three steps (not shown) are the same as for FIG.  2 . The steps for the contact sequence are for text request-response cycles, but the concept can easily be applied for voice request-response cycles, as well. The contact sequence in FIG. 8 continues as: 
     (4a) Customer A  32  types a text question and requests to be connected to an agent. (4b) The request is queued at Contact Server  20  and (4c) routed to agent x  54  by Contact Server  20 . Agent x  54  can receive a request notification from Contact Server  20 . 
     (5) Customer A  32  is placed on hold awaiting the availability of an agent. Customer A  32  can continue browsing and searching the web using Web Server  18  while waiting on hold. 
     (6) Agent x  54  can select customer A  32  and receive the request from customer A  32 . 
     (7) Agent x  54  may decide that the question(s) being asked by customer A  32  can be answered in a live event. Agent x  54  can suggest to customer A  32  that customer A  32  connect with the live event moderated by moderator  58 . 
     (8) Customer A  32  connects to the moderated live event moderated by moderator  58 . 
     The same sequence of steps (4)-(8) can be applied to contact between customer B  34  and agent y  56 . Therefore, the scenario where customer A  32  and customer B  34  are requesting similar information results in both customer A  32  and customer B  34  being connected with moderator  58 . 
     The concepts presented here improve efficiency of the call center by allowing agent x  54  or agent y  56  to possibly forward multiple requests, thus enabling simultaneous interaction with moderator  58 . Therefore, both customer A  32  and customer B  34  can see or hear the interaction of many customers with moderator  58 . Examples of moderated interaction include text chat rooms, voice conference calls, a moderated message board (also called live forums), and web based presentations, training and seminars. 
     The decision to assign customer A  32  or customer B  34  to a live event can be made by 1) agent x  54  or agent y  56  with knowledge of the customer&#39;s questions and available events; 2) by an agent supervisor noticing a grouping of question types; or 3) automatically by the system using predefined business rules. The latter two approaches (2, 3) require that requests be categorized. Agent x  54  or agent y  56  could categorize the customer requests or categorization can be done automatically using available knowledge categorization systems that automatically scan text to derive the key topics. Likewise the decision to create and start an event can be made in the same three ways. This method allows a potential huge saving in agent workload, since many requests (a few to 1000s) can be handled by a single agent (moderator  58 ). It is important to note customers within a live event can have the option to request a “private” agent connection during the event, or have their requests queued for later handling by moderator  58 , or a pool of moderators. 
     The present invention provides an important technical advantage in that it enables multiple customers  10  to browse the web while waiting for responses from pool of agents  28 . Multiple customers  10 , therefore, can use their time constructively while waiting for a response to their requests. 
     The present invention provides another technical advantage in that agent  30 , can provide information, such as a URL or text document, to a first customer, such as customer A  32 . While customer A  32  reads the information, agent  30  can provide information to a second customer, such as customer B  34 . Therefore, agent  30  can work in a partial parallel mode and use time in a more efficient manner. Thus, by multitasking, agent  30  can reduce the overall cost to the web call center. 
     Still yet another technical advantage of the present invention is that multiple customers  10  can interact with more than one agent. For instance, in FIG. 7, customer  12  can be reconnected to agent x  54  or agent y  56 . Both agent x  54  and agent y  56  are capable of providing assistance to customer  12 . Therefore, rather than having customer  12  wait on hold for agent x  54 , customer  12  can be forwarded to agent y  56 . 
     Another technical advantage of the present invention is that customer requests can be grouped and forwarded to a moderator  58  or a live event. This is shown in FIG.  8 . In this case, a group of customer requests can be serially addressed, thus saving time and money to the call center. 
     Although the present invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the illustrative embodiments, it should be understood that the description is by way of example only and is not to be construed in a limiting sense. It is to be further understood, therefore, that numerous changes in the details of the embodiments of this invention and additional embodiments of this invention will be apparent to, and may be made by, persons of ordinary skill in the art having reference to this description. It is contemplated that all such changes and additional embodiments are within the spirit and true scope of this invention as claimed below.