Abstract:
A method and system of providing an agent directed automatic call back to a customer in a call center is presented. A screen display is established on an agent&#39;s computer, the screen display requests call back information on the customer. The call back information includes a work key identifier and/or an application identifier. The agent manually inputs at least some of the call back information. The call back information is coupled via a call center network into a computer system associated with a telephone switching system. A call back time is scheduled and the computer system instructs the telephone switching system to automatically place the automatic call back at the call back time.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to customer contact handling systems and more particularly to a method and system for generating agent directed automatic call backs to customers.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     A call center is a business unit that uses groups of agents or telephone representatives to handle a variety of customer contacts (i.e. different types of media transactions) often over the phone. Whether a business is large or small, call center automation provides a business advantage through increased customer satisfaction, increased productivity and revenues, and reduced operating costs.  
         [0003]     Business applications for call centers accommodate a wide variety of transactions. Call centers can support, for example, sales, including order entry, order inquiry, and reservations; financial services, including funds transfer credit card verification and stock transactions; information services, including event schedules, referral services, transportation schedules, and yellow pages; and customer services, including technical support, repair dispatch, and claims handling.  
         [0004]     A call center typically employs a number of agents who service customers of the call center, also often referred as a contact center, using a number of communication channels or transport mechanisms, which may be of a single type or of varying types. Examples of such transport mechanisms include the public switched telephone network (PTSN) and associated telephone trunk lines, the Internet and other packet transfer connections, cellular telephone systems, satellite communications systems, cable communication systems, etc. In order for a call center to be successful, it needs to communicate efficiently with its customers. The term “call” in a call center refers not only to telephone calls, but may include other types of media including facsimile, e-mail, VOIP, etc.  
         [0005]     Sometimes, however, a transaction with a customer cannot be completed during the present interaction with the customer, requiring that an agent would need to call back the customer at a later time. For example, while transacting business with customers with either voice calls or other media transactions, agents in call centers have often needed to make calls to third parties who are involved in or relevant to the current transaction. If the agent could not make contact with the third party in that attempt, the agent would need to call the customer back at a later time. Previously, only a manual process was in place which required the agent to keep track of the customer&#39;s phone information and remember to manually complete the call in order for the customer to be called back. If the agent forgot about the call or became to busy, the customer would not be called back. This could cause the call center to end up losing that customer&#39;s business. Furthermore, only the original agent involved would be responsible for making the call back even though there are usually other agents with the same skill sets who would also be able to handle the call. This prevents a call center from being able to effectively use all of its agent resources at the call center.  
         [0006]     Agents also may need to be aware of what time they make their call back attempts in order to keep from violating time zone rules. Previous automatic call back systems did not have a procedure in which the system could automatically check the time zone of the customer and ensure that the customer is not called outside of the time zone rules.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0007]     In one embodiment, a method of providing an agent directed automatic call back to a customer in a call center is presented. A screen display is established on an agent&#39;s computer, the screen display requests call back information on the customer. The call back information includes a work key identifier and/or an application identifier. The agent manually inputs at least some of the call back information. The call back information is coupled via a call center network into a computer system associated with a telephone switching system. A call back time is scheduled and the computer system instructs the telephone switching system to automatically place the automatic call back at the call back time. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     The invention, together with the advantages thereof, may be understood by reference to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which illustrate some embodiments of the invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for establishing agent directed call backs.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is an example of one embodiment of a web form that can be used to input the call back information.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of one example of a schedule check process. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0012]     While the present invention is susceptible of embodiments in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described exemplary embodiments with the understanding that this disclosure is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.  
         [0013]     It should be further understood that the title of this specification section, namely, “Detailed Description”, relates to a requirement of the United States Patent Office, and does not imply, nor should it be inferred to limit the subject matter disclosed herein.  
         [0014]     In the present disclosure, the use of the disjunctive is intended to include the conjunctive. The use of the definite article or indefinite article is not intended to indicate cardinality. In particular, a reference to “the” object or “a” object is also intended to denote a possible plurality of such objects.  
         [0015]     From the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts disclosed herein. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated is intended or should be inferred. The disclosure is intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.  
         [0016]      FIG. 1 , a functional block diagram, illustrates one embodiment of a call center system  100  for establishing agent directed call backs. One embodiment of such a system  100 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , consists of a computer system  102 , a telephone switching system  136  connected to the computer system  102 , one or more agents  108 , each agent  108  having a PC  116  that is connected to the computer system  102 , and a phone  120  that is connected to the telephone switching system  136 . Customers  144  may, for example, call into the system  100  using customer phone  140  for connection through a telephone network  135  to the telephone switching system  136 .  
         [0017]     In operation, if the agent  108  needs to schedule a call back because a third party was unavailable, or for some other reason, the agent  108  enters the call back information on a screen display  112  presented on the agent&#39;s PC  116  using an input device  115  such as a keyboard mouse, etc. The information from the screen display  112  is inserted into the computer system  102 . At a later time, the computer system  102  then instructs the telephone switching system  136  to attempt the automatic call back to the customer according to the information entered into the screen display  112 .  
         [0018]     In one embodiment, the computer system  102  consists of a call center computer network  132 , such as an ethernet; an agent directed call back server  124 ; and a queue database and manager server  128 , such as Rockwell International&#39;s Queue Optimizer including a queue database  130 . A designated server, such as the agent directed call back server  124  can be used to generate the screen display  112  to be presented on the agent&#39;s PC  116 . The functions of the computer system  102  may be implemented with software and a wide variety of architectures composed of one or more computers and/or other hardware.  
         [0019]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , an example of a web form  200  is illustrated which can be used as the screen display  112 . The web form  200  may be used to display the information on the customer that needs to be entered by the agent. This information may include, for example, the customer&#39;s phone number  204 , a work key identifier  212 , an application identifier  208 , and a time  216  for the call back to be scheduled. The application identifier  208  can be used to route the call to the proper support group. For example, if the automatic call back is being scheduled because the customer has a question about billing, the application identifier  208  can be used to route the call to the agents that handle calls about billing. The work key identifier  212  can be used to contain information about the specific call back that is being scheduled. For example, the work key identifier  212  could contain information on the customer&#39;s specific problem. After the web form  200  is completed, the agent in the illustrated example can click a submit button  220  and the phone record is entered into the computer system  102 .  
         [0020]     After the call back information has been entered though the screen display  112 , the information can be inserted into the queue database  130  located in the queue database and manager server  128 . In one embodiment of the queue database and manager  128 , the information may be inserted into a table and then record keys inserted into the table to enable delete procedures. The record keys allow the computer system to recognize whether a customer has called before the scheduled time of the automatic call back. Thus, if a customer calls in prior to the scheduled automatic call back, the call back record can be removed from the queue so that the customer is not called again.  
         [0021]     In one embodiment, the phone record can activate a schedule check process  300  as shown in the flow chart of  FIG. 3 . In the schedule check process, an area code of the customer is used to determine the time zone of the customer as illustrated at block  304 . Then the call back record is checked against three different applications to determine whether the time entered for the call back is valid as illustrated at blocks  308 ,  312 , and  316 . The first application  308  checks to see if the call back time complies with time zone regulations and the second application  312  checks to see if the scheduled call back time complies with the call center&#39;s schedule. The third application  316  will check the number of calls scheduled at the time to ensure that the number isn&#39;t more than the system can handle. If the record passes these three application checks then the call will be attempted at the scheduled time  320 . If the record does not pass any one of the application checks, the process will then attempt to reschedule the call back as illustrated in block  324 . This is accomplished by attempting to find the next available time that passes all three application checks. If the rescheduling is successful the call back information is placed the queue as illustrated in block  330 . If the process cannot reschedule the call the call back is removed from the queue, block  334 , and an error report can then be generated  338 . In one embodiment, the call back will be removed from the queue if the call back cannot be rescheduled in one week. The call back can also be removed from the queue if the number of retry attempts exceeds a specified number. This specified number for the maximum number of retry attempts can be set by the call center.  
         [0022]     In one embodiment, once the scheduled call back time is reached, an instruction is sent to the telephone switching system  136  to attempt the call back to the customer  144 . The telephone switching system  136  can be an automatic call distributor (ACD), such as Rockwell International&#39;s Spectrum ACD, a private branch exchange (PBX), or any other system available for initiating a call back. In one embodiment, once the scheduled call back time is reached and the call back record has passed the schedule check process  300 , the queue database and manager  128  inserts the call back into an ACD queue. The ACD then attempts the call back. If the disposition of the callback is not a live disposition (e.g. an answering device), the call back can be rescheduled. The rescheduling can be based a time interval which can be determined by the call center. For example, the call center can set the rescheduling time interval so that the call is rescheduled for one hour or one day. Also, the rescheduled time can then go through the schedule check process again. In one embodiment, the call center can specify a maximum number of call back rescheduling attempts. When, the number of rescheduling attempts exceed the maximum specified be the call center the call back is removed from the queue. Otherwise, the ACD will connect the customer to the agent with the appropriate skill set. A similar process can also be used if the telephone switching system is a PBX.  
         [0023]     Specific embodiments of methods and systems for providing agent directed call backs have been described for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention is made and used. It should be understood that the implementation of other variations and modifications will be apparent to those of skill in the art, and that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described. It is contemplated to cover any and all modifications, variations, and equivalents that fall within the scope of the disclosure and claims herein.