Patent ID: 8565413

Claim:
A system configured to establish a connection between a remote agent call center and a remote agent, where the remote agent initiates from a telephone a first contact with the remote agent call center and the first contact directly establishes a persistent voice connection, the system comprising: an agent workstation; a softphone; a telephony switch; an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) server connected to the softphone; an interactive voice response interface connected between the softphone and the IVR server; a web portal that allows the remote agent at the agent workstation to access client applications; an agent telephone; an agent bridge, a softphone graphical user interface displayed at the agent workstation allowing the remote agent at the agent workstation to provide a group of controls consisting of: answering a call, terminating a call, holding a call, recording a call, and transferring a call; wherein the softphone, the telephony switch, the IVR server, and the agent bridge are included in a remote agent call center; the agent telephone is connected to the agent bridge through a telephone connection; the agent workstation initiates, from the agent telephone, the first contact with the remote agent call center to establish the persistent voice connection; the agent workstation first initiates a first connection to the softphone; the softphone provides a phone number and pass-code randomly and dynamically to the remote agent; the remote agent dials the phone number and is connected to the IVR server; the IVR server prompts the remote agent to dial the pass-code; the IVR server contacts the softphone to verify the pass-code for the phone number dialed by the remote agent; the first contact directly establishes the persistent voice connection; the persistent voice connection is established between the agent bridge and the agent telephone; the softphone is connected to the telephony switch; the agent bridge is connected to the softphone, the telephony switch, and the agent telephone, such that the IVR server transfers the agent telephone to the agent bridge, such that when an incoming call is received at the telephony switch, the telephony switch can connect the incoming call to the agent using the agent bridge and when the incoming call is disconnected, the persistent voice connection between the agent telephone and the agent bridge is maintained; the agent bridge and the telephony switch are connected by a network other than a public switched telephone network; and the agent telephone is a voice over internet protocol phone and the connection between the agent telephone and the telephone switch comprises a voice over internet protocol gateway.