Patent ID: 7996251

Claim:
A method for providing assistance to a customer of a company through a web based system, the company having a customer service center, the customer service center supported by an automatic call distributor (ACD), an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, a work flow management (WFM) system, a web portal, one or more web-based applications, a knowledge database, map functions, a message web gateway, a customer satisfaction (CSAT) system, a customer relationship management (CRM) system and a suggestions/feedback repository system, the method comprising: a. providing a web page on the web portal, the web page acting as an interface between the customer and the customer service center of the company; b. providing one or more options on the web page to be selected by the customer, the one or more options corresponding to one or more modes of contact between the customer and customer service representatives at the customer service center; c. providing an estimated wait time on the web page, for at least one of the one or more modes of contact; d. providing an estimated less busy time on the web page for at least one of the one or more modes of contact; and e. providing a knowledge database search option; wherein the estimated wait time and the estimated less busy time are each determined from statistical data based on data collected over a period of time, said collected data related to incoming and outgoing calls on a regular basis and further related to each customer service representative's performance and time taken to complete a customer request.