Patent ID: 8600035

Claim:
A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the system comprising: a network-based service configured to generate a user interface for display to a user, the user interface comprising service agent information, wherein the service agent information comprises an availability of the service agent to communicate with the user; a data store configured to temporarily store the service agent information for a fixed period of time; and a contact service in communication with the network-based service, the contact service configured to: receive an electronic request for service agent information from the network-based service; obtain the service agent information from the data store when the electronic request is received within the fixed period of time; obtain the service agent information from a contact distribution system when the electronic request is received after the fixed period of time, wherein the contact distribution system generates the service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining the service agent information from one or more agent responses, and wherein the contact service is further configured to temporarily store at least part of the obtained service agent information in the data store for the fixed period of time; and provide the obtained service agent information to the network-based service.