Patent ID: 7688965

Claim:
A system for use in a call center which includes a plurality of agent workstations, each agent workstation comprising: an agent scripting module for providing a script for guiding a conversation between an agent and a telephone respondent, a display for displaying screens of the script for use by the agent in the telephone conversation with the telephone respondent, and an information entering apparatus for entering on the screens information obtained from the telephone respondent; the system comprising: a status signal production system for producing a series of status signals indicative of the progression of the agent through the script; and a predictive dialing system comprising: a storage system for storing statistical data regarding the connection of previous telephone calls, a reception system for progressively receiving the series of status signals produced by each agent station, a prediction system for predicting, from the statistical data and those of the series of status signals received at any time, how many new calls should be dialed to enable agents, who have finished their previous call by the time each new call is answered by a respective telephone respondent, to take all the new calls, and a generation system for generating signals effective to cause said new calls to be dialed, wherein said prediction system is arranged to predict the number, N dial , calls from the number I of available agents currently not engaged on a call, the number R, A, G of agents who have currently reached predefined points within a script, the percentage S r of successful connections out of the total number of calls made in a predetermined time period, the percentage N r of calls answered by a respondent but with no agent available to take the call measured over a predetermined time period, and the target percentage N t of calls answered by a respondent but with no agent available to take the call.