Abstract:
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for providing estimated wait times to consumers waiting to communicate with a customer service representative. The system accesses information about the consumer, analyzes that information, and based on that analysis places the consumer into a segment. The system then provides to the consumer an estimated wait time to communicate with a customer service representative based on the segment assigned to the consumer. Access to information about the consumer can be actively granted by the consumer, or passively acquired by a system configured to utilize publically available information.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for preserving context across multiple customer service venues. A system configured to practice the method identifies a user profile of a user requesting customer service, generates a context based on the user profile, the request, and other relevant data. The system communicates with the user at a first customer service venue based on the context, and receives an indication of movement of the user from the first customer service venue to a second customer service venue. The system transfers the context to the second customer service venue, and communicates with the user at the second customer service venue based on the context. A customer service venue can be a knowledge base, a troubleshooting guide, a social network, an online virtual world, a text-based chat, a voice conversation, a video chat, a spoken dialog system, and an onsite visit.
Abstract:
An object persistence mechanism is disclosed that enables the generation of software objects that have persistent data and a mutable key. A mutable key capability is advantageous in a variety of applications, such as monitoring a set of users and their login status on a plurality of media servers (e.g., an email server, an instant messaging server, a voice mail server, a video server, an audio-conferencing server, etc.). Implementations based on the Enterprise JavaBean specification are disclosed for three illustrative embodiments of the present invention. The illustrative embodiments of the present invention can also be implemented in accordance with object persistence mechanisms other than Enterprise JavaBeans.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for determining call importance using social network context. A system can receive a call from a caller and establish the identity of the caller. The system can then retrieve a social network context associated with the caller identity from a social network and determine an importance score for the call using the social network context. Social network contexts can be derived from a social network profile, caller utterances, and a social graph. Based on the importance score, the contact center provides an appropriate level of customer service. The level of customer service a contact center provides can be based on resource availability, call type, call time, agent queue selection, offered communication modalities and customer follow-up.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for providing customized customer service interactions between users and an enterprise. A method includes the steps of receiving a customer service request from a user terminal and generating a customer intimacy profile for the user associated with the user terminal based at least on user data associated with the user and available from at least one social media channel. The method also includes assembling customer service object for the user terminal based at least on the customer intimacy profile, where the customer service object identifying at least one customer service channel available for the user. The method further includes delivering a user interface to the user terminal, where a content of the user interface is based on the customer service object.
Abstract:
A system and method for permitting an initiator of a communication session request and a recipient of the communication session request to quickly negotiate the beginning of a communication session, such as a phone call, wherein the negotiation is performed based on the expressed current need and the current availability of the recipient.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus are provided for collecting proxy presence information about an object associated with a user from one or more proxy presence sources associated with the user. A proxy presence agent is associated with each of the proxy presence sources; and the proxy presence agents provide proxy presence information to one or more presence servers. The object may be, for example, one or more of a business document, an application document, or one or more runtime objects associated with the user. The proxy presence agent reports one or more of macropresence events and micropresence events related to the object. A continuous presence function is generated for each of the proxy presence sources that characterizes the likelihood that the object is active at the corresponding presence source at a given time. The proxy presence sources may include, for example, one or more business applications, application execution environments, devices or locations.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus are provided for analyzing user activity and for recording such user activity in an entity relationship model. A network is searched for materials associated with a user and content analysis techniques are performed on the associated materials to extract one or more characteristics from the associated materials based on predefined criteria. The extracted information is stored in an entity relationship model that relates the user to the extracted characteristics. The characteristics may include activity information, expertise information and location information. The entity relationship model can thereafter be searched to identify and optionally contact one or more users having desired characteristics.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for enabling a user of a telecommunications terminal to specify desired characteristics for the recipient of a call in lieu of a contact identifier are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment enables a user to specify one or more of the following criteria for a recipient: (i) a role requirement that specifies a role (e.g., a nurse, a doctor, etc.); (ii) a capability requirement that specifies one or more capabilities (e.g., able to speak Spanish, etc.); (iii) a location requirement (e.g., on the third floor of Building A, etc.); and (iv) a cardinality descriptor for the number of recipients (e.g., one recipient, at least three recipients, etc.). The illustrative embodiment also employs availability data (e.g., a schedule, etc.) and rules to determine whether a particular person is available to receive a call.