Systems and methods for data synchronization management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015081841-A1
Application number	US-201414485499-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 12, 2014
Priority date	Sep 13, 2013
Publication date	Mar 19, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for synchronizing data between a communications management system and data management system. In some implementations, contact data may be requested from a data management system external to and/or operated by a distinct entity with respect to a communications management system. The requested contact data may be received at the communications management system and the communications management system may be used to establish a communication using at least one contact from the requested contact data. The requested contact data may be updated using data generated during the communication and then updated contact data may be transmitted to the data management system to synchronize the two systems.

First claim

1 . A method for synchronizing data between a communications management system and an external customer relationship management system, the method comprising the steps of:
requesting contact data from the customer relationship management system; filtering the contact data to obtain a filtered set of contact data; receiving the filtered set of contact data at a communications management system, wherein the communications management system is external to the customer relationship management system, and wherein the communications management system is operated by an entity distinct from an entity operating the customer relationship management system; using the communications management system to establish a communication using at least one contact from the filtered set of contact data; and synchronizing data between the communications management system and the customer relationship management system using data generated during the communication.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications management system comprises a call center dialer system.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of using the communications management system to establish a communication comprises using the call center dialer system to dial a telephone call to at least one contact from the filtered set of contact data.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing one or more triggers for automatically requesting contact data from the customer relationship management system.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more triggers comprise at least one threshold.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one threshold comprises a lower threshold of currently available contact records, and wherein the currently available contact records are filtered according to time information in the contact records and a current time.

7 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising comparing a parameter of a set of contact records with the one or more triggers.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of comparing a parameter of a set of contact records with the one or more triggers comprises comparing a number of contacts in a set of contact records at the communications management system with a threshold number of contact records.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the threshold number of contact records comprises a lower threshold of currently available contact records, wherein the currently available contact records comprise contact records filtered according to time information in the contact records and a current time, and wherein the time information comprises at least one of a preferred contact time frame and a time frame during which a previous communication was successful.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
creating a data synchronization and communication workflow using a workflow creation user interface; using the data synchronization and communication workflow to manage one or more communication sessions with one or more contacts from the filtered set of contact data; and using the data synchronization and communication workflow to manage synchronization of data between the communications management system and the customer relationship management system.

11 . A method for synchronizing data between a communications management system and data management system, the method comprising the steps of:
requesting contact data from the data management system; receiving requested contact data at a communications management system, wherein the communications management system is external to the data management system; using the communications management system to establish a communication using at least one contact from the requested contact data; updating the requested contact data using data generated during the communication; and transmitting updated contact data to the data management system.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising filtering the contact data to obtain a filtered set of contact data, wherein the step of receiving requested contact data at the communications management system comprises receiving the filtered set of contact data from the data management system.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the communications management system is operated by an entity distinct from an entity operating the data management system.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the data management system comprises a customer relationship management system.

15 . A communications management and data synchronization system for managing communications and synchronizing communications data between a communications management system and an external customer relationship management system, the system comprising:
a workflow creation user interface configured to allow a user to customize a workflow associated with communications between one or more agents and one or more contacts, wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to allow a user to control the flow of communications data comprising data associated with communication between one or more agents and one or more contacts; a communications system datastore configured to store internal communications data comprising data associated with communication between one or more agents and one or more contacts generated by the communications management and data synchronization system; and an execution module configured to receive external communications data from a customer relationship management system external to the communications management and data synchronization system, wherein the execution module is further configured to receive internal communications data from a communications system datastore, and wherein the execution module is further configured to synchronize communications data between the communications management and data synchronization system and the external customer relationship management system.

16 . The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15 , wherein the execution module is further configured to execute synchronization of communications data between the communications management and data synchronization system and the external customer relationship management system based upon instructions contained in metadata.

17 . The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 16 , wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to use user interface abstractions comprising graphical representations to create a synchronization workflow instruction set and encapsulate the synchronization workflow instruction set in the metadata.

18 . The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 17 , wherein the workflow creation user interface is further configured to allow the graphical representations to be at least one of dragged and dropped, stretched, and connected with flow process lines to abstract the synchronization workflow instruction set.

19 . The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15 , wherein the communications data comprises data automatically generated by the communications management and data synchronization system during communications with contacts.

20 . The communications management and data synchronization system of claim 15 , wherein the communications data comprises data manually entered by an agent of the communications management and data synchronization system.

Assignees

• Incontact Inc

Inventors

• Pino Bryan
• Walburger Derick
• Lee Alex W
• Solomon Darren Andrew
• Whitaker Aric
• Cordon Shane
• Mayberry Kacie
• Seaman Chris
• Ryskamp Rix

Classifications

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title