Management of transaction routing to enterprise agents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9654634-B2
Application number	US-42717209-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2009
Priority date	Apr 21, 2009
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

A system is provided for routing transactions to individual ones of a group of agents, comprising, a queue wherein transactions to be routed are placed, a transmission facility sending invitations to interact with a transaction from the queue to agents, and a router routing transactions from the queue to individual agents who accept the invitation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for routing interactions, comprising:
a processor;
a memory, wherein the memory has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
identify a plurality of incoming interactions from a plurality of customers;
predict a number of the incoming interactions that will await live assistance by one or more of a plurality of agents;
calculate a rate for sending invitations to the plurality of agents based on the predicted number, wherein the invitations are for soliciting the plurality of agents to handle the interactions that await live assistance, the invitations being configured to be displayed on agent devices of the plurality of agents;
pace the invitations to the plurality of agents based on the calculated rate, wherein the pacing includes increasing or decreasing a frequency of invitations to the plurality of agents based on the calculated rate; and
in response to acceptance of one of the invitations by one of the plurality of agents, cause routing of a particular interaction of the plurality of interactions that await live assistance, to the agent accepting the invitation, wherein the routing of the particular interaction establishes a communication link between one of the plurality of customers and the agent accepting the invitation.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the rate is calculated based on statistics relating to handling of the incoming interactions by the plurality of agents.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the statistics include average handle time of the plurality of agents.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the predicting is based on past contact center history.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the program instructions cause the processor to update status identifiers of the agents in response to acceptance of the invitations and engagement of the interactions by the agents.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the program instructions cause the processor to designate invitations as rejected if the agents do not respond within a preset time period.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the particular interaction is routed to a first available agent of the plurality of agents that has accepted one of the invitations.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the program instructions cause the processor to receive read receipts in response to the agents opening or reading the invitations.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the program instructions cause the processor to calculate a second rate of sending invitations to prospective customers based on a predicted number of the invited customers that will require services of one of the plurality of agents.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the invitations are sent during an outbound campaign.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rate is calculated based on calculating a probability that the plurality of agents will accept the invitations.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calculating the rate of sending invitations comprises predicting an optimal rate of sending invitations to the agents for ensuring availability of the agents for handling of the interactions.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calculated rate fluctuates as the predicted number is updated.

14. A method for routing interactions, comprising:
identifying, by a processor, a plurality of incoming interactions from a plurality of customers;
predicting, by the processor, a number of the incoming interactions that will await live assistance by one or more of a plurality of agents;
calculating, by the processor, a rate for sending invitations to the plurality of agents based on the predicted number, wherein the invitations are for soliciting the plurality of agents to handle the interactions that await live assistance, the invitations being configured to be displayed on agent devices of the plurality of agents;
pacing, by the processor, the invitations to the plurality of agents based on the calculated rate, wherein the pacing includes increasing or decreasing a frequency of invitations to the plurality of agents based on the calculated rate; and
in response to acceptance of one of the invitations by one of the plurality of agents, causing, by the processor, routing of a particular interaction of the plurality of interactions that await live assistance, to the agent accepting the invitation, wherein the routing of the particular interaction establishes a communication link between one of the plurality of customers and the agent accepting the invitation.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the rate is calculated based on statistics relating to handling of the incoming interactions by the plurality of agents.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the statistics include average handle time of the plurality of agents.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the predicting is based on past contact center history.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising updating, by the processor, status identifiers of the agents in response to acceptance of the invitations and engagement of the interactions by the agents.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising designating, by the processor, invitations as rejected if the agents do not respond within a preset time period.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the particular interaction is routed to a first available agent of the plurality of agents that has accepted one of the invitations.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising choosing, by the one of the plurality of agents, the interaction from a plurality of interactions after acceptance of the one of the invitations by the one of the plurality of agents.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving, by the processor, read receipts in response to the agents opening or reading the invitations.

23. The method of claim 14 further comprising calculating, by the processor, a second rate of sending invitations to prospective customers based on a predicted number of the invited customers that will require services of one of the plurality of agents.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the invitations are sent during an outbound campaign.

Assignees

• Fedorov Sergey
• Anisimov Nikolay
• Ristock Herbert
• Mezhibovsky Vladimir
• Korolev Nikolay
• Dymshyts Vadim
• Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Fedorov Sergey
• Anisimov Nikolay
• Ristock Herbert
• Mezhibovsky Vladimir
• Korolev Nikolay
• Dymshyts Vadim

Classifications

• H04M3/5191 Primary

  interacting with the Internet · CPC title

• H04M3/5232

  Call distribution algorithms · CPC title

• H04M3/5238

  with waiting time or load prediction arrangements · CPC title

• H04M3/5166

  in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends · CPC title