U.S. patent application number 11/540900 was filed with the patent office on 2007-08-23 for systems and methods for facilitating contact center coaching.
Invention is credited to Shmuel Korenblit, James Gordon Nies, Damian Smith, Ari Volcoff.
Application Number | 20070198284 11/540900 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37770807 |
Filed Date | 2007-08-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070198284 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Korenblit; Shmuel ; et
al. |
August 23, 2007 |
Systems and methods for facilitating contact center coaching
Abstract
Systems and methods for facilitating contact center coaching are
provided. In this regard, a representative method for coaching an
agent of a contact center includes: displaying, to a user,
information corresponding to a condition indicating that the agent
is failing to meet pre-established criteria; receiving input from
the user, the input indicating that a coaching meeting is to be
scheduled with the agent in order to address the condition;
responsive to the input, generating a coaching session form, the
coaching session form comprising information corresponding to the
agent; and displaying the coaching session form to the user.
Inventors: |
Korenblit; Shmuel; (San
Mateo, CA) ; Nies; James Gordon; (Carmel, IN)
; Volcoff; Ari; (Campbell, CA) ; Smith;
Damian; (Epsom, GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THOMAS, KAYDEN, HORSTEMEYER & RISLEY, LLP
100 GALLERIA PARKWAY, NW, STE 1750
ATLANTA
GA
30339-5948
US
|
Family ID: |
37770807 |
Appl. No.: |
11/540900 |
Filed: |
September 29, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11359356 |
Feb 22, 2006 |
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11540900 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.42 ;
705/345; 705/7.39 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/0639 20130101;
G06Q 10/06398 20130101; G06Q 10/06311 20130101; G06Q 50/20
20130101; G06Q 10/06393 20130101; G06Q 10/06 20130101; G06Q
10/06395 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/1 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Claims
1. A method for coaching an agent of a contact center comprising:
displaying, to a user, information corresponding to a condition
indicating that the agent is failing to meet pre-established
criteria; receiving input from the user, the input indicating that
a coaching meeting is to be scheduled with the agent in order to
address the condition; responsive to the input, generating a
coaching session form, the coaching session form comprising
information corresponding to the agent; and displaying the coaching
session form to the user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein, responsive to receiving
information corresponding to an anticipated time required for
performing the coaching meeting, the coaching meeting is
automatically scheduled based, at least in part, upon a current
schedule of the agent and a current schedule of the one who is to
perform the coaching meeting.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, to the
user, information corresponding to a current schedule of the agent
such that an available time within the current schedule for
conducting the coaching session can be determined.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the coaching session form
comprises multiple fields; and at least some of the fields are
automatically filled by the information corresponding to the
agent.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying the
coaching form to the agent; and enabling the agent to annotate the
coaching form with comments.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the agent is enabled to annotate
the coaching form with comments only after the coaching meeting has
been conducted.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: opening a coaching
session responsive to receiving the input from the user indicating
that the coaching meeting is to be scheduled, the coaching session
representing an action item on a schedule of the user.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: completing the action
item associated with the coaching session responsive to receipt of
information indicating that the coaching meeting has been
conducted.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: completing the action
item associated with the coaching session responsive to receipt of
information indicating that the agent no longer exhibits the
condition.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: appending to the
coaching form information indicative of the condition.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information indicative of
the condition is accessed via a link embedded in the coaching
session form.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the link provides access to an
audio recording of an interaction of the agent that exhibits the
condition.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein information indicative of the
condition is provided as a document that is attached to the
coaching session form.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting access to
various information associated with the coaching session form to
users based on corresponding access levels of the users.
15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second
input from the user, the second input indicating that the agent is
to be scheduled for a training session in order to address the
condition; and scheduling the training session for the agent.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising integrating the
information corresponding to the condition, the information
corresponding to the coaching meeting, and information
corresponding to the training session into the coaching session
form.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the training session is a
web-based training session implemented on a workstation of the
agent.
18. A graphical user interface for implementing coaching of an
agent of a contact center, said graphical user interface
comprising: a coaching session form comprising: first variable
fields corresponding to agent information; second variable fields
corresponding to a condition indicating that the agent is failing
to meet pre-established criteria; and an attachments section in
which links to information associated with the coaching session are
displayed; wherein the graphical use interface is operative to:
display, within the first variable fields, information
corresponding to the agent; display, within the second variable
fields, information corresponding to the condition; and receive
input from the user, the input indicating that a coaching meeting
is to be scheduled with the agent in order to address the
condition.
19. The interface of claim 18, wherein the coaching session form
further comprises a comments section in which textual inputs from
the agent are displayed.
20. The interface of claim 19, wherein the graphical user interface
only permits comments from the agent to be entered into the
coaching session form after the coaching meeting has occurred.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a Continuation-In-Part application,
which claims the benefit of a priority to U.S. patent application
entitled Systems and Methods for Workforce Optimization and
Integration, Ser. No. 11/359,356, filed on Feb. 22, 2006, which is
incorporated by reference herein.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to workforce optimization of
contact centers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0003] The business of a contact center is to provide rapid and
efficient interaction between agents and customers (or prospective
customers). Existing solutions require the purchase of multiple
hardware and software components, typically from different vendors,
to achieve the business goals of the contact center. The use of
separate systems of components leads to a variety of problems. For
instance, each system typically has its own method of configuration
and its own user interface. Thus, exchanging data between the
systems requires additional work by someone at the contact
center.
[0004] Furthermore, contact centers are continually tasked with
striking a balance between service quality, efficiency,
effectiveness, revenue generation, cost cutting, and profitability.
As a result, today's contact center agents are charged with
mastering multiple data sources and systems, delivering consistent
service across customer touch points, up-selling, cross-selling,
and saving at-risk customers, while winning new ones.
SUMMARY
[0005] Systems and methods for facilitating contact center coaching
are provided. In this regard, an embodiment of a method for
coaching an agent of a contact center comprises: displaying, to a
user, information corresponding to a condition indicating that the
agent is failing to meet pre-established criteria; receiving input
from the user, the input indicating that a coaching meeting is to
be scheduled with the agent in order to address the condition;
responsive to the input, generating a coaching session form, the
coaching session form comprising information corresponding to the
agent; and displaying the coaching session form to the user
[0006] An embodiment of a graphical user interface for implementing
coaching of an agent of a contact center includes a coaching
session form that comprises: first variable fields corresponding to
agent information; second variable fields corresponding to a
condition indicating that the agent is failing to meet
pre-established criteria; and an attachments section in which links
to information associated with the coaching session are displayed.
The graphical use interface is operative to: display, within the
first variable fields, information corresponding to the agent;
display, within the second variable fields, information
corresponding to the condition; and receive input from the user,
the input indicating that a coaching meeting is to be scheduled
with the agent in order to address the condition.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with
reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings
are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon
clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a contact center
environment.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a diagram of one embodiment of the integrated
process for optimizing operations at a contact center.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a high-level view of components in one embodiment
of an integrated contact center system.
[0011] FIG. 4 shows a point of integration between the work force
manager (WFM) and the quality monitor of FIG. 3.
[0012] FIG. 5 shows another point of integration between the work
force manager (WFM) and the quality monitor of FIG. 3.
[0013] FIG. 6 shows several points of integration between the WFM
and the learning component of FIG. 3.
[0014] FIG. 7 shows several points of integration between the
performance manager and the learning component of FIG. 3.
[0015] FIG. 8 shows a point of integration between the WFM and the
performance manager of FIG. 3.
[0016] FIG. 9 shows another point of integration between the WFM
and the performance manager of FIG. 3.
[0017] FIG. 10 shows components of the analytics function of FIG.
3.
[0018] FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting functionality associated
with an embodiment of a coaching system.
[0019] FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting functionality associated
with another embodiment of a coaching system.
[0020] FIGS. 13-23 are exemplary graphical user interfaces that can
be displayed to a user of an embodiment of a coaching system.
[0021] FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram depicting an embodiment of a
coaching system implemented by a computer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] The systems and methods described herein provide integrated
solutions for performing workforce management, quality monitoring,
e-learning, performance management, analytics and coaching
functionality. Combining at least some of the aforementioned
functionality as a unified integrated solution, delivered through a
single platform, enables users to gain more insight and make
smarter decisions faster about sales, service, and overall
operations. This takes contact center tools beyond the traditional
"suite" approach to a true single workforce optimization
platform.
[0023] In this regard, some embodiments represent a convergence of
at least some of six contact center technology segments that work
together in support of a greater customer service strategy. In
short, the integrated workforce optimization platforms disclosed
herein can potentially integrate: (1) Quality Monitoring/Call
Recording--voice of the customer; the complete customer experience
across multimedia touch points; (2) Workforce Management--strategic
forecasting and scheduling that drives efficiency and adherence,
aids in planning, and helps facilitate optimum staffing and service
levels; (3) Performance Management--key performance indicators
(KPIs) and scorecards that analyze and help identify synergies,
opportunities and improvement areas; (4) e-Learning--training, new
information and protocol disseminated to staff, leveraging best
practice customer interactions and delivering learning to support
development; (5) Analytics--deliver insights from customer
interactions to drive business performance; and/or (6)
Coaching--identification of substandard performance, scheduling of
supervisor intervention and training, agent feedback and report
generation. These six segments can become part of an interwoven and
interoperable solution, enabling contact centers to transition from
reactive cost centers to proactive, information-rich departments
that deliver strategic value to the organization.
[0024] Further, the integrated workforce optimization platforms
disclosed herein provide closed-loop systems for continuous
performance improvement, enabling contact centers to: establish
realistic forecasts and performance goals; schedule and deploy the
right number of staff with the appropriate skills; capture customer
interactions in their entirety by recording all calls, or recording
based on business rules, or on-demand, or randomly; measure
performance to identify execution issues and excellence; analyze
customer interactions to investigate opportunities for optimizing
use of people, processes and technologies; take action by
delivering targeted coaching, training or re-engineering processes;
and/or refine forecasts and performance goals based on the
collected data.
[0025] Reference will now be made to several exemplary embodiments.
With respect to coaching, however, many of the aspects relevant to
coaching are dedicated to a distinct section below.
[0026] One embodiment of the integrated process and system
disclosed herein begins with planning and establishing goals--from
both an enterprise and center perspective--to ensure alignment and
objectives that complement and support one another. Next comes
forecasting and scheduling of the workforce to ensure optimum
service levels. Then recording and measuring performance are
utilized, leveraging quality monitoring/call recording to assess
service quality and the customer experience.
[0027] Next, the process/system analyzes and identifies
opportunities and correlates them the with contact center or
organization's KPIs and scorecards. Then, coaching, e-learning and
company-specific "best practices" (documented through captured
customer interactions) make it possible to address skill and
knowledge gaps efficiently and effectively--as well as quickly
communicate policy or procedural changes across the
center--enabling the contact center to achieve success in whatever
terms it chooses to define. Rather than arbitrarily sending
e-learning training segments and hoping agents use them, contact
centers can use advanced workforce management forecasting and
scheduling to select the best time to administer training (which is
proven to be more effective than classroom or group learning) as
well as free supervisors to work one-on-one with agents.
[0028] Quality monitoring scores, including insights from analytics
and/or analytical analysis of structured, unstructured, or
aggregated data, can next be fed into a workforce management to
produce staffing models that prevent companies from unknowingly
scheduling one shift with all the top performers, for example. As a
result, some embodiments of the workforce management component of
the process/system of the present invention can provide a higher
level of consistent service across shifts.
[0029] As can be seen, while each technology segment delivers
value, integration is the key: together the segments deliver
greater impact than the sum of their individual parts. Utilizing
them separately limits the contact center's potential to become a
strategic business asset.
[0030] The integrated systems for workforce optimization disclosed
herein potentially solve many deficiencies in today's maturing
contact center industry. For instance, at an operational level,
centers are focused on optimizing customer sales/service
representative (CSR) performance. In the process, they may be
working under constraints, such as cost control and infrastructures
that provides only bare essentials. They may also face the
challenge of matching demand with resources, retaining effective
agents, prioritizing coaching/training, and delivering consistent
customer experiences. Leveraging an integrated system and its
components, such as forecasting and scheduling, voice/screen
capture/recording, evaluations and best practice training, enables
them to focus on reducing risk, decreasing average handle time,
improving quality scores, driving down average time to answer,
ensuring adherence and managing occupancy.
[0031] At a more advanced level, contact centers are focused on
optimizing contact center performance. They face the challenge of
balancing productivity with quality, increasing center-driven
revenue, standardizing service across touch points, and growing
transaction complexities. Contact centers are examining such
metrics as first call resolution, shrinkage, up-selling and
cross-selling, and customer satisfaction as driven though the
contact center. As disclosed herein, the forecasting and
scheduling, adherence, business rules-driven recording, lesson
management, and agent/organizational scorecard functionality--for
example--unites contact center experiences, provides flexible
scheduling, and promotes the initiation of a performance
improvement culture.
[0032] The subject matter disclosed herein is related to the
subject matter disclosed in several pending U.S. patent
applications. One is entitled "Enterprise Manager for Recorders
from a Central Point of Administration," Attorney Docket No.
762301-1180, filed Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely incorporated by
reference herein. The subject matter of the 1180 application is
centralized administration of voice, video, and data recorders, and
enabling role-based access control of recorders which do not have
role-based security concepts.
[0033] Another is "Systems and Methods for Scheduling Call Center
Agents using Quality Data," Attorney Docket No. 762301-1280, filed
Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely incorporated by reference herein.
[0034] Another is "Systems and Methods for Scheduling Call Center
Agents using Quality Data," Attorney Docket No. 762301-1280, filed
Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely incorporated by reference herein.
[0035] Another is "Systems and Methods for Scheduling Call Center
Agents using Quality Data and Correlation-Based Discovery,"
Attorney Docket No. 762301-1010, filed Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely
incorporated by reference herein.
[0036] Another is "System and Method for Integrating Learning
Systems and Scorecards Systems", Attorney Docket No. 762301-1090,
filed Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely incorporated by reference
herein.
[0037] Another is "System and Method for Integrating Learning
Systems and Workforce Management Systems", Attorney Docket No.
762301-1150, filed Feb. 22, 2006, and entirely incorporated by
reference herein.
[0038] Another is U.S. application Ser. No. 10/136,705, entitled
"Method and System for Presenting Events Associated with Recorded
Data Exchanged between a Server and a User," and entirely
incorporated by reference herein. The subject matter of the '705
application includes capturing and graphically displaying events
that occur during an interaction between a customer and an agent. A
reviewer is presented with a summarized voice interaction session,
in the form of a call timeline, including a list of event
identifiers. The reviewer selects one of the event identifiers in
the timeline, and the interaction session, starting with the
selected event, is presented to the user. The user could choose to
start listening to the exchange at an event by selecting the
event.
[0039] Another is U.S. application Ser. No. 10/137,480, entitled
"Method and System for Selectively Dedicating Resources for
Recording Data Exchanged between Entities Attached to a Network,"
filed on Apr. 30, 2002, and entirely incorporated by reference
herein. The subject matter of the '480 application includes
determining whether to use an active tap or a passive tap to record
data passing through a particular node based upon an objective for
recording as noted by predefined business rules.
[0040] Another is U.S. Ser. No. 10/136,735, entitled "Methods and
Systems for Categorizing and Cataloguing Recorded Interactions,"
filed on Apr. 30, 2002, and entirely incorporated by reference
herein. The subject matter of the '735 application includes
categorizing data upon storing the captured data. The categories
are based upon predefined business rules for storing captured
data.
[0041] Another is U.S. application Ser. No. 10/061,469, entitled
"Method, Apparatus, and System for Capturing Data Exchanged between
a Server and a User," filed on Jan. 31, 2002, and entirely
incorporated by reference herein. The subject matter of the '469
application includes capture of exchange data by a capture module
that operates independently from the server and the user.
[0042] Another is U.S. application Ser. No. 10/061,489, entitled
"Method, Apparatus, and System for Processing Data Captured during
Exchanges between a Server and a User," filed on Jan. 31, 2002, and
entirely incorporated by reference herein. The subject matter of
the '489 application includes selective recordation of captured
data based upon whether the data satisfies predetermined business
rules.
[0043] Another is U.S. application Ser. No. 10/061,491, entitled
"Method, apparatus, and system for replaying data selected from
among data captured during exchanges between a server and a user,"
filed on Jan. 31, 2002, and entirely incorporated by reference
herein. The subject matter of the '491 application includes
replaying data captured during a session, wherein search criteria
are based upon business rules.
[0044] The following is a list of other U.S. utility applications
which may include related subject matter, each of which is
incorporated by reference: U.S. utility application, entitled,
"Method and Apparatus for Long-Range Planning," having Ser. No.
09/899,895, filed Oct. 3, 2002; U.S. utility application entitled,
"Interface System and Method of Building Rules and Constraints For
a Resource Scheduling System," having Ser. No. 09/680,131, filed
Oct. 2, 2000; U.S. Utility Application entitled, "System and Method
for Complex Schedule Generation," having Ser. No. 09/825,589, filed
Apr. 3, 2001; U.S. utility application entitled, "Method and
Apparatus for Long-Range Planning," having Ser. No. 09/899,895,
filed Jul. 5, 2001; U.S. utility application entitled, "Method and
Apparatus for Multi-Contact Scheduling," having Ser. No.
11/037,604, filed Jan. 18, 2005; and U.S. Utility application
entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Concurrent Error Identification
in Resource Scheduling," having Ser. No. 11/237,456, filed Sep. 27,
2005.
Contact Center Environment
[0045] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a contact center environment
100. The contact center 100 is staffed by agents who handle
incoming and/or outgoing contacts. Although the traditional and
most common form of contact is by phone, other types of contacts
are becoming more common (e.g., text chat, web collaboration,
email, and fax). An agent workspace includes an agent phone 110 and
a workstation computer 120. A network 130 connects one or more of
the workstations 120.
[0046] A call router 140 distributes incoming contacts to available
agents. When the contacts are made by traditional phone lines, the
call router 140 operates by connecting outside trunk lines 150 to
agent trunk lines 160. In this environment, the call router 140 may
be implemented by an automatic call distributor (ACD), which queues
calls until a suitable agent is available. Other types of contacts,
such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls and
computer-based contacts (e.g., chat, email) are routed over one or
more data networks. These contacts are distributed over network 130
to one of the agent workstations 120.
[0047] During a customer contact, the agent interacts with one or
more applications running on the workstation 120. Example
workstation applications give the agent access to customer records,
product information, ordering status, and transaction history, for
example.
[0048] The business purpose of a contact center is to provide rapid
and efficient interaction between agents and customers. To achieve
this purpose, a contact center follows a business process having
stages, in that one stage affects subsequent stages.
[0049] In a conventional contact center business process, there is
a relatively high degree of separation between stages. In contrast,
in the integrated contact center business process 200 (FIG. 2)
described here, multiple stages are connected into a loop, with
each stage of the process feeding input into another stage down the
line.
[0050] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an embodiment of the integrated
process for optimizing operations at a contact center (200), in
which several interfaced organizations are combined as a single
integrated operational process and/or platform. In the first stage
(210), the business goals of the contact center are defined. Goals
are defined in terms of metrics that describe how the contact
center is expected to perform. Some metrics relate to expected
revenue, such as revenue/hour or revenue/agent. Other metrics
relate to service level, such as time-to-answer and rate of
first-call resolution. Persons familiar with contact center
operations will understand these and many other business goals and
metrics.
[0051] The first stage (210) may also include campaign planning.
Profiles for campaigns are defined, for example, by inbound or
outbound, how many contacts are expected, date and duration of the
campaign, and what sorts of agent skills are needed.
[0052] Information about the goals and campaign(s) produced by the
first stage (210) is provided to the second stage (220). In the
second stage (220), a workforce of agents is scheduled to staff the
campaign(s). In determining the number of agents scheduled for a
campaign, the goals/metrics and campaign characteristics from the
first stage (210) are considered. The schedule also uses as input a
workload forecast, which predicts contact volume during each
interval of the campaign, based on historical data. Using this
schedule, the contact center manager deploys the appropriate number
and mix of agents during the campaign times.
[0053] The output of the second stage (220) is the customer-agent
interactions that occur during a campaign. The third stage (230)
measures or assesses the interactions in various ways. One typical
assessment ("adherence") measures how well an agent complied with
contact center policies (e.g., call duration). In the third stage
(230), at least a portion of the interactions are recorded and then
examined. This examination produces a variety of quality metrics
that assess an agent's skills in various categories (product
knowledge, selling, listening, etc.)
[0054] The various assessments are provided as input to the fourth
stage (240). In this stage, these inputs are analyzed in various
ways. The analysis may rate interactions on a "good" to "bad"
scale, considering the customer point of view, the business
point-of-view, or both. For example, a contact that resulted in a
sale would be an indicator of a "good" interaction while a contact
that exceeded average duration would be an indicator of a "bad"
interaction.
[0055] Once "bad" interactions are identified, an attempt is made
to determine a root cause. In some cases, the root cause may lie
with an agent (e.g., weak product skills). In other cases, the
cause may be in the contact center infrastructure or operations
(e.g., customer database is slow). The cause might also be rooted
in a business process of the enterprise that is sponsoring the
campaign. For example, the billing process used by the enterprise,
or the process by which the enterprise dispatches field service
units could be the cause.
[0056] The fifth stage (250) uses the analysis produced by the
fourth stage (230) to adapt and change operations accordingly.
Agent skills can be improved by training in the deficient areas.
The information may be used to change an aspect of contact center
operations, or to make a recommendation to the sponsoring
enterprise for it to change its processes or operations. The
results of the analysis, as well as the raw metrics used as input
to the analysis, are combined into data sets ("scorecards") that
allow the contact center operators to determine whether or not the
business goals are met and whether the metrics show progress toward
the goals or away from the goal ("trending"). These data sets are
provided as input to the first stage (210), which closes the
feedback loop of the integrated contact center business process
200.
[0057] FIG. 3 is a high-level view of components in an embodiment
of an integrated contact center system 300. The integrated system
300 includes two or more of the following components: a work force
manager (WFM) 310; a quality monitoring component 320; a learning
component 330; and a performance management component 340. These
components (310-340) cooperate to implement the integrated contact
center business process (200) as described earlier.
[0058] As will be described, combining agent quality metrics from
the quality monitor 320 (e.g., synchronous such as voice,
asynchronous such as e-mail or chat) with WFM 320 (e.g., agent
planning, scheduling) may provide insight that contact center
supervisors can use to confirm the value provided by agents to the
business as a whole.
[0059] The WFM 310 performs many functions related to the agent
workforce. For example, WFM 310 can: schedule single, multiple, or
virtual contact centers across multiple time zones; accommodate a
dedicated, blended, or task-switching environment; schedule
meetings or training without impact on service levels; allow agents
to bid for shifts and provide input into their schedules; automate
compliance with government and union regulations; create
centralized forecasts and schedules with a single point of control
over the entire network, or decentralized schedules that allow for
decision-making at individual sites; schedule based on skill
priorities that align with the contact center's routing strategy;
and create and schedule teams as a unit to support training and
accommodate employee preferences.
[0060] The functionality of the entire WFM 310 is typically divided
among several applications, executables, processes, or services. A
forecast and scheduling component (350) calculates staffing levels
and agent schedules based on historical interaction (contact)
patterns. A tracking component (355) provides a contact center
supervisor or manager with information about agent activities and
agent-customer interactions, both historical and real-time. An
adherence component (360) supplies the supervisor with information
on how well each agent complies with call center policies. For
example, once schedules are created, the contact center should
ensure that agents follow the schedules.
[0061] Most preferably, the adherence component 360 provides a
real-time view of every activity across each channel in the contact
center, including those in the front and back office, so
supervisors/contact centers can see how their staff spends its
time. In an enhancement, alerts can be set to notify supervisors
when agents are out-of-adherence and exception management can help
ensure agents are correctly recognized for work they have
performed.
[0062] The quality monitor 320 includes a content recorder (370)
for recording agent-customer interactions. The content recorder 370
can be configured to capture all interactions, or a selected set of
interactions based on user-defined business rules.
[0063] The content recorder 370 can capture voice and data
interactions from both traditional and IP telephony environments
and can handle high-volume recording for compliance and sales
verification. The content recorder 370 can also record all voice
transactions across multiple sites, or randomly capture a subset of
transactions that may be of particular interest, as well as record
contacts on-demand. Using the content recorder 370 a user can
record all contacts or establish advanced business rules to capture
only those transactions of particular interest. User-defined
business rules can trigger the recordings, initiate enterprise
collaboration by notifying individuals or groups of the captured
contacts and emerging trends, and allow users to assign attributes
or "tags" to the contacts for quick identification. All data
related to a customer interaction--including navigation of
automated systems, agent keystrokes and desktop activities--can be
stored automatically in folders for search and retrieval. Different
users in an enterprise can share and review transactions, as well
as hear customer feedback first-hand.
[0064] The quality manager 320 stores the interactions in an
interactions database 375, which may include descriptive
information as well as recorded content. Contact center personnel
play back some of the interactions and use an evaluation component
(380) to score the agent in various categories (product knowledge,
selling, listening, etc.)
[0065] Furthermore, contact center supervisors and quality analysts
can then tap into these recorded interactions to review, evaluate,
and score agent performance. An analytics component (385) can
analyze interactions in various ways, including the use of speech
analytics. Examples of analysis include categorizing calls based on
content, analyzing a call against an expected call pattern and
reporting exceptions to the pattern, and providing a visualization
layer for recorded interactions that displays other data attributes
such as agent activities coincident with call events.
[0066] The learning component 330 allows a contact center manager
to develop training lessons for agents and assign lessons to
agents. The learning component 330 provides automated training
processes by identifying, scheduling, and delivering online
learning directly to agent desktops. The lesson content can include
recorded interactions, which can be used to create a library of
best practices for training agents and other personnel. Using
actual interactions, a contact center can develop E-learning
content specific to the organization. In an enhancement, these
training lessons can include assessments to help track and measure
agent performance, skill acquisition, and knowledge retention.
[0067] The learning component 330 can also deliver targeted
learning sessions over a network, using e-mail, or a hyperlink to a
Web site, or directly to the agent desktop. Supervisors can select
the appropriate training sessions from a library of courseware or
create sessions themselves using a contact-editing feature. Then
supervisors can assign course material and monitor completion
automatically.
[0068] The performance manager 340 displays key performance
indicators (KPIs), which can be predefined on a scorecard. The
scorecard, which can be role-appropriate, provides a statistical
measure of how well an agent or group of agents is performing
(against their goals). The KPI metrics are derived from quality
evaluations and/or WFM call routing data.
[0069] A centralized administration component 390 consolidates
agent administration across the various components into a single
point of entry, and provides a single logon to all components for
agents and administrators. The administration component 390 may
also include a centralized reporting component, even across
multiple sites. A consistent user interface 395 reduces training
time on the various system components.
[0070] An integrated contact center system such as system 300
allows contact center analysts to quickly access the right
information. Such an integrated system allows valuable and
previously undiscovered information to-be uncovered. This new level
of visibility into contact center operations should allow personnel
make better decisions faster.
[0071] FIG. 4 shows a point of integration between two components
of the integrated contact center system 300, the WFM 310 and the
quality monitor 320. Conventional call center systems provide an
"interactions" application that allows playback of recorded
interactions and live monitoring of interactions. Importantly,
these conventional systems did not integrate interactions with WFM
adherence information. The integration between the WFM 310 and the
quality monitor 320 described in FIG. 4 allows a supervisor to
"drill down" and examine a particular recorded interaction from a
display of agent activity and/or adherence information.
[0072] In this disclosure, the term "interaction" refers to a
record of the content of agent activities related to a call. Note
that agent activities are not limited to audio of the call itself.
Other forms of media are included. Examples of other types of
interactions are: video recording of the agent; application
activity on the agent's workstation 120; web pages delivered to the
agent and/or customer during collaborative sessions; messages
delivered through e-mail, instant messaging, or other messaging
technologies. Also, the agent activities in an interaction are not
limited to the duration of the call, but can occur after the call
(a state called "wrap up" or "research").
[0073] The tracking component 355 of the WFM 310 provides
information about agent activities to the WFM adherence component
360. Agent activities, which describe work activities performed by
agents, are collected from various sources. The call router 140
(FIG. 1) reports agent call states (Available, After-Call-Work,
etc.). An application monitor on agent workstation 120 tracks agent
activity on the workstation (e.g., switching between applications,
screen data, keyboard input, etc.).
[0074] The adherence component 360 displays a view (410) of agent
activities, typically one agent per line, with activities arranged
across a timeline. Exceptions to agent adherence (e.g.,
non-compliance with contact center policy) are displayed in
conjunction with the activities and the timeline.
[0075] The adherence component 360 obtains a list (420) of recorded
interactions available for agents during the displayed time period.
This list of interactions is presented to the user in the same
adherence view (410).
[0076] From this adherence view, a user can "drill down" to a
recorded interaction by selecting (430) the interaction from the
list, and then activating a playback tool. The adherence component
360 retrieves (440) the selected interaction from the interactions
database 375, and the interaction is then played back using an
appropriate application (e.g. media player, desktop activity
player, web content player). A user can also select an agent
activity that is presently occurring and either record on demand
(450) or live monitor (460) the selected activity.
[0077] Integration between the WFM 310 and the quality monitor 320
is further described in the U.S. patent application "System and
Method for Integrated Display of Recorded Interactions and Call
Agent Data," Attorney Docket Number 762301-1160, filed the same day
and by the same assignee as the instant application.
[0078] FIG. 5 shows an additional point of integration between the
WFM 310 and the quality monitor 320, in which agent activity,
adherence, and/or scheduling information is used to trigger
selective recording in a selective recording environment, or to
perform smart selection of recording for evaluation in a total
recording environment. In a conventional quality monitor 320, the
content recorder 370 can be configured to record a certain number,
or percentage, of agent-customer interactions. This parameter is
typically fixed for the duration of a campaign, though it can vary
from one campaign to the next.
[0079] In the integrated system 500, the WFM 310 generates call
recording parameters 510 based on information contained in the
forecast 520 (e.g., call volume and call type) and/or the schedule
530. The recording parameters 510 are provided to the content
recorder 370 in the quality monitor 320. This integration allows
the content recorder 370 to adapt recording behavior during a
campaign.
[0080] As an example of how this feature is useful to a contact
center, consider a marketing campaign that starts on a Monday and
lasts all week. It is expected that call quality for agents on this
campaign will be relatively low on Monday, since the material is
new to the agents. By the end of the week, the agents are more
familiar with the material, so that agent quality scores are
expected to increase.
[0081] The recording parameters 510 provided to the content
recorder 370 in the integrated system 500 allow a contact center
manager to increase the percentage of interactions recorded at the
start of the campaign, and to reduce the percentage as the campaign
progresses. recording parameters 510 can be further associated with
one agent, or a set of agents, so that inexperienced agents (e.g.,
agents with low scores) have a higher percentage of recorded
interactions as compared to more experienced agents.
[0082] Other examples of using WFM data to determine recording
behavior include: trigger or select recording based on relative
elapsed time from the beginning of the shift; trigger or select
recording before or after specific activities (e.g., after lunch or
before break activity); and trigger or select recording based on
adherence data (e.g., agent is on call but not adhering to
schedule).
[0083] FIG. 6 shows several points of integration between the WFM
310 and the learning component 330. The learning component 330
includes lessons 610. Each lesson 610 is designed to improve an
agent's competence in a particular area. Lessons are assigned,
either manually or automatically, through a lesson assignment
component 620, which communicates information about the assignment
(630) to the scheduler 350 in the WFM 310. In one embodiment, the
information 630 includes an agent identifier, a lesson identifier,
a lesson duration, and a lesson completion date. After receiving
the lesson assignment information 630, the scheduler 350 modifies
the schedule 530 to include a training activity for the identified
agent. If possible, the new training activity is scheduled before
the lesson completion date.
[0084] An agent receives training through a lesson presentation
function 640. The presentation may take the form of viewing a video
and/or listening to audio on the agent workstation 120. The lesson
presentation function 640 maintains a lesson log 650, which tracks
the presentation of lessons 610 to agents. In one implementation
the lesson log 650 includes an agent identifier, a lesson
identifier, the time when the lesson presentation began, and an
indication of whether the lesson has been completed.
[0085] In yet another point of integration between WFM 310 and the
learning component 330, the lesson log 650 is provided to the
adherence component 360 in the WFM 310. The adherence component 360
uses information in the lesson log 650 to determine whether an
agent has met the lesion completion date. If not, the adherence
component 360 notes the incomplete lesson as an exception to
adherence.
[0086] Scheduling assigned lessons and tracking adherence to these
assignments is further described in the U.S. patent application
"Tracking of Lesson Adherence in a Call Center Environment,"
Attorney Docket Number 762301-1150, filed the same day and by the
same assignee as the instant application.
[0087] FIG. 7 shows several points of integration between the
performance manager 340 and the learning component 330. The
performance manager 340 maintains more key performance (KPIs) 710
that measure how well an agent or group of agents is performing.
The KPIs 710 may be based one or more source measurements 720, such
as evaluations from the quality monitor 320 and call statistics
from call router 140 (e.g., call duration, hold time during call,
etc.)
[0088] The performance manager 340 does analysis on the KPIs 710
and/or the source measurements 720 to produce scorecards 730. The
analysis may include calculating statistics such as average,
variation, etc., aggregating by time period or groups of agents,
and determining trends. The scorecards 730 are then presented in
visual form to a user. Examples of scorecards are a daily scorecard
for an agent or a team, and a scorecard of all agents for the past
month.
[0089] In the integrated system 700, the KPIs 710 are also provided
(740) to the learning component 330. As described earlier, the
learning component 330 maintains lessons 610, which can be assigned
to an agent for review. In the integrated system 700, each lesson
610 is associated with one or more KPIs 710. The lesson assignment
component 620 examines one or more of the KPIs 710 for a particular
agent, and makes an assignment (750) for a lesson 610 associated
with that KPI 710, based on criteria associated with a KPI or a
competency. In one implementation, the criteria is a comparison of
one or more KPIs 710 for an agent to threshold values, and the
lesson assignment component 620 assigns a lesson 610 if the KPI 710
is lower than the threshold. This point of integration therefore
allows automatic lesson assignment based on KPI 710.
[0090] Automatic lesson assignment is further described in the U.S.
patent application "Integration of E-Learning and Scorecards in
Call Center Operation," Attorney Docket Number 762301-1090, filed
the same day and by the same assignee as the instant
application.
[0091] The presentation may also include a test that is given-to
the agent to determine competency the area associated with the
lesson 610. In yet another point of integration between WFM 310 and
the learning component 330, the agent test score 760 for an agent
is provided to the performance manager 340. The performance manager
340 updates the KPIs 710 to reflect the agent competency described
by the test score 760.
[0092] FIG. 8 shows a point of integration between the WFM 310 and
the performance manager 340. Conventional schedulers allow agents
to set preferences for shift assignments (e.g., one agent prefers
to work weekends and another prefers to work nights). Since most
agents are expected to prefer a day shift rather than a midnight
shift, shift preferences are typically combined with agent ranking
or seniority, so that someone works the midnight shift. This leads
to a situation where the midnight shift is staffed with all of the
"worst" agents.
[0093] As described earlier, the performance manager 340 maintains
KPIs 710 that measure agent and/or group performance. In the
integrated system 800 shown in FIG. 8, the scheduler 350 considers
agent KPIs 710 when scheduling, so that some "good" agents are also
added to the shift. The KPI 710 may reflect, for example, an
evaluation of the agent's performance on a set of customer
interactions. In one embodiment, the scoring is done by a human
while playing back the recorded interaction. In another embodiment,
the scoring is at least partly automated through the use of speech
analytics.
[0094] The agent KPIs 710 are provided to the scheduler 350 in the
WFM 310. Also provided to the scheduler 350 are quality goals 810
for a particular schedule interval. Examples of quality goals are
"50% of agents have a score at of least 80" and "average score is
at least 80."
[0095] The scheduler 350 considers the quality goals 810 and the
KPIs 710, along with other inputs, to determine a schedule 530,
which includes agent assignments to work activities at specific
times. The scheduler 350 also considers other inputs, such as a
workload forecast 820, agent skill sets 830 and agent shift
preferences 840. The scheduler 350 then chooses a mix of agents to
work a shift, so that the agent scores combine to meet the quality
goals 810. Integration of KPIs and the scheduler is further
described in the U.S. patent application "Systems and Methods for
Scheduling Call Center Agents Using Quality Data," Attorney Docket
Number 762301-1010, filed the same day and by the same assignee as
the instant application.
[0096] FIG. 9 shows another point of integration between the WFM
310 and the performance manager 340. As described earlier, the
performance manager 340 maintains KPIs 710 that measure agent
and/or group performance, and produces scorecards 730 from the KPIs
710. The scorecards 730 provide a quick way for a manager to
determine areas that require attention. For example, if a
particular agent is out of adherence or has a low competency score,
then the adherence or competency KPI can be flagged with a warning
icon. Typically, the manager wants more detailed information about
the flagged problem area. A conventional contact center solution
requires the manager to open up a particular application, such as
Adherence or Quality Monitoring, to obtain detailed information
about the problem area. Once in the application, the manager must
then navigate to the root cause of the problem (e.g., the activity
that was out of adherence).
[0097] In contrast, the integrated system 900 allows a user to
quickly view details associated with the flagged problem area, in
the appropriate application context. Several examples of this use
of application context are shown in FIG. 9. When interacting with
the performance manager 340, selecting an adherence-related KPI
(910) in a scorecard 730 brings the user to a view (920) of
adherence information. Furthermore, the particular agent activities
that resulted in the out-of-adherence flag 910 are highlighted or
otherwise brought to the user's attention in the view 920. As
another example, selecting a quality score-related KPI (930) brings
the user to the quality monitor 320, and more specifically to the
particular evaluation form 940 which contains the flagged quality
score 930.
[0098] As yet another example, selecting a call statistic-related
KPI (950), such as call duration or hold time, brings the user to
the quality monitor 320. The quality monitor 320 presents a list of
recorded interactions (from the interactions database 375) which
contributed to, or are in someway related to, the flagged
call-statistic score 950. The user can then play back (960) one of
the recorded interactions. The integrated system 900 thus greatly
simplifies root cause analysis for contact center personnel.
[0099] Call recording and monitoring are vital to contact center
operations and the business. Every day, insight and feedback on the
organization are gained from customer interactions. Valuable
business intelligence can be extracted from these calls to help
call center executives improve operational efficiency, customer
satisfaction, and profitability. Yet management can only listen to
a small segment of recorded calls. Managers must search manually
through an enormous number of calls just to find the calls they
need to analyze. The process is not only inefficient and expensive,
but valuable information is continually ignored, leaving only a
small sample of data needed to make informed business
decisions.
[0100] Referring now to FIG. 10, with the analytics function 385 of
the present invention (first introduced in FIG. 3), contact centers
can now convert all call recordings into actionable business
intelligence. Management can discern important competitive and
business insight and easily identify trends from customer
interactions, by analyzing speech, telephony, agent, and recording
data together. In an enhancement, the analytics function 385 also
streamlines the quality monitoring process by automatically
classifying and scoring calls, based on selection criteria that may
include any or part of the data captured by the-integrated systems
disclosed herein, including speech analytics.
[0101] The analytics function 385 of the present invention enables
businesses to: (1) have a more accurate view of the customer
experience, which allows executives across the organization uncover
critical customer attitudes, needs, and requirements; (2)
automatically score and classify calls for easy retrieval and
examination, which enables call centers to digitally score calls to
conduct automated quality and customer satisfaction surveys; and
(3) discover trends related to customer behavior (e.g. churn,
product adoption)that impact the business.
[0102] The analytics function 385 preferably uses speech
recognition 1000 to convert the recorded calls into a searchable
repository that allows for the query of words and/or phrases
contained within the recorded calls. This repository may manifest
itself as a text transcript or searchable phonetic model of the
recorded calls. The analytics function 385 may apply additional
unstructured data analysis techniques to refine and extract the
context and further meaning from the conversations. Examples of
various techniques that may be applied to refine the context of the
mined speech, or the speech-to-text conversion, include:
statistical modeling of grammar using a statistical model of
grammar 1010 module; and natural language processing using a
natural speech patterns 1020 module. Further, the analytics
function 385 identifies the critical words and phrases within the
context of the conversation. All this enables the embodiments
disclosed herein to capture the intent of the call, rather than
merely the words of the call.
[0103] In an alternative embodiment, the analytics function 385
converts the audio of the conversation into a phonetic
representation of the call and uses a word-spotting method 1030 (or
a query analysis), which flags or tags calls by a specific word,
phrase, proximity, inflection, tempo, or emotion. Queries may be
performed on an ad-hoc basis or stored for pattern analysis.
[0104] With the recorded calls converted to searchable content (via
a transcribed call 1040 represented in FIG. 10), the analytics
function 385 allows users to look back in time to discover what
customers have said. In the preferred embodiment, users do not need
to know in advance what they are looking for. For example, if there
were a spike in call volume last week, the analytics function 385
can enable the contact center to understand the reason for the
increased calls. Also, the user can incorporate metadata obtained
from telephony or CRM systems to gain further insight into the
reasons for the call spike.
[0105] In an enhancement, the analytics function 385 also uses a
pattern recognition module 1050 to pull meaning out of the results
generated by speech recognition. The pattern recognition module
1050 discerns the call's pattern and automatically places the call
into one or several categories once the call is ingested into the
speech engine, based on context the pattern recognition module 1050
is able to extract from the speech mining function. The patterns
are used not only to classify calls but also to determine if a
particular activity has occurred during the call, or to
automatically score individual evaluation or survey questions based
on this data. For instance a call score might be correlated to an
existing evaluation or customer survey question during the call
(e.g., "did the agent offer a cross sell", "did the agent remember
to read the corporate policy"). By automating the labor-intensive
quality monitoring processes, contact centers can realize not just
a fast return on investment, but also deploy resources where they
are strategic to the call center.
[0106] The analytics function 385 can link the call content to the
metadata from, for example, a quality monitoring component (see
FIG. 3), to relate characteristics such as agent ID, time/date,
speaker's name, workgroup ID, and call routing. The analytics
function 385 can link to custom data sources that may contain other
information related to the agent/customer interaction, for example,
a CRM system.
[0107] The analytics function 385 also includes a search function
1060. An append feature in the search function allows the user to
modify the initial search by tacking on additional criteria and
logic. A refine feature function allows the user to add to the
search criteria, which are then used on the results of the last
search. A remove feature allows the user to modify the initial
search by tacking on additional criteria and logic. An undo allows
any of the modifications just described to be reversed. In one
enhancement, results from the initial search string using the
search function 1060 can be refined to help focus on particular
calls of interest. In another enhancement, users can combine the
search functionality described above with data from the CTI, ACD
and other sources via a CTI ACD integration 1070 module.
[0108] Different individuals use different words or phrases to
depict a similar meaning. Recognizing this fact, the analytics
function 385 enables users to expand single words into complete
concepts, which convey intent and meaning, rather than being tied
to one narrow possibility. An expansion option 1080 allows users to
include plural, synonym, homonym, and containing words, in a single
clean screen. For example, instead of searching for the single word
"bill", the user can select to search for "bill, bills, account,
charges, invoice, statement, billing, billed, bell", which will
most likely return better results because it takes into account the
differences of expression.
[0109] In one enhancement, the expansion option 1080 allows for the
identification of temporal relationships between words, phrases and
other collected events in order to better identify the context of
the conversation. For example, a search that includes the word
"supervisor" in a temporal relationship with words like "transfer
me to", or in relationship to a call transfer event, can provide
much more context than a search for "supervisor" . The expansion
option allows users to capture more instances of the concept that
they are exploring and furthermore establish the intent of the
calls. This improves upon keyword-spotting technologies, which are
not good enough to perform ad-hoc searching for concepts, which is
the ultimate goal in content discovery.
[0110] The analytics function 385 further enables the user a
variety of ways to derive insight from the search results. The Call
Replay 1090 component allows the user to listen to an audio file
from the search results, in part or its entirety. Playing a portion
of the audio allows the user more efficiently go through the search
results without having to waste time listening to the whole
conversation. The Text Display 1092 component shows a continuous
text for the entire recognized content when playing back part or
all of a call. This allows users quickly capture terms and
expressions exchanged in the call that might be of importance. The
Save Searches 1094 component allows a user to save and easily
retrieve searches for further refinement and analysis. The Export
1096 component allows search results to be exported to a wide
variety of formats, such as Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF format.
The Search Statistics 1098 component displays information on the
current search (e.g. calls counted, search time). In one
enhancement, the analytics function 385 further includes call
visualization component which includes an interface for displaying
the text of a set of calls along with other data captured by the
integrated system of the present invention along with integrated
sources. A call visualization component is more fully described in
the '705 application and incorporated by reference above).
[0111] Preferably, the analytics function 385 automatically
classifies and scores calls via classify calls 1062 module and a
score calls 1064 module. This feature can greatly reduce the time
and effort that contact centers spend on the quality monitoring
process by "structuring" unstructured voice recordings and
categorizing them. The classify calls 1062 module preferably
classifies calls based on the content. A call may be classified
into one or more "buckets." The analytics function 385 relies on
the concept that all conversational threads have at their core one
or more "patterns" of speech.
[0112] Patterns are complex descriptions of different ways that
people communicate information, not just simple "words" for
matching. These patterns of speech do not have to contain exact
word matches for particular search terms, but they only "look" like
a specific pattern. Each pattern is defined and assigned a weight
by the pattern developer, and each area of intent is assigned a
threshold. If a group of patterns match and their added weights
exceed the threshold, then that conversation is said to "look" like
and contain that intent.
[0113] The weights and threshold are user definable and therefore
easily tweaked to produce better and more accurate results. A
typical intent "bucket" will contain anywhere from five to 100
"patterns" to match. Patterns can be shared across domains and
industries, and pattern bases can evolve forward to deliver ever
more accurate and finely tuned pattern matching.
[0114] The analytics function 385 uses patterns not only to
classify calls via the classify calls 1062 module, but also to
evaluate if a particular activity occurred during a call via the
score calls 1064 module. The user begins by designating the
objective criteria on which the calls are to be scored into the
application. A set of patterns is then described for the criteria.
A call is then scored based on the extent to which the criteria
patterns were fully met, partially met, or not met at all. Each
weighted threshold for each score level can be customizable.
[0115] The analytics function 385 allows the user to create a
graphical representation of trends found in the calls via a
graphical representation 1066 module. This enables a user to view
statistics about complex trends over a large time period.
[0116] The trend view displays a suite of ad-hoc reports that can
be easily configured by the parameters in Table 1.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Time/Day Interval Value to Calculate
Segmentation Day of Week Avg # Words Per Call By Agent Month Avg
Call Length In Seconds By Agent Group By Week Call Count By Content
Group By Quarter Hit Total By Customer Account By Year Sum
(WAVLength) By Department By Location
[0117] By visualizing the information by the parameters above, the
user can gain a more detailed view on the particularities of the
search phrases.
[0118] Another trending capability is the display of, for example,
the top 200 words mentioned in the recorded calls (where the number
of top words is customizable). The analytics function 385
proactively shows the words that are unusually more frequent than
before or compared to the standard language. This acts as an "early
warning system" to enable organizations to understand how the
conversations have changed from one period to the next.
[0119] Preferably, the analytics function 385 organizes and
delivers results customized to the end-users requirements via a
reports 1068 module. In an enhancement, reports 1068 module allows
for scheduling options that enable users the ability to vary
frequency of report delivery so analysts can zoom in on critical
data metrics hourly, daily, monthly, etc. Users can customize and
automate reporting. Once a query is created, the user can save the
query to run automatically. Users can create and view reports in
different formats while using the web-based viewer. For example,
reports can be output as Excel or PDF files, and then emailed. The
reports are interactive, in that calls can be played back live from
the results of the report. The reports 1068 module, which is
preferably based on industry-standard databases such as SQL, can be
used to customize reports, to extract, format and report from the
underlying data. In another enhancement, the reports 1068 module is
a dashboard reporting system which can, for example, link the
actual calls detected for each event or report.
Coaching
[0120] As will be described in greater detail here, some
embodiments of a work force optimization system can incorporate a
coaching system. In this regard, such a coaching system can provide
one or more of the following functions: providing supervisors,
e.g., a manger, with an ability to open a coaching session;
scheduling a coaching meeting within the agent's work schedule;
enabling performance of the agent to be reviewed; allowing training
to be scheduled; allowing performance goals for the agent to be
set; producing a record the coaching session; reviewing contacts
and interactions; and reviewing a later performance of the agent to
track the results of the coaching session
[0121] As mentioned before, workforce optimization can include an
analyze and investigate component 240 (FIG. 2), which can
facilitate a determination regarding whether an agent is meeting
pre-established criteria, e.g., whether the performance of an agent
is out of adherence. In this regard, if it is determined that an
agent is not meeting such pre-established criteria, embodiments of
a coaching system can enable a supervisor, i.e., a person in a
supervisory role with respect to the agent (e.g., the supervisor or
a manager) to create a coaching session. Responsive to creation of
such a coaching session, preparations for a coaching meeting can be
undertaken, such as by aggregating various reports and
corresponding data that can be used to educate an agent about the
reason for the coaching session. A coaching meeting can then be
scheduled.
[0122] During such a coaching meeting, potential deficiencies in an
agent's skill set can be identified, thereby leading to the
assignment of various learning. Goals also can be assigned during a
coaching meeting with any assigned learning and goals being
annotated on a coaching form. In some embodiments, an agent can be
given an opportunity to provide feedback on the coaching session
using the coaching form. In some embodiments, a coaching session is
considered complete when the corresponding coaching form is
annotated as such by the relevant supervisor. However, in some
embodiments, the coaching session may not be deemed complete until
further analysis is undertaken in order to determine whether the
coaching session has resulted in improvements in agent
performance.
[0123] In this regard, FIG. 11 is a flowchart depicting the
functionality of a representative embodiment of a coaching system
1100. As shown in FIG. 11, the functionality (or method steps) may
be construed as beginning at block 1102, in which a determination
is made that an agent is not meeting one or more pre-established
criteria. In block 1104, a coaching meeting is scheduled between a
supervisor of the agent and the agent in order to this noted
condition. In block 1106, training is scheduled for the agent
based, at least in part, on information obtained during the
coaching meeting such that information corresponding to the noted
condition, coaching meeting and training is integrated into a
coaching session form.
[0124] As should be noted, a host of integrations can be provided
to facilitate coaching. By way of example, one such integration
involves the manner in which a coaching session is initiated. In
some embodiments, this can involve triggering events, the
occurrence of which relates to data maintained by one or more other
systems.
[0125] Another such integration involves associating data with a
coaching session. In some embodiments, this can include attaching
files and/or links to a coaching form that is used during the
coaching session. These files and/or links can provide access to
information obtained by other systems, such as recordings of
relevant interactions involving the agent that is to be coached. In
some embodiments, evaluations and/or interactions from a Quality
Monitor, scorecards, lessons from eLearning and/or URLs can be
attached.
[0126] The functionality of another embodiment of a coaching system
1200 is depicted in the flowchart of FIG. 12. As shown in FIG. 12,
the functionality may be construed as beginning at block 1202, in
which a coaching session with an agent is triggered. By way of
example, the coaching session can be triggered by a quality
monitoring application that has identified a bad evaluation
corresponding to the agent. As another example, a coaching session
can be triggered by a performance management application that
identifies a key performance indicator (KPI) with an out-of-range
condition. As such, the coaching session is triggered by an alert
rule of the performance management application. As yet another
example, triggering of a coaching session can be accomplished
manually, such as by a user (e.g., a manager) actuating a graphical
user interface associated with a coaching application. Additionally
or alternatively, coaching sessions can be set periodically.
[0127] Regardless of the particular manner used to trigger a
coaching session, the process proceeds to block 1204, in which a
predefined coaching session form is provided. In some embodiments,
the coaching form begins as a template with several fields.
Notably, templates of various types could optionally be available
for use in some embodiments.
[0128] In block 1206, at least a portion of the coaching session
form is filled in with variable information. For instance, variable
information corresponding-to an agent can be used to fill in fields
that relate to the agent. This information could be provided by one
or more systems that maintain information corresponding to the
agent. As another example, a manager can input textual notes
relevant to the trigger that initiated coaching session.
Additionally or alternatively, access to information associated
with the coaching session can be appended to the form such as via
links and/or attachments.
[0129] In block 1208, a coaching meeting is scheduled with the
agent. Notably, in order to facilitate such scheduling, the
coaching system accesses the agent's schedule and a determination
is made as to when an appropriate coaching meeting can take place.
Thus, in some embodiments, the meeting can be automatically
scheduled, while in other embodiments information regarding the
agent's existing schedule can be provided for review so that a
suitable time for the coaching meeting can be selected.
[0130] In block 1210, various action items and/or information can
be appended to the coaching session form responsive to conducting
the coaching meeting between the supervisor and the agent. Such
action items can include scheduling the agent for training, whereas
the information can include meeting notes. It should be noted that
when training is to occur, some embodiments are capable of
automatically scheduling the training, such as by accessing a
current schedule of the agent and correlating that schedule with
the required training time.
[0131] Thereafter, such as depicted in block 1212, the agent is
provided access to the coaching session form so that the agent can
provide relevant comments. Thereafter, the supervisor conducting
the coaching can complete the session after reviewing any agent
comments. In some embodiments, one or more additional steps
associated with analyzing whether the coaching session and/or
corresponding follow-on training has improved agent performance can
be conducted prior to completing the session.
[0132] Such a coaching system enables a supervisor to schedule,
prepare and complete a coaching session and save information
corresponding to the coaching session for future reference. As
mentioned before, such a coaching session can incorporate one or
more predefined coaching forms that are designed to aid a
supervisor in providing coaching in a structured manner and to act
as a record for the coaching session. Such a coaching form can be
reviewed later to track progress against any actions or goals that
were set during the coaching session.
[0133] As mentioned before, a supervisor can decide to create a
coaching session from various points across several applications.
By way of example, a manager can create a coaching session when
viewing a scorecard, such as when the manager determines that the
agent is below target. In some embodiments, opening of a coaching
session selects a form that automatically populates the agent
details and attaches a corresponding link, if appropriate. In this
regard, if the coaching session was created during review of a
particular scorecard, information corresponding to that scorecard
can be automatically appended to the form, such as by providing a
link on the coaching session form. Similarly, other types of
information, e.g., recordings, lessons, reports, can be
automatically appended to a coaching form when the coaching session
is initiated during review of the corresponding information. For
instance, when a manager is reviewing a recording for compliance
and a discrepancy is noted that prompts the manager to initiate a
coaching session, the recording can be automatically appended to
the coaching session form.
[0134] Responsive to conducting a coaching meeting, various other
information can be appended to a coaching form. For instance, a
link associated with a company policy to which the agent did not
adhere could be provided.
[0135] Another aspect of the coaching session form involves that of
agent review, feedback and/ or signature. In this regard, some
embodiments can enable an agent to review the information contained
in a coaching session form. Although this can be accomplished by
merely providing the agent with full access to the coaching form,
various levels of security can be provided. By way of example, each
member of a company can be provided with a designated security
level that provides a corresponding level of access to information
associated with a coaching session form. For instance, in some
embodiments, a manager can be granted full access, i.e., an ability
to review and edit (e.g., during an established status period) all
fields of the form, while an agent may only be granted limited
access, e.g., an ability to review designated portions of the form
and to provide feedback.
[0136] In this regard, coaching sessions typically exhibit
different states as the sessions progress from creation to
completion. The following exemplary states could allow for a
coaching session to move through a pre-defined workflow including
pending, published, coached, awaiting feedback, follow-up and
complete.
[0137] With respect to the "pending" state, responsive to a
coaching session being created, the state is set to pending. In the
pending state, a coaching session form and any information, e.g.
attachments, associated therewith may not be accessible to the
relevant agent. That is, in the pending state, the manager that
crated the coaching session and/or the manager to which coaching is
assigned (and/or other personnel as defined by security level) may
have access to the form. In the pending state, the manager creating
the coaching session can have access to a form and is able to
complete the form, such as by adding attachments as will be
discussed later.
[0138] In the "published" state, access is provided to the agent
that will be coached. However, the agent may not be provided with
access that would be necessary for providing any comments. In this
regard, the ability to provide comments may be limited, in some
embodiments, until after a coaching meeting has occurred.
[0139] With respect to the "coached" state, this state can be set
responsive to a coaching meeting taking place. Notably, during the
aforementioned published state, which typically would be the state
exhibited until the coaching meeting has occurred, the manager may
be able to edit the coaching session form by providing notes and/or
comments associated with the coaching meeting. Additional
information, such as attachments and/or links associated with
training that is to be completed by the agent also can be provided
to the form during the published state.
[0140] After the coached state has been achieved, an optional
"awaiting feedback" state can be provided during which an agent is
afforded any opportunity to provide feedback regarding the
coaching. This feedback can include adding comments to the coaching
session form and/or a digital signature to the form that tends to
authenticate that the coaching has occurred.
[0141] With respect to the "follow-up" state, this state also can
be set responsive to a coaching meeting taking place. However, in
contrast to the awaiting feedback state, the follow-up state does
not end until verification can be made regarding the success of the
coaching meeting and/or associated training. In this regard, the
status may be set to follow-up until subsequent KPIs are
reviewed.
[0142] Once the coaching session is completed, the "complete" state
can be set. Notably, however, various criteria can be used for
achieving the complete state. In some embodiments, the manager of
the agent can set the state to complete after any feedback comments
have been reviewed. In other embodiments, additional information
regarding agent performance may be acquired and analyzed to
determine the effectiveness of the coaching. Thus, in these
embodiments, the complete state is set after the follow-up status
has terminated.
[0143] Regardless of the particular criteria used for determining
whether the session is complete, once the complete state has been
achieved, edits to the coaching session form can be prevented
thereby preserving a record of the coaching session. In some
embodiments, if it is determined that a coaching session form needs
to be changed after achieving the complete state, a higher access
level than that of the manager facilitating the coaching may be
required.
[0144] Exemplary graphical user interfaces associated with an
embodiment of a coaching system will now be described with respect
to FIGS. 13-23. In this regard, the graphical user interface (GUI)
1300 of FIG. 13 incorporates a Coaching icon 1302 that, when
selected, presents a My Coaching tab 1304 and a Manage Coaching tab
1306. The Manage Coaching tab is depicted in FIG. 13.
[0145] The Manage Coaching tab depicted in FIG. 13 incorporates a
Coaching Sessions pane 1310 that depicts all the coaching sessions
in which the logged-in user, in this case a manager, is involved.
In this regard, the Coaching Sessions pane can be populated with
information that is selected based upon organization name, with a
list of such organization names appearing in the Organization Name
selector list 1312. Information in the Coaching Sessions pane also
can be filtered by status (field 1314) and/or dates (field 1316).
In some embodiments, selecting a particular agent can present
coaching sessions associated with that agent in the Coaching
Sessions pane. In FIG. 13, however, all agents associated with the
organization "Hawaii" are displayed. Notably, a Create button 1320
is used for opening a new coaching session.
[0146] Responsive to actuating the Create button, the GUI displays
information such as depicted in FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 14, a
coaching session has been created for an agent by the name of
"Simple Pacific." Some of the various fields associated with the
coaching session include Agent Name field 1402, Job Title field
1404, Organization Name field 1406, Creation Date field 1408,
Created by filed 1410, Due Date field 1412, Completion Date field
1414, Schedule Details field 1416, Coaching Session Type field
1418, Coach field 1420 and Status field 1422. In some embodiments,
at least some of the aforementioned variable fields can be filled
in automatically by the coaching system. By way of example, when an
agent has been designated for a coaching session, the Job Title,
Organization Name, Creation Date and Created by fields can be
automatically filled in.
[0147] Various relationships between the various fields also can be
present. By way of example, note that the Coaching Session Type is
indicated as "Quarterly." As a predefined rule, a quarterly
coaching session can be established as a thirty-minute session, for
example, thereby enabling the Schedule Details field to be filled
in automatically with a thirty-minute time increment. Note also
that integration with a scheduler can facilitate that such a
thirty-minute coaching session is automatically placed in the
agent's schedule.
[0148] FIG. 14 also depicts a Coaching Form section 1430 that
includes an indication of evaluation form type (1432) and
evaluation form name (1434). As mentioned before, in some
embodiments, various form types of forms (or templates) can be
established that are user selectable and/or automatically selected
based on the type of coaching session.
[0149] An attachment section 1440 also is provided in the
embodiment of FIG. 14, in which information corresponding to the
coaching session can be provided. Note that web-based information
can be provided in this section, e.g., note the URL designation.
Additionally, note that an Edit Evaluation Form button 1450 is
provided that can provide edit functionality based on
access/security level of the user.
[0150] FIG. 15 depicts a window 1500 that can be displayed
responsive to a user selecting to add an attachment of type
"Evaluation." On a per day basis established by a date field 1502,
the user is enabled to view a list of evaluations of the agent that
is being coached. This is accomplished by accessing a drop down
menu 1504. Clicking on a View button provides additional details
corresponding to the selected evaluation so that the user can
ensure that the appropriate evaluation is being attached.
Subsequent to selecting the appropriate evaluation, the user can
click on the Attach button 1506, thereby attaching the selected
evaluation to the coaching session.
[0151] In contrast, FIG. 16 depicts a window 1600 that can be
displayed responsive to a user selecting to add an attachment of
type "Scorecard." In this regard, the user can select a scorecard
of an agent that is to be coached based on one or more KPIs. By
selecting the appropriate one or more KPIs from a drop down menu
1602 during a relevant date range (1604) and clicking the View
button, a scorecard page can be displayed so that the user can
ensure that the appropriate scorecard is being attached.
Thereafter, the user can click on the Attach button 1606, thereby
attaching the selected scorecard to the coaching session.
[0152] FIG. 17 depicts a window 1700 that can be displayed to a
user responsive to selecting to add an attachment of type "URL." In
this regard, the user is provided with a field 1702, in which a URL
can be entered. A View button 1704 can then be actuated in order to
permit viewing of the entered URL. Thereafter, an Attach button
1706 can be actuated, thereby attaching a link to the URL to the
coaching session.
[0153] FIG. 18 depicts a window 1800 that can be displayed to a
user responsive to the user selecting to add an attachment of type
"Interaction." By way of example, such an interaction can include
information such as screen capture data and/or recordings
associated with an interaction with which the agent was involved.
Typically, such an interaction relates to a communication session
occurring between the agent and a customer. Selecting of an
interaction for attachment to a coaching session is facilitated by
selecting a date (1802), the selection of which presents all
interactions with which the agent is associated on that date within
an Interactions pane 1804. Selection of a particular interaction
and subsequent actuating of a View button 1806 permits information
associated with the selected interaction to be displayed to the
user in order to determine whether that interaction should be
appended to the coaching session. Once the appropriate one or more
interactions have been designated, the interactions can be attached
to the coaching session by actuating Attach button 1808.
[0154] FIG. 19 depicts a window 1900 that can be displayed to a
user responsive to the user selecting to add an attachment of type
"Lesson." As shown in FIG. 19, the user is presented with the name
of the employee (1902) and organization (1904), as well as a list
of lessons (1906) that are available to the agent. By selecting the
appropriate lesson and actuating Attach button 1908, the designated
lesson will be attached to the coaching session. Notably, selecting
a lesson via the coaching system in some embodiments can
automatically assign that lesson to the agent. That is, the lesson
will appear as a scheduled event on the agent's schedule. In some
embodiments, a view lesson link can be provided that provides
access corresponding to the current status of the lessons assigned
to an agent.
[0155] In this regard, FIG. 20 depicts a window 2000 that can be
displayed to a user when such a view lesson link has been actuated.
Notably, the Lesson Status field 2002 indicates that the assigned
lesson is "In Progress." That is, the lesson has been assigned and
has not yet been completed by the agent. Notably, this (as well as
other GUI functionality described with respect to the depicted
embodiments) can be accomplished in other manners. By way of
example, in contrast to providing separate windows, drill down
functionality can be employed.
[0156] FIG. 21 relates to the My Coaching tab 1304 (FIG. 13). In
this regard, the My Coaching tab is able to display all coaching
sessions associated with the logged-in user. For instance, in some
embodiments, the My Coaching tab can display coaching sessions
assigned to an agent when the agent is logged in, can display
coaching sessions for which the employee is the coach when the
employee is logged in, and/or can display coaching sessions that
were scheduled by a manger when the manager is logged in. In the
example GUI of FIG. 21, the My Coaching window provides information
associated with the date assigned (2102), the due date (2104), the
review type (2106), who is assigned to perform the coaching (2108)
and who assigned the coaching (2110).
[0157] The My Coaching tab also can display information
corresponding to a particular coaching session, provided that the
logged-in user has access. As shown in FIG. 22, the information
corresponds to that which was displayed in FIG. 13, i.e., the
coaching session form is displayed.
[0158] FIG. 23 is a hardware block diagram of a general-purpose
computer 2300 that can be used to implement one or more of the
components of the integrated contact center system 300 disclosed
herein, or the integrated contact center processes or methods
disclosed herein. The computer 2300 contains a number of components
that are well known in the art of call center software, including a
processor 2310, a network interface 2320, memory 2330, and
non-volatile storage 2340. Examples of non-volatile storage
include, for example, a hard disk, flash RAM, flash ROM, EEPROM,
etc. These components are coupled via a bus 2350. The memory 2330
contains instructions which, when executed by the processor 2310,
implement the methods and systems disclosed herein. Omitted from
FIG. 23 are a number of conventional components, known to those
skilled in the art that are unnecessary to explain the operation of
the system 2300.
[0159] The systems and methods disclosed herein can be implemented
in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. In some
embodiments, the system and/or method is implemented in software
that is stored in a memory and that is executed by a suitable
microprocessor (.mu.P) situated in a computing device. However, the
systems and methods can be embodied in any computer-readable medium
for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,
apparatus, or device. Such instruction execution systems include
any computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other
system that can fetch and execute the instructions from the
instruction execution system. In the context of this disclosure, a
"computer-readable medium" can be any means that can contain,
store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by,
or in connection with, the instruction execution system. The
computer readable medium can be, for example but not limited to, a
system or propagation medium that is based on electronic, magnetic,
optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor
technology.
[0160] Specific examples of a computer-readable medium using
electronic technology would include (but are not limited to) the
following: an electrical connection (electronic) having one or more
wires; a random access memory (RAM); a read-only memory (ROM); an
erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory). A
specific example using magnetic technology includes (but is not
limited to) a portable computer diskette. Specific examples using
optical technology include (but are not limited to) optical fiber
and compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM).
[0161] It should be noted that any process descriptions or blocks
in flowcharts should be understood as representing modules,
segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable
instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps
in the process. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill
in the art of the software development, alternative embodiments are
also included within the scope of the disclosure. In these
alternative embodiments, functions may be executed out of order
from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently
or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. This
description has been presented for purposes of illustration and
description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the
disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Obvious modifications or
variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The
embodiments discussed, however, were chosen to illustrate the
principles of the disclosure, and its practical application. The
disclosure is thus intended to enable one of ordinary skill in the
art to use the disclosure, in various embodiments and with various
modifications, as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
All such modifications and variation are within the scope of this
disclosure, as determined by the appended claims when interpreted
in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly and legally
entitled.
* * * * *