U.S. patent application number 14/951196 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-25 for establishing a social connection with a business during a conversation.
The applicant listed for this patent is Avaya Inc.. Invention is credited to Reinhard Klemm, David Skiba.
Application Number | 20170149972 14/951196 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58721404 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170149972 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Klemm; Reinhard ; et
al. |
May 25, 2017 |
Establishing a Social Connection with a Business During a
Conversation
Abstract
Associating callers of a contact center with their social media
identity may provide mutual benefits to the caller and contact
center. For example, a business operating a contact center can
receive information about their current and potential customers and
customers can receive additional information, incentives, or other
perks by allowing access to their social media profile. When a
caller initially calls a contact center, they are prompted, and
possibly incentivized, to provide a social media identity. The
social media identity may or may not have an affinity with an
organization on the social media website. If not, the caller is
provided with the opportunity to establish the affinity. If the
caller does establish the affinity, the call may be identified as
having a positive sentiment or negative sentiment if the caller
does not do so. The call, or future calls, with the caller may then
be processed accordingly.
Inventors: |
Klemm; Reinhard; (Basking
Ridge, NJ) ; Skiba; David; (Golden, CO) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Avaya Inc. |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
58721404 |
Appl. No.: |
14/951196 |
Filed: |
November 24, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 3/5191 20130101;
H04M 3/5235 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; H04M 2203/655
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04M 3/51 20060101
H04M003/51; H04M 3/523 20060101 H04M003/523; G06Q 50/00 20060101
G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1. A system, comprising: a communication interface to a network; a
processor to: access a call from a caller from the network; prompt
the caller to provide a social media identity of the caller on a
social media web site; upon receiving the social media identity of
the caller, determine whether an affinity exists between the social
media identity and an entity associated with the contact center;
upon determining that the affinity exists, selecting a first
interaction with the caller in accordance with the affinity; and
upon determining that no current affinity exists between the social
media identify and the entity associated with the contact center,
selecting a second interaction with the caller in accordance with
the absence of the affinity, wherein the second interaction differs
from the first interaction; and conducting the selected one of the
first interaction or the second interaction with the caller.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein, the processor, upon determining
that no current affinity exists between the social media identity
and an entity associated with the contact center, prompts the
caller to establish an affinity.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor prompts the caller
to establish the affinity by sending an affinity request to the
social media identity.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor prompts the caller
to establish the affinity by accepting the affinity request.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor, upon determining
that the affinity has been established, identifies the call as
having a positive sentiment.
6. The system of claim 2, wherein the prompt to create the affinity
comprises a prompt to the caller to create the affinity via an
authenticated device, wherein the social media identity is
authorized via the authenticated device to utilize account-holder
functions of the social media website.
7. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor selects the social
media website from a plurality of social media websites.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor: upon first
determining that the affinity does not exist, prompts the caller to
establish the affinity; monitors the social media website for the
affinity; and upon a second determining that the affinity does not
exist within a first timeframe, re-prompts the caller to establish
the affinity.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor, upon a third
determining that the affinity does not exist within a second
timeframe, processes the caller as failing to establish the
affinity.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the call associated with the
caller is associated with a negative sentiment.
11. A method, comprising: accessing a call from a caller on a
network; prompting the caller to provide a social media identity of
the caller on a social media web site; upon receiving the social
media identity of the caller, determining whether an affinity
exists between the social media identity and an entity associated
with the contact center; and upon determining that the affinity
exists, selecting a first interaction with the caller in accordance
with the affinity; and upon determining that no current affinity
exists between the social media identify and the entity associated
with the contact center, selecting a second interaction with the
caller in accordance with the absence of the affinity, wherein the
second interaction differs from the first interaction; and
conducting the selected one of the first interaction or the second
interaction with the caller.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, upon failing to
determine the affinity exists between the social media identity and
an entity associated with the contact center, prompting the caller
to establish the affinity.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of prompting the
caller to establish the affinity, further comprises, sending an
affinity request to the social media identity.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising prompting the caller
to establish the affinity by accepting the affinity request.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of prompting the
caller to establish the affinity occurs prior to the caller
speaking with the agent selected to address a reason for the
call.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of prompting the
caller to establish the affinity occurs after the caller has spoken
with the agent selected to address a reason for the call.
17. A system, comprising: a communication interface to a network; a
processor to: access a call from a caller from the network; prompt
the caller to authenticate a social media identity of the caller on
a social media website; upon receiving the authentication of the
social media identity of the caller, determine whether an affinity
exists between the social media identity and an entity associated
with the contact center; upon determining that the affinity exists,
selecting a first interaction with the caller in accordance with
the affinity; and upon determining that no current affinity exists
between the social media identify and the entity associated with
the contact center, selecting a second interaction with the caller
in accordance with the absence of the affinity, wherein the second
interaction differs from the first interaction; and conducting the
selected one of the first interaction or the second interaction
with the caller.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor prompts the
caller to authenticate the social media identity prior to the
caller speaking with an agent selected to address a reason for the
call.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor prompts the
caller to authenticate the social media identity after the caller
has spoken with an agent selected to address a reason for the
call.
20. The system of claim 17, further comprising, upon not receiving
the authentication of the social media identity of the caller
within a previously determined timeframe, associating the call with
a negative sentiment.
Description
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0001] The present disclosure is generally directed toward
associating a node on a first electronic network to a node on a
second electronic network.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Contact centers and the companies they support have an
interest in acquiring as much context as possible about the
individuals calling the contact center. The caller context can aid
in call routing, issue resolution, on-call marketing, and beyond.
One valuable source of caller context is social media because a
caller's social media activity and profiles provide insights into
the caller's persona (e.g., name, age, gender, education,
interests, hobbies, etc.) as well as the caller's potential value
to the business. For example, a caller who posts about their
experiences with flights on various airlines on social media
reveals a lot about their travel frequency, destinations, and
preferences, thus providing valuable insights to an airline. The
value of this information is particularly high if this caller is
not yet known to the called business.
SUMMARY
[0003] It is with respect to the above issues and other problems
that the embodiments presented herein were contemplated. In one
embodiment, systems and methods are disclosed to establish a social
media connection between a caller and a business during a
conversation therebetween.
[0004] Customers are used to providing personal information to
companies for free in return for better service, discounts, useful
marketing, etc. Many customers, therefore, are not opposed to
sharing their social media profiles and activities with a business
whose contact center they are calling. Social media can also act as
a valuable add-on channel to a primary conversation channel between
a customer and a contact center agent or the business at large. The
value of the add-on channel can extend to both the customer and the
business. However, the prior art does not support the sharing of a
caller's social media information with the contact center.
[0005] Embodiments disclosed solve these and other issues by
providing a system and method operable to establish a social
connection between a caller and a business during a conversation by
injecting an IVR prompt to connect to a business's social media
site.
[0006] A customer calls a business's contact center. During the
hold time for an agent, the contact center's interactive voice
response (IVR) prompts the caller for an optional login to a social
network, such as Facebook, and explains the benefits of the login
for the customer, such as expedited authentication and/or other
benefits.
[0007] In one embodiment, a system receives the customer's social
network login and determines whether the customer has an existing
social relationship with the business on the social network. When a
customer calls the business's contact center and it is determined
that a social relationship does not exist, the proposed system can
inject a voice prompt into the IVR before or after the conversation
with the agent. The voice prompt asks the customer if they want to
"friend," "like," "follow," or use any other convention for the
business's social media site to enable the caller to establish a
connection, relationship, express interest, etc. The site pushed by
the business may be selected dynamically at runtime by the business
based on a desire to increase usage of the site, the potential
topic, and/or the specific Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
information for a specific caller. If the customer is pleased with
the service received from the business, in general, during this
call or is generally favorably inclined towards the business, they
may be willing to establish this social relationship with the
business.
[0008] A simple dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) input action
and/or voice response by the customer suffices to give consent to
entering into the social relationship. The system will thus
establish the social connection through the social network AP using
the customer's authenticated session with the social network.
Optionally, the system can ask the customer for extended
permissions related to the social media connection.
[0009] The social network login can be accomplished through various
means depending on how the call to the contact center is
established. The login process can be part of the IVR tree or the
simplified one-click login mechanism, which is supported by social
networks. If the call is established via a click-to-call mechanism
or an application that sets up the call, the one-click login
mechanism can be made part of the call establishment process.
[0010] The establishment of a social network connection between the
customer and the business is advantageous for the business as such
an establishment will enlarge the business's measurable social
media audience (e.g., likes/followers count). Furthermore, the
business can deduce a certain level of customer satisfaction from
the customer's "friend" action and conversely a certain level of
customer dissatisfaction if the customer opts to not "friend" the
business. By analyzing the demographics of customers who friend the
business versus those who choose not to, the business can gain
valuable insights into correlations between customer demographics
and customer satisfaction without having to explicitly poll
customers. The social network itself can be a source of demographic
information.
[0011] Likewise, other types of insights can be gained without
explicit polling. For example, by prompting some customers to
friend a business before the customer/agent interaction and
prompting a control group to friend the business after the
customer/agent interaction, the business can assess the customer
perception of the quality of the customer/agent interaction.
[0012] In one embodiment, a system is disclosed, comprising: a
communication interface to a network; a processor to: access a call
from a caller from the network; prompt the caller to provide a
social media identity of the caller on a social media website; upon
receiving the social media identity of the caller, determine if an
affinity exists between the social media identity and an entity
associated with the contact center; and upon determining that the
affinity exists, determine an interaction with the caller in
accordance with the affinity
[0013] In another embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising:
accessing a call from a caller on a network; prompting the caller
to provide a social media identity of the caller on a social media
website; upon receiving the social media identity of the caller,
determining if an affinity exists between the social media identity
and an entity associated with the contact center; and upon
determining that the affinity exists, determine an interaction with
the caller in accordance with the affinity.
[0014] In another embodiment, a system is disclosed, comprising: a
communication interface to a network; a processor to: access a call
from a caller from the network; prompt the caller to authenticate a
social media identity of the caller on a social media website; upon
receiving the authentication of the social media identity of the
caller, determine if an affinity exists between the social media
identity and an entity associated with the contact center; and upon
determining that the affinity exists, determine an interaction with
the caller in accordance with the affinity.
[0015] The phrases "at least one," "one or more," and "and/or" are
open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in
operation. For example, each of the expressions "at least one of A,
B and C," "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or more of A, B, and
C," "one or more of A, B, or C," and "A, B, and/or C" means A
alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and
C together, or A, B and C together.
[0016] The term "a" or "an" entity refers to one or more of that
entity. As such, the terms "a" (or "an"), "one or more," and "at
least one" can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be
noted that the terms "comprising," "including," and "having" can be
used interchangeably.
[0017] The term "automatic" and variations thereof, as used herein,
refers to any process or operation done without material human
input when the process or operation is performed. However, a
process or operation can be automatic, even though performance of
the process or operation uses material or immaterial human input,
if the input is received before performance of the process or
operation. Human input is deemed to be material if such input
influences how the process or operation will be performed. Human
input that consents to the performance of the process or operation
is not deemed to be "material."
[0018] The term "computer-readable medium," as used herein, refers
to any tangible storage that participates in providing instructions
to a processor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms,
including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,
and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example,
NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media includes
dynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of
computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a
flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic
medium, magneto-optical medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium,
punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of
holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a solid-state medium
like a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any
other medium from which a computer can read. When the
computer-readable media is configured as a database, it is to be
understood that the database may be any type of database, such as
relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.
Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include a tangible
storage medium and prior art-recognized equivalents and successor
media, in which the software implementations of the present
disclosure are stored.
[0019] The terms "determine," "calculate," and "compute," and
variations thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and
include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation,
or technique.
[0020] The term "module," as used herein, refers to any known or
later-developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial
intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and software
that is capable of performing the functionality associated with
that element. Also, while the disclosure is described in terms of
exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that other aspects
of the disclosure can be separately claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the
appended figures:
[0022] FIG. 1 depicts a first system in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure;
[0023] FIG. 2 depicts a second system in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0024] FIG. 3 depicts a first exchange in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0025] FIG. 4 depicts a second exchange in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0026] FIG. 5 depicts a contact center portion in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0027] FIG. 6 depicts a first process in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure; and
[0028] FIG. 7 depicts a second process in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] The ensuing description provides embodiments only and is not
intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the
claims. Rather, the ensuing description will provide those skilled
in the art with an enabling description for implementing the
embodiments. It will be understood that various changes may be made
in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from
the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
[0030] Any reference in the description comprising an element
number, without a subelement identifier when a subelement
identifier exists in the figures, when used in the plural, is
intended to reference any two or more elements with a like element
number. When such a reference is made in the singular form, it is
intended to reference one of the elements with the like element
number without limitation to a specific one of the elements. Any
explicit usage herein to the contrary or providing further
qualification or identification shall take precedence.
[0031] The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure will
also be described in relation to analysis software, modules, and
associated analysis hardware. However, to avoid unnecessarily
obscuring the present disclosure, the following description omits
well-known structures, components, and devices that may be shown in
block diagram form, and are well known or are otherwise
summarized.
[0032] For purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth
in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present
disclosure. It should be appreciated, however, that the present
disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the
specific details set forth herein.
[0033] With reference now to FIG. 1, communication system 100 is
discussed in accordance with at least some embodiments of the
present disclosure. The communication system 100 may be a
distributed system and, in some embodiments, comprises a
communication network 104 connecting one or more communication
devices 108 to a work assignment mechanism 116, which may be owned
and operated by an enterprise administering contact center 102 in
which a plurality of resources 112 is distributed to handle
incoming work items (in the form of contacts) from customer
communication devices 108.
[0034] Contact center 102 is variously embodied to receive and/or
send messages that are or are associated with work items and the
processing and management (e.g., scheduling, assigning, routing,
generating, accounting, receiving, monitoring, reviewing, etc.) of
the work items by one or more resources 112. The work items are
generally generated and/or received requests for a processing
resource 112 embodied as, or a component of, an electronic and/or
electromagnetically conveyed message. Contact center 102 may
include more or fewer components than illustrated and/or provide
more or fewer services than illustrated. The border indicating
contact center 102 may be a physical boundary (e.g., a building,
campus, etc.), legal boundary (e.g., company, enterprise, etc.),
and/or logical boundary (e.g., resources 112 utilized to provide
services to customers for a customer of contact center 102).
[0035] Furthermore, the border illustrating contact center 102 may
be as-illustrated or, in other embodiments, include alterations
and/or more and/or fewer components than illustrated. For example,
in other embodiments, one or more of resources 112, customer
database 118, and/or other component may connect to routing engine
132 via communication network 104, such as when such components
connect via a public network (e.g., Internet). In another
embodiment, communication network 104 may be a private utilization
of, at least in part, a public network (e.g., VPN); a private
network located, at least partially, within contact center 102; or
a mixture of private and public networks that may be utilized to
provide electronic communication of components described herein.
Additionally, it should be appreciated that components illustrated
as external, such as social media server 130 and/or other external
data sources 134 may be within contact center 102 physically and/or
logically, but still be considered external for other purposes. For
example, contact center 102 may operate social media server 130
(e.g., a website operable to receive user messages from customers
and/or resources 112) as one means to interact with customers via
their customer communication device 108.
[0036] Customer communication devices 108 are embodied as external
to contact center 102 as they are under the more direct control of
their respective user or customer. However, embodiments may be
provided whereby one or more customer communication devices 108 are
physically and/or logically located within contact center 102 and
are still considered external to contact center 102, such as when a
customer utilizes customer communication device 108 at a kiosk and
attaches to a private network of contact center 102 (e.g., WiFi
connection to a kiosk, etc.), within or controlled by contact
center 102.
[0037] It should be appreciated that the description of contact
center 102 provides at least one embodiment whereby the following
embodiments may be more readily understood without limiting such
embodiments. Contact center 102 may be further altered, added to,
and/or subtracted from without departing from the scope of any
embodiment described herein and without limiting the scope of the
embodiments or claims, except as expressly provided.
[0038] Additionally, contact center 102 may incorporate and/or
utilize social media server 130 and/or other external data sources
134 may be utilized to provide one means for a resource 112 to
receive and/or retrieve contacts and connect to a customer of a
contact center 102. Other external data sources 134 may include
data sources, such as service bureaus, third-party data providers
(e.g., credit agencies, public and/or private records, etc.).
Customers may utilize their respective customer communication
device 108 to send/receive communications utilizing social media
server 130.
[0039] In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present
disclosure, the communication network 104 may comprise any type of
known communication medium or collection of communication media and
may use any type of protocols to transport electronic messages
between endpoints. The communication network 104 may include wired
and/or wireless communication technologies. The Internet is an
example of the communication network 104 that constitutes an
Internet Protocol (IP) network consisting of many computers,
computing networks, and other communication devices located all
over the world, which are connected through many telephone systems
and other means. Other examples of the communication network 104
include, without limitation, a standard Plain Old Telephone System
(POTS), an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), the Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a
Wide Area Network (WAN), a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
network, a Voice over IP (VoIP) network, a cellular network, and
any other type of packet-switched or circuit-switched network known
in the art. In addition, it can be appreciated that the
communication network 104 need not be limited to any one network
type and instead may be comprised of a number of different networks
and/or network types. As one example, embodiments of the present
disclosure may be utilized to increase the efficiency of a
grid-based contact center 102. Examples of a grid-based contact
center 102 are more fully described in U.S. Patent Publication No.
2010/0296417 to Steiner, the entire contents of which are hereby
incorporated herein by reference. Moreover, the communication
network 104 may comprise a number of different communication media,
such as coaxial cable, copper cable/wire, fiber-optic cable,
antennas for transmitting/receiving wireless messages, and
combinations thereof.
[0040] The communication devices 108 may correspond to customer
communication devices. In accordance with at least some embodiments
of the present disclosure, a customer may utilize their
communication device 108 to initiate a work item. Illustrative work
items include, but are not limited to, a contact directed toward
and received at a contact center 102, a web page request directed
toward and received at a server farm (e.g., collection of servers),
a media request, an application request (e.g., a request for
application resources located on a remote application server, such
as a SIP application server), and the like. The work item may be in
the form of a message or collection of messages transmitted over
the communication network 104. For example, the work item may be
transmitted as a telephone call, a packet or collection of packets
(e.g., IP packets transmitted over an IP network), an email
message, an Instant Message, an SMS message, a fax, and
combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the communication may
not necessarily be directed at the work assignment mechanism 116,
but rather may be on some other server in the communication network
104 where it is harvested by the work assignment mechanism 116,
which generates a work item for the harvested communication, such
as social media server 130. An example of such a harvested
communication includes a social media communication that is
harvested by the work assignment mechanism 116 from a social media
network or server 130. Exemplary architectures for harvesting
social media communications and generating work items based thereon
are described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/784,369,
12/706,942, and 12/707,277, filed Mar. 20, 2010, Feb. 17, 2010, and
Feb. 17, 2010, respectively, each of which is hereby incorporated
herein by reference in its entirety.
[0041] The format of the work item may depend upon the capabilities
of the communication device 108 and the format of the
communication. In particular, work items are logical
representations within a contact center 102 of work to be performed
in connection with servicing a communication received at contact
center 102 (and, more specifically, the work assignment mechanism
116). The communication may be received and maintained at the work
assignment mechanism 116, a switch or server connected to the work
assignment mechanism 116, or the like, until a resource 112 is
assigned to the work item representing that communication at which
point the work assignment mechanism 116 passes the work item to a
routing engine 132 to connect the communication device 108, which
initiated the communication, with the assigned resource 112.
[0042] Although the routing engine 132 is depicted as being
separate from the work assignment mechanism 116, the routing engine
132 may be incorporated into the work assignment mechanism 116 or
its functionality may be executed by the work assignment engine
120.
[0043] In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present
disclosure, the communication devices 108 may comprise any type of
known communication equipment or collection of communication
equipment. Examples of a suitable communication device 108 include,
but are not limited to, a personal computer, laptop, Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA), cellular phone, smart phone, telephone, or
combinations thereof. In general, each communication device 108 may
be adapted to support video, audio, text, and/or data
communications with other communication devices 108 as well as the
processing resources 112. The type of medium used by the
communication device 108 to communicate with other communication
devices 108 or processing resources 112 may depend upon the
communication applications available on the communication device
108.
[0044] In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present
disclosure, the work item is sent toward a collection of processing
resources 112 via the combined efforts of the work assignment
mechanism 116 and routing engine 132. The resources 112 can either
be completely automated resources (e.g., Interactive Voice Response
(IVR) units, processors, servers, or the like), human resources
utilizing communication devices (e.g., human agents utilizing a
computer, telephone, laptop, etc.), or any other resource known to
be used in contact center 102.
[0045] As discussed above, the work assignment mechanism 116 and
resources 112 may be owned and operated by a common entity in a
contact center 102 format. In some embodiments, the work assignment
mechanism 116 may be administered by multiple enterprises, each of
which has its own dedicated resources 112 connected to the work
assignment mechanism 116.
[0046] In some embodiments, the work assignment mechanism 116
comprises a work assignment engine 120, which enables the work
assignment mechanism 116 to make intelligent routing decisions for
work items. In some embodiments, the work assignment engine 120 is
configured to administer and make work assignment decisions in a
queueless contact center 102, as is described in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/882,950, the entire contents of which are
hereby incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments, the
work assignment engine 120 may be configured to execute work
assignment decisions in a traditional queue-based (or skill-based)
contact center 102.
[0047] The work assignment engine 120 and its various components
may reside in the work assignment mechanism 116 or in a number of
different servers or processing devices. In some embodiments,
cloud-based computing architectures can be employed whereby one or
more components of the work assignment mechanism 116 are made
available in a cloud or network such that they can be shared
resources among a plurality of different users. Work assignment
mechanism 116 may access customer database 118, such as to retrieve
records, profiles, purchase history, previous work items, and/or
other aspects of a customer known to contact center 102. Customer
database 118 may be updated in response to a work item and/or input
from resource 112 processing the work item.
[0048] It should be appreciated that one or more components of
contact center 102 may be implemented in a cloud-based architecture
in their entirety, or components thereof (e.g., hybrid), in
addition to embodiments being entirely on-premises. In one
embodiment, customer communication device 108 is connected to one
of resources 112 via components entirely hosted by a cloud-based
service provider, wherein processing and data storage elements may
be dedicated to the operator of contact center 102 or shared or
distributed amongst a plurality of service provider customers, one
being contact center 102.
[0049] In one embodiment, a message is generated by customer
communication device 108 and received, via communication network
104, at work assignment mechanism 116. The message received by a
contact center 102, such as at the work assignment mechanism 116,
is generally, and herein, referred to as a "contact." Routing
engine 132 routes the contact to at least one of resources 112 for
processing.
[0050] FIG. 2 depicts system 200 in accordance with embodiments of
the present disclosure. In one embodiment, system 200 comprises
contact center 102. To avoid unnecessarily complicating the figure,
FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of the components of contact center
102 provided with respect to FIG. 1. In particular, interactive
voice response (IVR) 206 and a processor 208. IVR 206 and processor
208 may comprise automated resource 112 and/or a portion comprising
or comprised by work assignment mechanism 116, work assignment
engine 120, and/or routing engine 132.
[0051] In another embodiment, customer 202 places a call using
telephone 204. A resource 112 accepts the call, such as when
resource 112 is embodied by IVR 206. Contact center 102 may have
certain information associated with customer 202, such as
information provided by customer 202 directly to IVR 206, caller
identification (e.g., CallerID), etc. accessing customer database
118 and/or other data sources. However, caller 202 may have a
social media identity that is initially unknown to contact center
102.
[0052] In other embodiments, telephone 204 comprises, is comprised
by, or integrated with other forms of customer communication device
108. For example, telephone 204 may be an endpoint for SMS texts,
text chat, email, video chat, or other forms of communication.
Accordingly, telephone 204 and computing device 210 may be the same
customer communication device 108. However, merely as an aid to
clarity, the embodiment herein illustrates the use of telephone 204
to provide a voice-only call and computing device 210 is utilized
for accessing social media server 130.
[0053] Caller 202 is prompted by IVR 206, which may be further
directed by processor 208, to provide a social media identifier
(e.g., user name, sign-on, user name/password, etc.). Processor
208, upon receiving the social media identifier as a response to
IVR 206, accesses a data repository (not shown) and/or social media
server 130, such as via a webpage or other interface associated
with social media server 130. Processor 208 determines if an
affinity between the social media identity and contact center 102
or, optionally, an organization who authorizes contact center 102
to operate on its behalf. If an affinity (e.g., "like" on Facebook,
"link" on LinkedIn, "follow" on Twitter/Instagram, etc.) exists,
processor 208 may then access the profile of the social media
identity and associate the social media identity with caller 202.
Processor 208 may then analyze content of social media server 130
associated with caller 202, via the social media identity, to
determine relevant aspects of caller 202 and/or identify a
candidate reason for caller 202 to the place the call.
[0054] If no affinity exists, IVR 206 may prompt caller 202 to
provide or accept an affinity. For example, caller 202 may be
instructed to "friend" contact center 102 (or an organization
authorizing contact center 102) or to "accept" a friend request
from the organization. Processor 208 may then initiate an affinity
request to the social media identifier associated with caller 202
and/or accept an affinity request therefrom. The affinity may be
between the social media identity of caller 202 with contact center
102, an organization represented and/or authorized to operate on
behalf of contact center 102, and/or a segment thereof. For
example, caller 202 may be prompted to establish an affinity via a
"like" of a particular car made by an automobile manufacturer, a
charitable or other campaign associated with an enterprise (e.g., a
charity tennis tournament sponsored by a brokerage company), or
other enterprise or social media aspect associated with an
enterprise.
[0055] FIG. 3 depicts exchange 300 in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, IVR 206 provides
audio prompt 302 asking for permission to have the social media
identity of caller 202 on a specific social media website
("socialmedia.com"). In one embodiment, caller 202, utilizing
telephone 204, provides response 304 indicating a grant of
permission. Caller 202 may alternatively respond in the negative or
not at all, which may be treated as a refusal to grant permission
or a lack of presence on the specific social media website and/or
any social media website.
[0056] Upon receiving permission, IVR 206 presents prompt 306
asking for the social media identity. In one embodiment, caller 202
provides response 308 (e.g., username "ImaCaller") as a verbal
response, as will be described more completely with respect to FIG.
4. Other response types may also be provided. IVR 206, such as via
processor 208 and social media server 130, may then provide prompt
312 to accept an affinity and/or prompt user 202 to accept an
affinity request initiated by processor 208. Caller 202 may then
utilize computing device 210 to accept 310 the affinity request or
to initiate the affinity request. IVR 206 may provide
acknowledgment 314 to indicate that the affinity has been received
and/or established.
[0057] FIG. 4 depicts exchange 400 in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, caller 202 utilizes
device 402. In one embodiment, device 402 is both an Internet
connected device and telephony device (e.g., smartphone, softphone,
etc.). In another embodiment, device 402 may be a computer (e.g.,
computing device 210) or a distinct telephone device.
[0058] In one embodiment, device 402 initiates a call, such as by
selecting an operation on a webpage or application, such as "click
to talk" button 404. IVR 206 responds with prompt 406 asking for
permission to have an affinity with caller 202 and, optionally,
provide incentives for caller 202 to agree to the affinity. If
caller 202 provides indication 408 of agreement, IVR 206 may
provide instructions 410 on how to initiate and/or accept the
affinity. In one embodiment, IVR 206 instructs caller 202 to
"authenticate" themselves on the social media website (e.g.,
"socialmedia.com"). For example, a webpage or application, which
may include the "click to talk" feature, may display logos for a
selected one social media website 130 or a plurality of social
media websites. The logos may have a link to their respective
social media website 130 and means to authenticate the user, such
as caller 202, and a device, such as device 402. Caller 202 then
authenticates 412 and IVR 206 may then respond with confirmation
414. It should be appreciated that IVR 206 may be an automated
resource 112 when embodied as an automated text-based agent or
other automated agent operable to conduct an interaction with
customer 202 via device 402.
[0059] FIG. 5 depicts contact center portion 500 in accordance with
embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, a user,
such as customer 202, has agreed to an affinity with the contact
center, such as contact center 102. In one embodiment, processor
208 provides interaction prompt 506 to agent 502, such as to thank
the customer, introduce them to benefits they will be receiving,
and/or other aspects of agreeing to the affinity.
[0060] In another embodiment, agent 502 addresses the issue for
which the user has contacted the contact center and processor 208,
upon determining customer 202 and agent 502 have concluded their
interaction, prompts customer 202 to establish the affinity. Should
customer 202 comply, the interaction may be identified as having a
positive sentiment. However, if customer 202 does not comply, a
reminder may be provided to customer 202. For example, a message
may be sent utilizing the social media website or a message via
other contact channel may be provided. Should customer 202 continue
to not agree to the affinity, the interaction may be identified as
having a negative sentiment.
[0061] The contact center 102 may then attempt to follow up with
customer 202 to determine the reason for the positive/negative
sentiment, route a subsequent call from customer 202 to the same
agent 502, or to a different agent, based upon the determined
sentiment, or take other action in accordance with customer
sentiment and/or policies of contact center 102.
[0062] FIG. 6 depicts a process 600 in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, process 600 begins at
step 602 receiving a call at a contact center 102. It should be
appreciated that calls (e.g., audio-only communications) are one
means of communication. In other embodiments, other means of
communication, such as text chat, email, video chat, etc., are
utilized by the caller. Step 604 determines if the caller's social
media identity is known. In one embodiment, step 604 is performed
by an agent and/or IVR prompting the caller to provide their social
media identity. In another embodiment, such as when the caller is
utilizing a different communications medium (e.g., text chat,
email, etc.), step 604 may be determined by indexing an identifier
provided in step 602 (e.g., caller ID, email address, user name,
etc.) to a database, such as customer database 118 and/or social
media server 130, to determine if the caller's social media
identity is known.
[0063] If step 604 is determined in the negative, step 606 may be
performed to prompt the caller to provide their social media
identity. Step 606 may be performed by providing an audible prompt,
such as by IVR 206, and/or human or automated resource 112
providing text-based prompting. Step 608 determines if a first time
out or first refusal has occurred in response to the prompting for
the social media identity. If step 608 is determined in the
negative, processing may continue back to step 604 to reevaluate
whether the caller's social media identity is now known. If step
608 is determined in the negative, processing may continue to step
622 where the caller is associated with the absence of
affinity.
[0064] If step 604 is determined in the affirmative, processing may
continue to step 610 wherein the caller's affinity with the contact
center is determined. If step 610 is determined in the negative,
processing may continue to step 612 where the customer is prompted
to establish an affinity, such as by accepting an affinity request
from or by initiating an affinity request to the contact center.
Next, a second time out or refusal determination is made in step
614. If determined in the negative, processing may continue back to
step 610 wherein the caller's affinity with the contact center is
reevaluated. However if step 614 is determined in the positive,
processing may continue to step 622 wherein the caller is
associated with an absence of affinity. First and second time out
step 608, 614 may be determined based upon a timeout condition
within a first and second timeframe, respectively. One or both of
the first and second timeframe determination step 608, 614 may be
determined based upon a previously established threshold. The
threshold may be based upon a time the caller spent on hold or
likely to be waiting to establish connection with an agent. In
another embodiment, the timeframe may be longer (e.g., hours, days,
weeks, etc.), such as when the prompting for the social media
identity and/or affinity is determined after the caller-agent
interaction has completed (See FIG. 7).
[0065] If step 610 is determined in the affirmative, processing may
then continue to step 616 where the caller is associated with a
social media identity and is identified as having affinity with the
contact center 102. Step 618 optionally modifies an agent script in
accordance with the affinity, such as to provide special offers,
special handling of the call, and/or other benefits associated with
the affinity. Step 622 associates the caller with an absence of
affinity and, optionally, step 624 modifies the agent script in
accordance with the lack of affinity, for example, providing an
increased incentive to establishing the affinity, assuming a
negative sentiment, and/or other action associated with the
caller's lack of affinity with the contact center 102. Step 620 is
then enqueued, if no agent is yet available, and connects the call
to an agent for processing the call and providing the service for
which the caller has initiated the call to the contact center 102.
The call is then processed by the agent to provide the service.
[0066] FIG. 7 depicts a process 700 in accordance with embodiments
of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, process 700 generally
provides for the prompting of the caller for the affinity after the
caller has interacted with an agent or otherwise concluded the
transaction for which the caller has initiated the call. It should
be appreciated that calls (e.g., audio-only communications) are one
means of communication. In other embodiments, other means of
communication, such as text chat, email, video chat, etc., are
utilized by the caller. Step 702 is performed when a call is
received from the caller at a contact center, such as caller 202
calling contact center 102. Step 704 connects the call to the agent
immediately or upon enqueuing the call and waiting for an
appropriate agent to become available. Step 706 determines if the
interaction is complete and, if no, reverts back to step 704;
otherwise, processing may continue to step 708. Step 708 may be
performed if the caller is still connected to the contact center
102 or at a point afterwards such as by follow-up call or by
contacting the caller via a secondary means of communication known
to the contact center 102, such as via the caller's email
address.
[0067] Next, step 710 determines if affinity has been established.
If step 710 is determined in the negative, processing continues to
step 712 wherein a timeout/refusal determination is made. For
example, step 710 may be determined in the negative upon the caller
expressly declining to establish an affinity by not acting on a
request to establish the affinity, such as provided in step 708. A
loop may be created with step 708, 710, 712 wherein the caller is
prompted on one or more occasions to establish the affinity. A
delay may be inserted, such as a few seconds to a few minutes, when
the caller is still connected to the contact center 102. In another
embodiment, the delay may be inserted from hours to days or even
longer, if the caller is accessible via secondary means of
communication, such as a call-back, email follow-up, text, etc.
However, step 712 may determine that the caller, despite one or
more promptings by step 708, is not going to establish the
affinity. Therefore step 712, when determined in the affirmative,
may proceed to step 716 wherein a negative call experience is
inferred for the call. Conversely, if step 710 is determined in the
affirmative step, then step 714 may infer a positive call
experience.
[0068] Actions taken based upon the determination of a positive
call experience, such as in step 714, or a negative call
experience, such as step 716, may then be taken. For example, an
interaction between a caller and an agent may be resolved
positively or negatively, as suggested by caller 202 accepting or
not accepting the affinity, and accordingly, the particular agent
who handled the prior call may be designated as either desired or
not desired, or ineligible, to process a future work item
associated with caller 202. Follow-up calls or other inquiries may
also be made to determine if the caller is unsatisfied with respect
to a particular issue and if resolution may be made to improve the
customer experience. If the affinity is established, promotions,
rewards, incentives, or other benefits provided to the caller
having the affinity with the contact center may be provided.
[0069] As a benefit of establishing the affinity, the caller
receives certain perks. The contact center receives access to a
caller's social media identity, which may lead to a better
understanding of their customers and the goods and services they
like or do not like, based upon social media elements, which may or
may not be directly related to the contact center or goods and
services provided by the contact center. The contact center may
then strengthen the caller-contact center relationship to build
loyalty, get advanced notice of issues, and/or otherwise improve
the relationship with the caller.
[0070] In the foregoing description, for the purposes of
illustration, methods were described in a particular order. It
should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments, the methods
may be performed in a different order than that described. It
should also be appreciated that the methods described above may be
performed by hardware components or may be embodied in sequences of
machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a
machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purpose processor
(GPU or CPU), or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to
perform the methods (FPGA). These machine-executable instructions
may be stored on one or more machine-readable mediums, such as
CD-ROMs or other type of optical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs,
RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or
other types of machine-readable mediums suitable for storing
electronic instructions. Alternatively, the methods may be
performed by a combination of hardware and software.
[0071] Specific details were given in the description to provide a
thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments
may be practiced without these specific details. For example,
circuits may be shown in block diagrams in order not to obscure the
embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known
circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be
shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the
embodiments.
[0072] Also, it is noted that the embodiments were described as a
process, which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data
flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a
flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many
of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In
addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process
is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have
additional steps not included in the figure. A process may
correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a
subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its
termination corresponds to a return of the function to the calling
function or the main function.
[0073] Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an
entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment
(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an
embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all
generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," "module" or
"system." Any combination of one or more computer-readable
medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be a
computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage
medium.
[0074] A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but
not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,
infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any
suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a
non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium would
include the following: an electrical connection having one or more
wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access
memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable
read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a
portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage
device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of
the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable
storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or
store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction
execution system, apparatus, or device.
[0075] A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated
data signal with computer-readable program code embodied therein,
for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a
propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including,
but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable
combination thereof. A computer-readable signal medium may be any
computer-readable medium that is not a computer-readable storage
medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program
for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,
apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer-readable
medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including,
but not limited to, wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF,
etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
[0076] While illustrative embodiments of the disclosure have been
described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the
inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed
and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to
include such variations, except as limited by the prior art.
* * * * *