US6603854B1 — System and method for evaluating agents in call c…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 157 words

A method of monitoring performance of agents in a call center comprising the steps of: receiving a call within a call center having a plurality of agents, an automatic call distributor (ACD) server for routing calls to individual agents based on the proficiency skills of the agents, and an interactive voice response (IVR) server that is functionally integrated with said ACD server; determining the requested type of service for the call; routing the call to an agent based on the requested type of service; after the call between an agent and caller is completed, transferring the call to the IVR server and soliciting responses from the caller to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent; and in the event that a caller response is indicative of a poor rating of an agent or call center, transferring the caller to a supervisor at a supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 157 words

A method of monitoring performance of agents in a call center comprising the steps of: receiving a call within a call center having a plurality of agents, an automatic call distributor (ACD) server for routing calls to individual agents based on the proficiency skills of the agents, and an interactive voice response (IVR) server that is functionally integrated with said ACD server; determining the requested type of service for the call; routing the call to an agent based on the requested type of service; after the call between an agent and caller is completed, transferring the call to the IVR server and soliciting responses from the caller to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent; and in the event that a caller response is indicative of a poor rating of an agent or call center, transferring the caller to a supervisor at a supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 54 words

A method according to claim 1 , and further comprising a supervisor computer located at the supervisor station that receives status data at predetermined time intervals from said ACD server relating to the real time status changes of agents and incoming calls for real time analysis by the supervisor and generating real time reports.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 32 words

A method according to claim 2 , wherein said real time reports comprise real time reports of calls answered, calls abandoned, talk time, agent status, calls in queue or agents in queue.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 38 words

A method according to claim 3 , and further comprising the step of displaying said real time reports for viewing the performance of groups of agents that are categorized by teams of agents, agents, DNIS, or agent skill.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 24 words

A method according to claim 2 , wherein the predetermined time intervals for forwarding status data from the ACD server is about 1-5 seconds.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 25 words

A method according to claim 2 , wherein the supervisor computer includes a monitor for displaying the real time reports in a graphical user interface.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 53 words

A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of determining the requested type of service for the call comprises the steps of receiving the call within the IVR server and soliciting responses from the caller to determine a requested type of service and what skills are required for answering a call.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 40 words

A method according to claim 5 , and further comprising the step of routing the call to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service.

Claim 10

Independent Claim 251 words

A method of monitoring performance of agents in a call center comprising the steps of: receiving a call within a call center having a plurality of agents, an automatic call distributor (ACD) server for routing calls to individual agents based on the proficiency skills of the agents, an interactive voice response (IVR) server that is functionally integrated with said IVR server, a structured query language (SQL) server having an associated historical database for call center statistics, and a supervisor computer located at a supervisor station that is in communication with said ACD server and SQL server and associated database; determining the requested type of service for the call to determine what skills are required for answering the call; routing the call to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service; after the call between an agent and caller is completed, transferring the call to the IVR server and soliciting responses to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent, wherein said answers are numerical entries in response to rating questions from said IVR server; in the event that a numerical entry is indicative of a poor rating, transferring the caller to a supervisor at the supervisor station for personal questioning of said caller; and forwarding from the SQL server and associated historical database any historical statistical data relating to the agent that handled the transferred call and associated call center operation.

Claim 11

Independent Claim 251 words

A method of monitoring performance of agents in a call center comprising the steps of: receiving a call within a call center having a plurality of agents, an automatic call distributor (ACD) server for routing calls to individual agents based on the proficiency skills of the agents, an interactive voice response (IVR) server that is functionally integrated with said IVR server, a structured query language (SQL) server having an associated historical database for call center statistics, and a supervisor computer located at a supervisor station that is in communication with said ACD server and SQL server and associated database; determining the requested type of service for the call to determine what skills are required for answering the call; routing the call to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service; after the call between an agent and caller is completed, transferring the call to the IVR server and soliciting responses to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent, wherein said answers are numerical entries in response to rating questions from said IVR server; in the event that a numerical entry is indicative of a poor rating, transferring the caller to a supervisor at the supervisor station for personal questioning of said caller; and forwarding from the SQL server and associated historical database any historical statistical data relating to the agent that handled the transferred call and associated call center operation.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 46 words

A method according to claim 9 , wherein said supervisor computer receives status data at predetermined time intervals from said ACD server relating to the real time status changes of agents and incoming calls for real time analysis by the supervisor and generating real time reports.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 32 words

A method according to claim 10 , wherein said real time reports comprise real time reports of calls answered, calls abandoned, talk time, agent status, calls in queue or agents in queue.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 38 words

A method according to claim 11 , and further comprising the step of displaying said real time reports for viewing the performance of groups of agents that are categorized by teams of agents, agents, DNIS, or agent skill.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 24 words

A method according to claim 10 , wherein the predetermined time intervals for forwarding status data from the ACD server is about three seconds.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 24 words

A method according to claim 10 , wherein the supervisor computer includes a monitor for displaying real time reports on a graphical user interface.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 53 words

A method according to claim 9 , wherein said step of determining the requested type of service for the call comprises the steps of receiving the call within the IVR server and soliciting responses from the caller to determine a requested type of service and what skills are required for answering a call.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 40 words

A method according to claim 15 , and further comprising the step of routing the call to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 204 words

A call center system that monitors agent performance comprising: a call center switch for receiving incoming calls; a plurality of agents for receiving incoming calls; a structured query language (SQL) server having a historical database of call center statistics; an interactive voice response (IVR) server for soliciting responses from a caller relating to a requested type of service and for caller rating of an agent and the call center; an automatic call distributor (ACD) server connected to said call center switch and functionally integrated with said IVR server for routing calls to the plurality of agents; and a supervisor station in communication with the ACD server and SQL server; wherein after a call is completed between an agent and the caller, the call is transferred to the IVR server for soliciting responses from the caller as to the performance of the call center and agent, wherein the answers are numerical entries in response to rating questions, and in the event that a numerical entry is a predetermined value indicative of a poor rating, the call is transferred to the supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller by a supervisor and supervisor analysis of historical statistics that have been retrieved from the historical database.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 204 words

A call center system that monitors agent performance comprising: a call center switch for receiving incoming calls; a plurality of agents for receiving incoming calls; a structured query language (SQL) server having a historical database of call center statistics; an interactive voice response (IVR) server for soliciting responses from a caller relating to a requested type of service and for caller rating of an agent and the call center; an automatic call distributor (ACD) server connected to said call center switch and functionally integrated with said IVR server for routing calls to the plurality of agents; and a supervisor station in communication with the ACD server and SQL server; wherein after a call is completed between an agent and the caller, the call is transferred to the IVR server for soliciting responses from the caller as to the performance of the call center and agent, wherein the answers are numerical entries in response to rating questions, and in the event that a numerical entry is a predetermined value indicative of a poor rating, the call is transferred to the supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller by a supervisor and supervisor analysis of historical statistics that have been retrieved from the historical database.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 64 words

A call center system according to claim 17 , wherein said supervisor station includes a supervisor computer that receives status data and historical statistics at predetermined time intervals from said ACD server and SQL server relating to the real time status changes of agents and incoming calls for real time report generation and historical analysis of the agent and call center by the supervisor.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 34 words

A call center system according to claim 18 , wherein said real time reports comprise real time reports of calls answered, calls abandoned, talk time, agent status, calls in queue or agents in queue.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 166 words

A call center system that monitors agent performance comprising: a call center switch for receiving incoming calls; a plurality of agents for receiving incoming calls; an interactive voice response (IVR) server for soliciting responses from a caller relating to a requested type of service and for caller rating of an agent and the call center; an automatic call distributor (ACD) server connected to said call center switch and functionally integrated with said IVR server for routing calls to the plurality of agents; a supervisor station in communication with the ACD server and SQL server; wherein after a call is completed between an agent and the caller, said call is transferred to said IVR server for soliciting responses to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent, and in the event that a response is indicative of a poor rating, the call is transferred to the supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller by the supervisor and generating real time reports.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 166 words

A call center system that monitors agent performance comprising: a call center switch for receiving incoming calls; a plurality of agents for receiving incoming calls; an interactive voice response (IVR) server for soliciting responses from a caller relating to a requested type of service and for caller rating of an agent and the call center; an automatic call distributor (ACD) server connected to said call center switch and functionally integrated with said IVR server for routing calls to the plurality of agents; a supervisor station in communication with the ACD server and SQL server; wherein after a call is completed between an agent and the caller, said call is transferred to said IVR server for soliciting responses to allow the caller to rate the performance of the call center and agent, and in the event that a response is indicative of a poor rating, the call is transferred to the supervisor station for personal questioning of the caller by the supervisor and generating real time reports.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 48 words

A call center system according to claim 20 , wherein said supervisor station includes a supervisor computer that receives status data at predetermined time intervals from said ACD server relating to the real time status changes of agents and incoming calls for real time analysis by a supervisor.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 34 words

A call center system according to claim 21 , wherein said real time reports comprise real time reports of calls answered, calls abandoned, talk time, agent status, calls in queue or agents in queue.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2006-08-04	2007-02-03	2007-08-05	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2010-08-04	2011-02-03	2011-08-05	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2014-08-04	2015-02-03	2015-08-05	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

System and method for evaluating agents in call center

Abstract

Inventors

Bibliographic Details

Claims Analysis

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Assigned Categories & Tags

Assign Category Tag