Employing speech recognition and key words to improve customer service

1. A method for handling information used in customer service, said method comprising:

capturing a customer's speech;

recognizing a key word in said customer's speech;

based on said key word, searching a database;

retrieving information from said database, wherein said retrieving is completed during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

initiating action, based on said keyword, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected from the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

5. A method for handling information used in customer service, said method comprising:

receiving speech input from a customer;

performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

parsing said text to identify a key word;

searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

retrieving information from said database, wherein said retrieving is completed during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said initiating action includes performing one or more tasks selected from the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

10. A system for handling information used in customer service, said system comprising:

means for receiving speech input from a customer;

means for performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

means for parsing said text to identify a key word;

means for searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

means for retrieving information from said database, wherein said means for retrieving completes its operation during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representetive; and

means for providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising:

means for initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein said means for initiating action includes means for performing one or more tasks selected from the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

15. A computer-usable medium having computer-executable instructions for handling information used in customer service, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

means for receiving speech input from a customer;

means for performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

means for parsing said text to identify a key word;

means for searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

means for retrieving information from said database, wherein said means for retrieving completes its operation during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

means for providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

16. The computer-usable medium of claim 15 , wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

17. The computer-usable medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

means for initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

18. The computer-usable medium of claim 17 , wherein said means for initiating action includes means for performing one or more tasks selected form the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

19. The computer-usable medium of claim 15 , wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative includes:

identifying a plurality of actions that may be performed to address an issue raised by the customer during the conversation;

ranking actions within the plurality of actions based on a criteria to thereby generate a ranked list of actions for addressing the issue; and

outputting the ranked list of actions to the customer service representative.

21. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

requesting approval of the action from the customer service representative; and

stopping the action if the customer service representative does not provide approval of the action.

22. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

initiating an action in the ranked list of actions;

requesting approval of the action from the customer service representative;

stopping the action if the customer service representative does not provide approval of the action;

removing the action from the ranked list of actions in response to stopping the action; and

revising the ranked list of actions in response to removing the action from the ranked list of actions.

23. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

performing a plurality of actions in the ranked list of actions in an order determined based on the ranking of actions in the ranked list of actions.