Real-time point-of-sale change-of-address processing
View Patent ↗The present invention provides the ability to solicit and obtain updated information about a customer or person. The present invention can be incorporated into a service provision system and thus, request updated information from a customer attempting to access the service. In operation, when the customer requests a service, the customer either provides or is requested to provide sufficient information to identify the customer. The system then extracts a customer profile based on the identity of the customer. Portions or all of the customer profile is then presented to the customer to verify for correctness. If the information is incorrect, the customer can provide updated information immediately to the system. The system can force the customer to either update the information or affirmatively indicate the information is correct before providing the service.
1. A system for updating customer information in real-time when providing services to the customer, the system comprising:
a server;
a terminal located at a merchant's facility and interfacing to the server over a network and a data interface for receiving a data source, the terminal being operable to:
receive a service selection from a customer, the service selection includes customer identification information; and
provide the service selection to the server;
the server, in response to receiving the service selection:
identifying customer profile information based on the customer identification information, the customer profile information comprising a customer address;
determining that the customer address is to be updated; and
if the customer address is to be updated, providing an indication to the customer through the terminal;
the terminal being further operable to receive updated customer profile information at the data interface and providing the updated customer profile information to the server; and the server, in response to receiving the updated customer profile information, being further operable to provide the requested service; wherein the server is operable to apply heuristics to determine if the customer profile information should be updated by:
identifying the location of the terminal at which the service selection was made;
if the address of the terminal is outside a threshold radius of the address included in the customer profile information, then assuming the customer profile information is suspect; and
if the customer profile information is suspect, determining the customer profile information should be updated.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a scanner and the terminal is operable to receive updated customer profile information by scanning a filled out form.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a display and an input device and the terminal is operable to receive updated customer profile information by providing an electronic form on the display and receiving input data through the input device.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a speaker and microphone and the terminal is operable to receive updated customer profile information by providing audible prompts to the customer via the speaker and receiving audible responses via the microphone.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the terminal includes a speaker and an input device and the terminal is operable to receive updated customer profile information by providing audible prompts to the customer via the speaker and receiving responses via the input device.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the speaker and the input device are integrated into a telephone set type of interface.
7. A system for updating customer information in real-time when providing services to the customer, the system comprising:
a server;
a terminal located at a merchant's facility and interfacing to the server over a network and a data interface for receiving a data source, the terminal being operable to:
receive a service selection from a customer, the service selection includes customer identification information; and
provide the service selection to the server;
the server, in response to receiving the service selection:
identifying customer profile information based on the customer identification information, the customer profile information comprising a customer address;
determining that the customer address is to be updated; and
if the customer address is to be updated, providing an indication to the customer through the terminal;
the terminal being further operable to receive updated customer profile information at the data interface and providing the updated customer profile information to the server; and the server, in response to receiving the updated customer profile information, being further operable to provide the requested service; wherein the server is operable to apply heuristics to determine if the customer profile information should be updated by:
identifying the location of the terminal at which the service selection was made;
if the address of the terminal is outside a threshold radius of the address included in the customer profile information, then assuming the customer profile information is suspect; and
if the customer profile information is suspect, providing at least a portion of the customer profile information to the customer via the terminal; and
requesting the customer to indicate whether the information is incorrect and thus should be updated.