Granted Patent B2

US 8,345,857 · App. 12/239,738 · Granted Jan 1, 2013

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A method of reducing non-value added time between calls serviced at a call center, the method comprising:

setting a default state of an operator workstation of a call center advisor by:

evaluating usage of an after-call work state for a team of advisors; and

setting the default state to i) the after-call work state when the usage of the after-call work state occurs for more than 50% of calls received by the team of advisors, or ii) a call ready state when the usage of the after-call work state occurs for less than or equal to 50% of calls received by the team of advisors;

enabling an other state of the operator workstation of the call center advisor, the other state being one of the after-call work state or the call ready state and being other than the default state, and the other state being configured to be selectively activated during a call from a subscriber vehicle when the call center advisor indicates that there is a need for the other state; and

i) if the call center advisor does not activate the other state during the call, then upon completion of the call, automatically setting the operator station of the call center advisor to the default state; or ii) if the call center advisor activates the other state during the call, then upon completion of the call, automatically setting the operator station of the call center advisor to the other state.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the advisor at the call center, the call from the subscriber vehicle;

opening a case upon receiving the call; and

servicing the call.

3. The method as defined in claim 2 wherein after the advisor activates the other state, and the other state is an after-call work state, the method further comprises:

engaging in work during the after-call-work state;

upon completing the work, via the advisor, closing the case; and

upon closing the case, automatically switching to the default state.

4. The method as defined in claim 2 , further comprising:

recognizing, via the operator station of the advisor, that the call has been dropped or that the subscriber vehicle has completed the call;

upon such recognition and prior to automatically setting the operator station to the default state, inquiring as to whether the advisor would like to i) close the case, or ii) activate the other state; and

selecting, by the advisor, to either i) close the case, or ii) activate the other state.

5. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the default state is set to the after-call-work state and the team of call center advisors is a specialty team, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the call center, the call from the subscriber vehicle;

determining whether the call is appropriate for the specialty team;

routing the call to the specialty team;

upon completion of the call, automatically entering the after-call-work state; and

switching to the call ready state upon completing work in the after-call-work state.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the default state is set to the after-call-work state and the team of call center advisors is a specialty team, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the call center, the call from the subscriber vehicle;

determining whether the call is appropriate for the specialty team;

routing the call to the specialty team;

during the call, recognizing that the after-call-work state will not be utilized;

during the call, overriding the default state with the call ready state; and

upon completion of the call, automatically entering the call ready state.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the team of call center advisors is a specialty team, and the usage of the after-call work state for the specialty team is less than or equal to 50% of the calls received by the specialty team, and wherein the method further comprises:

setting the default state of the operator station to the call ready state; and

selectively enabling the after-call-work state during the call such that a specialty team advisor can manually switch from the call ready state to the after-call-work state.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the team of advisors is a specialty team, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at a call servicing system in the call center, the call from the subscriber vehicle;

determining whether the call is appropriate for the specialty team, the determining being accomplished by the call servicing system by i) accessing a subscriber profile that is flagged, or ii) recognizing a routine request for a service that is serviceable by the specialty team; and then routing, by a switch at the call center, the call to the specialty team.

9. A system of reducing non-value added time between calls serviced at a call center, the system comprising:

a subscriber vehicle in selective communication with the call center; and

an advisor operator station at the call center configured with one or more algorithms to:

i) set a default state of the advisor operator station by:

evaluating usage of an after-call work state for a team of advisors;

setting the default state to i) the after-call work state when the usage of the after-call work state occurs for more than 50% of calls received by the team of advisors, or ii) a call ready state when the usage of the after-call work state occurs for less than or equal to 50% of calls received by the team of advisors;

ii) set an other state of the advisor operator station, the other state being one of the after-call work state or the call ready state, and the other state being other than the default state;

iii) enable the other state to be selectively activated during a call from the subscriber vehicle when a call center advisor indicates that there is a need for the other state;

iv) automatically set the advisor operator station to the default state upon completion of the call with the subscriber vehicle when the call center advisor does not activate the other state during the call, and

v) override the default state when the call center advisor activates the other state during the call.

10. The system as defined in claim 9 wherein the other state is the after-call work state, and wherein the one or more algorithms are further to:

enable the call center advisor to open a case in response to receiving the call;

enable the advisor to engage in work during the after-call-work state when the call center advisor activates the after-call work state;

enable the advisor to close the case upon completing the work; and

automatically switch to the call ready state upon recognizing that the advisor has closed the case.

11. The system as defined in claim 9 wherein the other state is the after-call work state, and wherein the one or more algorithms are further to:

recognize that the call has been dropped or that the subscriber vehicle has completed the call;

upon the recognition and prior to automatically setting the operator station to the default state, inquire as to whether the advisor would like to i) close the case, or ii) activate the after-call-work state; and

enable the advisor to i) close the case, or ii) activate the after-call-work state.

12. The system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the team of advisors is a specialty team at the call center, and wherein the system further comprises a specialty team operator station configured to have the after-call-work state as the default state when usage of the after-call work state for the specialty team exceeds 50% of the calls received by the specialty team.

13. The system as defined in claim 12 wherein the default state is set to the after-call-work state, and wherein the specialty team operator station is further configured to:

automatically enter the after-call-work state after the call with the subscriber vehicle is complete; and

switch to the call ready state upon completing work in the after-call-work state.

14. The system as defined in claim 12 wherein the default state is set to the after-call-work state, and wherein the specialty team operator station is further configured to:

enable a specialty team advisor at the call center to override the default state with the call ready state upon recognizing, during the call, that the after-call-work state will not be utilized;

recognize that the specialty team advisor has overridden the default state; and

automatically enter the call ready state upon completion of the call.

15. The system as defined in claim 12 , further comprising:

means for determining if the call qualifies as a call for the specialty team; and

a switch, at the call center, for delivering the call to the specialty team.

Assignments (14)