System and method for out-of-band communication with contact centers

1. A method for connecting a website user to a contact center, the method comprising:

establishing a communication channel between a user and an agent of the contact center, the communication channel comprising a voice communication channel, the voice communication channel being associated with a session identifier;

establishing a supplemental channel between a web browser of the user and the contact center in accordance with the session identifier, the supplemental channel being configured to at least transmit data from the user to the agent of the contact center;

displaying the supplemental channel and the website concurrently in the web browser of the user; and

storing the data exchanged in the supplemental channel in association with the communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a call request via a website accessed by the user via a web browser, wherein the communication channel is established with a media engine integrated into the web browser.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein text-based chat is conducted between the user and the agent.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein screen sharing is conducted between the user and the agent.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein information is transferred between the user and the agent using web forms.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication channel and the supplemental channel are associated with a single session identifier.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the establishing the communication channel comprises requesting information via the supplemental channel.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the requesting information comprises transmitting a web-based form to a web browser associated with the single session identifier.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental channel comprises a socket connection.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the communication channel comprises:

receiving information from the website user via the supplemental channel; and

identifying the agent of the contact center based on the information.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the information comprises a response to a web-based form.

12. A system for providing supplemental media and data exchange in a contact center, the system comprising:

a call server configured to establish a plurality of communication channels between a plurality of users of a website and a plurality of agents of the contact center, each of the plurality of communication channels being associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of session identifiers;

a routing server configured to route a plurality of requests for connections to the plurality of agents of the contact center;

a supplemental application server configured to:

establish a plurality of supplemental communication channels between a plurality of web browsers associated with the plurality of users in accordance with the corresponding one of the session identifiers, the supplemental channels being configured to at least transmit data from the users to the agents of the contact center;

display the supplemental channels and the website concurrently in the web browsers of the users; and

a database for storing the data exchanged via the supplemental channel in association with the communication channel.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the call server is configured to receive a plurality of call requests via a website accessed by the users, wherein the communication channel is established with a media engine integrated into a web browser used by one or more of the users.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein each of the communication channels is associated with corresponding ones of the supplemental communication channels and each of the communication channels and its corresponding supplemental communication channels are associated with a single session identifier, the single session identifier being distinct from a session identifier associated with another of the communication channels.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to provide a text-based chat channel between the user and the agent.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to provide a screen sharing channel between the user and the agent.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to receive responses to web forms from the user.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein the routing server is further configured to route requests to the agents using routing information received from the supplemental application server.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the supplemental application server is further configured to receive routing information from a plurality of web browsers associated with the users via the supplemental communication channels.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein each of the supplemental channels comprises a socket connection.