Agent override of a call answering outcome determination of an outbound call in a contact center
A dialer is configured to connect an agent to a call upon answer and present information to a computer workstation used by the agent as to whether the call was answered by a live person or an automatic call answering device (“ACAD”). An agent override timer is started allowing the agent to override the determination of whether a live person or ACAD answered the call. If an live person is reported to have answered the call and the agent does not provide an override indication or provides an override indication after the expiry of the agent override timer, then the call proceeds as normal. If an agent override indication is received prior to the expiry of the agent override timer, then the call may be terminated. This allows the agent to override an incorrect determination by the dialer as to an ACAD or live person answering the call.
1. A system in a contact center comprising:
a telephone dialer in the contact center comprising a processor configured to:
originate a call by the telephone dialer to a telephone number;
connect an agent to the call that is available from among a plurality of agents in the contact center;
start an agent-override timer after the call is answered;
preliminarily determine a live person has answered the call;
cause an icon to be displayed on a computer used by the agent, wherein the icon when selected by the agent indicates an automatic call answering device (“ACAD”) has answered the call; and
terminate the call to the ACAD after the agent selects the icon indicating the ACAD has actually answered the call.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein connecting the agent to the call occurs after the live person has been preliminarily determined as answering the call.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the icon is selected by the agent prior to an expiry of the agent-override timer, the selection indicating the ACAD has answered the call.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein an announcement is played to the ACAD prior to terminating the call to the ACAD.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein information reflecting the live person answered the call is displayed on the computer used by the agent.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein a recording of the call is retained along with an indication the agent selected the icon.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the recording of the call includes a greeting provided by the ACAD.
8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor in a call handler in a contact center cause the processor to:
determine an agent from among a plurality of agents in the contact center is available to be connected to a call originated by the call handler;
cause the call to be originated;
connect the agent to the call;
start an agent-override timer after the call is answered;
receive an indication based on a greeting received after the call is answered that a live person has been preliminarily determined to have answered the call;
cause an icon to be displayed on a computer used by the agent, wherein selection of the icon by the agent indicates an automatic call answering device (“ACAD”) has answered the call; and
terminate the call to the ACAD after the agent selects the icon indicating the ACAD has answered the call.
9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
connect the agent to the call after the live person has been preliminarily determined to have answered the call.
10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
receive an icon selection indication prior to an expiry of the agent-override timer reflecting the agent selected the icon indicating the ACAD answered the call.
11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
play an announcement to the ACAD after receiving the icon selection indication reflecting the agent selected the icon.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
cause information reflecting the live person has been preliminarily determined to have answered the call to be displayed on the computer used by the agent in response to preliminarily determining the live person has answered the call.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
retain a recording of the call along with an indication of the agent selecting the icon.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the recording of the call includes a greeting provided by the ACAD.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to:
terminate the call after playing the announcement to the ACAD; and
release the agent from the call.
16. A method for determining an automatic call answering device (“ACAD”) has answered a call originating from a contact center comprising:
determining an agent from among a plurality of agents in the contact center is available to be connected to the call;
originating the call from a telephone dialer in the contact center;
connecting the agent to the call;
starting an agent-override timer after the call is answered;
determining preliminarily a live person has answered the call;
causing an icon to be displayed on a computer used by the agent;
receiving an indication the icon was selected by the agent indicating an ACAD has answered the call instead of the live person; and
terminating the call to the ACAD after the agent selects the icon indicating the ACAD has actually answered the call.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the operation of connecting the agent to the call occurs after determining preliminarily the live person has answered the call.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein receiving the indication the icon was selected by the agent occurs prior to an expiry of the agent-override timer.
19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
playing an announcement to the ACAD prior to terminating the call to the ACAD.
20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
retaining a recording of the call along with the indication the icon was selected by the agent.