Providing improved contact center agent assistance during a secure transaction involving an interactive voice response unit
A secure payment agent assist (“SPAA”) feature provides assistance to a contact center agent during a payment transaction, where payment information provided by the remote party is maintained in secure manner, so that the agent is not exposed to the payment information. The agent is assisted by being provided with a pop-up window that allows the agent to invoke a “recollect” and “cancel” function during the transaction. The pop-up window also provide information to the agent making the agent aware of the progress of the transaction as the remote party interacts with an interactive voice response (“IVR”) unit. In other embodiments, a configuration parameter allows the prompts for the payment information to be provided by the agent or the IVR.
1. A method for assisting an agent in a contact center when processing a secure payment agent assist (“SPAA”) transaction comprising a credit card transaction involving a remote party, comprising:
defining a prompt-type parameter indicating whether a prompt for credit card information to the remote party is to be provided during the SPAA transaction by the agent or by an interactive voice response (“IVR”) playing a recorded prompt;
processing a call by a call handler involving the agent and the remote party;
requesting the SPAA transaction by the agent using a computer pertaining to the call processed by the call handler;
connecting the IVR by the call handler with the call using a voice over internet protocol (“VoIP”) call leg;
determining the prompt-type parameter indicates the prompt for the credit card information is to be provided by the agent;
displaying to the agent on a pop-up window on the computer a first prompt script for entering the credit card information in response to determining the prompt-type parameter indicates the prompt for the credit card information is to be provided by the agent;
displaying to the agent on the pop-up window a generic visual indicator (“GVI”) a numerical digit of the credit card information provided by the remote party, wherein the GVI of the numerical digit does not indicate the numerical digit itself;
displaying to the agent on the pop-up window a validation indicator that the credit card information was validated; and
displaying to the agent on the pop-up window a second prompt script for entering credit card information comprising one of an expiration date or a credit verification value.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:
receiving from the computer a recollect function request initiated by the agent;
removing the second prompt script on the pop-up window in response to receiving the recollect function request;
removing the indication of the GVI displayed on the pop-up window; and
re-displaying the first prompt script on the pop-up window in response to receiving the recollect function request.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
resetting a collection attempt counter in response to receiving the recollect function request initiated by the agent.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises:
receiving from the computer a cancel request provided by the agent; and
detaching the VoIP call leg to the IVR from the call in response to receiving the cancel request.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
decrementing a license counter after the agent invokes the SPAA transaction request.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a generic audible indicator (“GAI”) to the agent in response to receiving the credit card information from the remote party.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the remote party provides the credit card information by generating at least one dual tone multiple frequency (“DTMF”) tone, wherein the at least one DTMF tone is not provided to the agent, and
a message conveying a numerical value indicated by the at least one DTMF tone is provided to the IVR but not to the computer used by the agent.
8. A system for assisting an agent processing a secure payment agent assist (“SPAA”) transaction comprising a credit card transaction, comprising:
a call handler configured to bridge a second voice over internet protocol (“VoIP”) call leg onto a call with a remote party, the call comprising
a first voice over internet protocol (“VoIP”) call leg involving an agent, wherein the call handler is configured to:
retrieve a prompt-type parameter stored in memory prior to the call to determine whether a prompt for credit card information is to be provided by the agent or an interactive voice response unit;
provide audio comprising speech from the agent to the remote party,
block dual tone multiple frequency (“DTMF”) tones originating from the remote party from being provided as audio to the agent during the SPAA transaction, and
provide generic audio indications (“GAI”) correlating to the DTMF tones originating from the remote party to the agent during the SPAA transaction, wherein the GAI do not indicate a numerical value corresponding to the DTMF tones;
the interactive voice response unit (“IVR”) configured to receive a series of messages conveying numerical information from the call handler,
wherein the series of messages indicate the numerical information conveyed by a corresponding series of DTMF tones generated by a phone device used by the remote party to respond to the prompt for the credit card information during the SPAA transaction, and
wherein the second VoIP call leg connects the IVR; and
a computer used by the agent configured to:
display a prompt script to the agent after the call handler determines the prompt-type parameter indicates the prompt for the credit card information is to be provided by the agent;
display a series of generic visual indicators (“GVI”) on a pop-up window,
wherein the pop-up window appears after the agent causes the IVR to be bridged onto the call using the second VoIP call leg,
wherein the series of GVI correlates to the corresponding series of DTMF tones generated by the phone device of the remote party, and
wherein the series of GVI do not indicate the numerical information to the agent.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer is further configured to display a validation indicator indicating the credit card information provided by the remote party was validated.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the call handler is configured to:
receive the numerical information corresponding to the DTMF tones originating from the remote party conveying credit card information during the SPAA transaction; and
generate a corresponding series of messages indicating the numerical information to the IVR.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the call handler is configured to provide speech audio from the remote party to the agent during the credit card transaction.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer used by the agent is configured to:
transmit a recollect function request when requested by the agent; and
receive a command after sending the recollect function request to remove the series of GVI from the display on the pop-up window.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the call handler is configured to disconnect the second VoIP call leg to the IVR in response to receiving a command from the computer before completion of the credit card transaction indicating the SPAA transaction is cancelled.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer is configured to:
receive a validation message indicating the credit card information is validated; and
display a validation indicator to the agent in response to receiving the validation message.
15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when processed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to:
transmit a first message to a call handler processing a call in response to an agent invoking a secure payment agent assist (“SPAA”) transaction for processing credit card information comprising numerical values provided by a remote party on the call;
receive a second message after transmitting the first message, the second message comprising text of a prompt for the credit card information to be displayed to the agent after the call handler determines a prompt-type parameter indicates prompts are to be provided by the agent, wherein the prompt-type parameter is stored in memory prior to the call;
receive a series of messages corresponding to entry of the credit card information by the remote party, wherein the series of messages cause a series of generic visual indicators (“GVI”) displayed to the agent, wherein each generic visual indicator does not indicate the numerical values of the credit card information;
receive a validation indication message thereby causing a validation indicator to be displayed to the agent representing the credit card information has been validated by an interactive voice response unit (“IVR”);
generate a recollect message to the IVR in response to the agent selecting a recollect function indicator; and
receive a message causing the validation indicator and the series of GVI to be removed from being displayed to the agent.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the call handler establishes a VoIP call leg to the IVR in response to receiving the first message.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the call handler terminates the VoIP call leg to the IVR in response to receiving a message sent in response to the agent invoking a SPAA transaction cancellation function.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the call handler generates a series of generic audible indications (“GAI”) corresponding to the series of GVI displayed to the agent.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the computer processor to:
receive a second message comprising second text of a second prompt to be displayed to the agent for prompting the remote party for the credit card information.