Expert based customer service
In a crowd sourcing approach, responses to customer service inquiries are provided by providing the inquiries to an independent group of experts. These experts are typically able to resolve the inquiry before the inquiries are routed to a traditional contact center. The customer service inquiries are routed to specific experts based on matches between identified subject matter of the inquiries and expertise of the experts. In some embodiments, more than one expert can contribute to the resolution of an inquiry.
1. An expert management system configured to manage customer service inquiries, the system comprising:
a request I/O configured to receive a customer service inquiry;
an inquiry parser configured to determine one or more topic characteristics of the inquiry;
status logic configured to monitor statuses of a plurality of human experts;
expert data storage configured to store data characterizing one or more specialty characteristics of each of the plurality of human experts;
matching logic configured to match the inquiry to a first human expert of the plurality of human experts, the matching being based on one or more expert score of the first human expert and a correlation between the topic characteristics of the inquiry and the specialty characteristics of the first human expert;
scoring logic configured to generate the one or more expert score;
filtering logic configured to remove personal information from the customer service inquiry, the filtering being based on characteristics of the first human expert, the characteristics including one or more of whether the first human expert is internal or external, a security clearance of the first human expert, a certification of the first human expert, a qualification of the first human expert, and a location of the first human expert; and
routing logic configured to route the inquiry to the first human expert.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to remove an account number or customer name from the customer service inquiry.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to remove an account balance, a credit line, a telephone number, a social security number or an amount past due, from the customer service inquiry.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to add information to the customer service inquiry.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein added material includes an account balance, travel schedule or an order history.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to replace the personal information with alternative information regarding a customer, wherein the alternative information is of a different type of information than the personal information that it replaces.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to look up the alternative information using the personal information.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is configured to generate a temporary identifier configured to look up information regarding the customer.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the filtering logic is further configured to remove the personal information from a chat including the first human expert.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of experts are classified into at least two groups including a) internal experts and b) external experts, the filtering logic being configured to remove a greater amount of the personal information for the external experts relative to the internal experts.
11. An expert management system configured to manage customer service inquiries, the system comprising:
a request I/O configured to receive a customer service inquiry;
an inquiry parser configured to determine one or more topic characteristics of the inquiry;
status logic configured to monitor statuses of a plurality of human experts;
expert data storage configured to store data characterizing one or more specialty characteristics of each of the plurality of human experts;
matching logic configured to match the inquiry to a first human expert of the plurality of human experts, the matching being based on one or more expert score of the first human expert;
specialty discovery logic configured to identify the one or more specialty characteristics of each of the plurality of experts based on customer service inquiries answered by each of the plurality of experts or based on answers to the customer service inquiries provided by each of the plurality of experts;
filtering logic configured to remove personal information from the customer service inquiry, the filtering being based on characteristics of the first human expert, the characteristics including one or more of whether the first human expert is internal or external, a security clearance of the first human expert, a certification of the first human expert, a qualification of the first human expert, and a location of the first human expert;
scoring logic configured to generate the one or more expert score; and
routing logic configured to route the inquiry to the first human expert.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the matching is further based on a correlation between the topic characteristics of the inquiry and the specialty characteristics of the first human expert.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the specialty discover logic is further configured to identify the one or more specialty characteristics based on topic characteristics of the customer service inquiries answered by each of the plurality of experts.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the specialty discover logic is further configured to identify the one or more specialty characteristics based on terms using in the answers.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the specialty discover logic is further configured to identify the one or more specialty characteristics based on reviews of the answers.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more specialty characteristics are based on both declaration of the characteristics by members of the plurality of experts and identification by the specialty discovery logic.
17. An expert management system configured to manage customer service inquiries, the system comprising:
a request I/O configured to receive a customer service inquiry;
an inquiry parser configured to determine one or more topic characteristics of the inquiry;
status logic configured to monitor statuses of a plurality of human experts, the plurality of human experts being classified into at least two groups including a) internal experts and b) external experts;
expert data storage configured to store data characterizing one or more specialty characteristics of each of the plurality of human experts;
matching logic configured to match the inquiry to a first human expert of the plurality of human experts, the matching being based on one or more expert score of the first human expert and a correlation between the topic characteristics of the inquiry and the specialty characteristics of the first human expert;
filtering logic configured to remove personal information from the customer service inquiry, the filtering being based on characteristics of the first human expert, the characteristics including one or more of whether the first human expert is internal or external, a security clearance of the first human expert, a certification of the first human expert, a qualification of the first human expert, and a location of the first human expert;
scoring logic configured to generate the one or more expert score; and
routing logic configured to route the inquiry to the first human expert.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein an authorization is granted by an enterprise to whom the customer service inquiry is directed.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the routing logic is configured to prevent routing of inquiries including account numbers to the external experts.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the matching logic is configured to give priority to internal experts relative to external experts, in matching the inquiry.
21. The system of claim 17 , wherein the inquiry parser is configured to determine if resolution of the customer service inquiry requires confidential information relating to a customer.
22. The system of claim 17 , wherein the matching logic is configured to select the first human expert from among the internal experts.
23. The system of claim 17 , further comprising service interface logic configured for the first human expert and a second human expert to communicate with a source of the customer service inquiry, the first human expert being a member of the internal experts and the second human expert being a member of the external experts.
24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the service interface logic is configured for the second human expert to edit and add to an answer provide by the first human expert, or configured for the second human expert to approve the answer provided by the first human expert.
25. The system of claim 23 , further comprising reward logic configured to provide a reward to the first human expert as consideration for providing an answer to the customer service inquiry, the reward to the first human expert being different than any award to the second human expert.
26. The system of claim 17 , wherein the internal experts have been certified by a third party enterprise and the external experts have not been certified.
27. The system of claim 17 , wherein the routing logic is configured to automatically send the customer service inquiry to an internal expert, if an external expert is unable to provide an adequate answer to the customer service inquiry.
28. The system of claim 17 , further comprising specialty discovery logic configured to identify the one or more specialty characteristics of a member of the plurality of experts based on communications between a source off the customer service inquiry and the member of the plurality of experts.