Collaboration system and method
View Patent ↗A system for enabling collaboration between two or more customer contact campaigns running within a call center environment includes at least one outbound contact server (OCS) resident on a digital medium, the OCS including an automated dialer application resident on a digital medium thereon or accessible thereto for dialing contact numbers from contact records assembled for the running campaigns, a call monitoring and recording system executing from software on a digital medium, for monitoring call dialing progress and business results of completed calls, a central data repository for storing dialing progress and business results data collected by the running outbound campaigns, and a data sharing mechanism executing from software resident on a digital medium, accessible to each campaign running on the OCS for sharing collected data among the running campaigns. Shared data received by individual campaign instances is processed by the receiving campaign against one or more pre-configured business rules to determine whether to modify campaign contact records, campaign dialing patterns and or campaign dialing methods.
1. A system for enabling collaboration between two or more customer contact campaigns running within a call center environment comprising:
at least one outbound contact server (OCS) resident on a non transitory digital medium, the OCS including an automated dialer application resident on the digital medium for dialing contact numbers from contact records assembled for the two or more customer contact campaigns;
a call monitoring and recording system executing from a set of computer-executable instructions on the non transitory digital medium, for monitoring call dialing progress and business results of completed calls;
a central data repository for storing dialing progress and business results data collected by the running outbound campaigns; and
a data sharing mechanism executing from the set of computer-readable instructions, accessible to each campaign running on the OCS for sharing collected data among the running campaigns;
wherein higher priority calls are prioritized and success rates are determined for different geographic regions, and during time periods when hit rate is low calls are placed in the areas with higher success rates, and wherein shared data received by individual campaign instances is processed by the receiving campaign against one or more pre-configured business rules to determine whether to modify campaign contact records, campaign dialing patterns and or campaign dialing methods.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the call center environment is defined by a single a call center or a federation of call centers.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the automated dialer places outbound calls based on predicted resource availability and/or a pacing algorithm.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the data is shared between running campaigns over an Ethernet network.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data is shared between running campaigns over the Internet network and connected sub-networks.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the data shared includes customer identification, dialed contact number, call progress detection data, and end-of-call data.
7. The system of claim 6 wherein shared data is the business result of the call relative to a successful or non-successful outcome.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein processing shared data about a completed call at a receiving campaign results in a prioritization of the customer's importance to that receiving campaign.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein processing shared data about a completed call at a receiving campaign results in a downgrading of the customer's importance to that receiving campaign.
10. The system of claim 1 wherein processing shared data about a call attempt at a receiving campaign results in a removal of the customer record from the call list.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein processing shared data about multiple completed calls at a receiving campaign results in a modification of a dialing parameter for that campaign.
12. The system of claim 1 further including a call progress detection monitor that generates result statistics about the call attempt such as dialing the wrong number, telephone busy, no answer, machine pickup, answered by incorrect party, or answered by correct party.
13. In a call center environment, a method for collaboration between outbound customer contact campaigns running in a call center environment comprising the steps:
(a) using an automated dialer running on an outbound contact server, placing an outbound call from a list of contact records associated with a running campaign;
(b) monitoring the progress of the call attempt by a call monitoring and recording system executing from a set of computer-executable instructions on a non transitory digital medium, monitoring call dialing progress and business results of completed calls;
(c) if the call is answered, monitoring the progress of the call, recording data relative to a positive or negative business result of the call; and
(d) sharing the recorded data of steps (b) and (c) to the other running outbound campaigns and storing the data in a central data repository;
wherein higher priority calls are prioritized and success rates are determined for different geographic regions, and during time periods when hit rate is low calls are placed in the areas with higher success rates, and wherein shared data received by individual campaign instances is processed by the receiving campaign against one or more pre-configured business rules to determine whether to modify campaign contact records, campaign dialing patterns and or campaign dialing methods.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein in the call center environment is one of a single call center or a federation of call centers.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein in step (a), the automated dialer places outbound calls based on predicted resource availability and, or a pacing algorithm.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein in step (b), a call progress detection monitor is used to monitor call progress detection.
17. The method of claim 13 wherein in step (b), status of the call includes indication that the call is on a do-not-call list.
18. The method of claim 13 wherein in step (b), the status of the call is one of no answer, machine pickup, busy, answered by correct party, or answered by incorrect party.
19. The method of claim 13 wherein in step (c), the end business result is one of a sale relative to an offered product or service.
20. The method of claim 13 further including a step for quantifying campaign success or failure relative to one or more specified parameters associated with the contact records for the campaign the quantified result causing other running campaigns to modify, edit, or reorder their contact records and or dialing settings.