System and method for out-of-band communication with contact centers
View Patent ↗A method for connecting a website user to a contact center includes: establishing a communication channel between a user and an agent of the contact center, the communication channel comprising a voice communication channel; establishing a supplemental channel between the user and the contact center for exchanging data between the user and the contact center; and storing the data exchanged in the supplemental channel in association with the communication channel.
1. A method for connecting a website user to a contact center, the method comprising:
establishing, by a processor, a communication channel between a user and an agent of the contact center, the communication channel comprising a voice communication channel, the establishing the communication channel comprising receiving a call request via a website accessed by the user via a web browser, the call request comprising a session identifier;
establishing, by the processor, a supplemental channel between the web browser of the user and the contact center based on the session identifier, wherein the supplemental channel is associated with the session identifier;
displaying, by the processor, the supplemental channel and the website concurrently in the web browser of the user;
receiving, by the processor, data from the user via the supplemental channel;
transmitting to the agent, by the processor, the data received from the user via the supplemental channel; and
storing, by the processor, the data received via the supplemental channel in association with the communication channel.
2. The method of claim 1 , 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 establishing the communication channel comprises requesting information via the supplemental channel.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the requesting information comprises transmitting a web-based form to a web browser associated with the session identifier.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental channel comprises a socket connection.
9. 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.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the information comprises a response to a web-based form.
11. 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 and a plurality of agents of the contact center, wherein the call server is configured to receive a plurality of call requests via a website accessed by the users via a plurality of web browsers, each of the call requests comprising a corresponding session identifier;
a routing server configured to route the 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 the users and the contact center, wherein the supplemental channels are associated with the corresponding session identifier of a corresponding one of the call requests;
display the supplemental channels and the website concurrently in the web browsers of the users;
receive data from the user via the supplemental channel; and
transmit to the agent the data received from the user via the supplemental channel;
a database for storing the data received via a supplemental channel of the supplemental channels in association with a communication channel of the communication channels.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the communication channel is established with a media engine integrated into a web browser used by one or more of the users.
13. The system of claim 11 , 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 session identifier, the session identifier being distinct from a session identifier associated with another of the communication channels.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to provide a text-based chat channel between the user and the agent.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to provide a screen sharing channel between the user and the agent.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the supplemental application server is configured to receive responses to web forms from the user.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the routing server is further configured to route requests to the agents using routing information received from the supplemental application server.
18. The system of claim 17 , 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.
19. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the supplemental channels comprises a socket connection.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing, by the processor, a supplemental channel between the user and the contact center based on the session identifier comprises identifying the user and the agent based on the session identifier.