IP Library Granted Patent US 10,666,802
Granted Patent B2
US 10,666,802 · App. 15/634,518 · Granted May 26, 2020

Technologies for scaling call center support staff

Inventor: Christopher Rumpf (Durham, NC)
H04M3/5125H04M3/36H04M3/5175H04M2203/402
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,666,802
App. No.
15/634,518
Granted
May 26, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

Technologies for scaling call center support staff include one or more local agent computing devices of a call center that includes an interaction management computing device communicatively coupled to one or more customer computing devices and one or more remote agent computing devices. The interaction management computing device is configured to receive inbound service calls and insert them into a respective service queue. The interaction management computing device is additionally configured to determine whether a service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated as a function of each service call having been inserted into the service queue, identify, in response to a determination that the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated, one or more remote agents from a queue of available remote agents, and add the identified one or more remote agents to an agent pool associated with the service queue. Additional embodiments are described herein.

Claims (48)

1. A method for scaling call center support staff, the method comprising:

receiving, by a call center management computing device, a service call;

inserting, by the call center management computing device, the service call into a service queue;

determining, by the call center management computing device, a service queue response threshold;

in response to inserting the service call into the service queue, determining, by the call center management computing device, the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated as a function of the service call having been inserted into the service queue and a status of an agent pool, wherein the agent pool corresponds to:

a plurality of local agent devices operated by respective agents designated as local agents that are located locally with respect to a contact center; and

a plurality of remote agent devices operated by respective first remote agents designated as remote agents that are located remote with respect to the contact center;

identifying, by the call center management computing device and in response to determining the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated, one or more second remote agents from a queue of available remote agents; and

adding, by the call center management computing device, a predetermined number of the identified one or more second remote agents to the agent pool associated with the service queue, based on a violation of the service queue response threshold corresponding to a threshold tier corresponding to the predetermined number.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated comprises determining whether a present call volume of the service queue exceeds a call volume threshold of the service queue.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated comprises determining whether an average hold time of service calls in the service queue exceeds a wait time threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein adding the identified one or more remote agents to the agent pool comprises:

transmitting a notification to each of the identified one or more remote agents, wherein the notification identifies to the respective identified one or more remote agents the adding to the agent pool;

receiving an indication from each of the identified one or more remote agents that indicates the corresponding remote agent is ready to be added to the agent pool; and

inserting, upon receiving the respective indication, the associated identified one or more remote agents into the agent pool associated with the service queue.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying, by the call center management computing device, one or more metrics of the service queue;

comparing, by the call center management computing device, the identified one or more metrics of the service queue to a corresponding service queue response threshold associated with the service queue;

determining, by the call center management computing device, whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated as a function of the comparison;

identifying, by the call center management computing device and in response to a determination that at least one service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated, one or more remote agents to remove from the agent pool; and

removing, by the call center management computing device, the identified one or more remote agents from the agent pool.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising adding, by the call center management computing device, deactivated remote agents to the queue of available remote agents.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising transmitting, by the call center management computing device, a removal notification to each of the deactivated remote agents notifying each of a plurality of deactivated remote agents of removal from the agent pool.

8. An interaction management computing device for scaling call center support staff, the interaction management computing device comprising:

one or more computer-readable medium comprising instructions; and

one or more processors coupled with the one or more computer-readable medium and configured to execute the instructions to:

receive a service call;

insert the service call into a service queue;

determine a service queue response threshold;

in response to inserting the service call into the service queue, determine the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated as a function of the service call having been inserted into the service queue and a status of an agent pool, wherein the agent pool corresponds to:

a plurality of local agent devices operated by respective agents designated as local agents that are located locally with respect to a contact center; and

a plurality of remote agent devices operated by respective first remote agents designated as remote agents that are located remote with respect to the contact center;

identify, in response to determining the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated, one or more second remote agents from a queue of available ones of the respective remote agents; and

add a predetermined number of the identified one or more second remote agents to the agent pool associated with the service queue, based on a violation of the service queue response threshold corresponding to a threshold tier corresponding to the predetermined number.

9. The interaction management computing device of claim 8 , wherein to determine whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated comprises to determine whether a present call volume of the service queue exceeds a call volume threshold of the service queue.

10. The interaction management computing device of claim 8 , wherein to determine whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated comprises to determine whether an average hold time of service calls in the service queue exceeds a wait time threshold.

11. The interaction management computing device of claim 8 , wherein adding the identified one or more remote agents to the agent pool comprises to:

transmit a notification to each of the identified one or more remote agents, wherein the notification identifies to the respective identified one or more remote agents the addition to the agent pool;

receive an indication from each of the identified one or more remote agents that indicates the corresponding remote agent is ready to be added to the agent pool; and

insert, upon having received the respective indication, the associated identified one or more remote agents into the agent pool associated with the service queue.

12. The interaction management computing device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:

identify one or more metrics of the service queue;

compare the identified one or more metrics of the service queue to a corresponding service queue response threshold associated with the service queue;

determine whether the service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated as a function of the comparison;

identify, in response to a determination that at least one service queue response threshold associated with the service queue has been violated, one or more remote agents to remove from the agent pool; and

remove the identified one or more remote agents from the agent pool.

13. The interaction management computing device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to add deactivated remote agents to the queue of available remote agents.

14. The interaction management computing device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to transmit a removal notification to each of a plurality of deactivated remote agents notifying each of the deactivated remote agents of removal from the agent pool.

Assignments (5)
NOTICE OF SUCCESSION OF SECURITY INTERESTS AT REEL/FRAME 04814/0387 Recorded Feb 5, 2025
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS RESIGNING AGENT
To: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA, AS SUCCESSOR AGENT
Reel/Frame 070115/0445 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 6, 2024
From: GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC.
To: GENESYS CLOUD SERVICES, INC.
Reel/Frame 067646/0448 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Feb 22, 2019
From: GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC.; ECHOPASS CORPORATION; GREENEDEN U.S. HOLDINGS II, LLC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 048414/0387 →
MERGER Recorded Jul 1, 2018
From: INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE GROUP, INC.
To: GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 046463/0839 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 27, 2017
From: RUMPF, CHRISTOPHER
To: INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE GROUP, INC.
Reel/Frame 042828/0711 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62354885 · Jun 27, 2016
Related Publication 20170374197A1 · Dec 28, 2017