Contact Broker Routing Heterogeneous ACD Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Networked automatic contact distribution systems face significant message traffic challenges, particularly when handling contacts across dissimilar call centers with different software and operating philosophies, making it difficult to efficiently route contacts to agents with the appropriate skills.
Innovation Solution
A unified command and control server system that uses terminal adapters to interconnect dissimilar automatic contact distributors, allowing for the creation and execution of universal workflow scripts that can accommodate different scripting languages and hardware, and a method to randomly distribute contact requests among a subset of ACDs to reduce overall message traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If ACDs are networked to serve large markets, then market coverage is improved, but message traffic among ACDs becomes significant
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the networked ACD system into multiple subsets, where each ACD is assigned to a specific subset. Contact requests are randomly distributed to subsets rather than all ACDs, effectively segmenting the message traffic. This reduces the volume of messages each ACD must process while maintaining broad market coverage through the subset structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a contact broker as an intermediary component between contact sources and ACDs. The broker receives contact requests, determines appropriate subsets, and distributes requests to specific ACDs within those subsets. This intermediary layer manages and reduces message traffic by acting as a traffic controller in the networked ACD system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If ACDs use different software and operating philosophies, then system flexibility is improved, but difficulty in routing contacts to agents with appropriate skills increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact broker serves as a universal intermediary that interfaces with ACDs having different software and operating philosophies. It translates contact requests into subset assignments and manages the routing process without requiring direct compatibility between different ACD systems. This mediator approach enables system flexibility while simplifying the routing challenge.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments ACDs into subsets based on their capabilities and characteristics, allowing the contact broker to route requests to appropriate subsets rather than requiring uniform handling across all ACDs. This segmentation approach manages routing complexity by organizing heterogeneous systems into manageable groups with shared characteristics.
3Quantity of substance
If contacts are randomly distributed to subsets of ACDs, then message traffic is reduced, but contact routing efficiency may be impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic subset assignment where ACDs can be assigned to different subsets based on real-time conditions such as contact types, agent availability, and system load. The contact broker dynamically determines optimal subsets for each contact request, balancing message traffic reduction with routing efficiency through adaptive, condition-based decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the contact broker monitors contact routing outcomes and adjusts subset assignments accordingly. By analyzing routing effectiveness and contact handling success, the system optimizes future distributions to maintain efficiency while preserving the message traffic reduction benefits of random distribution to subsets.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for routing contacts within an automatic contact distribution system having a plurality of automatic contact distributors. The method includes the steps of receiving a request for contact from a human client through a public communication system and randomly tendering the contact request to some subset of the plurality of automatic contact distributors.