Contact Center Topic Segmentation and Agent Routing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In contact centers, users often require assistance with multiple topics within a single interaction, but existing systems typically route contacts to a single agent who may not have the necessary information or expertise to handle all topics, leading to consults with supervisors or other agents and a suboptimal user experience.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented process that identifies multiple topics within an incoming contact and routes each topic to a respective agent, combining responses to form a composite response while monitoring service level agreements and ensuring response completeness and consistency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single agent is assigned to handle all topics in an incoming contact, then routing simplicity is maintained, but the agent may lack the necessary information or expertise to successfully handle all topics
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the incoming contact into multiple distinct topics or subject matters. Each topic is then independently routed to the most appropriate agent based on their expertise and availability. This segmentation allows complex multi-topic contacts to be distributed across multiple specialists rather than overwhelming a single agent.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary routing mechanism that analyzes the incoming contact, identifies multiple topics, and determines the most suitable agents for each topic. This intermediary layer coordinates between the user's contact and multiple potential agents, ensuring the right expertise is applied to each topic while maintaining centralized control.
2Reliability
If multiple agents are used to handle different topics within a single contact, then topic handling expertise is improved, but response coordination and composite response formation become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs an intermediary coordination mechanism that manages communications between multiple agents and the user. This intermediary collects responses from various agents, coordinates their input, and synthesizes a unified composite response that addresses all topics coherently, reducing the coordination burden on individual agents.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple individual agent responses into a single composite response. By combining the specialized inputs from different agents into one unified output delivered to the user, the system maintains expertise-based handling while presenting a coordinated, consistent response to the contact.
3Reliability
If all responses from multiple agents are collected before forming a composite response, then response completeness is improved, but response time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic or staged response collection rather than requiring all agents to respond simultaneously. It can form and send partial composite responses as agent responses become available, while continuing to collect additional responses. This periodic approach balances completeness with timely delivery of useful information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system accepts that collecting responses from all possible agents may be excessive and instead implements a threshold-based approach. It can form composite responses using responses from a sufficient subset of agents, rather than waiting for exhaustive input from every potential contributor, thereby reducing unnecessary delays.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented process includes receiving an incoming contact at a contact center from a user; identifying a plurality of different portions of the incoming contact, each of a plurality of portions associated with a respective topic; and for each of the different portions, routing that different portion to a respective agent of the contact center based on its associated respective topic. Furthermore, the process includes receiving a respective response from one or more of the respective agents, the respective response pertaining to the different portion routed to that agent; combining the respective response from the one or more of the respective agents to form a first composite response; and forwarding the first composite response to the user.