Distributed Ledger Contact Center Coordination for IoT
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technical support systems face challenges in efficiently resolving complex issues across multiple vendors and systems, leading to increased errors and resource wastage due to siloed communication and lack of automated coordination in IoT environments.
Innovation Solution
A distributed ledger system, specifically a blockchain with smart contracts, is used to connect contact centers and track issues and resolutions across multiple vendors, enabling automated qualification, notification, and workflow management without human intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple vendors use siloed communication tools like Slack or email to coordinate issue resolution, then each vendor can maintain their own communication channels and knowledge bases, but the coordination efficiency decreases and errors increase due to lack of centralized tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple vendor communication channels and ticketing systems into a single centralized ticketing system that all vendors access. This consolidation eliminates siloed communication, ensures all vendors see the same issue information and resolution progress, and provides a single source of truth for tracking dependencies across vendor boundaries, thereby improving both coordination accuracy and resolution speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized ticketing system acts as an intermediary between multiple vendors and their respective contact centers. It mediates communication by routing notifications to appropriate vendors based on issue type, tracking which vendors have been notified, and maintaining a unified view of resolution progress. This intermediary role eliminates the need for vendors to directly coordinate through multiple communication tools while maintaining reliable tracking.
2Adaptability or versatility
If human support teams manually coordinate across multiple vendors to resolve complex issues, then flexibility in handling diverse scenarios is maintained, but resource wastage increases and errors are introduced due to manual tracking assumptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated self-service capabilities where the centralized ticketing system automatically tracks which vendors have been notified about an issue, determines which vendors need to be notified based on issue type and dependencies, and updates resolution status without requiring manual intervention. This automation eliminates resource wastage from manual tracking while maintaining flexibility through configurable notification rules and dependency definitions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides automated feedback loops where each vendor's actions are automatically tracked and communicated to other vendors. When one vendor completes a resolution step, the system automatically notifies other vendors who may be affected, eliminating the need for manual coordination while ensuring all parties have current information. This feedback mechanism reduces errors from assumptions about other vendors' actions.
3Productivity
If each vendor tracks their own progress independently without reporting to other vendors, then each vendor can manage their workload efficiently, but coordination errors increase as vendors assume actions taken by others
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized ticketing system provides a universal platform that serves multiple functions: it tracks each vendor's workload and progress, notifies vendors of their assigned tasks, records all actions taken, and communicates status to all relevant vendors. This single multi-functional system maintains vendor workflow efficiency by allowing each to manage their tasks while simultaneously ensuring coordination accuracy through centralized tracking and automated notifications.
Data Source
AI summary
Multiple vendors often contribute a portion of their hardware and/or software to a customer to enable a particular feature. When issues occur, a contact center for more than one vendor may be required to perform an action in order to identify a resolution to the issue and apply the resolution. By coordinating multiple contact centers with smart contracts via a distributed leger, rules may be developed for the creation of blocks for notifications, escalations, tasks, and other actions or informational notifications to resolve the issue. Additionally, the blockchain may serve as a permanent record provide a history of actions taken, by whom, and when.