Customer service management

Abstract

A customer service management (“CSM”) system that is configurable through graphical user interfaces to incorporate an array of contextual information, including customer context, qualifications of products/services for which support is provided, service context information, knowledge context, tools context, and reporting context. The contextual information is mapped to rules for routing and for information access in order to improve efficiencies. The CSM system provides an ability to customize user forms for look and feel, qualifications, contextual information, tools and resources; geo-localization features, such as case transfer based on the geographical location of a customer or CSM field agent; an ability to integrate with other CSM systems and/or to integrate with CRM systems; a knowledge base and associated tools to manage, publish, and utilize the knowledge base for case resolution; and Web service support and associated integration capabilities based on SML industry standards. The CSM system is also configurable for different levels of integration with customers and partners. The CSM system is based on pre-encoded rules and instructions that are configured through graphical user interfaces.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the leftmost digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example conceptual rendering of a CSM system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of example computer-based functional blocks of the CSM system.

FIG. 3 is a high level process flowchart 300 illustrating operation of the CSM system.

FIG. 4 is a process flowchart illustrating configuration of the CSM system

FIG. 5 is a conceptual illustration of service context.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example conceptual rendering of case resolution.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example customer organization.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an example case management scenario for managing customer service with a CSM system.

FIG. 9 is process flowchart illustrating an example case creation process.

FIG. 10 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of implementing agent case creation.

FIG. 11 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of providing email access to the CSM system.

FIG. 12 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of case creation from emails.

FIG. 13 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of providing access to the CSM system through a self service portal.

FIG. 14 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of case creation through a self service portal for authenticated users.

FIG. 15 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method of case creation through a self service portal for non-authenticated users.

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary computer useful for implementing components and modules of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a process flowchart illustrating an example method for enhancing customer service management.

Detailed Description of the Invention
Table of Contents
I.	Introduction	8
II.	Customer Service Management Overview	16
III.	Example Customer Service Management System	17
IV.	Methods of Managing Customer services	22
	A.	CSM Configuration	23
	1.	Interviews	23
	2.	CSM Tool Configuration	24
	a)	Customer Context	25
	b)	Product and Service Qualifications	25
	c)	Dependencies	26
	d)	CSM Organizational Information	27
	(1)	Queues	28
	e)	Rules	28
	(1)	Case Creation Rules	28
	(2)	Routing Rules	29
	(3)	Transfer Rules	30
	(4)	Collaborative Rules	30
	(5)	Escalation Rules	31
	(6)	Tools and Resources Rules	31
	(7)	Case closing rules	31
	f)	Service Context, Permissions, Display Content	32
		and Formats
	g)	CSM System Configuration	32
	B.	Case Management	33
	1.	User Interfaces	35
	a)	Dashboard GUIs	35
	b)	Self-Service Portals	37
	c)	Partner Interfaces	38
	d)	Additional Interface Modes	39
	2.	Case Creation	39
	a)	Agent Case Creation	40
	b)	Electronic Mail Case Creation	44
	c)	Self Service Portal Access and Case Creation	47
	3.	Resolution	50
	a)	Field Service and Geo-Localization	52
	C.	Reporting and Statistics	53
V.	Example Computer Implementation	54
VI.	Conclusion	56

Claims

1. A customer service management (“CSM”) system, comprising: a communication module configured to interface between the system and a customer to receive a customer service request;a case management module configured to generate a case based on said customer service request and to route said case to an agent, team, and/or partner based;a Graphical User Interface (GUI) module configured to generate a GUI for said agent, team, and/or partner, wherein said GUI presents said agent, team, and/or partner with information, tools, and resources adapted to said agent, team, and/or partner to resolve said case.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said communication module includes an email interface, a phone interface, and/or a web interface that supports live chat or a self-service portal.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a rules engine configurable by a system administrator to specify rules for case creation, case transfer, case routing, case closing, case escalation, collaboration, and tools access.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a knowledge engine accessible by said customer or by said agent, team, and/or partner, said knowledge engine containing information related to product or services for which customer service is being provided.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said knowledge engine includes keyword, free text, and natural language search capabilities.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein said knowledge engine includes capabilities to define its knowledge base by service context.

7. A customer service management (“CSM”) system, comprising: administrator selectable rules and configuration parameters;a knowledge database that contains information related to case resolution;computer readable instructions that cause a computer system, on which the CSM system is installed, to generate an administrator graphical user interface (“GUI”) that prompts an administrator to map the rules and configuration parameters to one or more of customer context information, case qualifications, service context information, knowledge base context, and/or tools context information, to thereby determine access rights, information display content, information display formats, and case creation and management rules;pre-encoded computer readable instructions that cause the computer system to configure a database with the rules and configuration parameters as mapped by the administrator;computer readable instructions that cause the computer system to generate dashboard GUIs that allow agents to interface with the database in accordance with the access rights, information display content, information display formats, and case creation and management rules, andcomputer readable instructions that cause the computer system to create cases in the database, and to route, transfer, escalate and close the cases in response to agent commands, and in accordance with the rules.

8. A method for customer service management, comprising: receiving a customer service request;generating a case based on said customer service request, wherein said case characterizes said customer service request based on one or more of a customer context, a service context, a request context, and a knowledge context;routing said case to an appropriate agent, team, and/or partner based on routing rules; anddynamically generating a dashboard Graphics User Interface (GUI) when said case is accessed by said agent, team, and/or partner, wherein said dashboard GUI is configured to present said agent, team, and/or partner with information, tools, and resources adapted to said agent, team, and/or partner to resolve said case.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein receiving a customer service request includes receiving said customer service request via email, phone, or web interface supporting a live chat or a self-service portal.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein said customer context includes information related to one or more of a customer account profile, a customer contact profile, a service contract, a service level agreement (“SLA”), and a customer history.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein said service context includes information related to one or more of the severity of the requested service, time availability of the requested service, and business rules associated with the requested service.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein said request context includes information related to one or more qualifiers of said customer service request including question type, state, severity, and history.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein said knowledge context includes one or more of related customer service experience, related knowledge, and other external contextual information.

14. The method according to claim 8, further comprising mapping context information including customer context, service context, and/or request context to agents, teams, and/or partners.

15. The method according to claim 8, further comprising adapting routing rules according to agent, team, and/or partner work load; agent, team, and/or partner availability; and queue depth.

16. The method according to claim 8, wherein said routing rules account for geographical locations of agents, teams, and/or partners.

17. The method according to claim 8, further comprising adapting said information, tools, and resources according to duties and/or responsibilities of said agent, team, and/or partner.

18. The method according to claim 8, further comprising varying an appearance of said dashboard GUI according to one or more of said customer context, service context, and agent, team, and/or partner.

19. A method of providing customer service management with a computer-implemented customer service management (“CSM”) system, comprising: presenting an administrator with an administrator graphical user interface (“GUI”);receiving customer context information from the administrator, including an identification of one or more customers and any associated contracts, accounts, sub-accounts, contacts, and service level agreements (“SLAs”);receiving service context information from the administrator, identifying one or more products and/or services to be managed by the CSM system;receiving team context information from the administrator, regarding the CSM organization, including an identification or definition of one or more of teams and/or agents, their areas of expertise, their availability schedules, and any SLAs;receiving information from the administrator, mapping rules to be applied by the CSM system for case creation, case routing, case transfer, case escalation, case closing, knowledge database access, and tools access, to combinations of the customer context information and the service context information;receiving information from the administrator, mapping display formats, content, tools access, and knowledge base access, to the teams and agents based upon the teams' and agents' roles and responsibilities,receiving information from the administrator, mapping interface rules, display formats, content, and tools access, to the customers and partners to limit the information and tools to be available to the customers' and partners' on a need to know basis;configuring a database with the information received from the administrator using pre-encoded computer instructions; andpresenting agents with dashboard GUIs having information content, tools access, and knowledge base access, limited to that which is reasonably necessary to the agents' and teams' roles and responsibilities.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising: receiving a request from an agent, through the dashboard GUI, to create a case;creating a new case in the database;receiving initial information from the agent regarding customer context information and/or product/service qualification information;populating the case with the initial information;further populating the case with additional information based on dependency rules; androuting the case to an assigned agent or team according to the routing rules.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the further populating of the case is performed in less than three seconds.

22. The method according to claim 20, further comprising presenting the case to the assigned agent through the dashboard GUI and providing the agent with the following options: accessing one or more tools;updating the case with resolution information;transferring the case; andclosing the case.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising providing the agent with an option to input textual information and to attach files to the case.

24. The method according to claim 22, further comprising providing the agent with an option to transfer the case to another agent, team, queue, or to a partner.

25. The method according to claim 22, further comprising notifying a customer when the case is closed.

26. The method according to claim 22, further comprising escalating the case when a time limit is near expiration.

27. The method according to claim 22, further comprising providing the agent with an option to create a parent or child case associated with the first case, and providing the agent with an option to transfer any of the cases.

28. The method according to claim 22, further comprising providing the agent with an option to transfer the case to a field service agent.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the field service agent is selected by the CSM system based on the geographical location of the field service agent.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the field service agent is selected by the CSM system based on an automatic geographical position determining system located proximate to the field service agent.

31. The method according to claim 19, further comprising providing the customers with access to the CSM system through a GUI portal.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising providing the customers with an option of opening new cases through the GUI portal.

33. The method according to claim 31, further comprising providing the GUI portal based on SML industry standards.

34. The method according to claim 19, further comprising applying dynamic rules to cases.

35. The method according to claim 34, further comprising applying dynamic routing rules to cases that take into account current case loading statistics.

36. The method according to claim 19, wherein said service context information further includes service timetable, severity, qualifications, data to prompt and collect, and associated business rules.

37. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor to run a customer service management system, the computer program logic comprising: means for enabling the processor to receive a customer service request;means for enabling the processor to generate a case based on said customer service request;means for enabling the processor to route said case to an appropriate agent, team, and/or partner based on routing rules;means for enabling the processor to dynamically generate a dashboard Graphical User Interface (GUI) when said case is accessed by said agent, team, and/or partner, wherein said dashboard GUI is configured to present said agent, team, and/or partner with information, tools, and resources adapted to said agent, team, and/or partner to optimally resolve said case.