Patent Application
20250087066
Aspects of the disclosure relate to technology for customer interaction metrics.
Customers having accounts at financial institutions may need to interact with the financial institution in order to conduct business or transactions with the financial institution. In order to interact with customers financial institutions may have financial centers to assist customers with transactions. The financial centers may have user interfaces including teller windows and/or automated teller machines (“ATM”) assisting customers.
Currently customer interactions at user interfaces may be tracked. Customer interactions may be categorized as failed customer interactions (“FCI”). An FCI leaves the customer dissatisfied. An FCI may occur due to down ATMs or closed teller windows. FCI may be tracked when an ATM fails to conclude a transaction.
The FCI metric may not form a complete picture of the customer's interaction. A customer may fail to conclude a transaction at one ATM but may be able to conclude the transaction at a nearby ATM or teller window. The first failed interaction may leave the customer dissatisfied but the customer will still be able to complete the transaction at the same location.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create a new metric to incorporate location into determining an FCI. It would be further desirable to create a new categorization of customer interactions for disrupted customer interactions. It would be further desirable to utilize the disrupted customer interactions in performing maintenance.
The objects and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
Systems and methods are provided for categorizing a plurality of customer interactions at a plurality of user interfaces. Systems and methods are provided for prioritizing maintenance at a plurality of user interfaces.
A financial institution may have financial centers. The financial centers may have user interfaces to allow customers to conduct transactions at the financial centers. The financial centers may include teller windows. The financial centers may include ATMs. The financial centers may have any suitable number of teller windows and ATMs.
The financial centers may monitor user interactions for incidents. The financial institutions may monitor user interactions for incidents. All incidents may be monitored from one or more central locations. Each user incident may be monitored from their respective financial center and sent to one or more central locations. Each central location may include one or more computer systems. Each computer system may include one or more computers. Each computing system may include one or more servers. Each computing system may include one or more databases. Each computer system may be capable of receiving incident reports. Each computer system may be capable of processing and analyzing the incident reports. Each computer may include one or more of a monitor, a processor, a memory and a receiver for receiving incident reports.
The systems and methods may include categorizing a plurality of customer interactions. The plurality of customer interactions may be monitored for incidents. Each customer interaction may take place at a respective user interface of a plurality of user interfaces. The user interfaces may include ATMs or teller windows. The ATMs and teller windows may electronically record the incidents in incident reports. The incident reports may be sent to the central location. The incidents may be reported when a customer interaction is not completed.
Incidents may include a jam in the cash dispenser of an ATM, a communication issue with the respective user interface, a host issue with the respective user interface, an encryption issue with the respective user interface, a card reader issue in the respective user interface, a printer issue with the respective user interface, insufficient cash in the respective user interface, a cash depositor is full in the respective user interface and/or any other issue which would prevent a user interface from completing a transaction. The communication issue may include the user interface not connecting to the internet, or the user interface being powered off. The host issue may include the user interface not syncing with the central computer system.
The systems and methods may include identifying a respective location of each incident and a respective time in which each incident occurred. The incident report may include the respective time in which the incident occurred. The incident report may include an identification number of the user interface at which the incident occurred. The identification number may be stored in a lookup table stored in a database. The identification number may be associated, in the lookup table, with a location in which the user interface is located.
The systems and methods may include determining the existence of secondary user interfaces at each respective location for each incident. Determining the existence of secondary user interfaces may include looking up the location where the incident occurred in a lookup table stored in a database. The location may be associated with all of the user interfaces in the location. The location being associated with more than one user interface indicates the existence of secondary user interfaces.
The systems and methods may include determining an operability of each respective secondary user interface during the respective time for each incident. Operability of a secondary ATM may be determined by parsing all incident reports during the respective time to determine whether the secondary ATM had an incident. Operability of a secondary ATM may be determined by looking up whether there is any scheduled maintenance or updates being performed on the secondary ATM during the respective time. Operability of a teller window may be determined by looking up whether the teller window is open during the respective time. Operability of a teller window may be determined by looking up whether there were any electronically reported teller window closings during the respective time.
The systems and methods may include categorizing each incident as either a failed customer interaction (“FCI”) or a disrupted customer interaction (“DCI”). The categorizing an incident as an FCI may include determining that either the respective secondary user interfaces do not exist or all of the secondary user interfaces are inoperable during the respective time. The categorizing an incident as a DCI may include determining that the respective secondary user interfaces exist and at least one of the respective secondary user interfaces is operable during the respective time.
The systems and methods may include placing incidents categorized as an FCI into a failed customer interaction bucket. The systems and method may include placing incidents categorized as a DCI into a disrupted customer interaction bucket. The FCI and DCI buckets may be analyzed.
The analysis may include how many incidents are occurring during a specific time period. The analysis may include how often incidents are occurring in a specific user interface and across all user interfaces. The analysis may include tracking the operability of the user interfaces. Tracking the operability may include tracking how long an incident lasts. Tracking the operability may include tracking how many of each type of incident occurs.
The analysis may be used to identify change in the operability of the user interface. For example, a new software may be deployed to a large number of user interfaces. The deployment may be rolled out to a smaller number of user interfaces at the start. FCI or DCI occurring at those user interfaces can be analyzed to determine whether the rollout was successful or whether the new software has bugs or defects. In this way when deploying a new software, some customer impact can be avoided.
The analysis may be used to manage availability. FCI or DCI data may be used to determine which user interfaces should receive maintenance and in what order. FCI and DCI data may be used to determine chronic problems in the same user interface. FCI and DCI data may be used to track and trend user interface availability over time.
Incidents may be resolved by deploying vendors to resolve incidents at user interfaces. Incidents may be categorized into different types of incidents. The different types of incidents may be hardware, software, cash or maintenance incidents. Different vendors may be deployed for each type of incident. For example, armored vendors may be deployed for cash type incidents. Deploying vendors may be prioritized based on how many operable secondary user interfaces exist at the respective location of the user interface on which maintenance will be performed. DCI may be prioritized over FCI.
The systems and methods for prioritizing performing maintenance on a plurality of user interfaces may include identifying a first group of user interfaces on which to perform maintenance or resolve an incident. The first group may be identified by the central computer system. Members of the first group may be identified by determining whether there is an incident at the user interface. Members of the first group may be identified by determining whether scheduled maintenance is required. Scheduled maintenance may include cleaning the user interface, emptying the cash from a user interface and/or installing new hardware/software.
The systems and methods for prioritizing performing maintenance may include identifying a respective location of each user interface of the first group of user interfaces. Each user interface may be associated with an identification number. The identification number may be stored in a lookup table stored in a database. The identification number may be associated with a respective location in the lookup table. The respective location of each user interface may be identified by using the lookup table to lookup the respective location associated with each user interface.
The systems and methods for prioritizing performing maintenance may include determining the existence of one or more secondary user interfaces at the respective location of each user interface of the first group of user interfaces. Determining the existence of secondary user interfaces may include looking up the respective location where the incident occurred in a lookup table stored in a database. The respective location may be associated with all of the user interfaces in the location. The respective location being associated with more than one user interface indicates the existence of secondary user interfaces.
The systems and methods for prioritizing performing maintenance may include determining an operability of each respective secondary user interface during a planned maintenance time. Operability of a secondary ATM may be determined by parsing all incident reports to determine whether the secondary ATM is having an incident during the planned maintenance time. Operability of a secondary ATM may be determined by looking up whether there is any scheduled maintenance or updates being performed on the secondary ATM during the planned maintenance time. Operability of a teller window may be determined by looking up whether the teller window is open during the respective time. Operability of a teller window may be determined by looking up whether there are any electronically reported teller window closings during the planned maintenance time.
The systems and methods for prioritizing performing maintenance may include ranking each user interface of the first group of user interfaces. The ranking may be based on the amount of operable respective secondary user interfaces associated with each user interface. The user interface with the least amount of respective secondary user interfaces may receive the lowest ranking. The maintenance may be performed on the user interfaces with the lowest ranking first.
Respective user interfaces that receive the same rank may be prioritized based on the average number of customer interactions completed at the respective user interface in a twenty-four-hour period. The user interface with the highest number of average customer interactions may receive the highest priority. The maintenance may be performed on the user interface with the lowest rank and the highest priority first.
In some embodiments, the user interface with the least amount of respective secondary user interfaces may receive the highest ranking. The maintenance may be performed on the user interfaces with the highest ranking first.
The maintenance may be performed during a time period when the average number of customer interactions per hour is the least. Other factors may be taken into account when prioritizing maintenance. The other factors may include how long it has been since maintenance was performed on the user interface, proximity of the user interface to another user interface on which maintenance is being performed and/or a type of incident that occurred at the user interface.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the steps shown and described herein may be performed in other than the recited order and that one or more steps illustrated may be optional. Apparatus and methods may involve the use of any suitable combination of elements, components, method steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures disclosed herein.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the invention described herein may be embodied in whole or in part as a method, a data processing system, or a computer program product. Accordingly, the invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software, hardware and any other suitable approach or apparatus.
Illustrative embodiments of apparatus and methods in accordance with the principles of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and that structural, functional, and procedural modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
Furthermore, such aspects may take the form of a computer program product stored by one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code, or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitable computer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or any combination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data or events as described herein may be transferred between a source and a destination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling through signal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).
In accordance with principles of the disclosure,
Computer 101 may have one or more processors/microprocessors 103 for controlling the operation of the device and its associated components, and may include RAM 105, ROM 107, input/output module 109, and a memory 115. The microprocessors 103 may also execute all software running on the computer 101, e.g., the operating system 117 and applications 119 such as an automatic data layering program and security protocols. Other components commonly used for computers, such as EEPROM or Flash memory or any other suitable components, may also be part of the computer 101.
The memory 115 may be comprised of any suitable permanent storage technology—e.g., a hard drive or other non-transitory memory. The ROM 107 and RAM 105 may be included as all or part of memory 115. The memory 115 may store software including the operating system 117 and application(s) 119 (such as an automatic data layering program and security protocols) along with any other data 111 (e.g., historical data, configuration files) needed for the operation of the apparatus 100. Memory 115 may also store applications and data. Alternatively, some or all of computer executable instructions (alternatively referred to as “code”) may be embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown). The microprocessor 103 may execute the instructions embodied by the software and code to perform various functions.
The network connections/communication link may include a local area network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN or the Internet) and may also include other types of networks. When used in a WAN networking environment, the apparatus may include a modem or other means for establishing communications over the WAN or LAN. The modem and/or a LAN interface may connect to a network via an antenna. The antenna may be configured to operate over Bluetooth, wi-fi, cellular networks, or other suitable frequencies.
Any memory may be comprised of any suitable permanent storage technology—e.g., a hard drive or other non-transitory memory. The memory may store software including an operating system and any application(s) (such as an automatic data layering program and security protocols) along with any data needed for the operation of the apparatus and to allow bot monitoring and IoT device notification. The data may also be stored in cache memory, or any other suitable memory.
An input/output (“I/O”) module 109 may include connectivity to a button and a display. The input/output module may also include one or more speakers for providing audio output and a video display device, such as an LED screen and/or touchscreen, for providing textual, audio, audiovisual, and/or graphical output.
In an embodiment of the computer 101, the microprocessor 103 may execute the instructions in all or some of the operating system 117, any applications 119 in the memory 115, any other code necessary to perform the functions in this disclosure, and any other code embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown).
In an embodiment, apparatus 100 may consist of multiple computers 101, along with other devices. A computer 101 may be a mobile computing device such as a smartphone or tablet.
Apparatus 100 may be connected to other systems, computers, servers, devices, and/or the Internet 131 via a local area network (LAN) interface 113.
Apparatus 100 may operate in a networked environment supporting connections to one or more remote computers and servers, such as terminals 141 and 151, including, in general, the Internet and “cloud”. References to the “cloud” in this disclosure generally refer to the Internet, which is a world-wide network. “Cloud-based applications” generally refers to applications located on a server remote from a user, wherein some or all the application data, logic, and instructions are located on the internet and are not located on a user's local device. Cloud-based applications may be accessed via any type of internet connection (e.g., cellular or wi-fi).
Terminals 141 and 151 may be personal computers, smart mobile devices, smartphones, IoT devices, or servers that include many or all the elements described above relative to apparatus 100. The network connections depicted in
It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and other means of establishing a communications link between computers may be used. The existence of various well-known protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP, and the like is presumed, and the system can be operated in a client-server configuration. The computer may transmit data to any other suitable computer system. The computer may also send computer-readable instructions, together with the data, to any suitable computer system. The computer-readable instructions may be to store the data in cache memory, the hard drive, secondary memory, or any other suitable memory.
Application program(s) 119 (which may be alternatively referred to herein as “plugins,” “applications,” or “apps”) may include computer executable instructions for an automatic data layering program and security protocols, as well as other programs. In an embodiment, one or more programs, or aspects of a program, may use one or more AI/ML algorithm(s). The various tasks may be related to analyzing and categorizing various data to layer the data according to levels of access.
Computer 101 may also include various other components, such as a battery (not shown), speaker (not shown), a network interface controller (not shown), and/or antennas (not shown).
Terminal 151 and/or terminal 141 may be portable devices such as a laptop, cell phone, tablet, smartphone, server, or any other suitable device for receiving, storing, transmitting and/or displaying relevant information. Terminal 151 and/or terminal 141 may be other devices such as remote computers or servers. The terminals 151 and/or 141 may be computers where a user is interacting with an application.
Any information described above in connection with data 111, and any other suitable information, may be stored in memory 115. One or more of applications 119 may include one or more algorithms that may be used to implement features of the disclosure, and/or any other suitable tasks.
In various embodiments, the invention may be operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention in certain embodiments include, but are not limited to, personal computers, servers, hand-held or laptop devices, tablets, mobile phones, smart phones, other Computers, and/or other personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, IoT devices, and the like.
Aspects of the invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network, e.g., cloud-based applications. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
Apparatus 200 may include one or more of the following components: I/O circuitry 204, which may include a transmitter device and a receiver device and may interface with fiber optic cable, coaxial cable, telephone lines, wireless devices, PHY layer hardware, a keypad/display control device, an display (LCD, LED, OLED, etc.), a touchscreen or any other suitable media or devices; peripheral devices 206, which may include other computers; logical processing device 208, which may compute data information and structural parameters of various applications; and machine-readable memory 210.
Machine-readable memory 210 may be configured to store in machine-readable data structures: machine executable instructions (which may be alternatively referred to herein as “computer instructions” or “computer code”), applications, signals, recorded data, and/or any other suitable information or data structures. The instructions and data may be encrypted.
Components 202, 204, 206, 208 and 210 may be coupled together by a system bus or other interconnections 212 and may be present on one or more circuit boards such as 220. In some embodiments, the components may be integrated into a single chip. The chip may be silicon-based.
The systems and method may include performing the scenarios in
Thus, systems and methods for DISRUPTED CUSTOMER INTERACTION METRIC have been provided. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration rather than of limitation, and that the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow.
