Patent Application
20170091777
1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to help centers, and more specifically relates to a way of customizing a user's interaction with a help center based on the user's expertise.
2. Background Art
Help centers are often used to provide technical support. Most help centers use scripts of questions and prompts to provide the needed technical support to a user. Help centers may include call centers where a user calls on the telephone for technical support, or a website that provides an automated tool that prompts the user. Whether phone-based or web-based, most help centers function according to defined scripts that determine the interaction with the user. Because help centers must be able to help relatively inexperienced users, the scripts provide questions and prompts to help an inexperienced user get the support he or she needs. But more experienced users can quickly become frustrated at being asked questions and given prompts that are for far less experienced users. In addition, it takes time to go through the part of the script intended for less experienced users, which wastes the time of a more experiences user that does not need these prompts.
A help center uses a script to provide support to users, and includes a mechanism for assessing expertise of each user and dynamically modifying the flow through the script to provide better support to more expert users. The expertise of the user may be determined based on any or all of the following: past interactions with the help center; reputation of the user on social media; endorsement from other users; the user's organizational hierarchy and job roles; other information available from public sources; and linguistic cues given by the user. By assessing the expertise of the user and modifying the flow through the script according to the user's expertise, more experienced users will have a more streamlined experience and will more quickly get the support they need from the help center.
The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent from the following more particular description, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:
The disclosure and claims herein relate to a help center that uses a script to provide support to users. The help center includes a mechanism for assessing expertise of each user and dynamically modifying the flow through the script to provide better support to more expert users. The expertise of the user may be determined based on any or all of the following: past interactions with the help center; reputation of the user on social media; endorsement from other users; the user's organizational hierarchy and job roles; other information available from public sources; and linguistic cues given by the user. By assessing the expertise of the user and modifying the flow through the script according to the user's expertise, more experienced users will have a more streamlined experience and will more quickly get the support they need from the help center.
Referring to
Main memory 120 preferably contains data 121, an operating system 122, and a help center application 123. Data 121 represents any data that serves as input to or output from any program in computer system 100. Operating system 122 is a multitasking operating system. Help center application 123 is a software application that determines how a help center interacts with users. Help center application 123 preferably includes a scripting mechanism 124, a user profile generation mechanism 125, a user expertise assessment mechanism 126, and user profiles 128. The scripting mechanism 124 is used to generate and alter scripts that define how support is provided to users by the help center application 123. For a telephone help center, scripting mechanism 124 defines a list of prompts for the person at the telephone help center to provide to the user. For a web-based help center, scripting mechanism 124 defines a list of prompts given to the user on the user's computer according to answers the user provides. The disclosure and claims herein extend to telephone help centers, web-based help centers, or another other suitable type of help center that provides support to users based on scripts. The term “script” is used herein broadly to mean any sequence of questions, instructions or prompts that are provided by a help center to a user.
The user profile generation mechanism 125 is used to create a new user profile 128 when a user accesses the help center for the first time. The user profile generation mechanism 125 also can be used to update an existing user profile 128 according to information available from a variety of different private and public sources, as discussed in more detail below. The user expertise assessment mechanism 126 assesses user expertise 127 based on information in a user profile 128, and can additionally assess user expertise 127 based on information available from any suitable data source. The help center application uses the user expertise 127 to determine whether or not to alter flow through a script based on the user expertise 127. For example, when a user has expertise greater than other users, portions of the script that are intended for less-expert users may be skipped. Examples of skipping portions of the script are provided in
Computer system 100 utilizes well known virtual addressing mechanisms that allow the programs of computer system 100 to behave as if they only have access to a large, contiguous address space instead of access to multiple, smaller storage entities such as main memory 120 and local mass storage device 155. Therefore, while data 121, operating system 122, and help center application 123 are shown to reside in main memory 120, those skilled in the art will recognize that these items are not necessarily all completely contained in main memory 120 at the same time. It should also be noted that the term “memory” is used herein generically to refer to the entire virtual memory of computer system 100, and may include the virtual memory of other computer systems coupled to computer system 100.
Processor 110 may be constructed from one or more microprocessors and/or integrated circuits. Processor 110 executes program instructions stored in main memory 120. Main memory 120 stores programs and data that processor 110 may access. When computer system 100 starts up, processor 110 initially executes the program instructions that make up operating system 122. Processor 110 also executes the help center application 123.
Although computer system 100 is shown to contain only a single processor and a single system bus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a help center application may be practiced using a computer system that has multiple processors and/or multiple buses. In addition, the interfaces that are used preferably each include separate, fully programmed microprocessors that are used to off-load compute-intensive processing from processor 110. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these functions may be performed using I/O adapters as well.
Display interface 140 is used to directly connect one or more displays 165 to computer system 100. These displays 165, which may be non-intelligent (i.e., dumb) terminals or fully programmable workstations, are used to provide system administrators and users the ability to communicate with computer system 100. Note, however, that while display interface 140 is provided to support communication with one or more displays 165, computer system 100 does not necessarily require a display 165, because all needed interaction with users and other processes may occur via network interface 150.
Network interface 150 is used to connect computer system 100 to other computer systems or workstations 175 via network 170. Network interface 150 broadly represents any suitable way to interconnect electronic devices, regardless of whether the network 170 comprises present-day analog and/or digital techniques or via some networking mechanism of the future. Network interface 150 preferably includes a combination of hardware and software that allow communicating on the network 170. Software in the network interface 150 preferably includes a communication manager that manages communication with other computer systems 175 via network 170 using a suitable network protocol. Many different network protocols can be used to implement a network. These protocols are specialized computer programs that allow computers to communicate across a network. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is an example of a suitable network protocol that may be used by the communication manager within the network interface 150.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product at any possible technical detail level of integration. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
Referring to
Sample user profiles are shown in
For a help center to customize a user's experience based on the user's expertise, the help center scripts will be modified to accommodate different levels of user expertise. Referring to
An example help center script 610 is shown in
Referring to
Note that any of steps 710, 720, 730, 740 and 750 could be performed, but not all need to be performed. Any suitable subset of steps 710, 720, 730, 740 and 750 could be performed within the scope of the disclosure and claims herein. Note also that the information from the queries in steps 710, 720, 730, 740 and 750, could be stored in the user profile corresponding to the user, as shown in
Various examples are now provided as use cases to illustrate how a help center application can modify interaction with a user based on assessed expertise of the user. Let's assume an experienced IT end user calls in with a problem that they claim is related to a particular piece of hardware. The help center person uses feedback gathered on their internal system to see ratings of the prior interactions of this help center with this user to determine that the caller is well versed in this type of hardware and has usually done the required diagnosis. The help center application adjusts the script to ask direct technical questions instead of walking the user through more basic questions. In a second use case, the help center person may manually switch to a more technical script based on linguistic keys from the user, such as the use of the correct technical jargon or buzzwords. In a third use case, a help center may examine social networks (such as Linked In, Facebook and Twitter) and other relevant reputation-aware sites (such as Stack Overflow) to use the end user's reputation score and activity to determine that they are more advanced and basic questions can be skipped. In a fourth use case, a help center may use references from other high reputation users to vouch for or endorse a user as being skilled in an area. For instance, if a user is calling a medical help desk line, the flow of the script may be changed if a nurse or doctor has endorsed the user as being an expert in a particular disease/medicine/etc. In a fifth use case, a help center may use an organization's hierarchy and job roles to assess expertise of a user. For example, if the user has a job role in a technical job family or is a supervisor of technical persons, the flow through the script may be modified to provide the user more complex questions. In a sixth use case, a user who is an IBM engineer calls the IBM help desk, which is a help center. Based on the user's phone number, the user is identified by the help center application as an IBM employee. The help center application accesses the internal IBM database and determines the user is an Expert Level Certified IT Specialist. The help center application than sees the user has a skill level 5 as related to DB2 and SQL. As the user goes through the standard questions, the user requests help with a database server. The help center application queries LinkedIn and sees the user also has expertise in Data Warehousing, but has never called the help desk before for database server problems. Based on the analysis by the help desk application, the user gets strong grades for skills and social network, but no score based on history with the help desk. We assume for this example the help center application gives the user a skill level 5 for internal references @ 40% weight, a skill level 4 based on social networks @ 10% weight, and 0 score for previous history on this topic with this call center. The user's call is directed to second level support with the user's skills displayed. The script is followed and after a few additional questions the user is transferred to third level support. Third level support resolves the problem and grades the user as a 4 on this topic. The following week the user calls back with a similar problem, and the additional input allows the help center application to modify the flow of the scripts so the user proceeds to third level support immediately. As the examples above show, one of the advantages of a help center application with the features disclosed herein is to expedite the process of getting a user to the correct person at the correct level, with the goal of reducing costs for the help center.
A help center uses a script to provide support to users, and includes a mechanism for assessing expertise of each user and dynamically modifying the flow through the script to provide better support to more expert users. The expertise of the user may be determined based on any or all of the following: past interactions with the help center; reputation of the user on social media; endorsement from other users; the user's organizational hierarchy and job roles; other information available from public sources; and linguistic cues given by the user. By assessing the expertise of the user and modifying the flow through the script according to the user's expertise, more experienced users will have a more streamlined experience and will more quickly get the support they need from the help center.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possible within the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure is particularly shown and described above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims.
