Patent Application
20130013475
Customer service is important to the success of any business. Customers may understand that issues and problems may arise in any industry, however, how those problems or issues are resolved or otherwise addressed may either satisfy customers or may have them taking their business elsewhere. The best possible scenario is to take an unfortunate issue and turn it into a delighter for the customer by wowing them with service, knowledge, customer care and understanding. Customer service issues cannot always be avoided but it is important to solve them well for our customers.
One important factor in providing good customer service is speed. Customers want to have their problems or issues addressed promptly. In conventional arrangements, such as in a financial institution, a person may report a problem or issue to a teller or other front end worker. While this may be the easiest course of action for the customer, the teller or other front end worker may not have the time or expertise to resolve the issue. Accordingly, the teller may waste precious time trying to resolve the issue and may ultimately have to pass it along to someone else. This process can be inefficient, time consuming, and may leave the customer dissatisfied with the service they have received. Accordingly, a system and method of routing problems or issues to individuals having time and expertise to resolve the issues would be advantageous.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below.
According to one or more aspects, systems and methods of resolving identified issues are provided. In some examples, the systems and methods may include receiving an identified issue, such as at an issue resolution system. The systems and methods may further include receiving one or more parameters associated with the identified issue. In some examples, the parameters may be hierarchical. The systems and methods may further include automatically generating a receipt associated with the issue and including a due date for resolution of the issue to set an expectation for the customer. The systems and methods may further include automatically routing the identified issue to a resolution group for resolution.
Other aspects of the systems and methods described herein may include dynamically modifying aspects of the issue resolution system. In at least some examples, the systems and methods described herein may include authenticating a user of a dynamic modification system and, upon authenticating the user, receiving one or more modifications to one or more aspects of the system. The modifications may be accepted and implemented in real-time or near real time.
The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements.
In the following description of various illustrative embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, various embodiments in which the claimed subject matter may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present claimed subject matter.
I/O 109 may include a microphone, mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner, optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which a user of server 101 may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a video display device for providing textual, audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be stored within memory 115 and/or other storage to provide instructions to processor 103 for enabling server 101 to perform various functions. For example, memory 115 may store software used by the server 101, such as an operating system 117, application programs 119, and an associated database 121. Alternatively, some or all of server 101 computer executable instructions may be embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown).
The computing device 101 may operate in a networked environment supporting connections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 141 and 151. The terminals 141 and 151 may be personal computers or servers that include many or all of the elements described above relative to the server 101. The network connections depicted in
Computing device 101 and/or terminals 141 or 151 may also be mobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones, PDAs, notebooks, etc.) including various other components, such as a battery, speaker, and antennas (not shown).
The disclosure is 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 disclosure include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, 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, and the like.
The disclosure may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by one or more computers and/or one or more processors associated with the computers. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Aspects of the disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
The above-described systems may be used in various businesses or corporate entities, such as financial institutions or other entities, to facilitate resolution of one or more issues that arise. For instance, in a financial institution, various banking issues, such as customer issues, may be submitted to the financial institution for resolution. Some example issues may include incorrect deposit amount, fraud on an account, check card, home loans, credit card, non-real estate loan, home equity, CD/IRA, safe box, on-line banking, treatment related issues, and the like. The systems and methods described herein may provide efficient ways to intake one or more issues, process the issues, resolve the issues and communicate the resolution to the individual reporting the issue/requesting resolution. Although several examples used herein may include reference to resolution of banking or banking related issues, the systems and methods described herein may be used in a variety of industries (e.g., service and non-service industries), corporations, businesses, government agencies, universities, and the like. Nothing in the specification or figures should be viewed as limiting the invention to only use with banking or banking related issues.
The issue resolution system 200 may include a banking issue input module 204. The banking issue input module 204 may receive identification of one or more banking issues, as well as additional information associated with the issues. For instance, if a banking issue arises or is reported, the issue identified, and any associated information, may be received by the banking issue input module 204. In some examples, this may include a banking associate inputting the identified issue into the banking issue input module 204, such as via computing device 212. Computing device 212 may include any computing device, such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, cell phone, smart phone, tablet pc, and the like. In some arrangements, and as will be discussed more fully below, the banking associate may input the identified issue into the issue input module 204 via one or more user interfaces. Additional information may also be input, such as type or category of issue, group or department associated with the issue, etc. This additional information may include one or more parameters for processing and/or resolving the issue.
For example, in some arrangements, the banking issue input module 204 may include a plurality of issue parameter input fields that may, in some examples, be hierarchical in nature. For instance, in a first issue parameter field, a first category or description of the issue may be identified. In some examples, the first category or description may be automatically identified based on issue information input into the banking issue input module 204. In other examples, the first category or description may be selected by a user, such as a banking associate. A second category or description of the issue may then be identified. In some arrangements, the second category or description may be determined from a plurality of descriptions identified from the first category or description identified. That is, selection of first category or description 1 may result in a first plurality of second descriptions for selection, while selection of first category or description 2 may provide a second plurality of second descriptions for selection. Additional levels of categories or descriptions may be provided, as will be discussed more fully below.
Identified issues and associated parameters may be transmitted from the banking issue input module 204 to a banking issue routing module 206. The banking issue routing module 206 may include one or more mapping arrangements to route identified issues to one or more issue resolution groups for resolution of the identified issue. For instance, an issue with a credit card transaction may be routed to, for example, a card issue resolution group, while an issue with a deposit may be routed to, for example, a deposit/withdrawal resolution group. A plurality of resolution groups may be identified and the identified issue may be automatically routed to an appropriate resolution group based on the parameters associated with the issue, as will be discussed more fully below. Further, the routing module 206 may route an issue to a group or resolution associate within the group having sufficient bandwidth to address/resolve the issue prior to the due date.
The issue resolution system 200 may further include a banking issue resolution module 208. The banking issue resolution module 208 may include a status of the one or more issues identified and being processed (e.g., in progress, complete, awaiting additional information, etc.). In some examples, a user, such as a banking associate or resolution associate, may interface with the banking issue resolution module 208 in order to resolve the identified issue. The resolution associate may interface with the banking issue resolution module 208 via one or more computing devices 212, which may include any type of computing device.
The issue resolution system 200 may further include a dynamic update module 210. In some arrangements, the dynamic update module 210 may permit a user, such as a system administrator, to update one or more aspects of the issue resolution system 200. For example, a system administrator may access the dynamic update module 210 in order to add additional categories or descriptions of issues, modify routing maps for resolution of issues, and the like. The modifications made via the dynamic update module 210 may be done in real-time or near real-time such that changes made will take effect immediately upon submission to the system. Various aspects of these modifications will be discussed more fully below.
In step 304, a determination is made as to whether sufficient parameters have been received. For instance, submission of a first set of parameters may require additional information for processing. Accordingly, in step 306, the issue may be flagged as having insufficient information and a request for additional information may be transmitted, for instance, to a user, in step 308. The process may then return to step 302 to receive additional parameters providing sufficient information to resolve the issue.
If, in step 304, sufficient parameters have been received, the received issue may be automatically routed to a resolution group based on the received parameters, in step 310. In some processes, a receipt may be generated, as in step 312. The receipt may include an identifier of the issue, such as a tracking number, and may include a due date or date on which the issue is expected to be resolved. The receipt may be automatically generated and may be submitted to a customer or other individual reporting the issue. In step 314, the issue may be resolved and a notification may be transmitted indicating that the issue is resolved.
The interface 400 may include fields 410 and 412 for identifying additional parameters associated with the identified issue. In some examples, the parameters in field 410 and/or 412 may include additional categories or descriptions available for selection based on the category or description selected in field 406, as will be discussed below.
Interface 400 may further include a note region 414 in which a user may include one or more notes or additional information about the identified issue. The interface may further include a clear option 416 which may clear all selections made and/or any information input into the interface 400, as well as a submit option 418 which may process the information input into the interface 400.
As discussed above, upon submission of the issue, a receipt may be generated. One example receipt 600 is illustrated in
The receipt 600 may also include a due date in field 606. The due date may be automatically generated based on the issue identified, parameters associated with the issue, etc. The due date may indicate when the person reporting the issue may expect the issue to be resolved. Further, the due date may be transmitted to the resolution group to which the issue has been routed and may also provide an indication to the resolution associate working to resolve the issue of when the issue should be resolved. In some examples, the receipt may also include a telephone number or other contact information in field 608. If the person identifying the issue, such as a customer, etc., would like to check the status of resolution of the issue, or if the due date has passed, etc., the person may use the contact information provided in field 608 to do so. In some examples, the receipt may be a hard copy printed out and provided to the person or customer reporting the issue. In other examples, the receipt may be faxed, emailed, etc. to the individual.
The issue resolution interface 700 may further include a status column 710 in issue resolution queue 704. The status column 710 may indicate whether the issue is still being worked on (e.g., in progress) or has been completed. Column 712 provides a region for a comment to be inserted regarding the issue. For instance, a resolution associate may provide further details on the status of resolution, whether there is a hold-up or other delay with resolution, etc. In some examples, to work on resolution of a case, or to modify information associated with the issue in the issue resolution queue 704, a resolution associate may select the issue from the queue, such as by clicking or double-clicking on the desired issue. Selection of the issue may prompt one or more additional interfaces that may aid in facilitating resolution of the issue. For instance, the additional interfaces may include steps taken to resolve an issue, categories of resolution of the issue, comment types, etc. In some arrangements, one or more attachments may be included with the issue or in one or more issue resolution screens. Additionally or alternatively, upon completion of resolution of an issue, a completion interface may be provided in which the resolution associate may mark the issue complete and may identify a category for the solution to the issue. These solutions and issues may then be tracked to provide historical information about issues, resolutions, etc.
The issue resolution interface 700 may further include an option to request additional cases 714. In some examples, resolution associates may be rated based on number of issues resolved, efficiency in resolving issues, etc. Accordingly, an associate may request additional issues to resolve in order to increase productivity or manage their workload. The interface 700 may further include a close option 716 to close out of the interface.
One advantage to the resolution system provided herein is ease of access. That is, the system may be accessed from various locations and, in some examples, may be accessed from anywhere, such as via the Internet. Accordingly, issues for resolution may be processed by resolution associates in locations remote from the location initially receiving the report of the issue. This provides more efficient resolution of issues because issues can be assigned to associates based on knowledge or expertise, bandwidth, etc., regardless of the location of the resolution associate or resolution group.
As discussed above, the issue resolution system may include dynamic modification capability. For instance, an administrator, or other individual with access to the dynamic modification system, may dynamically update one or more aspects of the issue resolution system such that modifications will take place in real-time or near real-time.
The issue resolutions systems and methods described herein provide an efficient manner of addressing and resolving issues or problems identified. The systems and methods will improve speed of resolution since the issue may be automatically routed to a person or group for resolution. Further, the automatic routing system may ensure that issues are routed to individuals or groups with the appropriate expertise for resolution and with bandwidth to handle resolution of the issue. Further, the system improves customer service by providing a due date for resolution to the customer, as well as contact information for a customer to check the status of resolution of the issue.
The methods and features recited herein may further be implemented through any number of computer readable media that are able to store computer readable instructions. Examples of computer readable media that may be used include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, or other optical disc storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic storage and the like.
While illustrative systems and methods described herein embodying various aspects are shown, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. For example, each of the elements of the aforementioned embodiments may be utilized alone or in combination or sub-combination with the elements in the other embodiments. It will also be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.
