Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating appointments within a call center is provided. A list of agents within a call center is received from a user. Each agent is associated with a call queue and handles incoming customer calls to the call queue. An availability of each of the agents on the list is determined. One of the agents is selected as a most available agent. The user is provided with records for the most available agent and is automatically connected with the most available agents.

Abstract: Portions of a customer interaction recording that include sensitive information can be identified by performing character recognition on the images in the recording. Field identifiers identified through character recognition are compared to a list of known identifiers of fields for entry of sensitive information. Based on the comparison, field identifiers identified through character recognition can be recognized as sensitive information field identifiers. Images that include the sensitive information field identifiers can be blurred in the stored recording. Further, agent behavior in relation to the screens with fields for entry of sensitive information can be analyzed for purposes such as identifying potentially malicious agent behavior, an agent being in need of assistance, or a recurring customer issue.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating appointments within a call center is provided. A list of agents for scheduling meetings within a call center is received from a user. An availability status is determined for each agent on the list at a common time. A determination that all the agents on the list are unavailable for a meeting with the user at the common time is made. A notice is provided to the user that all the agents on the list are unavailable. The agents are tracked and at a later time, one of the agents is determined to be available. A determination is made that the user is available at the later time and the available agent is transferred to the user.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for storing and retrieving sensitive information is provided. Segments of sensitive data each encrypted via a single use encryption key and associated with a reference code are maintained. The reference code is received for at least one of the segments of encrypted sensitive data and the encryption key is recreated based on the received reference code. The encrypted sensitive data segment is decrypted using the recreated encryption key and the decrypted sensitive data segment populates a field in a display.

Abstract: Caller identity verification can be improved by employing a multi-step verification that leverages speech features that are obtained from multiple interactions with a caller. An enrollment is performed in which customer speech features and customer information are collected. When a caller calls into the call center, an attempt is made to verify the caller's identity by requesting the caller to speak a predefined phrase, extracting speech features from the spoken phrase, and comparing the phrase. If the purported identity of the caller can be matched with one of the customers based on the comparison, the identity of the caller is verified. If the match cannot be made with a high enough degree of confidence, the customer is asked to speak any phrase that is not predefined. Features are extracted from the caller's speech, combined with features previously extracted from the predefined speech, and compared to the enrollment features.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for call status determination is provided. A request for verification of incoming calls to a party is received. An incoming call from a caller to that party is identified and metadata associated with the incoming call is obtained. An identification of the caller and whether a security certificate is present is determined from the metadata. A connection status of the call is determined based on one of a presence and absence of the security certificate. A notification of the connection status is provided to the party.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for protecting sensitive information within a call center in real time is provided. A call from a caller is received within a call center. The call is assigned to an agent and a determination is made as to when the caller is to provide sensitive information. The user is transferred to an automated voice response system to which the sensitive information is provided, while maintaining the call with the agent. The caller is returned to the agent upon providing the sensitive information. A notification regarding a status of the sensitive information is sent and the call is terminated.

Abstract: A system and method for identifying special information within a voice recording is provided. Training to identify a speaker is performed. A voice recording including utterances by at least two speakers is processed to identify segments of the voice recording provided by the speaker. Remaining segments of the voice recording are designated as provided by another speaker. A text element that corresponds to a request for information is identified in at least one of the segments of the voice recording provided by the speaker. A predetermined duration associated with the identified text element is applied to one of the segments of the voice recording of the other speaker occurring immediately after the segment of the voice recording from the regular speaker with the identified text element. The utterances from the other speaker occurring within the predetermined duration are identified as special information and rendered unintelligible.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating interactions via automatic agent responses is provided. A request for information for an agent is received from a user during an interaction with the agent. A list of candidate responses to the request is generated and one of the candidate responses is automatically selected when the agent fails to respond to the request within a predetermined time period. The selected response is provided to the user on behalf of the agent.

Abstract: A system and method for user notification regarding detected events is provided. A plurality of messages are accessed from one or more sources. Those of the messages associated with one or more potential events are identified. The potential events are detected based on the messages. At least one of the potential events is identified as an event based on a number of messages associated with that potential event. Metadata regarding the event is extracted by from the messages associated with the event. Information regarding the event is obtained from a third party different from the one or more sources of the monitored messages. A message regarding the event is generated, the generated message comprising the extracted metadata and the information. At least one user associated with the event is identified, wherein the at least one user is notified of the event using the generated message.

Abstract: A system and method for identifying special information verbalization timing with the aid of a digital computer are provided. A verbal interaction between two entities is recorded using a voice recorder and the recording is timed using a clock associated with a time base. A user interface of a data processing system is displayed, the data processing system including a further clock associated with a further time base. An activity is identified within the user interface that is associated with an entry of one of the entity's special information received during the interaction. A time is identified that is associated with the activity using the further time base. The timing of the recording is correlated with the time associated with the activity. At least one segment of the recording including the special information is identified based on the correlation. At least a portion of the identified segment is rendered unintelligible.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for delivering group messages is provided. Users signed on to a discussion group that is associated with a discussion group ID are identified. One of the signed-on users is designated as a moderator. A voice message is received and the discussion group ID is extracted from the voice message. The voice message is provided to the moderator and further provided to the signed-on users in the discussion group upon acceptance of the voice message by the moderator.

Abstract: A system and method for performing circumstance-specific customer satisfaction monitoring in an ongoing call center interaction are provided. At least one parameter of a message, the message including information regarding giving a signal by a customer of a call center indicating a dissatisfaction of the customer, is determined based on at least one of one or more characteristics of the customer and one or more conditions of the call center. The message is provided to the customer prior to an interaction between the customer and one of a plurality of agents of the call center. The interaction is began, including connecting the customer to one of the agents after the message is provided. Monitoring for a receipt of the signal from the customer during the interaction is performed. An action is taken after the receipt of the signal.

Abstract: A system and method for providing customer-specific ongoing call center assistance with the aid of a digital computer are provided. A call is received from a caller in a call center and the caller is connected to an agent of the call center. The speech of at least one of the caller and the agent is monitored during the call. A subject matter of the call is determined based on the monitoring. One or more characteristics of the caller are obtained. The agent is identified as being in need of assistance. Expert selection criteria are obtained and weighed based on one or more of the characteristics of the caller. An expert agent is selected using the weighed expert selection criteria and the subject matter of the call. The selected expert agent is patched into the call.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating interactions via automatic agent responses is provided. Communication during an interaction between a user and an agent is monitored and a request from the user is identified during the interaction. A list of candidate responses to the request is compiled and provided to the agent. Time is measured upon providing the list to the agent and a predetermined amount of time is applied to the measured time. When the measured time exceeds the predetermined amount of time and the agent has failed to provide a response to the user, one of the candidate responses from the list is automatically selected and provided to the user.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for performing distributed speech recognition is provided. Audio data is collected. A main grammar and secondary grammars are simultaneously provided for the audio data. Each secondary grammar includes an independent grammar. Speech recognition is simultaneously performed on the audio data using each secondary grammar. A new grammar is constructed for the audio data based on the main grammar template using results of the speech recognition. Further speech recognition is performed on the audio data using the new grammar.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for retention of call recordings are provided. Calls are received and recorded. The calls are provided to an automatic call distributor and criteria associated with the automatic call distributor are applied to the calls. The recordings of the calls that satisfy the criteria are provided to a database. One or more of the calls remaining are transferred to an IVR. Criteria associated with the IVR are applied to the one or more calls remaining. The recording for at least one of the one or more remaining calls that satisfy the criteria associated with the IVR are provided to the database. Each call still remaining is transferred to an agent. Criteria associated with the agents are applied to the calls still remaining. The recording for at least one of the still remaining calls that satisfies the criteria associated with the agents is provided to the database.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for transcription error reduction is provided. A transcribed value and a confidence score are assigned to each utterance in a stream of audio data. Those utterances with confidence scores that fall below a confidence threshold are identified as questionable utterances. At least one of the questionable utterances is placed into a pool of related utterances also determined to be questionable. A determination is made as to whether the pool satisfies a size threshold within a predetermined amount of time. A sample of the questionable utterances from the pool is obtained when the pool satisfies the size threshold within the predetermined amount of time. The sample of questionable utterances is provided to at least one human transcriber for verification.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for assigning call agents to callers is provided. A call from a caller is received into a call center. A voice sample is obtained from the caller during the call and analyzed. Traits of the caller are identified from the analyzed voice sample. A determination that at least one of the identified traits includes characteristics of multiple populations for that trait is made. The identified trait is defined as a percentage of each population included in that trait. The caller traits are compared to traits associated with each active agent within the call center. The agent with the traits most similar to the caller traits is assigned to the caller.

Abstract: A system and method for call data processing are provided. Multiple call sessions are monitored for an agent on an agent console. The content of each call session is displayed on the agent console. A selection of a script is received from the agent and at least a portion of the script is provided to a participant of one such call session as synthesized speech. A text message is received from the agent for another participant of a different call session, while the script is provided to the participant of the one such call session. The received text message is converted to synthesized speech and the synthesized speech is provided to the other participant of the different call session while the script is provided to the participant of the one such call session.