Abstract: A system and method for providing customer-support services to a user of a website through a web widget. When the user accesses a web page containing the web widget, a call is automatically made from the web widget to a customer-support system. In response to the call, the system obtains status information from the customer-support system indicating whether customer-support agents are available to take telephone phone calls. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a call-related interface to the user, wherein the call-related interface is configured to facilitate a telephone call with a customer-support agent. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are not available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a non-call-related interface to the user, wherein the non-call-related interface is configured to facilitate an alternative channel of customer support that does not involve a telephone call.

Abstract: A query terminator executes within a computing environment featuring multiple applications and/or services that access a shared database, and operates to interrupt, halt, or terminate processes (e.g., queries) that misbehave in order to conserve computing resources. Illustrative misbehavior includes execution for an excessive period of time. Queries submitted by the applications/services are tagged to identify their origin, responsible teams, endpoints, resources, and/or other metadata. Queries that are susceptible to forced termination are also tagged with timeout values. The query terminator for a given application or service identifies queries from the application that are currently executing on the database, examines their metadata, and interrupts or terminates those that have been executing longer than their timeout values. Metadata regarding terminated processes is logged and provided to the responsible teams.

Abstract: When a customer-support ticket is created or updated in an online customer-support system, the system applies a set of triggers, which modify the ticket based on business rules, to the ticket, wherein each trigger performs actions that modify the ticket when conditions for parameters associated with the ticket are satisfied. During this process, the system evaluates condition nodes in condition graphs for the set of triggers, wherein a condition graph for a trigger is a directed graph comprised of condition nodes that specify conditions on one or more parameters associated with the ticket. During this evaluation, if a valid path through a condition graph comprising satisfied condition nodes is discovered, the system fires a trigger associated with the condition graph. Also, while evaluating the condition nodes, the system performs one or more range-searching operations to quickly evaluate conditions for frequently occurring parameters in the condition graphs.

Abstract: When a customer-support ticket is created or updated in an online customer-support system, the system applies a set of triggers, which modify the ticket based on business rules, to the ticket, wherein each trigger performs actions that modify the ticket when conditions for parameters associated with the ticket are satisfied. During this process, the system evaluates condition nodes in condition graphs for the set of triggers, wherein a condition graph for a trigger is a directed graph comprised of condition nodes that specify conditions on one or more parameters associated with the ticket. During this evaluation, if a valid path through a condition graph comprising satisfied condition nodes is discovered, the system fires a trigger associated with the condition graph. Also, while evaluating the condition nodes, the system performs one or more range-searching operations to quickly evaluate conditions for frequently occurring parameters in the condition graphs.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that automatically updates a customer-support ticket in an online customer-support system. When the customer-support ticket is created or updated, the system applies a set of triggers, which modify the ticket based on business rules, wherein each trigger performs actions that modify the ticket when conditions for parameters associated with the ticket are satisfied. When applying a trigger to the ticket, the system evaluates the conditions for the trigger by evaluating an associated condition graph, which is a directed graph comprised of condition nodes, wherein each condition node specifies conditions on parameters associated with the ticket. During this evaluation, if a valid path through the condition graph is discovered, which comprises a sequence of satisfied condition nodes from the root node to a null node, the system fires the trigger, which involves performing actions associated with the trigger to update the ticket.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that maintains status information for customer-service agents in an online customer-support system. During operation, the system receives a request to update status information for a customer-service agent, wherein the request is received at an agent status keeper (ASK) service that provides a centralized repository for status information for customer-service agents, which can be accessed from multiple channels associated with separately siloed products. In response to the request, the system sends a message corresponding to the request to an inbox for an agent actor that operates on status information for the customer-service agent. While processing the message, the agent actor validates an assumed version number for the request. If the validation is successful, the agent actor commits the update by persisting one or more events produced by processing the request, and also publishes the one or more events to an associated publish/subscribe channel.

Abstract: A system and methods are provided for passing control of a customer-support conversation among integrations responsible for responding to a customer during the customer-support conversation. The system receives a message from a source integration, which is presently responsible for responding to the customer during the customer-support conversation, wherein the message includes a pass-control command that passes control of the customer-support conversation to a target integration. In response to the pass-control command, the system passes control of the customer-support conversation from the source integration to the target integration, so that the target integration becomes responsible for responding to the customer.

Abstract: We have developed a system that automatically suggests macros to help customer-support agents process customer-support tickets in an online customer-support system. During operation, the system receives a customer-support ticket, which is associated with a request from a customer in the customer-support system, wherein the request relates to a product or a service used by the customer. Next, the system converts text from the customer-support ticket into a ticket embedding in a vector space. The system then feeds the ticket embedding into a macro-suggestion model, which correlates ticket embeddings with macros, wherein each of the macros comprises a sequence of commands that performs an operation to facilitate processing of the customer-support ticket. If the macro-suggestion model produces suggested macros, the system presents the suggested macros to a customer-support agent.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that passes control of a customer-support conversation among integrations, which are responsible for responding to a customer during the customer-support conversation. During operation, the system receives a message from a source integration, which is presently responsible for responding to the customer during the customer-support conversation, wherein the message includes a pass-control command that passes control of the customer-support conversation to a target integration. In response to the pass-control command, the system passes control of the customer-support conversation from the source integration to the target integration, so that the target integration becomes responsible for responding to the customer during the customer-support conversation.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that automatically interacts with a customer during an automated customer-support conversation. The system first receives a textual input from the customer during the automated customer-support conversation, wherein the conversation relates to an issue the customer has with a product or a service used by the customer. Next, the system calculates a semantic embedding in a vector space for the textual input. The system then determines a new position in a predefined dialogue tree based on the calculated semantic embedding and a current position of the conversation in the dialogue tree, wherein the dialogue tree defines a structure for the conversation, including dialogue text, and predefined responsive customer-support actions for various customer inputs. Finally, the system navigates to the new position in the dialogue tree and performs a responsive customer-support action associated with the new position.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that facilitates accessing external servers to process messages during customer-support conversations in an online customer-support system. During operation, the system receives a message from a sender while the message is in transit between the sender and a receiver during a customer-support conversation, wherein the customer-support conversation is between a customer and a responsive entity, and wherein the customer-support conversation relates to an issue the customer has with a product or a service used by the customer. Next, the system feeds the message through a pipeline of processors, wherein each processor in the pipeline is configured to make a call to an associated external server to perform an operation on the message before forwarding the message to a subsequent stage of the pipeline. Finally, when the message finishes transiting the pipeline, the system forwards the message to the receiver.

Abstract: A system and method for providing customer-support services to a user of a website through a web widget. When the user accesses a web page containing the web widget, a call is automatically made from the web widget to a customer-support system. In response to the call, the system obtains status information from the customer-support system indicating whether customer-support agents are available to take telephone phone calls. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a call-related interface to the user, wherein the call-related interface is configured to facilitate a telephone call with a customer-support agent. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are not available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a non-call-related interface to the user, wherein the non-call-related interface is configured to facilitate an alternative channel of customer support that does not involve a telephone call.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that processes requests to access data item at an edge device in a network. During operation, the system receives the request to access the data item from a user, wherein the request is received at the edge device, and wherein the edge device communicates with an origin server, which stores data items. If the request includes a token identifier, the system uses the token identifier to look up a token payload in a token cache at the edge device. The system then decorates the request with fields from the token payload, and analyzes the decorated request to determine whether the user is authorized to access the data item. If the user is authorized to access the data item, the system looks up the data item in a content cache at the edge device, and returns the data item to the user to complete the request.

Abstract: We disclose a system that provides customer-support services to a user of a website through a web widget. When the user accesses a web page containing the web widget, a call is automatically made from the web widget to a customer-support system. In response to the call, the system obtains status information from the customer-support system indicating whether customer-support agents are available to take telephone phone calls. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a call-related interface to the user, wherein the call-related interface is configured to facilitate a telephone call with a customer-support agent. If the status information indicates customer-support agents are not available to take telephone calls, the web widget provides a non-call-related interface to the user, wherein the non-call-related interface is configured to facilitate an alternative channel of customer support that does not involve a telephone call.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that analyzes latencies for web service requests. During operation, the system receives web service requests at a web service. The system also records latency values associated with processing the web service requests in an inverse cumulative histogram, which is stored in a set of bins, wherein each bin is associated with a range of latency values between a high range value and a low range value, and wherein each bin contains a sample count for latencies that fall within the bin plus a sample count of an adjacent bin associated with a next higher range of latency values. Next, upon receiving a request to determine a number of web-service requests having latencies that are less than a target latency value, the system returns a sample count from a matching bin, which has a high range value that matches the target latency value.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that detects and controls operations performed by abusive accounts in a customer-relationship-management system. During operation, the system obtains account-related information for an account in the customer-relationship-management system. Next, the system determines a likelihood that the account is being used for abusive purposes based on the account-related information. Finally, the system limits a rate of processing for application-programming interface (API) calls made from the account to the customer-relationship-management system based on the determined likelihood that the account is being used for abusive purposes.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system that uses an integration service to facilitate access to an origin service. During operation, the integration service receives a request service from a software platform, wherein the request is made through an integration service application programming interface (API) provided by the integration service. In response to the request, the integration service makes a corresponding request to the origin service, wherein the corresponding request is made through an origin service API provided by the origin service, and wherein making the corresponding request involves translating data received through the integration service API into a format suitable for the origin service API.

Abstract: The system obtains a set of tickets representing customer requests generated by a customer-support ticketing system. Next, the system feeds words from each ticket through a model to generate a request vector for the ticket, wherein the request vector comprises numerical values representing words in the ticket. The system then embeds the request vectors in a vector space. If help center articles already exist, the system embeds article vectors for the existing help center articles in the vector space. Next, the system identifies clusters of request vectors, which are within a pre-specified distance of each other in the vector space. If an identified cluster is more than a pre-specified distance away from a closest article vector in the vector space, the system notifies a content creator that a new article needs to be written, or an existing article needs to be updated, to cover the identified cluster.

Abstract: The system receives an event, which is generated during operation of an ecommerce system, wherein the event represents an action taken by a user while interacting with the ecommerce system. Next, the system determines whether the event is relevant to one or more time-based sessions for the user, wherein a time-based session is defined by a set of filter conditions and operators, which need to be satisfied for the user to be joined in an associated segment, wherein the set of filter conditions defines a time window for events. Then, for each identified relevant time-based session, the system updates the time-based session to include the event. If the update causes events in the time-based session to satisfy the set of filter conditions and operators, the system emits a segment-join event for the user to enable a downstream listener to perform an action in response to the user joining the segment.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that manages how events are stored and retrieved in an event-driven computing system. During operation, the system obtains an event from a primary events table in the event-driven computing system, wherein the event is associated with a specific event type. Next, the system calculates an importance score for the event based on a rarity of the specific event type and an age of the event. If the importance score falls below a threshold, the system moves the event to a secondary events table, wherein the primary events table is provisioned with superior throughput capacity than the secondary events table, whereby the primary events table facilitates faster queries than the secondary events table.