Abstract: Some known Contact Centers rely on a Network Level Router to determine which of a number of available Contact Centers should deal with a given contact. This decision is made by the NLR based on real time information provided by the Contact Centers. However, the format of such information is proprietary which means that the NLR must translate and collate this information. This invention seeks to use session initiation protocol (SIP) Presence for such information transfer which enables improved decision making and further enables additional functionality to be added to the Contact Center system. The invention provides a SIP enabled Contact Center (180, 190, 200) comprising a Contact Center server arranged to send SIP messages to one or more other SIP enabled nodes in a SIP communications network, said SIP messages comprising SIP presence information about the current state of the Contact Center.

Abstract: A participant managing system which identifies potential invitees to a conference. A storage means maintains storing records of associations of persons at least one or more key words. During the preparation of the conference the system responds to the user's input of key words by identifying persons. The user is not obliged to make any selection of persons, only a selection of subjects by key words.

Abstract: A method of providing access to a network of contact centers comprises providing contact links on one or more web pages which when activated initiate contacts to the contact centers. The network addresses associated with the links and to which the contacts are automatically directed are dynamically specified in the web pages and are obtained from a database. The database is dynamically updated in response to statistical updates received periodically or continually from the individual contact centers. In this way the contacts can be directed in advance to the most appropriate destination without having to evaluate each contact as it enters the contact center network, thereby reducing processing time and delays.

Abstract: A peer to peer contact center is provided by individual user terminals registering with a server which acts as a proxy to receive contacts from callers to the contact center. The server redirects the calls to individual terminals according to simple rules without subjecting the calls to any contact center treatment. The individual terminal receiving a call subjects the call to a contact center treatment while holding the call, and then determines from among the registered terminals the most suitable terminal for handling the call. The call is then transferred to the selected terminal. In this way the complex infrastructure of traditional contact centers is dispensed with and each individual terminal acts as a mini contact centre in respect of the calls distributed to it in a dumb or semi-dumb fashion by the server.

Abstract: A conference notification system in which potential participants to a conference re notified of relevant sections of the conference as they occur. Records are maintained of associations of persons to at least one or more conference section indicators, each indicator being uniquely associated with a conference section. The system identifies the current conference section and identifies persons associated with the current section, notifying them accordingly.

Abstract: The present invention recognizes that there is a need to enable scripts or rules within workflow engines to be more dynamic, more easily created, more easily interpreted by other software entities and moreover to enable many different media types to be provided rather than only one such as voice. The present invention addresses this by making use of new types of web-based scripting applications such as VXML and SALT. One or more new commands are added to existing workflow engines to enable them to instruct media servers to access web-based instructions. Those web-based instructions are then executed at the media server to provide additional media treatment control.

Abstract: A participant managing system which identifies potential invitees to a conference. A storage means maintains storing records of associations of persons at least one or more key words. During the preparation of the conference the system responds to the user's input of key words by identifying persons. The user is not obliged to make any selection of persons, only a selection of subjects by key words.

Abstract: A participant managing system which identifies potential invitees to a conference. A storage means maintains storing records of associations of persons at least to one or more keywords. During the preparation of the conference the system responds to the user's input of key words by identifying persons. The user is not obliged to make any selection of persons, only a selection of subjects by key words.

Abstract: Contact centers typically have an entry process to receive incoming contacts and distribute those appropriately amongst agents associated with the contact center. This entry process is often complex and time consuming. This invention allows users of the contact centre to reach a particular agent without undergoing the entry process. This is achieved without compromising security or giving away details about the agents.

Abstract: Statistics relating to the operation of physical, logical and software components of a contact center are generated by or on behalf of the components themselves rather than by a statistics engine based on event notifications from the components. In this way, the locally generated statistical information can be communicated as part of presence information for such components. By subscribing to a presence service for presence information for the components of interest, a statistics service can collect the locally produced statistics coming from each component. This provides a less centralised, more dynamic and adaptable way of managing statistical information in a contact center and provides in addition alternative methods of generating alarms and alerts.

Abstract: Contacts are managed within a contact center by associating each contact with one or more skill set and priority identifiers. The contacts may be represented as a software object. Contact (or contact objects) may be queued relative to one another by means of references to and/or from the object(s) immediately ahead of and behind each contact. For those contacts having multiple skill sets, a process and a system is disclosed wherein the multiple skill sets of the contact are serviced by multiple agents to provide a 1 to N process. The customer may be given the option to have each additional agent conference into a contact session thereby reducing the customer's overall wait time for the contact to be serviced. The process and system also may include identifying contact objects having prerequisites and routing those contact objects to an agent having one of the prerequisites. The process and system also allows a group of related contacts to be serviced by one or more agents in an M to 1 or M to N fashion.

Abstract: One problem faced by contact center providers is how to most effectively balance limited contact center resources against the need to provide good customer service. The present invention addresses this problem by enabling a contact center to use external resources such as freelance contact center agents and media servers. This is achieved in such a way that those external resources are controlled by the contact center and their use is effectively transparent to end users of the contact center.

Abstract: Some known Contact Centers rely on a Network Level Router to determine which of a number of available Contact Centers should deal with a given contact. This decision is made by the NLR based on real time information provided by the Contact Centers. However, the format of such information is proprietary which means that the NLR must translate and collate this information. This invention seeks to use session initiation protocol (SIP) Presence for such information transfer which enables improved decision making and further enables additional functionality to be added to the Contact Center system. The invention provides a SIP enabled Contact Center (180, 190, 200) comprising a Contact Center server arranged to send SIP messages to one or more other SIP enabled nodes in a SIP communications network, said SIP messages comprising SIP presence information about the current state of the Contact Center.

Abstract: A method of providing access to a network of contact centres comprises providing contact links on one or more web pages which when activated initiate contacts to the contact centres. The network addresses associated with the links and to which the contacts are automatically directed are dynamically specified in the web pages and are obtained from a database. The database is dynamically updated in response to statistical updates received periodically or continually from the individual contact centres. In this way the contacts can be directed in advance to the most appropriate destination without having to evaluate each contact as it enters the contact centre network, thereby reducing processing time and delays.

Abstract: There is a need to provide a method of managing contacts in a network of contact centers which facilitates even distribution of work load across the contact centers, is flexible, has inherent resilience, and which enables each contact center to have a degree of autonomy. This is achieved in the present invention by using contact objects and agent objects at each contact center and replicating and synchronizing those objects from each contact center to each of the other contact centers.

Abstract: A method of monitoring a communications session between an agent of a contact centre and a user of that contact centre involves analysing data from the session to locate a pattern of data indicative of a situation requiring intervention in the communications session, such as a prolonged silence, shouting, or one or more words and phrases from a stored list. The analysis can also look for a pattern of data indicative of a situation in which the agent might benefit from additional information available to the contact centre (such as a help facility or access to information regarding the user). On recognising such a pattern of data, an alert is issued to a system of the contact centre, in order to notify a human supervisor or an automated system to intervene in the communications session or to provide the agent with additional information.

Abstract: Many types of contact center are arranged such that communications between contact center agents and customers or other end users are contingent upon, or dependent upon, successful operation of the contact center itself. However, if the contact center is not working for any reason, contacts cannot be directed between agents and end users. This is addressed by directing contacts between an end user and contact center agents, without the need for operation of the contact center itself. In order to achieve this a plurality of associations between contact center agent addresses and the contact center address are made, stored and prioritised at a communications network node.

Abstract: A peer to peer contact center is provided by individual user terminals registering with a server which acts as a proxy to receive contacts from callers to the contact center. The server redirects the calls to individual terminals according to simple rules without subjecting the calls to any contact center treatment. The individual terminal receiving a call subjects the call to a contact center treatment while holding the call, and then determines from among the registered terminals the most suitable terminal for handling the call. The call is then transferred to the selected terminal. In this way the complex infrastructure of traditional contact centers is dispensed with and each individual terminal acts as a mini contact centre in respect of the calls distributed to it in a dumb or semi-dumb fashion by the server.

Abstract: There is a need to provide a method of managing contacts in a network of contact centers which facilitates even distribution of work load across the contact centers, is flexible, has inherent resilience, and which enables each contact center to have a degree of autonomy. This is achieved in the present invention by using contact objects and agent objects at each contact center and replicating and synchronizing those objects from each contact center to each of the other contact centers.

Abstract: Many types of contact center are arranged such that communications between contact center agents and customers or other end users are contingent upon, or dependent upon, successful operation of the contact center itself. However, if the contact center is not working for any reason, contacts cannot be directed between agents and end users. This is addressed by directing contacts between an end user and contact center agents,.without the need for operation of the contact center itself. In order to achieve this a plurality of associations between contact center agent addresses and the contact center address are made, stored and prioritised at a communications network node.