Method and apparatus for extended management of state and interaction of a remote knowledge worker from a contact center

Abstract

A network system for managing remote agents of a communication center includes a primary server connected to the network the primary server controlling at least one routing point; one or more secondary servers distributed on the network and accessible to the remote agents, the secondary server or servers having data access to agent computing platforms and communication peripherals; and, a software suite distributed in part to the secondary server or servers and distributed in part to one or more agents computing platforms and peripherals, the software suite including protocol for reporting agent status data. The system monitors agents computing platforms and peripherals for activity state through the one or more secondary servers whereupon the one or more secondary servers exchange control messaging and event related data using ISCC protocols with the primary server over the network for intelligent routing purposes.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A network system for managing remote agents of a communication center comprising:
 a primary server connected to the network, the primary server controlling at least one routing point used by the communication center; 
 one or more secondary servers distributed on the network and accessible to the agents, the secondary server or servers having data access to agent computing platforms and communication peripherals; and 
 a software suite distributed in part to the secondary server or servers and in part to one or more agents computing platforms and peripherals, the software suite including protocol for reporting agent status data; 
 characterized in that the agent's computing platforms and peripherals are monitored for activity state by the one or more secondary servers whereupon the one or more secondary servers exchange control messaging and event related data using ISCC protocols with the primary server over the network, the primary server recognizing CTI computer-telephony integrated (CTI) protocol equivalents for the messaging for the purpose of intelligently routing events incoming to or otherwise communicatively involving the remote agents. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1  wherein the network is an Internet network and the routing point is one of or a combination of a telephony switch, a service control point, and an Internet Protocol Router. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1  wherein the remote agents are grouped together in a central facility. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1  wherein the remote agents are distributed over a home network. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1  wherein the remote agents are mobile and wirelessly connected to the one or more secondary servers. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1  wherein the agent's computing platforms and peripherals are one of or a combination of a desktop computer, a lap top computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, an Internet Protocol telephone and a paging device. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1  wherein the remote agents are specialized knowledge workers offering service not available within the communication center. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1  wherein the software suite is an extension of a CTI software suite used in the communication center, the extended portion for parameterizing and enabling additional services and communication apparatus generic to the remote agents but not available within the center, wherein the parameterizing includes formatting messaging and event-related data into a format useable on the agent computing platforms. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1  wherein control messaging and event related data exchanged between the primary server and the one or more secondary servers is formatted using Extensible Markup Language. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9  wherein Extensible Style sheet Language Transformation is used to transform the Extensible Markup Language files into formats useable on the computing platforms of the remote agents. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10  wherein the useable formats include HTML, HDML, WAP, and WML. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 1  wherein a CTI-enhanced Interactive Voice Response system is used to exchange data with a remote agent receiving calls on an analog telephone in the event that the agent does not have access to a computing platform connected to the telephone and the one or more secondary servers. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 1  wherein the remote agents establish one or more destination numbers for receiving events, the destination numbers to be set in the CTI environment for the period that the agent is logged into the system. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13  wherein the destination numbers include one or a combination of telephone numbers, fax numbers, Internet Protocol addresses, e-mail addresses, universal resource locators, and pager numbers. 
     
     
       15. A system comprising:
 a plurality of computer devices hosting a software suite for managing remote agents of a communication center, the software suite comprising: 
 a client portion including a contact navigation application, a contact extension application, and a code library; and 
 a server application including a transaction management application, an agent specific application, and an ISCC application program interface; 
 characterized in that the client portion specifies functionality and reports state information of the remote agent to the server application, whereupon the server application reports same under ISCC a protocol to a communication-center suite for routing purposes and wherein the communication-center suite provides event-related data under ISCC the protocol to the server application, which in turn transforms the data into data formats usable on various communication devices of the remote agent. 
 
     
     
       16. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents are part of a communication center network, the server portion functioning as the network access and agent monitoring point for the remote agents. 
     
     
       17. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the communication network includes the Internet network and the public switched telephony network. 
     
     
       18. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents are grouped together in a central facility. 
     
     
       19. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents are distributed over a home network. 
     
     
       20. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents are mobile and wirelessly connected to the one or more secondary servers. 
     
     
       21. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the client portion resides on one or a combination of a desktop computer, a lap top computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, an Internet Protocol telephone and a paging device. 
     
     
       22. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents are specialized knowledge workers offering service not available within the communication center. 
     
     
       23. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the software suite is an extension of a CTI software suite used in the communication center, the extended portion for parameterizing and enabling additional services and communication apparatus generic to the remote agents but not available within the center, wherein the parameterizing includes formatting messaging and event-related data to and from the software suite into a format useable on the agent computing platforms. 
     
     
       24. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the ISCC protocols include Extensible Markup Language used to format messaging and event-related data. 
     
     
       25. The software suite of  claim 24  wherein Extensible Style sheet Language Transformation is used to transform the Extensible Markup Language files into formats useable on the computing platforms of the remote agents. 
     
     
       26. The software suite of  claim 25  wherein the useable formats include HTML, HDML, WAP, and WML. 
     
     
       27. The software suite of  claim 15  wherein the remote agents establish one or more destination numbers for receiving events on the various communication devices, the destination numbers to be set in the CTI environment for the period that the agent is logged into the system providing the software. 
     
     
       28. The software suite of  claim 27  wherein the destination numbers include one or a combination of telephone numbers, fax numbers, Internet Protocol addresses, e-mail addresses, universal resource locators, and pager numbers. 
     
     
       29. A method for managing information about remote agents of a communication center for the purpose of intelligently routing events involving those agents comprising steps of:
 (a) providing a software suite accessible to the agents for parameterizing and enabling additional services and communication apparatus generic to the remote agents but not available within the center;, wherein the parameterizing includes formatting messaging and event-related data into a format useable on the computing platforms of the remote agents, wherein the additional services are services provided by the remote agents, and wherein the enabling of the addition services includes: 
 (b) providing a network link between the software suite and CTI computer-telephony integrated (CTI) software of the communication center; and 
 (c) routing communication events involving the remote agents according to state and other information about the agents provided by and through the software suite. 
 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (a) the agents are accessible to the communication center through a combination of the Internet network and the public switched telephony network. 
     
     
       31. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (a) the software suite comprises a server portion and a client portion. 
     
     
       32. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (a) the agents are knowledge workers offering service not available from agents within the communication center. 
     
     
       33. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (a) communication apparatus includes one or a combination of a desktop computer, a lap top computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, an Internet Protocol telephone and a paging device. 
     
     
       34. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (a) the software suite may be configured and updated from the communication center. 
     
     
       35. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (b) the network link supports ISCC a flexible interconnecting protocol. 
     
     
       36. The method of  claim 35  wherein the ISCC protocol includes Extensible Markup Language and Extensible Style Sheet Transformation Language. 
     
     
       37. The method of  claim 29  wherein the client portion resides on one or more of the communication apparatus and the server portion resides on a server accessible to the one or more communication apparatus via a network link. 
     
     
       38. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (c) state information includes ready, not ready, logged in, logged out, and on call. 
     
     
       39. The method of  claim 29  wherein in step (c) other information includes skill level, registered destination numbers, and communication device type and platform.