JP2002152388A - Method for specifying the source of incoming calls in a call center, customer information database, and method for constructing customer database - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To specify the source of an incoming call from a corporate company via a PBX in a call center. SOLUTION: A PB transmitted from a telephone 2 other than a representative telephone is used.
A call that arrives at the call center via X5 is compared with the customer information DB at the time of the call. If there is no matching number,
The VRU / IVR12 prompts for a representative telephone number,
The input representative telephone number is compared with the customer information DB again. If it matches the representative telephone number in the customer information DB, the incoming number is newly registered as the source telephone number,
A telephone number that is relatively frequently used even when a call is made via the BX is automatically recorded in the customer information DB, and the probability of specifying the caller is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for specifying a source of an incoming call in a call center, a customer information database used for specifying a source and displaying customer information, and a method for constructing a customer database.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A call center uses a telephone as a contact point for customer service, and is set up in order to increase customer satisfaction and maintain and expand customers. The call center provides services such as telephone consultation, responses to various inquiries, information provision, reception of complaints and malfunctions, and product information.

[0003] Recently, there is a service of a telephone company that notifies the telephone number of a caller when a call is received, and this service is used to smoothly respond to customers and improve customer satisfaction. Particularly in call centers, smoother responses are required to further improve customer satisfaction. In order to meet such a demand, for example,
As described in JP-A-46251, when a call is received at a call center, a customer information database is searched based on a calling ID (such as a called number) and customer information is displayed in a pop-up display on an operator terminal. .

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional method, the originator's telephone number is not fixed when making a call via the PBX, so that the operator responds.
Therefore, it was not possible to respond to customers smoothly. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of specifying a caller's incoming call in a call center that can improve the probability of specifying the caller's customer company even if the call is made via a PBX. It is another object of the present invention to provide a customer information database and a method of constructing the same, which enable a call center to improve the probability of specifying a source customer company even when making a call via a PBX.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the above object is achieved by managing customer information using a representative telephone number. If the telephone number received at the call center is not registered in the customer information database, the input of the representative telephone number is automatically prompted by the automatic voice response function, and the customer is specified using the representative telephone number as a key. In constructing the customer information database, if the representative telephone number in the customer information database does not match the incoming telephone number, the input of the representative telephone number is prompted by the automatic voice response function, and the representative telephone number is automatically set in the customer information database. At the same time, the number of incoming calls is counted up, and a relatively frequently used telephone number is automatically recorded in the customer information database in association with the representative telephone number.

That is, in the method for specifying the source of an incoming call in a call center according to the present invention, a customer information database storing a customer name and a telephone number of the customer in association with each other is searched by the received telephone number, and In the method for identifying the source of a telephone call in a call center for specifying a customer, if there is no telephone number that matches the received telephone number in the database, the user is prompted to enter a representative telephone number, and the customer information database is searched using the entered representative telephone number. And specifies the originating customer.

[0007] A customer information database according to the present invention is a customer information database used in a call center that stores customer information and customer telephone numbers in association with each other, a record storing a customer name and a representative telephone number of the customer, and a record of the customer. Records storing telephone numbers other than the representative telephone number are managed as one group.

A method for constructing a customer information database according to the present invention is a method for constructing a customer information database storing a customer name, a representative telephone number of the customer, and a source telephone number other than the representative telephone number in a call center. A first step of prompting the input of a representative telephone number by voice response when the entered telephone number does not match any of the representative telephone number stored in the customer information database and the caller telephone number; And when the received telephone number matches the representative telephone number stored in the information database, associating the incoming telephone number with the corresponding representative telephone number and registering it as a new source telephone number. .

At this time, the customer information database stores the number of times of reception of the source telephone number, and when the received telephone number matches the source telephone number stored in the customer information database, the number of the source telephone number is stored. The method further includes the step of counting up the number of incoming calls. In the second step, when the number of source telephone numbers registered in association with the representative telephone number in the customer information database is less than a predetermined number, additional registration is performed. When the number of source telephone numbers registered in association with the telephone number has reached a predetermined number, the number of incoming calls may be registered by overwriting the source telephone number with “1”.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a system configuration of a call center according to the present invention. Company A has a main phone 1 and source phones 2 to 4 other than the main phone. A
Calls from company telephones 1 to 4 are transmitted via company A's PBX 5. Company N has only one telephone 9. Although the number of telephones owned by each company varies, there are countless such companies, and calls from those phones are PSTN
(Public telephone network) 6 to the PBX 10 of the call center. The call center 10 is a CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) server 1 connected to the PBX 10
1. VRU / IVR (Voice Response Unit / Interac)
tive Voice Response) 12, telephones 13 to 15, operator PCs 16 to 18, and a database server 19. The VRU / IVR 12 is an automatic voice response function device that automatically responds to customers and prompts for a representative telephone number. Telephones 13 to 15 are telephones used by the operator in the call center, and operator PCs 16 to 18 are PCs used by the operator. Database server 19
Has a customer information database for managing customer information.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed example of a customer information database provided in the database server 19. Row 30
Is a number unique to the representative telephone number and the source telephone number. Column 31 stores the representative telephone number and the company name (customer name) corresponding to the source telephone number. Column 32 stores the representative telephone number of the company (customer). In the case of a company having only one telephone, the telephone number is treated as a representative telephone number of the company in the customer information database. A column 33 stores a source telephone number other than the representative telephone number of the company. Column 34 stores the number of calls to the call center from the corresponding telephone number. The column 35 stores information about the customer, for example, an address, a past purchase history, a past reception history, a past response content, the name of a caller, and the like. In the following, a description will be given assuming that the upper limit of the number of records of the source telephone number that can be stored in association with one representative telephone number is predetermined.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing in the call center. When a call from the customer arrives at the call center (step 50), the caller's telephone number is compared with a representative telephone number in the customer information database (step 51). If there is a representative telephone number that matches the customer information database, the number of incoming calls is counted up by one (step 52), and the customer information stored in association with the representative telephone number is displayed in a pop-up on the operator's PC (step 52). 65), the operator responds (step 66). If there is no representative telephone number in the customer information database that matches the caller telephone number, a comparison is made with a caller telephone number other than the representative telephone number in the customer information database (step 53). If there is a source phone number that matches the customer information database, the number of calls
The customer information stored in association with the source telephone number is displayed in a pop-up (step 65), and the operator responds (step 66). At this time, not only the customer information stored in association with the caller telephone number but also the customer information stored in association with the representative telephone number may be simultaneously displayed in a pop-up display.

If neither the representative telephone number nor the source telephone number in the customer information database records a telephone number that matches the incoming caller telephone number, the VRU / IVR12 is used.
The voice automatic response function is used to ask the caller whether or not there is a representative telephone number (step 55). If the caller answers that there is no representative telephone number, the incoming caller telephone number is newly registered as a representative telephone number in the customer information database (step 56).

On the other hand, if the caller answers that there is a representative telephone number in response to the inquiry about the presence or absence of the representative telephone number in step 55, the input of the representative telephone number is prompted by the automatic voice response function of the VRU / IVR 12 (step 55). 5
7). Next, the entered representative telephone number is compared with the representative telephone number in the customer information database (step 58). If there is no representative telephone number that matches the telephone number entered in the customer information database, the representative information is stored in the customer information database. , Newly register the entered representative telephone number (step 5
9).

If a representative telephone number corresponding to the input telephone number exists in the customer information database, it is checked whether or not the source telephone number in the customer information database is free (step 60). The incoming caller telephone number is newly registered in the caller telephone number below the representative telephone number (step 61). If there is no room,
It is checked whether or not the source telephone number under the representative telephone number has a record in which the number of incoming calls is "1" (step 6).
2). If there is a source telephone number with the number of incoming calls of "1", it is registered by overwriting the incoming caller telephone number with that number (step 64); otherwise, it is not registered (step 6).
3). Thereafter, the information stored in the customer information database is displayed in a pop-up on the operator's PC (step 65), and the operator responds (step 6).
6).

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of an example of processing in the call center. When a call from the caller arrives at the PBX 10 of the call center, the PBX 10 acquires the caller telephone number and passes it to the CTI server 11. C
The TI server 11 instructs the database server 19 to search the customer information database using the caller telephone number. The database server 19 searches for the representative telephone number and the source telephone number in the customer information database by the caller telephone number,
If there is no matching telephone number, the fact is notified to the CTI server 11, and the CTI server 11 sends the VRU / I to the PBX 10.
Instruct transfer to VR12. The PBX 10 transfers to the VRU / IVR 12 according to the instruction, and the VRU / IVR 12 prompts the input of the representative telephone number by voice response.

The entered representative telephone number is passed to the database server 19, which searches the customer information database for the entered representative telephone number. If there is a representative telephone number that matches the representative telephone number entered in the customer information database, the incoming caller telephone number is registered under the representative telephone number and the customer information is updated, and the information related to the representative telephone number is updated. The customer information stored and displayed on the operator terminal. On the other hand, VRU / IVR
12 prompts the input of the representative telephone number by voice response, and then transfers the telephone to the operator. Thus, the operator can quickly and appropriately respond to the incoming call while viewing the customer information displayed on the operator terminal.

As described above, in the present invention, a customer information database is constructed using a representative telephone number as a key. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if it is difficult to specify a customer from a caller's telephone number because a call is made from a plurality of telephone numbers via the PBX, the information is unique to the customer using the automatic voice response function. It is possible to acquire a certain representative telephone number, search the customer information database by the representative telephone number, and specify the customer. Therefore, it is possible for the operator to respond quickly, and it is possible to improve customer satisfaction.

In addition, there is a customer company in which a caller's telephone number is set to non-call when making a call via the PBX. Even in this case, according to the present invention, the VRU /
The input of the representative telephone number of the customer company is prompted by the automatic voice response function of the IVR, and the representative telephone number can be registered in the customer information database. In addition, once the information relating the customer company and its representative telephone number has been registered in the customer information database, the representative telephone number is similarly input by the automatic voice response function of the VRU / IVR from the next incoming call of the customer company. And search the customer information database with the entered representative phone number to identify the customer,
It is possible for the operator to respond quickly and improve customer satisfaction.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a relatively frequently used telephone number is automatically recorded in the customer information database, and even if the call is made via the PBX, the probability of specifying the caller when the call is received is determined. Improvement can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system configuration example of a call center according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data configuration example of a customer information database.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing in a call center.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of an example of processing in a call center.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Company A representative telephone 2,3,4 Company A originating telephone 5 Company A PBX 6 Public telephone network 9 Company N telephone 10 Call center PBX 11 Call center CTI server 12 Call center VRU / IVR 13,14,15 Call center operator telephone 16, 17,18 PC for call center operator 19 Call center database server

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshihiro Sueyoshi 890 Kashimada, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term in the Open Solutions Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (Reference) 5K015 AA06 AA09 AA10 AD01 AD03 AD05 AF08 5K024 AA00 BB02 BB07 CC14 DD01 DD02 EE01 FF06 GG01 5K049 AA07 AA17 AA18 BB04 BB17 CC04 CC08 CC10 CC11 EE04 FF01 FF12 FF32 GG11

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for specifying a source of an incoming call in a call center for searching a customer information database that stores a customer name and a telephone number of the customer in association with each other by using a received telephone number to specify a customer of the source. If there is no telephone number matching the received telephone number in the customer information database, prompting the input of a representative telephone number, searching the customer information database with the input representative telephone number to identify the calling customer. A method for identifying the source of an incoming call in a call center. 2. A customer information database used in a call center that stores customer information and customer telephone numbers in association with each other, a record storing a customer name and a representative telephone number of the customer, and a record other than the representative telephone number of the customer. A customer information database wherein records storing telephone numbers are managed as one group. 3. A method for constructing a customer information database in a call center in which a customer name, a representative telephone number of the customer and a source telephone number other than the representative telephone number are stored, wherein the received telephone number is stored in the customer information database. A first step of prompting the input of a representative telephone number by voice response when the representative telephone number does not match any of the representative telephone number stored in the customer information database and the input representative telephone number is stored in the customer information database. And registering the incoming telephone number as a new source telephone number in association with the received representative telephone number when the representative telephone number matches. . 4. The customer information database construction method according to claim 3, wherein the customer information database stores the number of incoming calls of the source telephone number, and the received telephone number is stored in the customer information database. The method further includes the step of counting up the number of incoming calls of the source telephone number when the source telephone number matches the source telephone number, and in the second step, the calling information registered in the customer information database in association with the representative telephone number. When the number of source telephone numbers is less than a predetermined number, additional registration is performed. When the number of source telephone numbers registered in association with the representative telephone number has reached a predetermined number, the number of incoming calls is "1". A method for constructing a customer information database, wherein registration is performed by overwriting a caller telephone number.