Method, system and apparatus for visual programming of interaction workflows for omni-channel customer contact centers with integrated customer relationship management

A system for visual programming of an interaction workflow and information to be presented on a computer display for a contact center representative comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• a computer display;
• executable computer code stored in the memory for execution on the processor comprising:
• a visual programming environment;
• a plurality of activities, each of said activities comprising a software object that is stored in the memory and linked to a displayable visual symbol within the visual programming environment;
• wherein each of said plurality of activities further comprises software for performing at least one task comprising:
• gathering information, handling information, handling an interrupt, executing decisional logic, presenting a screen pop on a computer display for a live-agent or presenting an appropriate workspace on a computer display for the contact center representative;
• wherein at least one of the plurality of activities is linked to a customer relationship management (CRM) database comprising at least one item of CRM data, and said at least one of the plurality of activities enables presentation of the item of CRM data on the computer display of the live agent and further enables the contact center representative to edit the item of CRM data;
• wherein the visual programming environment further comprises a drag-and-droppable visual symbolic representation of each of the plurality of activities, such that an executable interaction workflow can be programmed by dragging and dropping a plurality of the visual symbolic representations together in an ordered arrangement;
• a plurality of listeners, each of said listeners comprising a software object for gathering data from a respective system component using that respective system component's interface and then passing the gathered data to a respective activity of the plurality of activities;
• and
• at least one instance of a runtime object comprising an executable software object that when executed, executes the executable interaction workflow to display appropriate workspaces, information or screen pops on a computer display for a contact center customer service representative.

A method for presenting appropriate host application workspaces, information and instructions to a contact center agent on a display screen during an interaction between the contact center agent and a customer, comprising:

• executing a runtime environment on a processor with a memory and a display screen;
• executing, within the runtime environment, an instance of a pre-programmed executable interaction workflow to present the appropriate host application workspaces, information and instructions on the display screen of the contact center agent;
• executing one or more listeners, each of said listeners comprising a software object for collecting data, wherein each of said listeners is installed at a contact center system component that is capable of generating data and wherein each of said listeners gathers data generated by the respective system component as the data is created and passes said gathered data to an activity to which the listener is linked;
• wherein the pre-programmed executable interaction workflow comprises a sequence of a plurality of activities;
• wherein each of the plurality of activities is a software object that is stored in the memory and performs at least one task comprising:
• gathering information, handling information, handling an interrupt, executing decisional logic, or presenting a screen pop on the computer display of the contact center agent;
• wherein at least one of the plurality of activities is linked to a customer relationship management (CRM) database comprising at least one item of CRM data, and said at least one of the plurality of activities enables presentation of the item of CRM data on the computer display of the contact center agent and further enables the contact center agent to edit the item of CRM data;
• wherein the executing of the executable interaction workflow by the runtime environment presents, on the display screen of the contact center agent, an application workspace with information collected by at least one of the listeners that is linked to one of the activities;
• wherein the executing of the executable interaction workflow by the runtime environment presents, on the display screen of the contact center agent, information about the customer from a database;
• wherein the executing of the executable interaction workflow by the runtime environment presents, on the display screen of the contact center agent, prompts for the contact center agent to take one or more actions comprising:
• reading a script, gathering information from the customer or providing information to the customer.