Queuing data communications in a data communications network using a virtual assistant

An apparatus, comprising:

• a management circuit configured and arranged to correlate identifiable aspects of user-data communications with a particular issue or topic associated with a client entity among a plurality of remotely-situated client entities, each of the plurality of remotely-situated client entities respectively configured and arranged to provide data communications services via respective data communication devices operated by or on behalf of a plurality of end-users, the respective data communication devices including circuitry to facilitate the data communications services;
• and
• a client-specific communications server configured and arranged to interface with the management circuit and a data-center communications server providing the data communications services for or on behalf of the respective end-users of the plurality of remotely-situated client entities on a subscription basis, wherein the client-specific communications server is configured and arranged to queue data communications for the client entity, by:
• placing in a queue, a user-data communication corresponding to a user-generated message, the user-data communication addressed to the client entity;
• initiating a virtual assistant session while a relative position of the user-data communication is maintained in the queue;
• retrieving from the management circuit, a dynamic series of inquiries to address the user-data communication while the relative position of the user-data communication is maintained in the queue, wherein the inquiries are adjusted based on client-specific contextual information gathered to facilitate certain of the data communications services provided to each of the respective clients;
• terminating the user-data communication and removing the user-data communication from the queue in response to an indication that the user-data communication was addressed during the virtual assistant session;
• and
• routing the user-data communication based on instructions stored by the management circuit, based on the relative position of the user-data communication in the queue, and in response to an indication that the user-data communication was not addressed during the virtual assistant session;
• wherein the client entity includes a plurality of branch locations, and the client-specific communications server is configured and arranged to queue data communications for the client entity, by:
• creating a different set of inquiries for each respective branch location correlating identifiable aspects of user-data communications with particular issues or topics pertinent to the respective branch location;
• and dynamically updating the set of inquiries for the respective branch locations based on received feedback, the identifiable aspects including keywords or tones to be compared to a client-specific database associated keywords and tones with different issues or topics.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a management circuit configured and arranged to correlate identifiable aspects of user-data communications with a particular issue or topic associated with at least one client entity among a plurality of remotely-situated client entities, each of the plurality of remotely-situated client entities respectively configured and arranged to provide data communications services via respective data communication devices operated by or on behalf of a plurality of end-users, the respective data communication devices including circuitry to facilitate the data communications services;
• and
• a data-center communications server configured and arranged to interface with the plurality of remotely-situated client entities and to provide the data communications services to the plurality of remotely-situated client entities on a subscription basis, wherein the data-center communications server is configured and arranged to queue data communications for each respective client entity, by:
• placing in a queue, a user-data communication corresponding to a user-generated message, the user-data communications addressed to a particular client among the plurality of remotely-situated client entities;
• initiating a virtual assistant session while a relative position of the user-data communication is maintained in the queue;
• retrieving from the management circuit, a dynamic series of inquiries to address the user-data communication while the relative position of the user-data communication is maintained in the queue;
• modifying the dynamic series of inquiries based on identifiable aspects of the user-data communication and responses received during the virtual assistant session and based on client-specific contextual information gathered to facilitate certain of the data communications services provided to each of the respective clients, to identify an issue or topic associated with the user-data communication;
• terminating the user-data communication and removing the user-data communication from the queue in response to an indication that the user-data communication was addressed during the virtual assistant session;
• routing the user-data communication based on instructions stored by the management circuit, based on the relative position of the user-data communication in the queue, and in response to an indication that the user-data communication was not addressed during the virtual assistant session;
• and
• providing a transcript of the virtual assistant session to an agent in response to the routing;
• wherein the identifiable aspects of the user-data communications include at least one of a keyword, a tone, and a phrase, and the data-center communications server is configured and arranged to queue data communications for each respective client entity, by:
• identifying at least one keyword, tone, or phrase in the user-data communication;
• correlating, using information stored by the management circuit, at least one issue or topic with the user-data communication based on comparing the identified keyword, tone, or phrase with client-specific information stored in a database associating keywords, tones, and phrases with different issues or topics;
• and
• generating the dynamic series of inquiries for the user-data communication, the dynamic series of inquires specific to the correlated issue or topic.