Call distributor with automatic preannouncement system and method

In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of agent sets each with a telephone to communicate with customers at customer telephone sets of an external telephonic network, the improvement being an automated preannouncement system, comprising:

• a voice message memory accessible to the plurality of agent sets;
• means for internally storing in the voice message memory a plurality of different preannouncement voice messages respectively associated with different types of customers each of the voice messages being generated in a voice of each of a plurality of different agents wherein the preannouncement voice messages are played to the customer sets upon initial connection of incoming calls to the agent sets;
• means for determining the type of a customer making an incoming call from one of the customer telephone sets;
• means for connecting an incoming call to one selected agent of a plurality of different agents;
• and
• means responsive to the determining means and the connecting means for automatically selectively playing to the customer and to the one selected agent one of the plurality of different preannouncement voice messages associated with the type of the customer making the incoming call and in voice of the one selected agent connected to the incoming call upon the initial connection of the incoming call to the one agent.

In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of agent sets each with a telephone to communicate with customers and a display screen to obtain visual information relating to customer types of said customers, the improvement being an automated preannouncement system, comprising:

• means for automatically identifying one of a plurality of different customer types for each incoming telephone call, at least one of the plurality of different customer types associated with each of the customers;
• means for storing a plurality of preannouncement voice messages and a plurality of associated display screen messages respectively associated with the plurality of different customer types, each of the preannouncement voice messages being in a voice of one of a plurality of different agents and are to be played prior to the one of the agents talking to the customer;
• means for connecting an incoming telephone call from one of the customers to one of the agents;
• and
• means responsive to the customer type identifying means and the incoming telephone call connecting means for automatically providing one of the plurality of display screen messages to the display screen of one of the agent sets associated with the one of the customer types connected thereto and for automatically playing one of the plurality of preannouncement voice messages to a customer associated with the one of the customer types in the voice of the one of the agents connected to the incoming telephone call upon the incoming telephone call being initially connected to the one agent set and prior to the one agent talking to the customer.

In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of agent sets each with a telephone to communicate with incoming telephone calls from customers at customer sets of an external telephonic switching system and a visual display for displaying information concerning customers, the improvement being a method of automatically playing preannouncement messages, comprising the steps of:

• storing preannouncement voice messages in different voices of a plurality of different agents respectively;
• associating a sign-in code with a particular agent of the plurality of different agents;
• entering the sign-in code at one of the plurality of agent sets;
• and
• automatically playing one of the preannouncement voice messages in the voice of the particular agent associated with a sign-in code entered at any one of the plurality of agent sets to incoming telephone calls from the customers which have been connected by the automatic call distributor to one of the agent sets at which the sign-in code of the particular agent has been entered and in which the one of the preannouncement voice messages played in the voice of the particular agent is played upon an initial connection of an incoming telephone call by the automatic call distributor to the one agent set at which the sign-in code is entered.

In an automatic call distributor having a memory accessible to a plurality of agent sets each with a telephone to communicate with incoming telephone calls from customers at customer telephone sets of an external telephone network, the improvement being a method of automatically playing preannouncement messages, comprising the steps of:

• internally storing in the memory accessible to the agent sets a plurality of different preannouncement voice messages respectively associated with different types of customers, each of the preannouncement voice messages being in a voice of an agent is played to customer telephone sets upon initial connection of incoming calls to an agent set;
• determining a type of a customer placing an incoming call from one of the plurality of customer telephone sets;
• determining which one of a plurality of different agents will answer the incoming call;
• and
• selectively playing to the customer calling from one of the plurality of customer telephone sets, one of the plurality of different preannouncement voice messages associated with the type of customer in the voice of the agent who is determined to answer the incoming call upon the initial connection of the incoming call to the agent prior to the agent talking to the customer.

In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of agent sets each with a telephone to communicate with incoming telephone calls from customers and a display screen to obtain visual information relating to customer types, a plurality of agents being associated with the plurality of agent sets to answer the incoming telephone calls, the improvement being a method of automatically playing preannouncement messages, comprising the steps of:

• identifying one of a plurality of different customer types of an incoming call;
• storing a plurality of preannouncement voice messages and corresponding display screen messages respectively associated with the plurality of different customer types, each of the preannouncement voice messages being in a voice of one of the plurality of agents respectively;
• connecting an incoming call from one of the customers to one of the agents;
• automatically providing one of the plurality of display screen messages to the display screen of one of the agent sets associated with the type of customer connected thereto, the one of the agent sets having a particular one of the agents associated therewith;
• and
• playing to the customer connected to the one of the agent sets one of the plurality of preannouncement voice messages which corresponds to the one of the plurality of display screen messages being provided to the agent set which is associated with the identified customer type of customer connected thereto and which is in the voice of the particular one of the agents upon the incoming call being initially connected to the one agent set and prior to the one agent talking to the customer.