Method and apparatus for call distribution and override with priority

A telephony call center for routing incoming calls to telephones at individual agent stations comprising:

• a call switching apparatus having at least one incoming trunk and two or more telephony channels to telephones at agent stations;
• a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) processor connected to the call switching apparatus and running a CTI application;
• and
• a routing system;
• wherein the routing system is adapted to assign priority to incoming calls, and to cause calls to placed in a queue of calls to be routed according to order of priority, calls are routed partly based on the availability of agents, and an agent is considered available if the agent is engaged in a previously routed call of lower priority than a new call to be routed.

A method for routing telephone calls, comprising steps of:

• (a) assigning priority to incoming calls, creating thereby prioritized calls;
• (b) placing the prioritized calls in a routing queue wherein calls are routed sequentially from the head of the queue in order of priority;
• (c) selecting an agent station destination for each call reaching the head of the queue, wherein the agent is selected for receiving a routed call even though the agent is already engaged in a call if the call to be routed is assigned a higher priority than a call in which the agent is engaged;
• and
• (d) routing the prioritized calls to the selected destinations in order of priority.