I’m not a big fan of the intellectual property system in the United States. Too often often the government grants protection and right-to-sue to companies or individuals who convince evaluators that they have defined a process that is unique and unobvious, when it is neither. So it was with some skepticism that I reached out to LiveOps to learn more about their claim to have patented “multichannel pivoting” in customer care contact centers. “Journey mapping”, “omnichannel” and “multichannel” are all the rage, as made manifest in the Customer Experience/Contact Center track at Enterprise Connect 2015. So the idea that a single vendor could patent the idea that individuals move from one channel to another over time during the course of their “journey” seemed like a stretch.

To the contrary, readers who explore the claims in U.S. Patent 8,929,536 (granted in January) will find an impressive list of functions that are baked into an agent’s desktop and supporting software modules to enable what the claim calls “an efficient multi-channel pivoting among synchronous and asynchronous communication channels during a communication session.” That means that the system makes it easy for a conversation to move from a public platform (such as Twitter, Facebook or other monitored social networks) to a private channel (such as chat, direct message or phone call). In most cases, this also means moving from asynchronous communications, with lengthy response times, to synchronous or “near synchronous” conversations.

According to the patent claims and accompanying drawings, customer “pivots” can take place under the control of a customer but, more likely, will be done programmatically according to business rules established by the company. In those cases, decision rules are based on a “value score” assigned to the customer taking into account past activity and recent postings. In some cases the shift can take place in ways that are “undetectable by the customer,” in which cases the customer’s posting on social media will trigger a call from the concerned company. In other cases, the system may give a customer a choice of options according to rules set in a “Pivot Offer Module” in coordination with a “Work Assignment Module” that communicates with contact center infrastructure via connectors.

Kudos to LiveOps for effectively redefining the word “pivot.” In the argot of today’s agile enterprise, the term almost solely refers to a strategy reboot that occurs in the face of failed or failing business tactics. Now, in the context of “intelligent assistance” it defines how agile customers can be accommodated in near real time as they communicate with their vendors of choice over their channels of choice. It should be no surprise to learn that the best way to get immediate action from a company’s customer care personnel is via Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. We’re just a few pivots away from intelligent assistance.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Articles

Tags: Contact Center, LiveOps, customer experience, patents