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InstantRapport helps to keep each contact's workload to a
manageable level.
Recognizing
that a contact's workload comes from multiple sources - both online and
offline - Leepfrog has equipped InstantRapport with the tools to help
contacts balance their tasks and coordinate with other contacts.
IntstantRapport is smart enough to route prospects to a contact with a
lighter workload or transfer workload when a contact is away from his
or her desk.
Availability Status
Each contact may select from three availability statuses at any time: Open, Restricted, or Closing.
- When Open
is selected the contact is available to take any any incoming
conversation. This counselor will accept conversations that are
redirected from any contact who is away from the desk or has set his or
her status to Closing.
- When Restricted is
selected the contact only accepts conversations from a select group of
visitors, for example when InstantRapport deems that the counselor
would be a particularly good match for a visitor.
- When Closing
is selected the contact does not take on new conversations. However,
this contact may continue current conversation until those
conversations are finished. Visitors who would otherwise be paired with
this contact will be re-routed to a contact with the Open status.
Each contact's availability status is broadcast to all other
contacts through a status window. At any time a contact may view the
availability status of all other contacts through the status window. Contact's also have the option to decline new conversation requests individually. In this case the
visitor automatically matched with the next available contact.
Conversation Forwarding
In order direct visitors to the people best suited
to help them, a contact may forward a visitor to a different contact at
any time. So if a contact does not have the information a visitor
needs, the contact can forward the visitor to someone who does.
For compartmentalized information centers, where
different contacts handle different parts of a process, contacts can
use conversation forwarding to direct a visitor to the next step in a
process, forwarding him or her to the next point of contact.
Inactive Contacts
One of the most common
problems with instant messengers is that nobody is around to answer a
visitor's questions even though the visitor has reason to believe
otherwise. In the mind of the visitor this situation reflects very
poorly on the quality of your data center and your institution.
Although
a team may have a policy that a contact must mark him or herself as
"unavailable" when not available, the contact may have forgotten to log
out during lunch, or may have become distracted by an offline telephone
call or office visitor. From the visitor's standpoint, they have
summoned a contact and nobody has responded because the contact is AFK
(Away From Keyboard).
InstantRapport
is capable of recognizing when a contact is Away From Keyboard, and
tries to match the visitor with a different contact. IR also marks AFK
contacts as "unavailable" until they return to their keyboard, so that
they do not get matched in the future. This feature eliminates that
"ghost town" feel to your online data center. Visitors get responses
when somebody appears available and contacts don't come back from lunch
to a screenful of conversations all asking "hello... is anyone there?"
By being smart enough to anticipate
real-world situations, InstantRapport provides a better visitor
experience when things don't quite happen as planned.
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