Customer request routing based on social media clout of customers and agents

Abstract

Embodiments include systems and methods for routing a request by a customer to an agent to handle the request. The method includes receiving a request from a customer, analyzing a digital footprint of the customer to determine one or more clout indicators of the customer, analyzing a digital footprint of a plurality of agents to determine one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents, and routing the request to a selected one of the plurality of agents based at least in part on the one or more clout indicators of the customer and the one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request from a customer;   analyzing a digital footprint of the customer to determine one or more clout indicators of the customer;   analyzing a digital footprint of a plurality of agents to determine one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents; and   routing the request to a selected one of the plurality of agents based at least in part on the one or more clout indicators of the customer and the one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , comprising updating the customer digital footprint for the customer before analyzing the digital footprint of the customer. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , comprising updating the agent digital footprint for at least one of the plurality of agents before analyzing the digital footprint of the plurality of agents. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital footprint of the customer comprises publicly available data describing the customer's interaction with one or more of websites and social media applications. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital footprint of the plurality of agents comprises publicly available data describing the plurality of agent's interactions with one or more of websites and social media applications, and privately accessible data describing performance by the plurality of agents in handing requests by customers. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein routing the request comprises matching the customer to the selected agent having attributes of the selected agent's digital footprint similar to attributes of the customer's digital footprint. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising adjusting provision of services to the customer based at least in part on the digital footprint of the customer. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , comprising prioritizing handling of requests from customers with higher clout indicators. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the digital footprint of the customer and analyzing the digital footprint of the plurality of agents comprises determining relative importance of data points of the digital footprint of the customer and data points of the digital footprint of the plurality of agents. 
     
     
         10 . At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processing resource to:
 receive a request from a customer;   analyze a digital footprint of the customer to determine one or more clout indicators of the customer;   analyze a digital footprint of a plurality of agents to determine one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents; and   route the request to a selected one of the plurality of agents based at least in part on the one or more clout indicators of the customer and the one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents.   
     
     
         11 . The least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 10  comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processing resource to update the customer digital footprint for the customer before analyzing the digital footprint of the customer. 
     
     
         12 . The least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 10  comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processing resource to update the agent digital footprint for at least one of the plurality of agents before analyzing the digital footprint of the plurality of agents. 
     
     
         13 . The least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the digital footprint of the customer comprises publicly available data describing the customer's interaction with one or more of websites and social media applications. 
     
     
         14 . The least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the digital footprint of the plurality of agents comprises publicly available data describing the plurality of agent's interactions with one or more of websites and social media applications, and privately accessible data describing performance by the plurality of agents in handing requests by customers. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus comprising:
 a request handler to receive a request from a customer;   a customer clout analyzer to analyze a digital footprint of the customer to determine one or more clout indicators of the customer;   an agent clout analyzer to analyze a digital footprint of a plurality of agents to determine one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents; and   a router to route the request to a selected one of the plurality of agents based at least in part on the one or more clout indicators of the customer and the one or more clout indicators for at least one of the plurality of agents.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , comprising:
 a customer footprint updater to update the customer digital footprint for the customer before analyzing the digital footprint of the customer.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , comprising:
 an agent footprint updater to update the agent digital footprint for at least one of the plurality of agents before analyzing the digital footprint of the plurality of agents.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the digital footprint of the customer comprises publicly available data describing the customer's interaction with one or more of websites and social media applications. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the digital footprint of the plurality of agents comprises publicly available data describing the plurality of agent's interactions with one or more of websites and social media applications, and privately accessible data describing performance by the plurality of agents in handing requests by customers. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein routing the request comprises matching the customer to the selected agent having attributes of the selected agent's digital footprint similar to attributes of the customer's digital footprint.