HOST CONNECT GATEWAY FOR COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE PLATFORMS AND CUSTOMER HOST COMPUTING APPLICATIONS

The present invention provides a customer host connect gateway that connects any Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform with any customer host computer. The customer host connect gateway enables IVR applications to perform transactions with the customer host computer during the processing of a customer call in a call center. The customer host connect gateway satisfies all interoperability requirements, freeing IVR applications from the need for specifying any hardware or software information related to a host computer and from the need for providing a network address for the customer host computer. The customer host connect gateway includes a separate application for each customer host connection. The IVR platform issues a transaction to a customer host computer by sending a message to the customer host connect gateway. The customer-specific application on the host connect gateway then determines the format required for the customer host transaction, based upon the customer host computing platform an application. The customer host connect gateway also determines the particular connectivity protocols necessary for communicating with the customer host computer and the network address for the customer host computer. The customer host connect gateway also provides a user interface that allows new applications to be rapidly built and deployed on the host connect gateway.