A system for allowing call center agents to initiate text chat, audio
and/or video communication, as well as collaborative browsing with
potential customers visiting web pages includes a customer monitoring
applet that monitors the behavior of the customer via the web browser and
sends information to a router process, the information including
information identifying the customer, the web page location, status of a
transaction, etc. The router process uses the information supplied to it
from the customer monitoring applet, as well as information on one or
more available agent processes to determine which call agent would be
appropriate to initiate contact with the potential customer. The router
process transmits the information identifying the customer to the
selected agent process for presentation to the agent. The agent can
monitor the status of the customer, as well as other customers, and send
a request to initiate communication, if appropriate. The router process
uses a customer status database and an agent status database to determine
which agent is appropriate for a particular customer.