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A:
Abandoned Call The caller hangs up before the call is answered. Also known as a Lost Call.
Agent Out Call An outbound call made by an agent.
Agent Status Telephone transmission or switching that is not digital. Signals are analogous to the original signal.
Agent The person who handles incoming and outgoing calls. Also commonly known as customer service representative (CSR), telephone sales or service representative (TSR), customer service professional, operator and team member etc.
Announcement A recorded Message played to callers.
Base Staff The minimum number of agents required to achieve service level and response time objectives for a given period of time. Calculations assume that agents will be in their seat for the entire period of time. Schedules must therefore add in extra people to accommodate breaks, absenteeism and other factors that will keep agents from the phones. It is also known as Seated Agents.
Beep Tone An audible notification that a call is being monitored.
Benchmark A standardised task to test the capabilities of devices against each other. In quality terms, benchmarking is comparing products, services and processes with those of other organisations, to identify new ideas and improvement opportunities.
Best in Class A benchmarking term identifying organisations that outperform all others in a specified category.
Blocked Call A call that cannot be connected immediately because no circuit is available, or the ACD is programmed to block calls from entering the queue when the queue backs up beyond a defined threshold.
Broadband A general term applied to new technologies such as cable modems that allow fast access to the Internet and other online services.
Buddy System A system that teams up a new employee with an experienced employee so skills can be passed on over an extended period.
Business Intelligence (BI) Technology that attempts to close the time gap between accounting statements and market information. BI software systems enable management to pull up the latest data about the company's performance. In the coming era of e-commerce, with hook ups among manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers, such systems have the potential to offer financial data updated by the hour.
Call Blending Combines traditionally separate inbound and outbound agent groups into one group of agents responsible for handling both inbound and outbound contacts. This system is capable of automatically putting agents who are making outbound calls into the inbound mode and vice versa when the incoming call load changes.
Call Centre A term that generally refers to reservations centres, information lines, help desks or customer service centres, regardless of how they are organised or what types of transactions they handle. The term Contact Centre is becoming more widely used as 'Call Centre' does not accurately depict multi-channel environments.
Call Control Variables The set of criteria the ACD uses to process calls. This can include routing criteria, overflow parameters, recorded announcements and timing thresholds.
Call Detail Recording Another term for historical reports.
Call Forcing An ACD feature that automatically delivers calls to agents who are available to take calls. A notification such as a beep occurs to inform them that a call has arrived, agents are not required to press a button to answer calls.
Call In Queue A real-time report that refers to the number of call received by the ACD system but not yet connected to an agent.
Call Line Identity (CLI) See Automatic Number Identity
Call Load (Average Talk Time + Average After-Call Work) x call volume. Also referred to as Work Load.
Call Refers to contact methods such as telephone calls, video calls and Web calls etc. Also known as Transaction and Customer Contact.
Carrier A company that provides telecommunications circuits. Carriers include both local telephone companies and long distance providers.
Centrex A switching service provided by a public telephone operator. Alternative to a PABX or ACD.
Circuit A transmission path between two points in a network.
Client/Server Architecture A network of computers that share capabilities and devices.
Computer Simulation A computer technique that predicts the outcome of various events in the future, given variables. Often simulation is the only way to predict outcomes when there are many variables.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Refers to the linkage of a telephone switch (ACD, PABX) and computer systems to enhance call processing.
Conditional Routing The capability of the ACD to route calls based on current conditions. It is based on "if-then" programming statements. For example, "if the number of call in group 1 exceeds 20 and there is at least 2 agents in group two, then route the calls to group two."
Convergence A combination of technologies, usually a mix of computers, telecommunications, and television. Some examples are set-top boxes that allow consumers to watch television and surf the net, and voice phone call made over the Internet.
Cost Centre An accounting term that refers to a department or function in the enterprise that does not generate profit.
Cost Per Call Total costs divided by total calls for a given period of time period.
Customer Contact Management System (CCMS) Software that assists Agents in customer relationship management. Also known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Complex software used by big companies to improve customer experience. Each stage of the customer dealings with a company are logged on the computer system, so all staff are fully informed about each client's accumulated experience.
Database Call Handling A CTI application, where the ACD works in sync with the database computer to process calls, based on information in the database. For example, the prioritising of calls based on the customer who is calling.
Datacasting This will allow licensed media companies to send new television services such as textual news and weather bulletins over the airwaves.
Datamining These methods aim to present data in such a way that it provides useful information for decision-makers.
Datawarehousing This technology collates and stores data in such a way that management can easily access it.
Delay Announcements Recorded announcements that may inform clients to their progress in the queue, services available etc. In some systems, delay announcements are provided through recorded announcements routes (RANs).
E:
Electronic Mail (E-mail) Electronic text mail.
Escalation Plan A plan which specifies the actions to be taken when the queue begins to build beyond acceptable levels.
G:
Gateway A server which is dedicated to providing access to a network.
Grade of Service The probability that a call will not be connected to a system because all trunks are busy. This is often expressed as "p.01" which means 1% of calls will not be answered.
Handled Calls The number of calls received and actually handled by agents or peripheral equipment
Handling Time The time an agent spends in Talk Time and After-Call Work, handling a transaction. This may also refer to the time it takes for a machine to process a transaction.
Help Desk Generally refers to a call centre set up to handle queries about product installation, usage or problems. Usually for IT customers.
Historical Reports Reports that track call centre and agent performance over a period of time. The amount of history that a system can store varies by system e.g. ACD, third party ACD packages and peripherals (VRU's etc)
Imaging Documents are scanned into a system and sorted electronically.
Incoming Call Centre Management Having the right number of skilled people and resources in place at the right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload service level.
Incremental Revenue (Value) Analysis A methodology used as a multiplier to adjust another number.
Index Factor In forecasting, a proportion used as a multiplier to adjust another number.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) A set of international standards for telephone transmission. ISDN provides an end-to-end digital network, out-of-band signalling, and greater bandwidth than older telephone services. The two standard levels of ISDN are Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and Primary Rate Interface (PRI).
Inter Exchange Carrier (IXC) A long-distance telephone company.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) See voice Response Unit.
Internal Help Desk A group that supports other internal agent groups, e.g. for complex calls. Usually for IT customers.
Internal Response Time The time it takes an agent group that supports other internal groups (eg: for complex tasks) to respond to transactions that do not have to be handled when they arrive (eg: correspondence, email). See Response Time and Service Level.
Internet Call Me Transaction A transaction that allows a user to request callback from the call centre, while exploring a Web page. Requires interconnection of the ACD system and the Internet by means of an Internet Gateway.
Internet Call Through Transaction The ability for callers to click a button on a Web site and be directly connected to an agent while viewing the site. Standards and technologies that provide this capability are in development.
Internet Chat Allow the agent and caller to communicate via a typed conversation from their computers across the Internet.
Internet Phone Technology that enables users of the Internet's World Wide Web to place voice telephone call through the Internet, thus by-passing the long distance network.
Internet A global network housing email systems and websites.
Intranet A private company network that operates exactly like the World Wide Web.
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