Hosted Contact Centre Solutions

Automatic Call Distribution - The device routes incoming calls to free agents in the contact centre. The ACD works with Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) so that intelligent routing takes place and inbound calls are transferred to an appropriate agent with the right skill set or dealing with that particular campaign, etc.

Application Service Provider - a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network.
Active Server Pages - a server-side script engine by Microsoft.

The system allows a contact centre to use agents for both inbound and outbound calls. During peak times in an inbound campaign, for example, agents assigned to outbound calls can be assigned to help with inbound calls. Likewise, during slack times, agents normally assigned to inbound calls can assist with outbound calls. Call blending maximizes productivity and efficiency in a contact centre.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing - a telephone surveying technique in which the interviewer follows a script provided by a software application. The software is able to customize the flow of the questionnaire based on the answers provided, as well as information already known about the participant.

Caller Line Identity - Inbound calls use CLI to identify the caller and if this information is used with their database, a screen pop appears on the Agents screen giving further, relevant information on the caller. Outbound calls made from the contact centre should display their CLI to allow customers to see who is calling.

Customer Premise Equipment - any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication channel(s) at the demarcation point (the point at which the telephone company network ends and connects with the wiring at the customer premises).

Customer Relationship Management - a term applied to processes implemented by a company to handle its contact with its customers. CRM software is used to support these processes, storing information on current and prospective customers.

Customer Service Agent

Computer Telephony Integration -  CTI effectively manages the voice and database information to produce effective interaction between a customer and an agent. From the caller’s identity (aided by Call Line Identity and Interactive Voice Response) CTI can retrieve relevant information and present this information as a screen pop on an Agent’s screen.

Direct Dial Inwards - This is a telephone number that can be accessed from the public telephone network.

Disaster Recovery - the process, policies and procedures of restoring operations critical to the resumption of business, including regaining access to data (records, hardware, software, etc.), communications (incoming, outgoing, toll-free, fax, etc.), workspace, and other business processes after a natural or human-induced disaster.

Dual Tone Multi-Frequency - DTMF signalling is used for telephone signalling over the line in the voice-frequency band to the call switching centre.

Full Time Equivalent - a way to measure a worker's involvement in a project. An FTE of 1.0 means that the person is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an FTE of 0.5 signals that the worker is only half-time.

All data that has been recorded and is not shown in real time is called historical data. Historical data is used to compile useful management information reports for contact centre supervisors and staff.

A contact centre uses telephony equipment that is rented, with the equipment at a remote location. Voice is sent either over telephone lines or VoIP, and data connection is made via the internet. A cost effective method, a hosted solution is used increasingly as an enhancement, an addition or a replacement to existing on-site technology.

Internet Protocol - a protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP).

Integrated Services Digital Network - a telephone system network integrating speech and data on the same lines.

Internet Service Provider - a company which primarily offers their customers access to the Internet using dial-up or other means of data telecommunication.

Interactive Voice Response - IVR is effectively a self-service option where an inbound caller interacts with the contact centre and makes choices using the key pad on their telephone. IVR is used for simple interactions such as queuing selection to complete transactions, for example, meter readings or paying bills.

Management Information (System) - distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization.

Access to the various services is via a combination of the call centre’s internet connection and the standard PSTN networks. Allows for total geographic independence and provides complete disaster recovery (DR) solution. Dialling equipment is physically located in multiple locations.

Private Automatic Branch eXchange - a telephone exchange that serves a particular business or office, as opposed to one that a common carrier or telephone company operates for many businesses or for the general public.

Peripheral Component Interconnect - a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard - developed by the major credit card companies as a guideline to help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security vulnerabilities and threats. A company processing, storing, or transmitting payment card data must be PCI DSS compliant or risk losing their ability to process credit card payments and being audited and/or fined.

Predictive Dialler - a system that automatically calls a list of telephone numbers in sequence and connects a customer who answers to an available Agent. It screens out no-answers, engaged tones, disconnected numbers and answering machines. Using historical data it predicts when an Agent will become available and automates its dialling rate accordingly.

Public Switched Telephone Network - the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks, in much the same way that the Internet is the network of the world's public IP-based packet-switched networks. Originally a network of fixed-line analogue telephone systems, the PSTN is now almost entirely digital, and now includes mobile as well as fixed telephones.

This is monitoring of Agent performance as it happens. Real time monitoring will display the stage of a call – talk time, wrap time, etc. It also displays length of call, calls abandoned, calls waiting, Agents available, etc.

Request For Proposal - an invitation for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service.

Return On Investment - the ratio of money gained or lost (realized or unrealized) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.

Software-as-a-Service - a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support.

Information held about a customer in the database is presented as a screen pop on the Agent’s computer allowing a productive interaction to take place.

Service Level Agreement - a part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined.

Small and Medium Enterprises - companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits. The EU categorizes companies with fewer than 50 employees as "small", and those with fewer than 250 as "medium".

Ultra Call Management System - a fully featured, market-proven, high performance call centre solution providing multi-site capability whilst you retain full central control of all your resources.

Unique Selling Proposition - a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands. Today the term is used in other fields or just casually to refer to any aspect of an object that differentiates it from similar objects.

Wide Area Network - a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries).

Work Force Management - the budgeting, forecasting, scheduling, time attendance and recruitment planning of a company's employees.

This is the period of time following a call between an Agent and a customer. The Agent updates records and takes agreed actions. The talk time (time talking to customer) plus the wrap time give the handling time, which is the total time taken to service a call.

Voice over Internet Protocol - This is a cost effective way of making telephone calls. Calls are transmitted over the Internet rather than telephone cables.

Voice Recording - With the Ultra solution, every call between Agent and Customer can be recorded. It is stored on the network and can be retrieved by Supervisors in mp3 format.