“Press 1 to use our automated attendant; press 2 to speak with a representative.” Customer service, support, and sales are sophisticated in how they handle and direct calls to the appropriate representative. From an automated attendant answering the phone, to the automated redirection of a call, to the interaction of phone and computer application, call-center applications allow a company to efficiently and effectively manage customer calls. Although this setup is possible in traditional voice networks, the convergence of voice with Internet Protocol (IP) networks opens new possibilities and an ease of administration not previously available.
Whether you call a computer company for support, an insurance company to make a claim, or an airline to check the status of a flight, you interact with a call center in some fashion. Likewise, when you receive a phone call during dinner asking whether you want to buy a subscription to a newspaper, a call center is interacting with you. The goal of a call center is to efficiently route a call to the appropriate person or call service while managing call queues when there are more calls than call-center employees available.
The primary components of a call center follow:
Private branch exchange (PBX)—. Provides traditional call-handling functionality.
Interactive voice responder (IVR)—. Affectionately known as “Silicon Sally,” IVR is computer software that provides a series of audible menus for the caller to interact with. The IVR interprets key presses and, recently, voice responses to walk the caller through a series of menus. Based on the caller’s selections, the IVR can return information to the user, ending the call, or provide a return code that directs the call appropriately.
Automatic call distribution (ACD)—. Depending on the vendor, ACD provides any of the following functionality:
Call distribution based on customizable rules
The ability to hold callers in a queue
Music-on-Hold, customizable messages and advertisements that play while the caller waits in a queue
Computer telephony integration (CTI)—. Allows computer applications to interface with the telephone equipment. For call centers, the caller’s phone number, account number, or any piece of information the caller provides can serve as the key for an application. For example, when a customer calls her insurance company with questions, the call agent application can intercept the calling phone number and automatically display the customer’s personal account information when the agent receives the call.
You can put all these components together in endless combinations; no two call centers operate the same. Vendors provide the functionality described here in different packaging and levels of functionality.
Call centers can exist in many forms, but in general, a caller interacts with one of two models: inbound or outbound. The goal is to redirect the call to the appropriate live person or audible application that serves the caller.
With an inbound call center, the customer initiates the call to the company. Examples of inbound calls include contacting the following:
An insurance company to make a claim
An airline to check a flight schedule
A bank for account information
A computer company for technical support
A mail-order company to make a purchase
The power company to report a power outage
A traditional ACD determines where to route the call. With an IP-based call center, the IVR, intelligent contact management (ICM), and PBX are like a virtual ACD. Generally, the caller interacts with an IVR first. The IVR replaces the traditional switchboard operator or receptionist by giving the caller a list of options. Based on the caller’s responses, the IVR either returns a code to the ACD or runs an application that addresses the caller’s need.
With the application, the caller either receives the information he needs and hangs up or interacts further. When the IVR returns a code, the ACD then determines where to route the call, which might eventually be a group of call agents.
When managing calls destined to a group of agents, the ACD typically provides a series of functions that assist in managing a queue of callers. The caller remains on hold, and might hear music, status messages, and advertisements while waiting in the queue. When an agent becomes available, the ACD transfers the call to the PBX, finally linking the customer to a live person. With an IP call center, the IVR might serve as the queue point rather than the traditional ACD.
The other model, outbound, lets a system dial many numbers and then transfer the call to a live agent after it finds a number to ring or a person to answer. It appears that the agent called the caller directly. Examples of this method include the following:
Subscriptions solicitations from a the local newspaper
Special offers from insurance companies
A public-opinion poll conducted by a political agency
A loan company pursuing delinquent customers
With this model, an outbound dialer device parses through lists of phone numbers and dials each one. Based on defined rules, the dialer device hands the call to the ACD after it finds a live person, an answering machine, or simply a ring. The ACD transfers the call either to an automated recording or to a live agent. The call then proceeds.
Generally, for both methods, time is of the essence. Callers become frustrated and angry when forced to talk to recordings or sit in queues for any period of time. So the various systems that make up the call center must be tightly integrated and fast.
As companies conduct business across multiple time zones and countries, they need to provide call center services that do the following:
Balance loads across multiple call centers.
Provide support wherever the sun is shining (around the globe).
Allow call agents to seamlessly work in remote locations. (You never know where your call is actually directed, except perhaps through the accent of the agent you interact with.)
The Internet created new methods for customers and companies to interact. Aside from the telephone, customers need to be able to contact a company through the web and e-mail. Interactive web-based “chat” type support is popular. As various industries adopt these additional contact methods, customers begin to expect all other industry competitors to do so as well.
To the customer, it should not matter whether she uses e-mail, interactive chat, web submission, or the telephone: a company should respond with the same quality and priority regardless of the method. For the company with a traditional phone-based call center, migrating to this multiple-method model can be difficult.
Today’s IP-based call-center software manages e-mail, phone calls, and other contact methods all from the same set of tools.
At-A-Glance—IP Call Centers
If you have ever called an 800 number for customer service, chances are you have been routed through a call center. Call centers have been around for many years, but with the advent of Internet Protocol call centers (IPCCs), they have become incredibly powerful and flexible tools for customer service, ordering, and technical support.
</division><division> <title>What Are the Problems to Solve?</title>All call centers handle the tasks of receiving calls, collecting caller information, queuing callers, and routing callers to the agents on duty. In addition, IPCCs often provide an additional layer of sophistication in the form of integrated computer applications, which display caller information to the agents at the moment they are connected to the users.
IPCCs must also be capable of receiving and processing calls from traditional telephony systems.
</division><division> <title>IPCC Equipment</title>This section details the primary components of an IPCC. In many cases, several of these functions reside in a single box, but the following list outlines them separately for clarity:
Intelligent contact management (ICM)—. Distributes voice and data information to the Call Manager and interactive voice responder (IVR) systems and agent desktops.
Call Manager—. Provides traditional private branch exchange (PBX) telephony features, such as basic call processing, signaling, and connection services.
Peripheral gateway (PG)—. Provides a connection between IPCC components, such as the Call Manager and IVR, to the ICM. The PG serves as a traffic director between the devices.
Computer telephony integration (CTI) server—. Provides the connection to the agent’s desktop. The CTI server provides incoming call information, receives agent activity reports (log in, available, wrap-up, etc.), and performs call-control functions (answer, hold, transfer, release).
IVR—. Prompts users for information, collects caller-entered digits, and generates announcements such as queuing information. (“Your call will be answered in approximately five minutes.”)
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway—. Provides a traditional telephony connection into the IPCC.
At-A-Glance—Call Flow and Other Cool Stuff
A customer dials a toll-free telephone number over a traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) line. The call is routed through a voice gateway. The ICM receives such information as the dialed number (DN), the calling line ID (CLID), and any caller-entered digits (CED).
The ICM kicks off a user-defined routing script to choose the most appropriate IVR (there could be several across a region or country) and queues the call.
The caller chooses a transaction that can be completed with only the IVR, so she is not routed to a live agent.
A second customer dials the call center from an IP phone. The ICM again routes the call to the most appropriate IVR and queues the call. The IVR can collect additional information (account number, order info, Social Security number, etc.) or simply inform the customer of the approximate wait time. The CM reserves the agent for the incoming call.
When the ICM detects that an agent is available, it sends a message (which includes the call context information) to the CM. The CM instructs the CTI server to notify the agent desktop of the incoming call.
The agent receives a notification that the call is coming in, along with the collected user information, which appears on the agent’s computer screen.
The CM connects the call to the agent. Because the caller is online, the agent can also share computer applications with the caller.
Routing to specialized agents—. In some cases, a call center should route VIP customers directly to specialized agents (a $1M investor calling a brokerage house, for example). The IPCC routes them quickly and easily, and with the CTI server, the agent has the user’s information on his computer screen before the call is even connected.
Following the sun—. Using an IPCC, a company can avoid expensive third-shift costs by migrating its call-center operations from east to west as the day goes on. Remote agents handle calls until a local shift staffs up, at which time the local call center begins handling all the operations and call distribution.
Remote workers—. IPCC offers a powerful solution to companies with seasonal spikes in call-center activity (such as a catalog company during the holidays). With the widespread availability of high-speed Internet access, temporary workers can work from home with the same effectiveness as those working at a physical call center.
