Call centre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A very large collections call centre inLakeland, Florida.

A call centre or call center[1] is a centralised office used for the purpose

of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests bytelephone. A
call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product
support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls
for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also
made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters,faxes, live
chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace
for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for
each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and
one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or
networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer
network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly,
the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of
new technologies called computer telephony integration(CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers.
Examples include utility companies, mail order catalog retailers, and
customer support for computer hardware and software. Some
businesses even service internal functions through call centres.
Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales
support.
A contact centre, also known as customer interaction center is a central
point of any organization from which all customer contacts are managed.
Through contact centers, valuable information about company are routed
to appropriate people, contacts to be tracked and data to be gathered. It
 is generally a part of company’s customer relationship management
(CRM). Today, customers contact companies by calling, emailing,
chatting online, visiting websites, faxing, and even instant messaging.
Contents
 [hide]

 1 Technology
 2 Patents
 3 Dynamics
 4 Varieties
 5 Criticism and performance
 6 Outsourced Bureau Contact
Centres
 7 Unionisation
 8 Standardisation
 9 Mathematical theory
 10 See also
 11 References
 12 Further reading

[edit]Technology

An Indian call center
Call centre technology is subject to improvements and innovations.
Some of these technologies include speech recognition software to allow
computers to handle first level of customer support, text
mining and natural language processing to allow better customer
handling, agent training by automatic mining of best practices from past
interactions, support automation and many other technologies to
improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction.[2] Automatic lead
selection or lead steering is also intended to improve efficiencies, [3] both
for inbound and outbound campaigns, whereby inbound calls are
intended to quickly land with the appropriate agent to handle the task,
whilst minimizing wait times and long lists of irrelevant options for people
calling in, as well as for outbound calls, where lead selection allows
management to designate what type of leads go to which agent based
on factors including skill, socioeconomic factors and past performance
and percentage likelihood of closing a sale per lead. The concept of
the Universal Queue standardizes the processing of communications
across multiple technologies such as fax, phone, and email whilst the
concept of a Virtual queue provides callers with an alternative to waiting
on hold when no agents are available to handle inbound call demand.
Premise-based Call Center Technology Historically, call center have
been built on PBX equipment that is owned and hosted by the call center
operator. The PBX might provide functions such as Automatic Call
Distribution, Interactive Voice Response, and skills-based routing. The
call center operator would be responsible for the maintenance of the
equipment and necessary software upgrades as released by the vendor.
Virtual Call Center Technology[4] With the advent of the Software as a
service technology delivery model, the virtual call center has emerged. In
a virtual call center model, the call centers operator does not own,
operate or host the equipment that the call center runs on. Instead, they
subscribe to a service for a monthly or annual fee with a service provider
that hosts the call center telephony equipment in their own data center.
Such a vendor may host many call centers on their equipment. Agents
connect to the vendor's equipment through traditionalPSTN telephone
lines, or over Voice over IP. Calls to and from prospects or contacts
originate from or terminate at the vendor's data center, rather than at the
call center operator's premise. The vendor's telephony equipment then
connects the calls to the call center operator's agents.
Virtual Call Center Technology allows people to work from home, instead
of in a traditional, centralized, call center location, which increasingly
allows people with physical or other disabilities that prevent them from
leaving the house, to work.[5]
Cloud Computing for Call Centers Cloud computing for call centers
extends cloud computing to Software as a service, or hosted, on-
demand call centers by providing application programming interfaces
(APIs) on the call center cloud computing platform that allow call center
functionality to be integrated with cloud-based Customer relationship
management, such as Salesforce.com and leads management and
other applications.
The APIs typically provide programmatic access to two key groups of
features in the call center platform:
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) APIs provide developers with
access to basic telephony controls and sophisticated call handling on the
call center platform from a separate application.
Configuration APIs provide programmatic control of administrative
functions of the call center platform which are typically accessed by a
human administrator through a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

[edit]Patents

Call centre floor during shift.

There is a large number of patents covering various aspects of call

centre operation, automation, and technology. One of the early inventors
in this field, Ronald A. Katz, personally holds over 40 patents covering
inventions related to toll free numbers, automated attendant, automated
call distribution, voice response unit, computer telephone integration and
speech recognition.[6]
A report on the performance of an outbound call centre agent.

Customizable reports to measure call results at call center, campaign and agent
levels

[edit]Dynamics

Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Inbound

calls are calls that are made by the consumer to obtain information,
report a malfunction, or ask for help. These calls are substantially
different from outbound calls, where agents place calls to potential
customers mostly with intentions of selling or service to the
individual. (See telemarketing). It is possible to combine inbound and
outbound campaigns[7].
Call centre staff are often organised into a multi-tier support system for a
more efficient handling of calls. The first tier in such a model consists of
operators, who direct inquiries to the appropriate department and
provide general directory information. If a caller requires more
assistance, the call is forwarded to the second tier, where most issues
can be resolved. In some cases, there may be three or more tiers of
support staff. If a caller requires more assistance, the caller is forwarded
to the third tier of support; typically the third tier of support is formed by
product engineers/developers or highly skilled technical support staff of
the product.
Call centres have their critics, some of which argue that the work
atmosphere in such an environment is de-humanising. [8] Others point to
the low rates of pay and restrictive working practices of some employers.
[9][10]
 There has been much controversy over such things as restricting the
amount of time that an employee can spend in the toilet. [11] Furthermore,
call centres have been the subject of complaints by callers who find the
staff often do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems,
[12]
 while the dehumanised workers very often exhibit an attitude of
apathy to even the most abusive customer.[13]
Owing to the highly technological nature of the operations in such
offices, the close monitoring of staff activities is easy and widespread.
[14]
This can be argued to be beneficial,[15] to enable the company to better
plan the workload and time of its employees. Some people have argued
that such close monitoring breaches human rights to privacy. [16]

[edit]Varieties

Some variations [17] of call centre models are listed below:

 Contact centre – Supports interaction with customers over a

variety of media, including but not necessarily limited to telephony, e-
mail and internet chat.
 Inbound call centre - Exclusively or predominantly handles inbound
calls (calls initiated by the customer).
 Outbound call centre - One in which call centre agents make
outbound calls to customers or sales leads.
 Blended call centre - Combining automatic call distribution for
incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls, it makes
more efficient use of agent time as each type of agent (inbound or
outbound) can handle the overflow of the other.
[edit]Criticism and performance
This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may
mean the article does not present aneutral point of
view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the
material in those sectionsinto the article as a whole.
Criticisms of call centres generally follow a number of common themes,
from both callers and call centre staff. From callers, common criticisms
include:[18]
 Operators working from a script
 Non-expert operators (call screening)
 Incompetent or untrained operators incapable of processing
customers' requests effectively[19]
 Overseas location, with language and accent problems
 Touch tone menu systems and automated queuing systems
 Excessive waiting times to be connected to an operator
 Complaints that departments of companies do not engage in
communication with one another
 Deceit over location of call centre (such as allocating overseas
workers false English names)
 Requiring the caller to repeat the same information multiple times
Common criticisms from staff include:[20]

 Close scrutiny by management (e.g. frequent random call

monitoring)
 Low compensation (pay and bonuses)
 Restrictive working practices (some operators are required to
follow a pre-written script)
 High stress: a common problem associated with front-end jobs
where employees deal directly with customers
 Repetitive job task
 Poor working conditions (e.g. poor facilities, poor maintenance and
cleaning, cramped working conditions, management interference,
lack of privacy and noisy)
 Impaired vision and hearing problems
 Rude and abusive customers
The net-net of these concerns is that call centres as a business process
exhibit levels of variability. The experience a customer gets and the
results a company achieves on a given call are almost totally dependent
on the quality of the agent answering that call. [21] Call centres are
beginning to address this by using agent-assisted voice solutions to
standardise the process all agents use.[22] Anton and Phelps have
provided a detailed HOWTO to conduct the performance evaluation of
the business,[23] whereas others are using various scientific technologies
to do the jobs.[24][25][26] However more popular alternatives are using
personality and skill based approaches.[27][28] The various challenges
encountered by call operators are discussed by several authors. [29][30][31][32]
[33]

[edit]Outsourced Bureau Contact Centres

Outsourced bureau contact centres are a model of contact centre that
provide services on a "pay per use" model. The overheads of the contact
centre are shared by many clients thereby supporting a very cost
effecive model especially for low volumes of calls.
Bureau contact centres provide an opportunity for:

 Pilot schemes - perform test of concept for new models for

communications, sales or customer services before investing in staff
and infrastructure
 Flexible solutions for SME's - small or medium-size enterprises
can benefit from a flexible service that can evolve with the businss
 Best of breed systems/technology - clients can benefit from
considerable investment into communications technology, leveraging
benefits without having to invest in large cap-ex projects.
[edit]Unionisation

Unions in North America have made some effort to gain members from

this sector,[34] including the Communications Workers of America[35] and
the United Steelworkers. In Australia, the Call Centre Workers Union
represents unionised workers; their activities form part of the Australian
labour movement.[36] In Europe, Uni Global Union of Switzerland is
involved in assisting unionisation in this realm. [37]

[edit]Standardisation

Currently, there are no universally bracketable international standards,

other than ISO 9000 series, available for the industry to follow up.
However, some of the relevant standards are loosely published
by ISO with the division of ICS 33.040.35 [38]. Most of the standards
under this division have not been reviewed thoroughly, but there are
some guidelines and standing operating procedures available on the
internet.[39]

[edit]Mathematical theory
Queuing theory is a branch of mathematics in which models of
queuing systems have been developed. A call centre can be seen as a
queuing network.[40][41] The models can be applied to answer queueing
questions for call centres. The most widespread queueing model used is
the Erlang C Forumla.
Call centre operations have been supported by mathematical models
beyond queueing, with operations research, which considers a wide
range of optimisation problems.

[edit]See also
Wikimedia Commons has media
related to: Call centre

 Operator messaging
 Business process outsourcing in India
 Call management
 List of call centre companies
 Automatic call distributor
 Call Centre Industry in the Philippines
 Erlang distribution
 Skills based routing
 Queue management system
 Virtual queue
[edit]References

1. ^ see spelling differences
2. ^ L Venkata Subramaniam (2008-02-01). "Call Centers of the
Future" (PDF). i.t. magazine. pp. 48–51. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
3. ^ "US Patent 7035699 - Qualified and targeted lead selection and
delivery system". Patent Storm. 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
4. ^ M. Popovic and V. Kovacevic. "An Approach to Internet-Based Virtual
Call Center Implementation". University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.
5. ^ David S. Joachim. "Computer Technology Opens a World of Work to
Disabled People". New York Times.
6. ^ Bednarek et al., "Katz Patent Reexamination: A Change in
Momentum Favoring RAKTL Targets", ShawPittman, June 9, 2004
7. ^ Freeman, Laura M; Whitfield, Hilary C (1996). "Setting up for
integrated inbound/outbound telemarketing". BNET. Retrieved 2008-06-
05.
8. ^ "Working conditions and health in Swedish call centres". European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
2005-04-28. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
9. ^ "Hourly Rate Survey Report for Industry: Call Center". PayScale.
Retrieved 2008-06-05.
10. ^ "Advice regarding call centre working practices" (PDF). Health and
Safety Executive. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
11. ^ "Hazards 81 extended briefing: Toilet breaks: Give us a
break!". Hazards. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
12. ^ Shaw, Russell (2006-01-30). "Tone-deaf to customer complaints, Dell
opens yet another call center in India". ZDNet. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
13. ^ Ahmed, Zubair (2006-02-22). "Abuse rattles Indian call centre
staff". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
14. ^ "Call Centre Monitoring". Management. callcentrehelper.com.
Retrieved 2008-06-05.
15. ^ "The Call Center Answer Team reaches out to the industry for to
crack a tough nut". Q&A: How Many Calls Should I Monitor.
callcentermagazine.com. 2003-07-30. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
16. ^ "Who’s on the Line? Women in Call Centres Project" (PDF). Atlantic
Centre of Excellence for Women's Health. Health Canada. Retrieved
2008-06-05.
17. ^ Raik Stolletz (2003). Performance Analysis and Optimization of
Inbound Call Centers. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 9783540008125.
18. ^ Ali, S. 2006 "If you want to scream, press..." Wall Street
Journal http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F
%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB116171027921802238.html
%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj
19. ^ Adsit, D. (2007) Do Call Centers Need to Carry Malpractice
Insurance? In
Queue, http://www.nationalcallcenters.org/pubs/In_Queue/vol2no24.ht
ml
20. ^ P Taylor, P Bain "'An assembly line in the head': work and employee
relations in the call centre" Industrial Relations Journal, 1999.
21. ^ Fleming, J., Coffman, C., Harter, J. (2005) Manage Your Human
Sigma, Harvard Business Review
22. ^ Patel, S. (2008) How to win a no-sin situation. In
Queue. http://www.nationalcallcenters.org/pubs/In_Queue/vol3no12.ht
ml#How_to_Win_a_No-Win_Situation
23. ^ Anton, Jon; Dru Phelps. "How to conduct a call center performance
audit: A to Z" (PDF). Retrieved 1 July 2008.
24. ^ Paprzycki, Marcin et al. (2004). Data Mining Approach for Analyzing
Call Center Performance. Berlin:
Springer. doi:10.1007/b97304. ISBN 9783540220077.
25. ^ "Evaluation of the Performance of customer service representatives in
a call center using DEA/Network Model/Fussy Sets". Retrieved 1 July
2008.
26. ^ Srinivasan, Raj et al.; Talim, JéRome; Wang, Jinting (2004).
"Performance analysis of a call center with interactive voice response
units". TOP (Springer Berlin) 12 (1): 91–110.doi:10.1007/BF02578926.
27. ^ Skyrme, Pamela et al.. "Using personality to predict outbound call
center job performance" (PDF). Retrieved 1 July 2008.
28. ^ Stolletz, Raik; Stefan Helber (2004). "Performance analysis of an
inbound call center with skills-based routing". OR Spectrum 26 (3):
331–352. doi:10.1007/s00291-004-0161-y.
29. ^ Witt, L. A. et al. (2004). "When Conscientiousness Isn’t Enough:
Emotional Exhaustion and Performance Among Call Center Customer
Service Representatives". Journal of Management 30(1): 149–
160. doi:10.1016/j.jm.2003.01.007.
30. ^ Aguir, Salah et al.; Karaesmen, Fikri; Aksin, O. Zeynep; Chauvet,
Fabrice (2004). "The impact of retrials on call center performance". OR
Spectrum 26 (3): 353–376. doi:10.1007/s00291-004-0165-7.
31. ^ Murthy, Nagesh N. et al.; Challagalla, G. N.; Vincent, L. H.; Shervani,
T. A. (2008). "The Impact of Simulation Training on Call Center Agent
Performance: A Field-Based Investigation".Mnagement Science 54 (2):
384–399. doi:10.1287/mnsc.1070.0818.
32. ^ Armony, Mor; Itay Gurvich. "When promotions meet operations: cross-
selling and its effect on call-center performance" (PDF). Retrieved 1
July 2008.
 33. ^ Goldberg, L.S.; A.A. Grandey. "Display rules versus display
autonomy: emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and task
performance in a call center simulation". Retrieved 1 July 2008.
34. ^ ed. by Pradeep Kumar ...; Pradeep Kumar, Christopher Robert
Schenk (2006). Paths to Union Renewal. Broadview Press. ISBN 1-
55193-058-7.
35. ^ "AT&T Mobility Workers Organize in Oklahoma City". Uni Global
Union. Retrieved 2008-09-27.[dead link]
36. ^ "Call Centre Union Busters Get Wake-Up Call". Workers Online.
Retrieved 2008-07-08.
37. ^ "Uni Global Union's call centre organising campaigns". Uni Global
Union. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
38. ^ ISO. "33.040.35: Telephone networks". Retrieved 30 August 2009.
39. ^ Rochester Institute of Technology. "Internal Call Center Standing
Operating Procedures". Retrieved 3 July 2008.[dead link]
40. ^ Call Center Mathematics | A scientific method for understanding and
improving contact centers by Ger Koole
41. ^ Queueing Models of Call Centers: An Introduction Ger Koole

[edit]Further reading
 Kennedy I., Call centres, School of Electrical and Information
Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, 2003.
 Masi D.M.B., Fischer M.J., Harris C.M., Numerical Analysis of
Routing Rules for Call centres, Telecommunications Review,
1998. http://www.noblis.org/Publications/TR98_8.doc
 HSE Web site at www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/94-2.htm for guidelines
about call centre working * practices.
 Reena Patel, Working the Night Shift: Women in India's Call
Center Industry (Stanford University Press; 2010) 219 pages; traces
changing views of "women's work" in India under globalization.
 Fluss, Donna, "The Real-Time Contact centre", 2005 AMACOM
 Wegge, J., van Dick, R., Fisher, G., Wecking, C., & Moltzen, K.
(2006, January). Work motivation, organisational identification, and
well-being in call centre work. Work & Stress, 20(1), 60-83.
 Operator messaging
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Operator Messaging is the term, similar to Text Messaging and Voice
Messaging, applying to an answering service call center who focuses on
one specific scripting style that has grown out of the alphanumeric pager
history.
Contents
 [hide]

 1 Early history
 2 Message Center becomes Alpha-dispatch
 3 Difference between full Answering Service
 4 Operator Messaging Extends to Text
Messaging
 5 Rise of Operator Messaging in the 21st
Century
 6 See also
 7 References

[edit]Early history
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the cost of making a phone call decreased
and more business communication was done by phone. As corporations
grew and labor rates increased, the ratio of secretaries to employees
decreased. The initial solution to the phone communication problem for
businesses was the “message center.” A message center or “message
desk” was a centralized, manual answering service inside a company
manned by a few people answering everyone’s phones. Extensions that
were busy or rang “no answer” would forward to the message center
onto a device called a “call director”. The call director had a button for
each extension in the company which would flash when that person’s
extension forwarded to the message center. A little label next to the
button told the operator whose extension it was.
As wireless communication technologies increased in the late 1980s,
the Pager service providers created a subscription service offered in a
variety of plans and options to meet the needs of a subscriber and the
type of device used. In general, all pagers are given unique telephone
numbers so that callers could dial in and send a numeric message, such
as their callback number or a numerically coded special message, such
as room numbers to report to, etc.[1] However, alphanumeric pagers
could only receive text messages when the message sender had
installed software on their PC to dial in to the publicly-accessible
modems operated by the paging service provider to then transmit their
message over-the-air through the network of radio towers. [2]

[edit]Message Center becomes Alpha-dispatch

Alpha Dispatch service is best described as enhanced numeric paging.
[3]
 It is a service that consists of live operators who answer incoming calls
and input the callers' messages on a computer, then transmit the
message using the Telocator Alphanumeric input Protocol to the paging
provider's radio towers. Alphanumeric pagers receive the messages in
the form of words and numbers. Messages are sequentially numbered
and archived for later reference if required to be re-sent. PageNet was
one of the larger paging providers who offered this service add-on to
their alphanumeric pager customers.

[edit]Difference between full Answering Service

Alpha-dispatch was never designed to replace a full-service answering
service. Although both services will answer calls in a customer's name
and advise the caller that the customer is unavailable, a full-service
answering service will usually have additional information about the
customer that they are encouraged to share with the caller such as
business summary, website information, personal schedule, and other
informational details. An alpha-dispatch service operator usually has no
knowledge of the subscriber, except for their first and last name or
company name, and serves only as a messaging "bridge" between the
caller and the subscriber with the caller dictating what the operator
should type as a message to the subscriber.[4] Because of this
difference, minimal training and supervising is required of the call center
employees and therefore operator messaging service is much less
expensive than full-service answering services. The low cost makes
operator messaging an affordable alternative to voicemail.
[edit]Operator Messaging Extends to Text
Messaging
As the use of alphanumeric pagers declined in the mid-1990s and cell
phone text messaging availability and reliability increased ever since,
these well-established alpha-dispatch call centers adjusted their
technology to allow live operators' messages to be transmitted to cellular
service providers in the same way as to pager service providers.
Operators still follow the same answering procedures and have no idea if
the subscriber is receiving the text message on a cell phone or a pager.
The operator still serves as a "relay" or "bridge" for the caller to dictate
their message to the operator messaging subscriber's device.

[edit]Rise of Operator Messaging in the 21st

Century
Although e-mail capabilities have been extended to alphanumeric pagers
and cellular text messaging, the operator messaging services are used
by individuals who are not located near a computer or where sending a
text message may be dangerous or impractical. Live operator messaging
marries the technologies of voice messaging and text messaging as an
alternative to voicemail service by using call forwarding features to
redirect callers of your cell phone automatically to the operator
messaging service after three or four unanswered rings. Operator
messaging service providers remain profitable because the average call
length is under 30 seconds and employees are often paid less than full-
service answering service employees due to the limited training required.

[edit]See also
 Call center
 Pager
 Answering service
[edit]References

1. ^ [Informa
Healthcare http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1090312
0390936626]
 2. ^ [RCR Wireless, Dec
1997 http://www.rcrwireless.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/19971222/SUB/712220711/-1/ARCHIVES/correction]
3. ^ [IDSC http://www.idsc.net/alphadispatch.asp]
4. ^ [Phonewire, Inc. http://www.ringalice.com]
Categories: On-line chat | Pagers | Radio paging | Telephony

Call management
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article does not cite any references or
sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations
to reliable sources. Unsourced material may
be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

In telecommunications, call management is the process

of designing and implementing rules and parameters governing
the routing of inbound telephone calls through a network. These rules
can specify how calls are distributed according to the time and/or date of
the call as well as the location of the caller (usually defined by the
outbound Caller ID). Call Management also involves the use of Calling
Features such as Call Queues, IVR Menus, Hunt Groups and Recorded
Announcements to provide a customised experience for the caller and to
maximize the efficiency of inbound call handling. Call management is
most effective when a call logging software tool is used.
Contents
 [hide]

 1 Network
types
 2 Calling
features
 3 Call records
 4 See also

[edit]Network types
Call Management is performed on varying degrees of scale, from an
individual screening unwanted calls from a residential landline to
an international call carrier routing calls to different worldwide locations
by percentage. Systems for governing Call Management can be in the
form of hardware, such as a PBX Telephone System attached to
an ISDN30 or a hostedsoftware-based system.

[edit]Calling features
Calls are routed according to the setting up of calling features within the
given system. Common examples of Calling Features include:

 Translation – The automatic routing of inbound calls from

one telephone number to another.
 Hunt Group – A directory containing one or many destination
numbers which, on receiving an incoming call, is programmed to ring
them in a particular order, simultaneously or simply in the order in
which they have most recently answered before being sent to a final
destination if still unanswered.
 Call Queue – A directory similar to a Hunt Group that keeps the
caller on hold until one of the destination numbers becomes available.
 Auto Attendant – A large directory of extension numbers which
can be chosen by the caller, each with its own specific routing
behaviour.
 Location-Based Routing – Rules programmed in at particular
points in a system to route the call on to different destinations
depending on the location of the caller.
 Time and Date-Based Routing – Rules programmed in at
particular points in a system to route the call on to different
destinations depending the time or date of the call.
 Call Whisper – A message played to an agent after answering a
call that can give them information about the call in advance based on
the Caller ID, number dialled or route taken through the system.
 Interactive voice response – A sound recording device to allow a
caller to give information to the system verbally about what services
or support they require.
 Fax to Email – A Device for routing inbound fax calls to one or
more email addresses, usually as attachments.
[edit]Call records
Systems often retain information about received calls which can be
stored, analysed and interpreted by the system administrator.

 Call Detail Records (CDRs) – Records of all received calls,

usually including time, date, duration, calling number and called
number. Hosted services can also show pricing information.
 Call Recording – Many systems have the ability to record and
store calls for future reference.
 Voice and Fax Mailboxes – Inbound faxes and voicemail
messages can be stored on systems also.
[edit]See also
DnD – Do Not Disturb
(Telecommunication)
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  (Redirected from DnD - Do Not Disturb (Telecommunication))

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articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page
from related articles; suggestions are
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Do Not Disturb (DND) is a common feature in
enterprise telecommunications. When it is enabled, it prevents
the telephone from ringing. The implementation of this features is
vendor-specific. In some cases, the ringer just does not ring and the
called party is thus not alerted. Usually, though, the phone just acts as
being busy. Depending on the infrastructure, the caller may end up on
the called party's voice mailbox, sometimes after a certain delay.
Some special configurations combine DND with other features like call
forwarding, where calls to a party with DND on are forwarded to another
phone.

Direct inward dialing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Direct Inward Dialing)
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Direct inward dialing (DID), also called direct dial-in (DDI) in Europe

and Oceania, is a feature offered by telephone companies for use with
their customers' private branch exchange(PBX) systems. In DID service
the telephone company provides one or more trunk lines to the customer
for connection to the customer's PBX and allocates a range of telephone
numbersto this line (or group of lines) and forwards all calls to such
numbers via the trunk. As calls are presented to the PBX, the dialed
destination number (DNIS) is transmitted, usually partially (e.g., last four
digits), so that the PBX can route the call directly to the
desired telephone extension within the organization without the need for
an operator or attendant. The service allows direct inward call routing to
each extension while maintaining only a limited number of subscriber
lines to satisfy the average concurrent usage of the customer.
DID trunks must be powered by the customer premises equipment. The
central office equipment detects the power state of the line and disables
service if the circuit is not powered up. This is the reverse arrangement
from standard plain old telephone service (POTS) lines which are
powered by the central office.
In the United States the feature was developed by AT&T in the 1960s,
patterned upon the earlier IKZ service of the Deutsche Bundespost.
DID service is usually combined with direct outward dialing (DOD)
allowing PBX extensions direct outbound calling capability with
identification of their DID number.
Contents
 [hide]

 1 Use in FAX services

 2 DID in Voice over Internet Protocol
communications
 3 Sellers
 4 Direct outward dialing
 5 See also

[edit]Use in FAX services

This system is also used by fax servers. A telephone line is terminated in
a computer running fax server software and fax modem cards. A set of
digits of the assigned phone numbers are used to identify the recipient of
the fax. This allows many recipients to have an individual fax number,
even though there is only one fax machine.

[edit]DID
in Voice over Internet Protocol
communications
Direct inward dialing service has similar relevance for Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) communications. To reach users with VoIP phones, DID
numbers are assigned to acommunications gateway connected by a
trunk to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the VoIP
network. The gateway routes and translates calls between the two
networks for the VoIP user. Calls originating in the VoIP network will
appear to users on the PSTN as originating from one of the assigned
DID numbers.

[edit]Sellers

In the United States, DID numbers and services can be purchased in

bulk from a Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs). International
DID numbers can be purchased in bulk from international providers. A
number of DID resellers also offer DID numbers for individuals and small
enterprises.

[edit]Direct outward dialing

The corresponding service to DID for outgoing calls from a PBX to the
central office exchange is called direct outward dialing (DOD) or Direct
Dial Central Office (DDCO). This service is often combined with DID
service and allows direct dialing of global telephone numbers by every
extension covered by the service without the assistance of an operator.
The caller line identification (CLI) or caller-id of extensions for outgoing
calls is often set to the extension DID number, but may be the
organization's central switch board number.
[edit]See also
 Dialed Number Identification Service
 Dial plan

Automatic call distributor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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be merged with Line hunting. (Discuss)
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to reliable sources. Unsourced material may
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In telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), also known

as Automated Call Distribution, is a device or system that distributes
incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often
part of a computer telephony integration (CTI) system.
Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD system. ACD systems are
often found in offices that handle large volumes of incoming phone
calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person but who
require assistance from any of multiple persons (e.g., customer service
representatives) at the earliest opportunity.
The system consists of hardware for the terminals and switches,
phonelines, and software for the routing strategy. The routing strategy is
a rule-based set of instructions that tells the ACD how calls are handled
inside the system. Typically this is an algorithm that determines the best
available employee or employees to respond to a given incoming call. To
help make this match, additional data are solicited and reviewed to find
out why the customer is calling. Sometimes the caller's caller
ID or ANI is used; more often a simple Interactive voice response is used
to ascertain the reason for the call.
Originally, the ACD function was internal to the Private Branch
Exchange of the company. However, the closed nature of these systems
limited their flexibility. A system was then designed to enable common
computing devices, such as server PCs, to make routing decisions. For
this, generally the PBX would issue information about incoming calls to
this external system and receive a direction of the call in response.
An additional function for these external routing applications is to
enable CTI. This allows improved efficiency for call center agents by
matching incoming phone calls with relevant data on their PC via screen
pop.
A common protocol to achieve this is CSTA; however, almost every PBX
vendor has its own flavor of CSTA, and CSTA is quite hard to program
because of its complex nature. Various vendors have developed
intermediate software that hides these complexities and expedites the
work of programmers.
Also, these protocols enable call centers consisting of PBXs from
multiple vendors to be treated as one virtual contact center. All real-time
and historical statistical information can then be shared amongst call
center sites.
One of the first large and separate ACDs was a modified 5XB
switch used by New York Telephone in the early 1970s to distribute calls
among hundreds of 4-1-1 information operators.

[edit]See also
 Call center
 Skills-based routing
 Zip tone

Queue area
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Queue management system)

This article needs
additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June
2008)

For other uses, see Queue (disambiguation).

 This article includes a list of references, related
reading or external links, but its sources remain
unclear because it lacks inline citations.
Please improve this article by introducing more
precise citations where appropriate. (June 2008)

A queue area at a food store in New York City.

Queue areas are places in which people in line (first-come, first-served)

wait for goods or services.[1] Examples include checking out groceriesor
other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop
without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in ataxi
stand.
Queueing[2] is a phenomenon in a number of fields, and has been
extensively analysed in the study of queueing theory.
In economics, queueing is seen as one way to ration scarce goods and
services.
Contents
 [hide]

 1 Types of queues
o 1.1 Physical
queue
o 1.2 Virtual
queue
o 1.3 Mobile
queue
 2 Queue ethics
 3 Physical queue
design
 4 Queue delays
 5 See also
 6 References
 7 External links

[edit]Types of queues
[edit]Physical queue
This section does not cite any references or
sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable
sources. Unsourced material may
be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

A queue of people waiting for a Michael Jackson concert in Germany (1988).

Organized queue areas are commonly found at amusement parks. The

rides have a fixed number of guests that can be served at any given
time, so there has to be some control over additional guests who are
waiting. This led to the development of formalized queue areas—areas
in which the lines of people waiting to board the rides are organized by
railings, and may be given shelter from the elements with a roof over
their heads, inside a climate-controlled building or with fans and misting
devices.
In some amusement parks - Disney Parks being a prime example -
queue areas can be elaborately decorated, with holding areas
fosteringanticipation, thus shortening the perceived wait for people in the
queue by giving them something interesting to look at as they wait, or
the perception that they have arrived at the threshold of the attraction.
Queues are generally found at transportation terminals
where security screenings are conducted.
Large stores and supermarkets may have dozens of separate queues,
but this can cause frustration, as different lines tend to be handled at
different speeds; some people are served quickly, while others may wait
for longer periods of time. Sometimes two people who are together split
up and each waits in a different line; once it is determined which line is
faster, the one in the slower line joins the other. Another arrangement is
for everyone to wait in a single line[citation needed]; a person leaves the line
each time a service point opens up. This is a common setup
in banks and post offices.
[edit]Virtual queue
Physical queueing is sometimes replaced by virtual queueing. In
a waiting room there may be a system whereby the queuer asks and
remembers where his place is in the queue, or reports to a desk and
signs in, or takes a ticket with a number from a machine. These queues
typically are found at doctors' offices, hospitals, town halls, social
security offices, labor exchanges, the Department of Motor Vehicles,
the Department of Immigration, free internet access in the state or
council libraries, banks or post offices and Call Centres. Especially in
the United Kingdom, tickets are taken to form a virtual queue at
delicatessens and children's shoe shops. In some countries such
as Sweden, virtual queues are also common in shops and railway
stations. A display sometimes shows the number that was last called for
service.
Restaurants have come to employ virtual queueing techniques with the
availability of application-specific pagers, which alert those waiting that
they should report to the host to be seated. Another option used at
restaurants is to assign customers a confirmed return time, basically a
reservation issued on arrival.
[edit]Mobile queue
All of the above methods, however, suffer from the same drawback: the
person arrives at the location only to find out that they need to wait.
Recently, queues at DMVs[3], colleges, restaurants[4], healthcare
institutions[5], government offices[6] and elsewhere have begun to be
replaced by mobile queues or queue-ahead, whereby the person
queueing uses his/her phone, the internet, a kiosk or another method to
enter a virtual queue, optionally prior to arrival, is free to roam during the
wait, and then gets paged at his/her mobile phone when his/her turn
approaches. This has the advantage of allowing users to find out the
wait forecast and get in the queue before arriving, roaming freely and
then timing their arrival to the availability of service. This has been
shown to extend the patience of those in the queue and reduce no-
shows[7]. Mobile queueing is more environmentally friendly than
application-specific pagers, which require special-purpose batteries and
hardware, and healthier from a public health perspective, as there is no
shared device changing hands[citation needed].

[edit]Queue ethics

Citizens of the People's Republic of Poland queuing for basic goods, 1980s.

Since queueing can be a boring and time-consuming activity, but one

that may also have high stakes (e.g. attempting to purchase a good or
product with a limited availability, such as a concert ticket), people can
become angry when the unwritten rules of queueing are broken.
For example, in Britain it is unacceptable to queue-jump (to push in, skip,
or cut in line), although it is sometimes acceptable for one member of a
party, waiting in the queue, to allow a second member of the party to join
the first halfway through the queuing process, without the second
member having to join the back of the queue. [citation needed]
In the United States, the above example from Britain (second member of
a party) would also generally be accepted. It is acceptable for waiting
persons to leave the queue briefly (to use the bathroom, etc.) and return
to their original place, without having to ask neighbours to hold their
place or to be allowed to return (however, many individuals would still tell
their neighbours in the queue). It is also common to allow others to jump
to the front of the queue in a train station to buy a ticket if their train is
about to leave and if waiting from the back of the queue would cause
them to miss their train.[citation needed]

[edit]Physical queue design

When designing queues, planners attempt to make the wait as pleasant
and as simple as possible. They employ several strategies to achieve
this, including:

 Expanding the capacity of the queue, thus allowing more patrons

to have a place. This can be achieved by:
 Increasing the length of the queue by making the queue
longer
 Increasing the size of the lanes within the queue
 Increasing the length of the queue by designing the line in a
"zig-zag" shape that holds a large amount of guests in a smaller
area. This is used often at amusement parks. Notable rides have a
large area of this kind of line to hold as many people as possible in
line. Portions of the line can be sectioned off and bypassed by
guests if the queue is not crowded.
 "In-line" entertainment can be added. This is popular at
amusement parks like Walt Disney World, which uses TV screens
and other visuals to keep people in the queue area occupied.
 Secondary queue areas for patrons with special tickets, like
the FASTPASS system at Disney park, or the Q-bot as used
in Legoland Windsor.
[edit]Queue delays
Sometimes, often at amusement parks, there will be a modifiable sign at
the start of the queue or halfway point in the queue informing people
approximately how long their wait will be.

[edit]See also
 Consumer goods in the Soviet Union (for information on queues in
the Soviet Union)
 Cutting (in line)
 Call centre
[edit]References
 1. ^ Such a group of people is known as a queue (British usage)
or line (American usage), and the people are said to be waiting or
standing in a queue or in line, respectively. (In some areas of the
U.S., especially New York City, the phrase on line is used
instead.) learnersdictionary.com. Retrieved 2009-4-29.
2. ^ Also spelled queuing. askoxford.com. Retrieved 2009-4-29.
3. ^ http://treasurer.jocogov.org/tre/doc/qlessonline.pdf
4. ^ http://vator.tv/news/show/2010-01-14-exit-waiting-in-line-enter-
qless
5. ^ http://blogs.aafp.org/fpm/noteworthy/entry/could_your_practice_s
_waiting
6. ^ http://vator.tv/news/show/2010-01-14-exit-waiting-in-line-enter-
qless
7. ^ http://vator.tv/news/show/2010-01-14-exit-waiting-in-line-enter-
qless

 Maister, D.H. (1988). Managing Services: Marketing, Operations

and Human Resources. Prentice-Hall.
 Mercer, David. Redefining marketing in the multi-channel age.
Wiley.
[edit]External links