*A call centre or call center is a

centralised office used for receiving or

transmitting a large volume of enquiries
by telephone. An inbound call centre is
operated by a company to administer
incoming product or service support or
information enquiries from consumers.
-WIKIPEDIA
COMMON TERMS USED IN CONTACT CENTER SEVICES

1) Agent
This is an individual at a call center who is appointed for answering customer
calls. Another name for a call center agent is a customer service
representative.
2) Agent Status
This refers to the particular point in time which depicts the call center agent’s
work status, i.e. busy, wrap, idle, available, unavailable, etc.
3) Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
This is a specialized phone system that handles incoming calls, also called
inbound calls. The Automatic Call Distributorrecognizes and answers the calls
and checks in the database, for routing to the most appropriate agent
available. An important role of ACD is to produce management information that
tracks both calls and agent performance.
4) Average Handling Time (AHT)
This is measured right from the time an agent begins the
interaction with the customer, including the hold time, talk
time and related tasks that follow the entire transaction.
5) Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)
A solution that can automate some or all parts of a customer
call – it allows call centers to use natural language, with
minimum intervention from the agent.
6) Average Talk Time
This measures the time an agent spends while speaking to a
customer. It does not include the time a customer spends on
hold nor the time an agent does any other work – during or
after the call.
7) Abandoned Call
This is necessarily a call or any other type of contact proposed to a
call center but ends before any communication takes place.
8) Blended Agent
This is an agent who manages both inbound and outbound calls,
along with applications, as per the requirements.
9) Blended Universal Queue System (BUQS)
This is essentially a combination of email, chat and other data
enabling universal queuing along with call blending.
10) Call Blending
It is a competent strategy to smoothen the demand of inbound and
outbound calls. This works effectively in the situation where an
agent is doing more of outbound calls. Therefore, at that particular
time, the agent would receive less of inbound calls and vice versa.
11) Call Center Manager
This is a person who is responsible for budget execution,
operation, business performance and overall direction of
the call center management software.
12) Call Handling Analysis
This is an approach to measure the potency and quality of
handling of calls by the agents.
13) Coach
This is the person in a call center who provides additional
support and technical knowledge to agents.
14) Customer Experience Management (CEM)
rocedures adopted by a company to track the interactions
between a customer and the call center agents.
15) Calling Line Identity (CLI)
A technology that uses Computer Telephony Integration software to match a customer’s
number and their previous call records.
16) Call Recording
It is a technology that enables call centers to capture and record all customer and agent
telephony interactions. The caller has to be informed before the call is being recorded.
17) Call Routing
This is a process designed to ensure that each call is routed to the right agent with
proper skills, and has prior knowledge regarding the customer’s issue. Call routing often
includes identifying high-value callers and routing them to a shorter queue, or to the
most proficient agents.
18) Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
This is the ability to automatically combine voice and data at the agent desktop. It is
also known as screen pop – when customer details appear automatically on an agent’s
screen at the same time a call is attended. Such technologies can help call center agents
do their job more effectively to create happier customers.
19) Call Center Schedule Adherence
It is a metric used in order to determine whether or not agents are working the amount
of time they have been asked or required to.
20) Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
This is a system which helps in identifying the customers’ needs, improving customer
interactions, customizing contacts, sales approaches, and automation to provide
optimum service to each type of customer.
21) Document Management System (DMS)
There are many call centers that handle large amounts of incoming emails which can’t
be checked manually. Therefore, it is opened and scanned by DMS for electronic
distribution.
22) Expected Wait Time (EWT)
In a call center, EWT is the expected time that customers are told to wait before they
can speak to an agent. It is one of the best practices to measure the average expected
time.
23) First Call Resolution (FCR)
It is a way to identify the customer’s issue, the first time they contact a call center
agent. It is a metric that monitors the quality of service that customers are receiving, by
counting the number of times their issues got resolved on the first point of contact.
Providing an ideal caller experience will ensure the customer keeps coming back to
engage with your business.