Internet technology has supported us to the extent that almost everything is possible today sitting in one part of the world. We sit in the comfort of our air conditioned rooms and work. Without setting a step outside our home or office, we can sell, purchase, rent and do much more.
But, it is also important that every business maintains and retains its valued customers and ensures customer experience is always elated. Call center is one means of ensuring this where customers can simply call, raise their complaints or request assistance. Consequently, company representatives can provide assistance.
Call center business operates just like any other industry or sector and has its own challenges, benefits and jargon. Some of these can be really confusing to an individual who is newly introduced to this world.
To help the new entrants, here is a list of some popular call center jargon:
Abandoned Call: Any call or an initiated contact to the call center which does not conclude with a conversation between the customer service representative and the caller is said to be an abandoned call. An inbound call can get abandoned due to high hold time causing frustration to the caller. An outbound call can get abandoned by the automated dialer when the contact has been made but when there is no one to answer the call.
IMS: An IMS or IP Multimedia Subsystem enables data, network and speech to converge using an IP enabled infrastructure.
Outsourcing: When a third party which specializes in managing calls and other activities of the call center pitch in to manage the work activities, the process is known as outsourcing. These third party companies provide assistance on technical support, telemarketing and/ or customer service.
PBX: PBX or Private Branch Exchange is a telephone office which is located in one building and provides voice communication all across. This methodology is particularly available in UK.
Predictive Dialer: A telephone dialer which is able to manage outbound calls on its own is called a predictive dialer. The term predictive in this dialer indicates the phone is smart enough to know when the call has been answered by the customer. Only once the call has been received and initiated by the customer, will the dialer connect the customer representative on the other end. Predictive dialing system reduces the non-productive time between two calls.
SIP: An SIP or Session Initiated Protocol allows voice, video, data and pictures based applications to be integrated at the same time. The benefit of using an SIP is the caller can toggle between these applications and modes as desired. An easy example of this when you play an online game on your phone, you are also able to chat with other players or are able to talk using the talk button available.
FCR: A customer service representative is usually trained to resolve the query at the first go. FCR or first call resolution refers to this. Representatives are trained such, they are able to resolve the issue without having a need to arrange for a call back at a later point or have the call transferred further for any resolution.
Deviation from first call resolution results in increased cost and added work pressure as another representative will have to eventually work to find the appropriate solution.
Grad Bay: Grad Bay is also known as Graduation Bay. It is a controlled testing environment where a customer representative employee works under tight supervision. Targets and call flow is limited for these representatives. There is a buddy aligned to these agents who helps them, coaches them and gives them on-job training.
CTI: A CTI or computer telephony integration takes place when the computer database and the telephone system are connected together.
CTI methodology helps in getting the caller details on the computer screen of the customer representative once the call is connected. CTI is extremely helpful to businesses however, the implementation of this integration is a costly and complicated affair.
CRM: CRM or customer relationship management is the management where all the customer data from different database is combined together. The advantage of CRM is it gives a view of the queries raised by a particular customer. CRM has traditionally been used for developing relationships with the customer however, in call center industry it defies this meaning.
Cloud based contact center:
A cloud contact center is hosted over a internet server where you can manage all you customer communication from anywhere, anytime using any device. Cloud contact center take minimium time to deploy and its cost effective as compare to the on-premise solution.
Jargon in customer service world are updated very frequently. But this list is fairly new and it will help you to understand daily work activities when you enter a call center. Gaining knowledge about an industry and the work set-up before-hand is always beneficial and gives you an edge over others.
