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Telephone SystemsContact Centre OverviewAlthough call centres, as a means of communicating with customers, are growing rapidly, the audio-only nature of telephone calls is limiting. A multimedia call centre can open up a whole new world of communications. Multimedia call centres give businesses a major competitive edge, allowing them to grow their market presence and improve their services. Customers can both see and talk to remotely based sales, service and product specialist staff without leaving their homes or offices. Multimedia call centres will allow customers to contact a company through a wide range of advanced multimedia terminals. Today's call centre is very good at the efficient routing and processing of voice-only calls - the call centre of tomorrow must be able to handle images, data and much more. The fundamental principle of a call centre is the automatic routing of a call to a customer representative, or automatic call distributor (ACD). An ACD system is different from a conventional telephone system or a private exchange (PBX) for the following reasons: Customers calling the call centre want to talk to the company about one of its products or services. They do not normally want to speak to a particular individual. Any agent can, in principle, answer any incoming caller. The following components are all essential to the effective operation of any call centre:
Multimedia Call Centre FeaturesThe following offers just a sample of the multimedia call centre's many features: Automatic Call DistributionIncoming multimedia calls are routed to the first available customer service representative, or agent. If only one agent is logged onto the system then the longest waiting caller will be routed to that agent when he or she becomes free. If more than one agent is available and ready, the system will route the call to the agent who has been idle the longest within that particular group. When no agent is available, the call will be queued until an agent becomes free, during which time promotional material or music, can be played. As soon as an agent becomes free, the video call is transferred from the queue to the agent. Each agent is allowed a pre-defined time to accept a call, otherwise the caller re-enters the queue. Call processingMultimedia agents have the ability to transfer to, or set up, a conference with any other agent, expert or supervisor. This is achieved as quickly and easily as a normal telephony call. After a video call is disconnected, a pre-defined time is allowed for call 'wrap-up'. Agent-user interfaceThe multimedia agent workstation uses the latest industry-standard video communications workstations, and video conferencing system. The 'agent' application provides customer representatives (agents) with an interface that allows them to:
Agents can be grouped to allow a supervisor to collect and follow statistics for the agents within that group. Agent groups could have DNIS numbers associated with them. The 'supervisor' application provides a number of additional functions. It allows the agents' performance statistics to be displayed and allows the supervisor to monitor and join in agent/caller connections. The 'maintenance' application allows the system to be configured. What Are The Benefits?There are many benefits for a variety of user-groups including car dealerships, estate and travel agencies, retail businesses, financial services, banks and building societies, IT helpdesks, healthcare organisations, and local, county and central government agencies. The following are the principal benefits businesses can expect from multimedia call centres:
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