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This contact center and omnichannel glossary define the common vocabulary, metrics, measurement used in the field of omnichannel contact center. Also, it defines the terms and abbreviations that used in C-Zentrix’s contact center and omnichannel solution document. Some terminologies may be ordinary English words in nature,but the contact center team uses such words to communicate effectively in their day to day activities.
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A
Abandon:-Inbound calls waiting to be connected but instead got terminated before being transferred due to discontinuation. In outbound calls, it refers to ending of communication by the predictive dialer due to system or agent not being able to connect.
Automatic Call Distributor (ACD):-Specialized Omnichannel routing engine designed to distribute inbound calls amongst agents based on customer requests and agent skills set. It is used to ensure maximum efficiency while solving customer requests and to identify which problems
ActiveX Controls:-Feature that allows interactive functionality set within a webpage.
Advanced Call Center Technologies:-Encompasses modern technology used to provide better communication and services by company to customer. Such as AI.
Agent:-Company representative assigned to handle set inbound and outbound contracts based on agent specialization.
Agent Coaching:-Quality and performance activity and monitoring which provides the agent with feedback to better address the present-day customer.
Agent Experience:-Experience acquired by an agent through time spent on customer interactions. It is improved through agent coaching, skill training and workforce optimization
Agent Occupancy:-Displays the amount of time agents are actively engaged in interaction handling activities when compared to the total time spent logged in. Generally used as a workforce management metric.
Agent Report:-Statistical data providing insights to individual agent performance based on avg handle time, unavailable time, call log, etc.
Agent Self-Evaluation:-Activity where agent score their own interactions through typically used evaluation forms.
Typically done as a quality management activity.
Agent Utilization:-Workforce management technique to evaluate agent productivity.
Analog:-The process of audio signals being transformed into digital electric pulses.
Analytic:-Tool meant to improve business operations by analyzing data points, making correlations, and providing insights and reports on trends.
Application Program Interface (API):-A set of guidelines or functions to help developers create programs which access features or
data off an operating system, application, or service.
Automatic Number Identification (ANI):-Service used to identify the number of the caller and match it with the database of customers to provide better personalized experience.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):-Layers of programming are meant to simulate the human nervous system to enable machine learning allowing the technology to analyze data and predict and solve problems.
Auto Dialer:-Commonly referred to as Dialer. It is the technology which automates the process of making calls in outbound contacts. Can provide advanced functionality, scripting and reporting as well.
Automatic Callback:-Technology allows the customer to instruct the system to return their calls at a later point of time or an indicated preferred time due to the unavailability of a free agent or customer.
B
Blended Agent:-An agent who handles inbound/outbound contracts through various digital channels, voice and web interactions.
Bot:-A program made to automate previously simplistic human performed tasks (ex. ChatBot)
Byte:-Unit of measurement of data used by computers represented by characters and symbols. A byte is eight binary digits.
Barge-in:-An ACD function allowing a three-way conference between the agent, customer, and management so that the contact center manager can join and assist the agent/customer in the existing call.
Business Optimization:-Process of analyzing data to measure business productivity, efficiency, and performance to ensure improved success rates and heightened performance.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO):-Outsourcing specific tasks to a third-party provider specialized in handling said specific task. The third party is referred to as Business Process Outsourcer.
Back Office Optimization:-Streamlining back-office workforce while simultaneously providing better communication between the back and front office to provide increased efficiency and better agent and customer experience.
C
Call Center Agent Scoreboard:-Tool for measuring quality assurance and performance of individual agents in the workforce.
Call Center Agent Software:-Helps bring the newer call center software to a unified portal for easier access for the agent.
Call Center Coaching:-Quality management activity of providing agents with feedback to ensure high quality Standards.
Call Center Reporting:-Tracking of call center activities and call center agent performance through key performance indicators (KPI) and planned metrics.
Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS):-A completely functioning cloud-based contact center platform whose services can be availed on a subscription basis.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT):-It is a measure of how well an organization meets up to a customer’s expectations. They are generally determined through customer satisfaction surveys
Customer Effort Score (CES):-Score that signifies the amount of effort a customer makes during their interactions with the company (ex. resolving an issue, making a purchase etc.)
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI):-It is the integration of a phone system with a computer. This helps in monitoring and controlling through a remote or localized system. The CTI can be run from a server whose access can be granted through the cloud.
Customer Experience (CX):-The customer’s experience/feedback resulting from their interaction with the channel or any other touchpoint throughout their journey with a brand/provider
Chatbot-A chatbot is a conversational software solution that can mimic human-like conversation through text or voice. Chatbots are becoming a new norm in the office space to assist agents internally and assist customers externally.
Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM):-Solutions provided to increase value, satisfy customers and increase the revenue of the organization through the sharing of information.
Escalation:-The process where customer’s call must be transferred to a superior adviser for better resolution for their problem.
F
First Contact Resolution (FCR):-A measure indicating the capability of the contact center to resolve a customer’s issue during the first interaction.
Forecasting:-Application to help predict contact center workload, schedule agents and staffing requirements in accordance with the same.
H
Hold Time:-The total amount of time a customer spends in an agent-initiated hold.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR):-A voice or call-activated service that interacts with and responds to the customer’s speech or Dialpad digit entered.
Independent Software Vendor (ISV):-An independent organization based on software working symbiotically with a hardware company providing software that often compliments its hardware.
K
Key Performance Indicator (KPI):-A standard measurement of daily contact center performance, often captured as reports. These indicators vary for different roles.
N
NLP (Natural Language Processing):-A computerized process that enables text or audio speech to be converted into structured data for the system to comprehend.
Net Promoter Score (NPS):-This is a contact center measurement that determines how likely a customer will recommend a business to their friends or family. This successfully assesses your customer loyalty and brand advocacy.
O
Omnichannel Customer Journey:-The complete interactive path that a customer experiences across various voice and digital channels, when associating with an organization.
Omnichannel Platform:-A marketing-based platform where all the touchpoints of the brand are seamlessly unified to retain customer information and conversational context. This platform can be leveraged for sales, support, experience enhancement, journey mapping, and more.
Omnichannel Customer Experience-Omnichannel Customer Experience is the singular, unified convenience that a brand can offer when a customer interacts with them using more than one channel. The experience has to be seamless and well-connected.
P
Performance Management System:-A measurement system that offers real-time reports and analysis of all roles in the organisation.
Private Branch Exchange (PBX):-An organization’s private telephony system used to conduct or receive inbound or outbound calls.
Proxy Server:-An external server that is deployed to manage heavy processing requests.
Prompt:-A suggested message or note that pops up or is being played to the customer to guide them to move ahead in their course of action. These prompts appear in various forms like options on the IVR menu, clickable choices on a website, and more.
Q
Quality Management:-The technique or process a business uses to monitor, analyze and improve their quality of service or product or both.
Queue:-A virtual line formed when high volume of customers awaits a steady connection to an agent either on voice or on other digital channels.
R
Real-Time Adherence (RTA):-A workforce management reporting metric that gauges which employees are not in adherence with the planned schedule.
Return On Investment (ROI):-A percentage revealing the value of funds invested in a project to generate more revenue.
S
Speech Analytics:-An AI-based technology that analyzes human languages or speeches to decode and process it.
Softphone:-A virtual phone with all the capabilities of a physical telephone.
Software as a Service (SaaS):-A cloud-based solution offered by a vendor to its clients on a subscription basis. In return, the vendor manages and optimizes the solution for best possible outcome for their clients.
Sentiment Analysis:-An AI-based analysis is conducted on any customer information available in any format like speech or text, to unfold the sentiment and the intent of the customer. Through sentiment analysis, customers can be segmented into groups for better support.
Shrinkage:-A workforce management metric that denotes the difference between the time customer service agents are paid for answering calls and the amount of time they actually spend doing their job by making/receiving calls.
Screen Recording:-An event where an agent’s screen is recorded when they are in the action of problem-solving. These recordings help in compliance, coaching, and quality purposes.
T
Talk Time:-The amount of time spent by the agent on conversations with a customer or a prospect.
Virtual Contact Center:-A cloud-based contact center enabling agents and other employees to work from any geographical location, remotely.
Voice Authentication:-A voice-biometric verification process for a user to provide access to their respective rights.
Voiceprint:-A unique biometric identifier of the user’s voice, decoding it for voice authentication purposes.
Voice over IP (VoIP):-A technology that allows you to make voice calls using internet connection and not a traditional line.
Voicebot-Voicebots are an AI-driven solution that enables a caller to self-serve themselves while using the IVR line. The caller doesn’t have to press buttons to reach an option, instead, they use voice.
W
Work From Home (WFH):-An occurrence where employee operates remotely, without coming to office. It is mostly enabled by cloud-based contact center solutions.
Workforce Engagement:-It is the attempt to increase productivity by increasing agent’s engagement via gamification of their work.
Workforce Management (WFM):-The process of coaching, empowering and monitoring call center agents and managing them for better yield.
Workforce Optimization (WFO):-It is the process of improving contact center productivity and efficiency by empowering an agent and predicting their performance level. WFO also includes real-time analysis of agent’s performance to better forecast and assign roles.
J
Journey Mapping:-The event of tracing a customer’s association with a brand. The customer’s journey starts with discovery and may or may not end with post-purchase nurturing.
M
Multichannel:-A contact center ecosystem where all inbound and outbound communications are handled over various non-connected touchpoints. These channels along with their data are isolated and not unified.
