Well, first thing I need to let our readers know is that over the last week the Fifth Quadrant team members have been highly involved in the launch of new philanthropic fund Kids In Philanthropy (www.KIP.org.au). Over 200 adults and 50 kids joined us on Sunday to celebrate children giving to children. And indeed a number of attendees were from the contact centre industry including Greg from Verint and Darren from Optus. We have had some beautiful print media coverage http://www.smh.com.au/national/gift-of-giving-children-learn-how-to-help-those-in-need-20120525-1za3i.html as well as TV and radio. Love you to follow us at @kidphilanthropy or like us at http://www.facebook.com/KidsInPhilanthropy

And now for some other useful info… much of the time when we are consulting or researching customer service technology we spend a lot of that time explaining the language and terminology around contact centre technology. So here are some definitions that we use....

MATURE TECHNOLOGIES:

Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
System that distributes and reports on incoming calls based on user configurable business rules

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Uses a pre-recorded database of voice messages to present options to a user. User input is retrieved via touch-tone key presses

Virtual Hold / Automated Call Back
A telephone system feature whereby the caller is provided with an option to request a call back whilst maintaining their place in the queue

Predictive Dialler
Phone numbers in a database are automatically dialled. Once a connection is made with a person, the call is routed to an agent. Calls where there is no answer, busy, or answering machine picks up are detected and handled intelligently

Customer Contact / Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools
Desktop application that manages customer data

Presence
System where an agent can instantly see who is logged on and what work state each agent, supervisor or expert is currently in. Allows an agent to quickly invoke the help of another agent, supervisor or expert for assistance

E- Learning system
Agent training that is fully or partially delivered online, commonly direct to the agent desktop

Knowledge / Content Management
Systems that collect and manage organisational data, and make the data available to agents

Call (voice-only) recording system
Records the audio from telephone calls

Voice & data recording & quality monitoring tools
Workstation screen action is captured alongside the recorded audio from telephone interactions

Workforce Management tools
Application that forecasts, schedules and tracks agent activity

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
Links computer, telephone and other services such as voice messaging and fax. E.g., customer details can be viewed on screen as an agent answers the call

IP telephony
Involves the transmission of telephone calls (e.g. voice, fax, etc.) using Voice Over Internet Protocol VOIP

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
An open standard version of VOIP. SIP-compliant products are compatible – even when developed by different vendors. The VOIP version commonly used by phone companies to deliver VOIP calls to business premises

NICHE:

SMS
Systems that enable a contact centre agent to send/receive SMS messages

Web chat
Customers can chat live online with agents in real time, excludes online forums, MSN or other chat programs

Remote Desktop / Screen Sharing technology
Technology that allows agents to connect to the computer screen of a customer in order to help customers complete online transactions

Survey tools
Includes IVR, email, and web-based systems that survey and analyse customer satisfaction after an interaction with an agent

Speech recognition applications
System that enables callers to interact directly using spoken words, without requiring an agent or touch-tone input

Speech analytics
Speech recognition technology is used to automatically capture, organise and analyse calls

Performance Management
Business Intelligence systems that provide users with direct access to contact centre data via real-time scorecards, interactive charts and data drill-down tools

Dialler Analytics
Applications that optimise outbound campaigns based on call history, time of day and right time to call

Peer-to-Peer Support Community
Technology that allows customers to share experiences, ideas, and advice, with each other in an organisation’s discussion forum

EVOLVING:

Biometric Identity Verification
Technology that uses voice identification and verification techniques which compares the voice, of say a customer, with a voice print stored in a system, for the purpose of authenticating the person’s identity

Social media monitoring technology
Technology that monitors social networking websites such as Facebook, Youtube, etc.

Social media channel technology
The platform or technology that allows for interaction between customers/organisations/others

Unified Communications (UC)
Customer contact via multiple channels (inbound voice, outbound voice, email, fax, web chat etc) is managed by a single system, using common business rules, and delivered to the agent through a single desktop. Does not require CTI

Video-based contact centre
Technology that allows the customer to interact via video conferencing with an agent

Gold. C x