Computer Desktop Encyclopedia
THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2012 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Automatic call distributor
Top
(Automatic Call Distributor) A computerized phone system that responds to the caller with a voice menu and connects the call to the appropriate agent. It can also distribute calls equally to agents. ACDs are the heart of call centers, or contact centers, which are widely used in the telephone sales and service departments of all organizations.
Computer telephony integration (CTI) has produced very sophisticated ACD systems. For example, a call center might want to handle 70% of all calls in 30 seconds or less, but if it can identify a high-value customer based on calling number, it may want to ensure the call is answered more quickly. In this "priority routing," the ACD must recognize the calling number via ANI or Caller ID, consult a database and then route the call accordingly.
Human or Machine
"First-party call control" uses a human to route the call after either speaking with the caller or analyzing the caller's history. "Third-party call control" routes the call automatically.
Many Options
Routing can be based on the caller entering an ID or account number into a voice response unit (see IVR). Another option is setting up unique telephone numbers; for example, one for sales and another for service, and routing the call based on the number dialed (see DNIS).
ACDs can also incorporate "skills-based routing," in which the caller is routed with appropriate data files to the agent who has the appropriate knowledge to handle the situation, such as speaking a different language.
Handling more than phone calls, some ACDs can also route e-mail, faxes, Web-initiated calls and callback requests.
Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your PC, iPhone or Android.
Barron's Marketing Dictionary:
Top
associate creative director (ACD)
Assistant to the creative director. The ACD usually works on one account at a time and is responsible for the preparation of advertising concepts and production of advertisements for the media. In a large advertising agency, the associate creative director is assisted by a staff of writers and artists, either freelance or on salary. In a smaller agency, the copywriting and art production become the responsibility of the associate creative director.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Automatic call distributor
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
In telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), also known as Automated Call Distribution, is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration (CTI) system.
Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD system. ACD systems are often found in offices that handle large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person but who require assistance from any of multiple persons (e.g., customer service representatives) at the earliest opportunity.
The system consists of hardware for the terminals and switches, phonelines, and software for the routing strategy. The routing strategy is a rule-based set of instructions that tells the ACD how calls are handled inside the system. Typically this is an algorithm that determines the best available employee or employees to respond to a given incoming call. To help make this match, additional data are solicited and reviewed to find out why the customer is calling. Sometimes the caller's caller ID or ANI is used; more often a simple IVR is used to ascertain the reason for the call.
Originally, the ACD function was internal to the Private Branch Exchange of the company. However, the closed nature of these systems limited their flexibility. A system was then designed to enable common computing devices, such as server PCs, to make routing decisions. For this, generally the PBX would issue information about incoming calls to this external system and receive a direction of the call in response.
An additional function for these external routing applications is to enable CTI. This allows improved efficiency for call center agents by matching incoming phone calls with relevant data on their PC via screen pop.
A common protocol to achieve this is CSTA; however, almost every PBX vendor has its own flavor of CSTA, and CSTA is quite hard to program because of its complex nature. Various vendors have developed intermediate software that hides these complexities and expedites the work of programmers.
Also, these protocols enable call centers consisting of PBXs from multiple vendors to be treated as one virtual contact center. All real-time and historical statistical information can then be shared amongst call center sites.
One of the first large and separate ACDs was a modified 5XB switch used by New York Telephone in the early 1970s to distribute calls among hundreds of 4-1-1 information operators.
See also
References
|
|
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011) |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Barron's Marketing Dictionary
Dictionary of Marketing Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
