OVERVIEW

Throughout the book we frequently discuss customer contact centers and the equipment they use. In this chapter we focus on the telephone call component and the management of telephony workflow.

The automatic call distributor (ACD) remains the hub of any customer contact center reengineering process as this device provides the services rationing, load balancing and reporting that allows a customer contact center to best deliver on its promise of service. An ACD might best be thought of as a telephony workflow engine. Similar devices or feature sets with varying degrees of maturity, which are focused at email and web interactions are also making their way into the customer contact center. The ultimate device is a system that synchronizes and harmonizes all of these channels. ACD systems have a stable history and are the basis for development of multimedia or cross-channel, cross-application solutions in the universal customer contact center.

Although we offer other chapters dealing directly with the technical make-up of the ACD, the reader may ask at this juncture, What exactly is an ACD and why is it different from other call handling devices such as key telephone systems (KTS) and private branch exchange (PBX) equipment?

The ACD and customer contact center manager can manipulate that information in myriad ways to better understand the character of a specific business and so manage the business opportunities offered by its callers. Thus, it s possible to identify the precise level of service a customer contact center delivers (to different classes of...