CALL CENTER DICTIONARY

B - C

Base Staff. The minimum number of agents required to achieve a specified service level and response time objectives for given period of time. Base Staff calculations assume that agents will be in their seats for the entire period of time. Therefore, schedules need to accommodate extra people considering breaks, absenteeism and other factors that will keep agents from the phones.

Beep Tone. Also called zip tone which is an audible sound that signals the arrival of a call. Beep tone can also refer to the audible sound that a call is being monitored

Benchmark. A standard task to compare services with other units for the purpose of identifying new ideas for improvement.

Blockage. An incident where callers are blocked from entering a queue. See Blocked Call.

Blocked Call. Normally happens when the volume of calls goes beyond the threshold. Calls cannot be connected immediately because of various reasons such as: unavailability of circuit at the time of call, or the ACD was programmed to block calls beyond the threshold.

Busy Hour. Refers to the hour of time in which a trunk group carries the most traffic during the day.

Call Blending. A process of combining inbound and outbound agents into one group, where each agent handles both inbound and outbound calls. Usually necessitated by a system depending on the incoming call load.

Call By Call Routing. The process of routing each call to the optimum destination according to real-time conditions.

Call Center. Refers to customer service, reservations, technical support centers, help desks, or information lines.

Call Control Variables. A set of criteria that includes routing, overflow parameters, announcements, and timing thresholds.

Call Detail Recording. The capability of an ACD to record important data for every call such as trunk used, time in queue, agent who received the call, and the number dialled if there was.

Call Forcing. One feature of ACD to deliver a call automatically to an available agent.

Call Load. The product of Average Talk Time plus the Average After Call Work multiplied by the call volume in a particular time.

Caller ID. Automatic number identification.

Calls In Queue. A real-time report referring to the number of incoming calls or calls waiting to be received by a call center agent.

Carrier. A company that provides telecommunications circuits. Carriers include both local telephone companies and long distance providers.

Collateral Duties. Non-phone tasks by a call center agent like data entry.

Computer Simulation. A way to predict the outcome of an event, generated by a computer system.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI). The software, hardware and programming necessary to integrate computers and telephones.

Conditional Routing. A condition that may be applied or programmed for the ACD. Usually to instruct ACD where and when to route a call to a specific unit.

Controlled Busies. Busy signals generated by ACD when the queue has reached its threshold.

Cost Center. Refers to a department that does not generate profit.

Cost of Delay. The cost for toll-free services, in terms of money that a call center pays for callers on queue.

Cost Per Call. Total costs divided by total calls for a given period of time.