Need help - Terms used in call centers

[learner2002]

Hi, all.

I'm new with the technical aspects of call centers. Can anyone enlighten me further on the following terms/ queries?

1) Automatic Call Distribution

2) Private Automatic Branch Exchange

3) When do we use ACD, PABX?

4) Can 1) and 2) co-exist? In what kind of scenarios, if they do?

5) Telnet

6) Phonenet

7) Auto-attendant vs IVRS

8) Can I route calls out to another number if I'm using PABX? Eg. Someone calls Number A (to which many agents are connected to) and is being automatically transferred to Number B.


Thanks in advance. - Learner

[chitra]

There are call center dictionaries available on the net which you could download. I think it's good place to start learning the call center terminologies.

[learner2002]

Thanks, Chitra. Any good sites to recommend? - Learner

[beejay]

Well, how refreshing!

I remember my first days in the business with Sprint. All those acronyms and everyone speaks in it. Took me two weeks to realize that ANI was not a girl's name.

Seriously, we all start somewhere and even today, after 700 years, I learn stuff. Your questions show a need to understand some of the basics as to how your calls arrive to your center and what happens to them after that and what you COULD do with them after that.

I have a couple of suggestions for you. Depending upon the size of your company and staffing level, if you have a voice & data person with gray hair, ask if you can shadow them for, say, an hour a day for a few weeks. You will pick up more understanding than you thought possible.

Also, seek out local chapters of call center associations and join. Great place to learn how it all works even beyond just the scope of your questions. Also, look at your local Junior College and see if they offer courses on the call center and related subjects. Some do and they are very good. And look for a peer relationship in your community or with a competitor. Just someone you can not only learn from but someone you can bounce ideas off of.

Immediately, you can look on the internet for an explanation of the terms. American National Standard has a good website, for example, to look up the acronyms. It's located at http://www.atis.org/tg2k/t1g2k.html.

And last, don't be afraid to ask questions.,,,,,,,,

Hope this helps you...................

[learner2002]

Thanks, Beejay, for your reply and your encouragement. :) - Learner

[Call Center dude]

Another source that has been a tremendous help to me is book called "Newton's Telecom Dictionary". The ISBN to order the book is 1-57820-018-0. The book was recommended to me several years ago and it has truely been a life saver.

[mlik]

Hi,

You find a whole lot of terminolgy about call centers at:
http://www.telecorpproducts.com/glossary.html

You can also learn about other things related to call center like selecting locations, rules and regulation etc at:
http://www.stpi.soft.net/ites_cc.html

Let me know if this is helpful.

[Ted Hopton]

A great -- FREE -- reference for call center terms and acronyms is www.incoming.com, Incoming Calls Management Institute's web site. ICMI's glossary is comprehensive: http://incoming.com/s2glossary.html. For a quick reference on acronymns, ICMI offers: http://incoming.com/s2acronyms.html