| When Your Company Needs a Telephone Auto-Attendant |
| by Gabby Hyman, writer |
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| Call centers and computerized call-forwarding systems have exponentially increased sales and support efficiency for business organizations. While it seems that having a computerized auto-attendant to greet customers would result in quick abandonment, businesses have reported that automated screening, routing, and quick transitions to qualified personnel have actually increased customer satisfaction. |
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Fast, Effective Computer Telephony Integration Solutions
If your company is losing sales and support clients, if you cannot accurately and efficiently track follow-up actions from calls, or if your call volume is taxing your resources, you should consider computer telephony integration (CTI). CTI is not the wave of the future; it's the fully-operational, automated solution that most large volume companies are already using. |
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| Whether you're in service, sales, finance, manufacturing, high tech, customer support, marketing, health care, or banking, CTI couples your computer network with your call system, routing all incoming calls through its list of qualified support options within your company's employee database. |
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| The backbone of the CTI system is the automatic call distributor (ACD), a hardware and software package that provides callers with a voice menu and an immediate link to designated agents through a feature known as skills-based call routing. The ACD also can distribute a flood of incoming calls evenly across your system without further burdening resources. |
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| The skills-based call routing feature in an ACD matches the incoming telephone number with information in your company's database, connecting the callers based on profiles of their past conversations and product and services buying, matching them to the most appropriate representative, based on their expertise level. |
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Screen Pops and Other Customized Options
A variety of service options are available through current telephony packages that mesh with your immediate and long-term needs. Some companies need interactive voice response (IVR), which allows customers to interact with your database directly without using a voice operator. For example, insurance companies, utilities, credit card agencies, and banks allow callers to check balances, pay bills, and transfer funds using their touch-tone phone to access an IVR system. Other companies could benefit by having a system that they can customize to meet their specific needs.
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| Customer relationship management (CRM) software bundled with a telephony solution can give your company a decided edge, along with a substantial ROI (return on investment). You can program your IVR to funnel simple one question-one answer calls to one group of representatives while transferring valued or high volume customers directly to their assigned sales and support reps. The transaction--from the first ring, through a database search, to a transfer to the right member of your team--happens in an instant. |
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| Features called screen pops--immediate onscreen data resources--alert your agents to essential details concerning each caller. It allows your staff to answer callers by name, to explore a history of previous conversations, to know how long the call is taking and how long a customer may have been on hold, and to view customer's buying or product preferences. |
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| The marketplace has a wide range of CTI and auto-attendant telephony providers. You should evaluate your present and future needs, your existing telephone system, personnel resources, and call-volume levels to see if you're ready for the next step in building customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. |
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About the Author
Gabby Hyman has created online strategies and written content for Fortune 500 companies including eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Microsoft Encarta, Avaya, and Nissan UK. |
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