First, let’s start by thinking of the needs of the smallest centers, those for whom the purchase of an expensive, standalone ACD is too much to handle. Luckily, call routing is available as part of the PBX configuration, bringing large call center tools down to the level of even the smallest centers.
Think of the five or ten person collections department, the customer service area of a larger company. They have many of the same needs — and problems — as larger centers. But until now, there have been few call handling tools that deliver state of the art features at a reasonable price.
Their personnel are not always dedicated phone reps. They need flexible solutions that build on the systems already in place, that give them room to grow without putting the company in the poorhouse. The response to those needs is a new variety of call handling system — the ACD without the box, or the PC-based ACD. Thanks to the new-found openness of switch vendors, developers are offering a host of software products that add ACD features to key systems and hybrid switches.
For one thing, it’s far less expensive to bring ACD features into an existing business phone system. There’s no capital expenditure on a big piece of hardware. With larger ACDs, it’s very difficult to justify at the six-agent size or, for that matter, anything below thirty agents. It’s also a lot more flexible than it used to be. You can easily integrate top-notch systems like interactive voice response or voice mail, giving your small center a highly professional appearance.
Critical to call centers is that you be able to add third-party call control. You don’t need to know how to program to set up a rule-based system for getting the right call to the right agent. With the PC it becomes a low-end solution. You can do a lot of things, like provide special treatment to customers based on the language they speak, route calls based on skill sets, or based on time of day for full 24-hour coverage.
What the PBX ACD does is let you dabble in call centers without having to go full bore right away. Make no mistake — one of these low-end ACDs built off a PBX will only get you so far. If you’re going to grow beyond a certain point (50 agents is a good ballpark), then explore the larger, standalone systems. At least explore the low-end offerings from those vendors, because those vendors are offering much smoother upgrade paths than ever before, hoping to capture some of the small center market.
PC or PBX ACDs allow small installs (typically 10 to 15 people) to be placed on the same technological plain as bigger centers. Since many companies already have PBXs that can be enhanced with available software, they can dabble. It’s possible to convert a few users and then decide that if things go well (they usually do), to expand further.
For example, Cintech offers Prelude, by its very name a starter system that encourages people to step up to Cinphony, Cintech’s more advanced software ACD. Prelude is aimed at retail stores, pharmacies, universities, car rental places — places that until now might have gone without features like call categorization and advanced routing.
Comdial’s QuickQ software lets you set overflow patterns between multiple small groups, and lets you change those parameters quickly, with a minimum of required knowledge.
These systems do not deliver everything you’d expect if you used a dedicated ACD, but they don’t have to. Departmental needs are different. Few need multi-site routing, for example. Department heads (who may not be telecom people) need different kinds of reports that have more to do with sales and costs than with call traffic.
There are many small call centers that are just beginning to realize they are call centers. And that they need the same kind of technologies big centers have been using for years. Customers demand the same kind of service, no matter how big you are. This small-scale solution lets them reach more of their potential for pleasing customers at reasonable cost.
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