Product & Technology Glossary

ACD

Automated Call Distribution is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration (CTI) system. Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD system. ACD systems are often found in offices that handle large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person but who require assistance from any of multiple persons (e.g. customer service representatives) at the earliest opportunity.

Back office

A back office application has no direct relation to customers whereas a front office application is any software that does have such a direct relation.

Business applications

Generally any software program that helps a business increase productivity or measure their productivity.

Business Process Management

Business process management (BPM) is an holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. BPM attempts to improve processes continuously. It can therefore be described as process optimisation.

Call blending

Call blending gives the ability to deliver both inbound and outbound calls seamlessly to an agent, regulating outbound call volume based on inbound traffic. When inbound traffic is low, outbound calls are automatically generated for a specified campaign. When inbound traffic picks up, the dialler dynamically slows the number of outgoing calls to meet the inbound service level. Results can include increased agent productivity, streamlined staffing and improved customer service.

Cloud

The term “cloud” is used as a metaphor for the Internet. Typically, cloud computing delivers common business applications online, that are accessed from another Web service or software like a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers. For example, a hosted desktop has a browser-based connection to a desktop environment which includes an office productivity suite alongside other desktop applications. The desktop is hosted, run, delivered and supported from a central location, usually a secure data center with high quality and resilient connections to the cloud.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate and synchronize business processes, principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service and technical support.

CTI

Computer Telephony Integration, also called computer-telephone integration, is technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or co-ordinated. As contact channels have expanded from voice alone, the definition of CTI has expanded to include the integration of all customer contact channels (voice, email, web, fax, etc.) with computer systems.

Dashboard

In management information systems, a dashboard is an executive information system user interface that is designed to be easy to read. A contact centre dashboard allow managers to monitor the contribution of the agents in their contact centre and to gauge exactly how well the centre is performing overall. Dashboards allow you to capture and report specific data points from within the contact centre thus providing a “snapshot” of performance.

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning integrates internal and external management information across an entire organisation, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organisation and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

FCR

First Call Resolution is a measurement of customer service in the contact centre industry, for instance in a service level agreement.

GUI

A Graphical User Interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. A GUI represents the information and actions available to a user through graphical icons and visual indicators as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation.

HTML

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML is the basic building-blocks of webpages. A markup language is a set of markup tags, and HTML uses markup tags to describe web pages.

IPBX

An Internet Protocol Private Branch eXchange is a business telephone system designed to deliver voice or video over a data network and interoperate with the normal Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) gateways can be combined with traditional PBX functionality enabling businesses to use their managed intranet to help reduce long distance expenses, enjoy the benefits of a single network for voice and data and advanced Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) features or be used on a pure IP system which in most cases give greater cost savings, greater mobility and increased redundancy. An IP-PBX can exist as a hardware object, or virtually, as a software system.

ITIL

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library is a set of concepts and practices for Information Technology Services Management’ Information Technology development and IT operations. ITIL gives detailed descriptions of a number of important IT practices and provides comprehensive checklists, tasks and procedures that any IT organisation can tailor to its needs.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) keypad inputs. In telecommunications, IVR allows customers to interact with a company’s database via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service their own enquiries by following the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR applications can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple interactions. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes.

Javascript

JavaScript is primarily used in the form of client-side JavaScript, implemented as part of a web browser in order to provide enhanced user interfaces and dynamic websites. However, its use in applications outside web pages, for example in PDF documents, site-specific browsers and desktop widgets, is also significant.

Mashup

In web development, a mashup is a web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. The term implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open APIs (an interface implemented by a software program that enables it to interact with other software) and data sources to produce enriched results that were not necessarily the original reason for producing the raw source data

Multi-channel

Communication in which there are two or more communication channels over the same path.

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms; specifically within the contact centre environment relating to telephone calls, email, web, Chat and SMS communication.

RFID

Radio-frequency identification is a technology that uses communication through the use of radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object’ for the purpose of identification and tracking.

SIP

The Session Initiation Protocol is a signaling protocol widely used for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP).

Smartphone

A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. Smartphones and feature phones may be thought of as handheld computers integrated with a mobile telephone, but while most feature phones are able to run applications based on platforms such as Java ME, a smartphone usually allows the user to install and run more advanced applications. Smartphones run complete operating system software providing a platform for application developers.

TDM

Time-Division Multiplexing is a type of digital or, rarely, analog multiplexing in which two or more signals or bit streams are transferred apparently simultaneously as sub-channels in one communication channel, but are physically taking turns on the channel. The time domain is divided into several recurrent timeslots of fixed length, one for each sub-channel.

VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol is one of a family of internet technologies, communication protocols and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms frequently encountered and often used synonymously with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone.

Version control

Revision control, also known as version control or source control (and an aspect of software configuration management or SCM), is the management of changes to documents, programs and other information stored as computer files. It is most commonly used in software development, where a team of people may change the same files. Changes are usually identified by a number or letter code, termed the “revision number”, “revision level”, or simply “revision”.

Web browser

A web browser or Internet browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to easily navigate their browsers to related resources. Although browsers are primarily intended to access the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by Web servers in private networks or files in file systems. Some browsers can also be used to save information resources to file systems.

Web interface

Refers to the interaction between a user and software running on a Web server. The user interface is the Web browser and the Web page it has downloaded and rendered.

Web service

A web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices.

Wizard

A software wizard or setup assistant is a user interface element that presents a user with a sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that are complex, infrequently performed or unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a wizard. In contrast, an expert system guides a user through a series of (usually yes/no) questions to solve a problem.

Workflow

Workflow manages tasks such as automatic routing, partially automated processing and integration between different functional software applications and hardware systems to optimise end-to-end performance.