Glossary - C

Call Blending

The technological capability supporting the automatic alternation of agents to perform inbound and outbound call processing.

Call Centre

A central point at which all incoming and outgoing telephone calls are handled by a group of agents in a controlled, sequential manner. That part of an organisation dedicated to performing business transactions telephonically.

Call Centre Function

Any service as applied to any product provided offered through the call centre i.e. Technical Support.

Call Management

The process of selecting and managing optimum mix of equipment, network services, and staff to achieve maximum productivity from a call centre.

Call Outline

A sales dialogue designed to guide call centre agents through the pertinent data that they need to obtain or discuss while using their own judgement or choice of words.

Called Party

The party connected with, through / during an outbound calling campaign.

Caller ID/CLI

The calling number information (A Party number) that is transmitted with a telephone call.

Calling List

That generated list, which contain the names and telephone numbers of (potential) customers to be called during an outbound calling campaign. The list usually contains other variables that may be used during that particular outbound calling campaign.

Call Plan Script

This type of script is used by agents who speak to customers on an ongoing basis, where it is still important to follow a call plan to control the call, direct its outcome and achieve certain goals. A call plan usually contains objectives of the call, commitments required from the customer, key questions, closing and the next actions to be taken.

Call Processing

Refers to the variants made possible by the call centre technology components to enable the intelligent, automatic and effective distribution of calls within the call centre environment.

Call Volume

The number of calls which come into the Call Center in a given period.

CCITT

Renamed as ITU-T.

CD

Compact Disk.

CDE

Common Desktop Environment.

Change Management

The process during which changes to baselines and configuration items are authorised, planned and controlled.

Closing

The act of consummating a sale or scheduling an appointment over the phone. This term is generally used in a telesales / telemarketing environment.

Clustering

Grouping the entries on a Calling List according to certain categories, e.g. geographic, demographic etc.

Cold Calling

Calling someone as part of a telesales / telemarketing campaign, without a lead or an appointment.

CMS

Contact Management System. A system which allows for the automatic organising and prioritising of account information, e.g. appointments, call backs, information sent, and customer data.

Cross Selling

Selling an additional product or service while servicing a customer on an inbound call.

CSR

Customer Service Representative. Also see Agent.

CST

Customer Supported Telephony: another term for CTI derived from the ECMA standard.

CSTA

Computer Supported Telephony Architecture. A term used by ECMA to describe its CTI standardisation activities.

CTI

Computer Telephone Integration is the application of computer intelligence via external computers to telecommunications devices. It includes voice processing, LAN integration, speech recognition and image / video data integration. It allows end users to create control over their communications environment and develop value-added solutions, such as call centres.

Customer Profile

Pertinent information about a customer, including, name, account number, address and phone number, purchase history, demographic information etc.