Technology (hardware and software) that facilitates the creation of outbound automates telephone conversations. Dialers choose phone numbers from a file, make calls and offer these calls to agents. Dialers offer tracking information, real-time monitoring and reporting options outbound calls, just like an ACD does for incoming calls. Dialers can also include campaign management and scripting tools and can generate detailed reports on real-time and historical data. There are different variants of dialers:
- Preview dialing: an application that instructs the exchange to dial a specific telephone number under the direction of a agent. The agent can consult a screen in advance containing information about the person who is going to be called, can the establishment of the to fully experience the connection follow and can the database update as desired. This application is commonly used for callbacks or activities where the agent must consult information in advance before having the conversation.
- Predictive dialing: an application that instructs the exchange to dial multiple telephone numbers simultaneously from a pre-selected list of telephone numbers. A mathematician algorithms is used to predict how many numbers to dial based on the number of calls completed and the number of agents that will become available. The system attempts to match the number of dialed numbers with the number of available agents, so that established connections can be immediately followed up by agents with a call. The system detects which connections the called party answers and forwards only these calls (and, if desired, also those with an answering machine) to a live agent. Agents are also presented with screen information about the call. The system records all call attempts in the system: connected, busy, not answered, answering machine, network tones, recorded. Although experts claim that predictive dialers can double agents' effective talk time, dialers also have a downside. The more aggressive dialers are programmed (the more connections they try to make), the more often it will happen that a called person hears silence on the other side of the phone. line. This makes people more likely to hang up. Programming a dialer should therefore be aimed at achieving the largest possible number of completed calls with a minimum number of abandoned calls.
- Progressive dialing: a variation on predicted dialing or preview dialing. Some view progressive dialing as the variant where screen information is presented before the call is automatically established. Others see progressive dialing as a form of controlled predictive dialing where multiple calls are only established if agents are available. The predictive nature still lies in predicting the number of successful connections that will be established. In this case, the probability that an established to fully experience the connection not at a agent can be offered, reduced.
- Call blending: the ability to assign agents to both inbound as outbound conversations, based on circumstances and programmed choices. It establishes an individual agent able to do both from the same agent position inbound as outbound to handle calls, without having to manually monitor the traffic flow and without agentpositions must be changed manually. The outbound application checks the incoming traffic and points (outbound) agents to outbound calls when incoming volume decreases.
Dialers are increasingly moving from a stand-alone application to an integrated part of the contact center system, especially as part of CTI applications.
See Position ID, Agent ID, Abandonment Rate