Predictive dialers can be vital components of a business’ customer service processes and efficiency, but how do they know when a call center agent will be ready to take a call? Intricate software enables predictive dialers to time the calls so that agents will be free to answer.
To ensure the call center is maximizing the time saving effects of using predictive dialers, several factors should be taken into consideration including the number of operators currently engaged in calls, the expected duration of those calls, the total number of operators, and the probability that someone will answer when it dials a number. These factors are then incorporated into an algorithm which calculates how many new calls should be started at a given time. This number is a fluid number meaning that with changes to the system, the algorithm changes.
Working by dialing ahead, predictive dialers dial the appropriate number of phones numbers to occupy the call center agents. Taking into account the fact that a certain percentage of phones won’t answer the call, the dialers always dial more phones than call center agents.
Effectively, these included factors and subsequent algorithms combine to free up the call center agents so they can spend less time in between calls. Provided with a new answered call when as they finish a current one, call center agents make call transitions more smooth and less time consuming.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Juliana Kenny