In the typical business climate, sales departments generate revenue and customer service departments protect revenue.  Many times, your phone system connects the customers to sales and customer service.  If callers are left on hold for employees of these departments while they assist other callers, then you have a big problem.

When customers do not get the help they need in a timely manner, they turn into revenue and morale killers.  The customers may hang up.  When they do, they may not call back or, worse, they may call a competitor.  Multiple ringbacks to the receptionist not only consumes the receptionist’s time and frustrates the caller, but it also communicates an unprofessional disorganized image of your company.  And we all have experienced what happens when a call gets left on hold too long.  The caller gets angry and then abuses the unlucky employee who finally tries to help them.

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) can readily solve these issues.  ACD is available in many phone systems and the higher quality Hosted PBX services from Hosted VoIP providers.  ACD has two components: call handling and reporting.  Both can get very complex.  Businesses with small customer service and sales departments can solve most of their problems with the call handling capabilities of ACD alone in their Hosted PBX service.

The employees who answer calls from an ACD are commonly referred to as ACD agents.  Call handling in ACD distributes calls to the agents in a round robin or longest available format.  When all agents are busy assisting other callers, ACD stacks up waiting calls similar to the teller line at a bank.  ACD will use delays, music on hold, comfort messages and overflow destinations to manage the call until it can be serviced.

With ACD, calls are handled more efficiently and effectively.  When the caller is placed in queue (hold), they are comforted in knowing that they are waiting in a structured line.  Some ACDs will provide real time information on the calls waiting in queue to supervisors and agents which allows for adjustments to be made in length of calls or number of agents handling calls.  ACD in Hosted VoIP systems can include agents working out of their home or remote offices.  No matter what, ACD will significantly reduce abandon calls and customer frustration.  Both translate into improved revenue generation and protection.

If you ever have callers left on hold waiting to be assisted, talk to your telephone provider, Hosted PBX service or Hosted VoIP provider about how ACD can help.

If you have used ACD, I would appreciate you sharing your experience below.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 2:07 pm and is filed under ACD, Hosted PBX. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.