Call Center Definitions

Call center terminologies are frequently used in customer conversations. This contact center glossary comes in handy to avoid feeling unprepared for any conversation.

Abandoned Before Threshold: This refers to calls that are abandoned by customers before reaching a pre-set wait time.

Access to Care: Ensuring patients can easily access healthcare services when needed.

Act: Implement changes or improvements based on the insights gained from customer feedback.

Adhering to treatment plans: Patients follow the prescribed treatment and healthcare plans.

Advanced Call Center Technologies: Innovative tools and systems that enhance call center operations, improve customer service, and automate processes like call routing, analytics, and AI-powered interactions.

Advocacy and feedback: Patients provide input and feedback to improve healthcare systems and processes.

After Call Work: After Call Work refers to tasks completed by an agent immediately after finishing a customer call, such as updating records or inputting call notes.

Agent: A call center employee responsible for handling customer interactions through various channels like phone, chat, or email.

Agent analytics: Agent Analytics provides insights and data-driven metrics to evaluate the efficiency, productivity, and overall performance of call center agents.

Agent Onboarding: Agent Onboarding is the process of training, mentoring, and familiarizing new agents with a call center's systems and protocols.

Agent performance: Agent Performance is the measurement of how well a call center agent handles customer interactions, based on various key performance indicators (KPIs).

Agent Reports: Detailed reports that provide insights into an agent's performance, productivity, and key metrics like call volume, handling time, and customer satisfaction.

Agent Utilization: A measure of how effectively a call center agent's time is used, calculated by the ratio of time spent on customer interactions to total available time.

AHT (Average Handle Time): Average Handle Time is the average duration of a customer interaction, including both talk time and after-call work.

AI Call Center: A call center that leverages artificial intelligence to automate tasks, enhance agent performance, and improve customer interactions through AI-driven tools.

AI Chatbot: A software application powered by AI that engages in automated conversations with users, providing instant responses and solutions through text or voice.

AI Conversations: Human-like interactions powered by AI technologies, enabling machines to understand and respond to natural language inputs in real-time.

AI Customer Experience: The use of AI tools to personalize and improve customer interactions, enhancing satisfaction and engagement across various touchpoints.

AI Customer Service: AI-driven solutions that automate and improve customer service tasks, such as answering queries, resolving issues, and providing support 24/7.

AI for Business: The application of AI technologies in business operations to automate processes, analyze data, and optimize decision-making for better efficiency and growth.

AI for CX: AI technologies specifically designed to enhance Customer Experience (CX) by personalizing interactions, providing real-time insights, and automating support.

AI Routing: An AI-powered system that intelligently routes customer inquiries to the most appropriate agent or department based on real-time analysis of the query.

AI Self-Service: AI-driven solutions that allow customers to independently resolve issues and complete tasks, such as accessing information or troubleshooting, without human assistance.

Analyze: Interpret the feedback to identify trends, pain points, and areas for improvement.

Application Programming Interface (API): A set of protocols and tools that allow different software applications to communicate and interact with each other, enabling integration and functionality sharing.

Aspect-based sentiment analysis: Identifies sentiment specific to different aspects or features within a text (e.g., product quality vs. customer service).

Attended Automation: Requires human intervention and works alongside users to automate tasks.

Auto Dialer: A software or system that automatically dials phone numbers from a list, connecting the call to an agent or pre-recorded message when answered.

Automated Coaching: Automated Coaching uses AI to provide real-time feedback and performance improvement tips to agents during or after calls.

Automated Outbound Calling: A process where calls are automatically placed to customers using a system without human intervention, often for marketing, reminders, or notifications.

Automated Quality Assurance: Automated Quality Assurance uses software to automatically evaluate and score call center interactions based on set quality standards.

Automated Quality Management: Automated Quality Management involves using technology to oversee and improve the quality of service provided by agents, reducing manual effort.

Automatic Callback: A feature that allows customers to request a callback when an agent becomes available, reducing hold time and improving the customer experience.

Automatic Number Identification (ANI): A system that identifies and displays the phone number of an incoming caller to the receiver, often used for call tracking and routing.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR): Technology that converts spoken language into text, enabling machines to understand and respond to voice commands or transcriptions.

Average handling time: Average Handling Time (AHT) is the time it takes for a call center agent to complete an entire customer interaction, including hold and wrap-up time.

Average speed of answer: Average Speed of Answer is the average amount of time it takes for an agent to pick up an incoming call.

BPO: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) refers to contracting specific business tasks, like customer service, to an external service provider.

Building rapport: Establishing trust and connection with customers.

Calibration Call: A Calibration Call is a call reviewed by multiple parties to align on quality standards and ensure consistent evaluation criteria.

Call Avoidance: Call Avoidance refers to the practice of reducing unnecessary calls by solving issues through self-service tools or better agent guidance.

Call Center Analytics Software: Call Center Analytics Software provides insights into call center performance, helping track metrics like call volume, handling time, and customer satisfaction.

Call Center Attrition: Call Center Attrition is the rate at which employees leave a call center, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Call Center Audit: A Call Center Audit is a comprehensive evaluation of call center operations, processes, and performance to identify areas for improvement.

Call center automation: Call Center Automation uses technology to streamline repetitive tasks, reduce manual work, and improve efficiency in customer interactions.

Call Center Burnout: Call Center Burnout occurs when agents experience exhaustion and stress due to prolonged periods of high call volume or difficult customer interactions.

Call Center Coaching: Call Center Coaching involves providing agents with feedback and training to improve their performance and customer service skills.

Call Center Compliance: Call Center Compliance ensures that agents follow legal and company-specific regulations and guidelines during customer interactions.

Call center efficiency: Call Center Efficiency measures how well a call center manages resources, including agents, time, and technology, to achieve optimal performance.

Call Center Metrics: Call Center Metrics are key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of a call center's operations.

Call Center Quality Assurance: Call Center Quality Assurance involves monitoring and evaluating customer interactions to ensure agents meet quality standards and improve performance.

Call Center Scorecard: A Call Center Scorecard is a tool used to evaluate agent performance based on specific metrics like call handling, customer satisfaction, and compliance.

Call Center Scripting Software: Call Center Scripting Software provides agents with pre-written responses to ensure consistent and accurate communication with customers.

Call Center Software: Call Center Software enables agents to handle incoming and outgoing calls, manage customer information, and monitor performance metrics.

Call Evaluation: Call Evaluation is the process of reviewing and assessing recorded customer interactions to measure quality and adherence to standards.

Call Monitoring Software: Call Monitoring Software allows supervisors to listen in on live calls or review recorded calls to evaluate agent performance and customer experience.

Call Quality: Call Quality refers to the effectiveness of a customer interaction, including factors like agent performance, clarity of communication, and customer satisfaction.

Call Script: A Call Script is a predefined guide that helps agents manage customer conversations, ensuring consistency and professionalism.

Closing the sale: Asking for the sale and finalizing the transaction.

Cloud Outsourcing: Utilizing cloud-based services to manage processes or IT infrastructure remotely.

Coaching and Feedback: Providing support, sales coaching, and feedback to help sales teams improve and meet targets.

Collaborating with healthcare providers: Patients engage in discussions and decisions about their treatment.

Collaboration: Involving patients in their treatment decisions and creating a partnership in their care journey.

Collect: Gather customer feedback through surveys, reviews, social media, and other touchpoints.

Communication: Clear and effective communication between patients and healthcare providers.

Contact Center Reporting: Contact Center Reporting provides detailed insights and data about the performance and operational efficiency of a call center.

Conversation Intelligence Software: Conversation Intelligence Software analyzes call center interactions to provide insights into customer behavior, agent performance, and overall trends.

Conversational AI: Conversational AI is technology that enables machines to engage in human-like conversations using natural language processing and machine learning, powering chatbots and voice assistants.

CSAT score: Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a metric used to measure how satisfied customers are with a company's products or services.

Customer Experience Management: Customer Experience Management is the process of overseeing and improving every interaction a customer has with a brand to enhance satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer Retention: Customer Retention refers to a company's ability to keep existing customers over a period of time by providing value and satisfaction.

Database Server: Manages and provides access to databases for applications and users.

Dead air: Dead Air refers to periods of silence during a customer call, often caused by long hold times or agent delays in responding.

Developing: Providing training and development opportunities to enhance skills and performance.

Dialer: A Dialer is an automated system that places outgoing calls for agents, improving efficiency by reducing manual dialing time.

Electrical Calibration: Ensures that electrical measuring devices, such as voltmeters, are providing accurate readings.

Emotion detection: Identifies specific emotions like happiness, anger, or sadness in the text.

Empathy: Demonstrating care, respect, and understanding toward the patient’s emotional and physical needs.

Escalation: Escalation is the process of transferring a customer issue to a higher level of authority when it cannot be resolved at the current level.

Expected Wait Time: Expected Wait Time is the estimated amount of time a customer will have to wait before their call is answered by an agent.

File Server: Stores and manages files, allowing users to access and share files over a network.

Fine-grained sentiment analysis: Provides a detailed sentiment score (e.g., very positive, positive, neutral, negative, very negative).

First Call Resolution: First Call Resolution is when a customer's issue is fully resolved during their first interaction with an agent, without the need for follow-up calls.

First Response Time: First Response Time measures how quickly an agent responds to an initial customer inquiry.

Follow-up: Ensuring customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships.

Forecasting: Predicting future staffing needs based on historical data and demand.

Goal Setting: Defining clear, measurable sales objectives for the team.

Grade Of Service: Grade of Service is a metric that measures the percentage of calls answered within a specified timeframe.

Handling objections: Addressing concerns or hesitations from the customer.

Hold Time: Hold Time is the duration a customer spends waiting on hold during a call.

Hosted contact center: A Hosted Contact Center is a cloud-based call center solution where the technology and infrastructure are managed offsite by a third-party provider.

Hybrid Automation: Combines both attended and unattended automation, allowing collaboration between bots and human workers.

Inbound Call Center: An Inbound Call Center handles incoming calls from customers, typically for support or service inquiries.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR): Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated system that allows customers to interact with a call center via voice commands or keypad inputs.

Journey Mapping: Journey Mapping is the process of visualizing and analyzing every step of the customer’s interaction with a company to improve their overall experience.

Knowledge Process Outsourcing: Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) involves outsourcing specialized tasks that require expertise and knowledge, such as research or data analysis.

Least Occupied Agent: The Least Occupied Agent is the agent with the lowest workload, who is assigned new calls to balance workload distribution.

Lost Calls: Lost Calls refer to customer calls that are disconnected or abandoned before being answered by an agent.

Mechanical Calibration: Involves adjusting physical instruments to ensure accurate measurements.

Mis-selling: Mis-selling occurs when a product or service is sold in a deceptive or misleading manner, often resulting in customer dissatisfaction.

Monitor: Continuously track customer satisfaction to ensure that changes have a positive impact and adjust strategies as needed.

Monitoring: Continuously tracking and reviewing employee performance against set goals.

Natural Language Processing: Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and respond to human language.

Nearshore Outsourcing: Outsourcing to a nearby country with similar time zones.

Needs analysis: Understanding the customer’s problems and needs.

Net Promoter Score: Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend a company to others.

No call no show: No Call No Show refers to when an agent or employee fails to report to work or notify management of their absence.

Offshore Outsourcing: Hiring a service provider in another country to perform tasks.

Omnichannel Cloud Contact Center: A cloud-based platform that enables seamless customer communication across multiple channels—like phone, chat, email, and social media—ensuring consistent service.

Omnichannel Contact Center: An Omnichannel Contact Center integrates multiple communication channels, like phone, email, chat, and social media, to provide seamless customer service.

Omnichannel Customer Experience: A strategy that provides a seamless and integrated customer experience across various communication channels and touchpoints, both online and offline.

Omnichannel Customer Journey: The complete, integrated path a customer takes through multiple channels while interacting with a brand, ensuring consistency and personalization at each touchpoint.

Omnichannel Customer Service: A customer service model that provides support through multiple channels (e.g., phone, email, chat) in a unified, consistent manner, allowing customers to switch between channels without disruption.

Omnichannel Routing: A system that routes customer inquiries to the right agent or department regardless of the communication channel used, ensuring efficient handling and resolution.

Onshore/Domestic Outsourcing: Contracting a service provider within the same country.

Outbound Call Center: A call center that primarily makes outgoing calls for purposes like sales, surveys, marketing, and customer follow-ups.

Outbound Call Center Compliance: Ensuring that outbound call centers adhere to regulations and guidelines, such as Do Not Call (DNC) lists and proper consent for contacting customers.

Outbound IVR: An interactive voice response (IVR) system used for outgoing calls, often for delivering automated messages, reminders, or gathering information from customers.

Outsourcing Call Center: The practice of hiring a third-party provider to manage a company's call center operations, often to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Outsourcing Customer Service: Contracting an external company to handle customer service operations on behalf of a business, allowing the business to focus on core activities.

Patient Engagement: Strategies and tools designed to actively involve patients in their healthcare, improving communication, care coordination, and overall health outcomes.

Patient Experience Solutions: Technologies and services designed to enhance the healthcare experience for patients, ensuring positive interactions and streamlined care.

Peer-to-peer Coaching: Peer-to-Peer Coaching involves agents providing feedback and guidance to one another to improve their performance.

Performance Analysis: Analyzing data to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Performance Management: The process of monitoring and evaluating employees' performance to ensure alignment with organizational goals and encourage continuous improvement.

Performance Management System: A tool or framework used to track, assess, and improve employee performance by providing feedback, setting goals, and measuring results.

Performance Monitoring: Tracking employee performance to ensure productivity and adherence to goals.

Planning: Setting clear, measurable goals and expectations for employees.

Predictive Dialer: An automated dialing system that predicts agent availability and dials multiple numbers simultaneously to connect agents with live calls, increasing efficiency.

Presenting solutions: Offering products/services that address the customer’s needs.

Priority-based scheduling: Prioritizes tasks based on urgency or importance, ensuring critical tasks are completed first.

Prospecting: Identifying potential customers.

Quality Assurance: Ensuring that processes are designed and implemented in a way that prevents defects and ensures consistency.

Quality Control: Monitoring and inspecting processes and outputs to ensure they meet the defined quality standards.

Quality Evaluation: The process of assessing the quality of customer interactions, often by reviewing calls or other communications to ensure they meet performance standards.

Quality Improvement: Continuously enhancing processes and products to exceed quality standards and improve efficiency.

Quality Management: A systematic approach to ensuring that products or services meet established quality standards through continuous monitoring, evaluation, and improvement processes.

Quality Management Calibration: A process in which teams align their evaluation criteria and standards to ensure consistent and fair assessments of agent performance in a contact center.

Quality Management Dispute: A disagreement or challenge raised regarding the evaluation of an agent's performance, which is reviewed and resolved through the quality management process.

Quality Monitoring: Quality Monitoring involves evaluating customer interactions to ensure agents meet company standards and deliver high-quality service.

Quality Planning: Defining quality standards and procedures to meet customer and regulatory expectations.

Real Time Coaching: Real-Time Coaching provides agents with immediate feedback and guidance during a live customer call to improve performance.

Real Time Guidance: Real-Time Guidance offers on-the-spot assistance to agents during live calls, suggesting responses or actions based on customer input.

Real-Time Adherence: The practice of monitoring agents in real-time to ensure they are following their assigned schedules and meeting performance expectations during their shifts.

Remote Call Center: A Remote Call Center operates with agents working from different locations, often from home or satellite offices.

Reporting and Analytics: Analyzing data to continuously improve workforce strategies and decision-making.

Resource-based scheduling: Allocates tasks based on the availability of resources, such as personnel, equipment, or materials needed to complete the task.

Response Rate: The percentage of customers or respondents who reply to a survey, communication, or call-to-action out of the total number of people contacted.

Retail CX Solutions: Customer experience (CX) solutions tailored for the retail industry, designed to enhance shopper satisfaction and engagement across various touchpoints, both online and in-store.

Return on Investment (ROI): A financial metric that measures the profitability of an investment by comparing the net gain or loss relative to the initial cost of the investment.

Reviewing: Conducting formal evaluations and providing feedback on employee performance.

Rewarding: Recognizing and rewarding high performance to motivate and retain employees.

RPA Solutions: Software solutions designed to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in businesses, helping automate tasks like data entry, processing transactions, and managing workflows.

Sales Performance Management: A set of tools and processes used to monitor, analyze, and improve the performance of a sales team by setting goals, tracking metrics, and providing feedback.

Sales Planning: Creating strategies and plans to achieve the sales goals.

Sales Revenue: Sales Revenue refers to the total income generated from selling products or services to customers.

Sales Tips and Tricks: Sales Tips and Tricks are strategies and techniques used to improve sales performance and close more deals.

Schedule Adherence: The degree to which employees, particularly call center agents, follow their assigned work schedules in terms of attendance and task completion.

Scheduling: The process of planning and organizing employee work shifts, tasks, or appointments to ensure efficient use of time and resources.

Scheduling: Creating optimized work schedules to meet operational needs.

Secure Payment Processing (SPC): A system that ensures the safe handling of payment transactions by encrypting sensitive customer information and complying with security standards.

Self-management: Patients take active steps to manage their own health conditions.

Self-Service Chatbot: An AI-powered tool that allows customers to independently resolve their issues or find information through automated chat interactions without human assistance.

Sentiment Analysis: A process that uses AI to evaluate and determine the emotional tone (positive, negative, neutral) of a customer interaction based on language and communication cues.

Sentiment Score: A numerical value assigned to represent the emotional tone of a customer interaction, indicating whether the sentiment is positive, neutral, or negative.

Server: A computer or system that provides resources, data, services, or programs to other devices, known as clients, over a network.

Smart Insights: Smart Insights are actionable insights derived from data analysis, often provided by AI tools to improve decision-making.

Smartphone Dialer: A mobile application or feature that allows users to make phone calls from their smartphone, often with additional functionality like call tracking or automation.

Softphone: A software-based phone that allows users to make voice calls over the internet using a computer or mobile device, typically through VoIP technology.

Staffing: Ensuring the right number of employees are available at the right time.

Supervisor: A person responsible for overseeing and managing the performance and activities of agents or employees in a call center or similar environment.

System Administrator: An IT professional responsible for managing, configuring, and maintaining an organization's computer systems and networks to ensure smooth operation.

Talk time: Talk Time refers to the total amount of time an agent spends speaking with customers during a call.

Text and Speech Analytics: The process of analyzing customer interactions, either through written text or spoken conversations, to extract insights, identify trends, and improve service quality using AI and natural language processing.

Thermal Calibration: Verifies the accuracy of devices that measure temperature, ensuring they function correctly within specified temperature ranges.

Time and Attendance: Managing employee time-off, shift hours, and attendance records.

Time-based scheduling: Assigns tasks or shifts based on specific time slots (e.g., employee work shifts or appointment scheduling).

Touchpoint: Any point of interaction between a customer and a business, whether digital or physical, such as a website visit, customer service call, or in-store experience.

Tracking and Monitoring: Continuously measuring sales performance through key metrics.

Unattended Automation: Runs autonomously in the background without human involvement, automating end-to-end processes.

Understanding health: Patients are aware of their health and potential risks.

Upselling: Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase more expensive products or services or add-ons to increase sales value.

Verification of employment (VOE): Verification of Employment (VOE) is the process of confirming an individual's employment status with their employer, often for background checks or loan approvals.

Voice Analytics Software: Voice Analytics Software analyzes voice patterns in customer interactions to identify emotions, trends, and potential issues.

Voice of Customer: Voice of Customer (VoC) refers to the feedback and insights collected directly from customers about their experiences and expectations.

Web Server: Delivers web pages and content to users over the internet.

Workforce Engagement Management (WEM): A suite of tools and strategies designed to improve employee engagement, performance, and satisfaction in the workplace, particularly in call centers.

Workforce Intelligence: Data-driven insights and analytics that help optimize workforce performance, productivity, and decision-making by understanding employee behaviors and trends.

Workforce Management System: A Workforce Management System helps schedule, track, and optimize the work shifts and performance of call center agents.

Workforce Management Tools: Software solutions that assist in scheduling, forecasting, and tracking the productivity of employees to ensure efficient resource allocation and operations.

Workforce Schedule: A timetable or plan that outlines when employees are expected to work, including shifts, breaks, and availability, to ensure smooth operations.

Workload Management: The process of distributing and balancing tasks or workloads among employees to optimize efficiency, avoid burnout, and meet organizational goals.

Wrap-Up Time: Wrap-Up Time is the time an agent spends completing after-call tasks, such as inputting notes and updating records, before moving on to the next call.

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