Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Center

An Automatic Call Distribution System (ACD), also known as a contact center, is a service that distributes incoming telephone calls and other types of contacts (e.g., email) to a specific group of people (agents) responsible for answering those inbound telephone calls or responding to other types of contacts. ACD systems are used by organizations that handle telephone calls from callers who generally do not need to talk to a specific person but want to talk to any qualified agent able to assist them quickly.

The following are a few of the advantages a contact center offers:

• Routing of incoming telephone calls or email messages to specific agents based on pre-established criteria (e.g., the longest waiting call or email message is routed to the next available agent).
  
  
• Routing of incoming telephone calls to the agent most qualified to answer a call (e.g., agent who is fluent in Spanish, a person who is an expert in a certain area answers technical support calls for that area).
  
  
• More efficient use of staff resources.
  
  
• Call routing based on campus telephone number dialed.
  
  
• Agent and queue reports containing valuable information; statistics on the number of incoming calls and email messages; amount of time an agent spent talking on the phone; call counts by category (wrap codes), total number of calls, time of day, length of calls, waiting time before call was answered, and number of callers who hung up before being answered, to name a few.
  
  
• Supervisory capabilities that enable comprehensive monitoring and coaching of agents
  
  
• Routing of calls using the Auto-Attendant feature to the appropriate destination by using one or more of the following methods:
  
  
• Caller self-service, in which the caller interacts with an automated answering system using the telephone keypad. (Great for frequently requested information such as mailing address, deadlines, or directions to an event.)
  
  
• Calls handling based on time of day and/or day of week
  
  
• Special announcements for University holidays.