| You are definitely on the right board. The techs on the board are top-notch.
In addition to SD’s and Twisted's comments + not to take a role of a consultant, but there are some basic questions you should be asking yourself and some terminology you should become familiar with…
Leading Questions: I say this because if you’re only going to be answering a few calls a day – then your setup will be simple in most respects, but if you’re expected to process a lot of calls, then:
1. Call volume. How many calls are you expected to handle with a certain time frame?
2. Will I need an ACD setup (Automatic Call Distribution)? -ACD is a system that stacks incoming calls (one on top of the other) until the call can be presented and answered by associate(s)/agent(s). While calls are stacked (in queue) they are given music and RAN (Recorded Announcements). Most systems use the FIFO (First In First Out) method of distributing calls – First call in goes to the next available agent.
Also, ACD’s allow you to collect call intrinsic data (Calls Offered, Calls Answered, Talk Time, etc to support SLA’s.)
3. What is your Service Level Agreement with the 5 – 10 to companies? (SLA’s are usually stipulations in a service contract.) Example: 90% of calls should be answered within 2 minutes (answered in this case doesn’t refer to ‘answering the question’ but indicates that the caller should be speaking with an agent within 2 minutes). 80% in 3 minutes, etc.
Answer the above 3 questions and you’ll start the process of determining you system needs compared to your ‘contracted requirements’ and ‘customer requirements’.
And always consider this: Future growth.
Chas2002
Post back with any questions.. |