The Bottom Line on
Automatic Call Distributors*

Companies install or fine-tune an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) for one reason-profits. When properly matched to your business, and automatic call distributor can help reduce costs, increase service or improve sales. Conversely, a poorly matched Automatic Call Distributor can be unnecessarily awkward and costly. This is because call distributors affect how your business functions, not for a few days, but for many years.

The purchase price and complexity of an Automatic Call Distributor, as well as the range of product choices, require thorough examination prior to acquisition. With Automatic Call Distributors, the way to waste money is to shoot from the hip.

Would you hire Your ACD?
The reason to have an Automatic Call Distributor is bottom line gains. Automatic Call Distributors have hard (easy to quantify) and soft (difficult to quantify) benefits. Cost-justify a switch with either or both types. Here are four Automatic Call Distributor benefits:

- Service - Improved service to customers, which affects sales.

- Productivity - Better staff productivity, which affects the ratio of sales to costs.

- Costs - To control costs of staff and telephone service (lines, per
hour 1-800 charges).

- Management Information - To provide accurate information for supervisory and management decisions.

If an Automatic Call Distributor cannot pay for its costs through one or more of the above benefits, perhaps more basic automation will better meet your organization's needs. You may lower purchase prices by automating less - with a UCD or a call sequencer.

An ACD's Value
The value of an Automatic Call Distributor is as a tool to help manage and operate your business. How will it help you do each of the following?

- Manage agent quality, productivity and scheduling.
- Manage phone expenses.
- Manage speed-of-answer/service level.
- Route calls effectively.
- Provide delay, night or other announcements.
- Manage abandon rates.

What Does Your ACD Do All Day?
Generally speaking, Automatic Call Distributors connect calls to your ultimate destination quickly, evenly distribute work among telephone reps and document activity of the inbound call center.
ACD functions usually include:

- Groups - Segmenting trunks and agents into groups by function.

- Routing - Routing calls to agents, messages and sometimes to voice response units or other locations.

- Announcements - Playback one or more recorded announcements to callers ("we'll connect you to the next available representative…").

- Reports - Tabulating written reports and providing a real-time display on CRT of call, staff and trunk activity.

- Monitoring - The capability to silently monitor calls (where permitted by law).

- Non-blocking of Calls - If a call cannot be handled because all paths are in use, it is described as "blocked." Office phone systems typically experience only 25% of all phones in use at the busiest of times. However, Automatic Call Distributors can experience 80-100% of all phones in use. Automatic Call Distributors require more internal connections, called 'talk paths' or 'time slots' (in digital systems).

When evaluating these and other Automatic Call Distributor functions, it is prudent to be detailed and technical because Automatic Call Distributors typically have obscure but often-important limitations. These are rarely obvious due to the complexity of Automatic Call Distributor call processing. Consideration must also be given to capacity and flexibility needed, both today and in the future.

*These are general recommendations. Specific strategies and tactics should be based on a review of your needs, market and operation. For outside support, contact Lieber & Associates.