Supervisor Capabilities | Call Center Telephone System

Supervisor Agent Features

Supervisors may have the option of serving as agents. Supervisor stations may be able to support all agent features in addition to supervisory features from one telephone.

Real Time Displays

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring high agent productivity without sacrificing quality service. The supervisor's most important tool for accomplishing this task is the set of real-time screen-based displays of agent and group performance provided. To be most effective, these displays may be color coded and presented in either tabular or graphic formats as a user selected option. Displays may show real-time status as well as historical information.

Groupings

Any one supervisor may typically be responsible for 10–15 agents, even though the entire group serving a particular function may be much larger. Supervisors may be able to identify agent information for their specific agents without scrolling through the entire group display. Similarly, supervisors may be able to display a subset of agents from several different groups, if necessary (for example, in evaluating trainees throughout the Call Center). This super group/ sub group capability is very important in larger Call Centers.

Reports

In addition to real time information used for daily supervisory functions, historical reports are necessary. These identify trends and are vital to planning.

Reports may include information about individual agent and group performance, trunk usage, transaction codes, emergency recording and alerts. In addition to standard reports, systems may permit supervisors or administrators to develop custom reports, unique to their own Call Center requirements. Raw data is stored for some management-defined period of time, and is available for additional reports for a period of at least a week, up to one or more years.

Monitoring

Displays and reports tell only part of the story of agent performance. To really evaluate agent performance and to assess the quality of service provided, supervisors must be able to listen to agents in actual telephone conversation with callers. This has traditionally been accompanied by a supervisor walking to the agent's desk and listening to the call by plugging a second headset into the station set. This approach has become an accepted part of Call Center culture for many organizations. However, the same result can be achieved with silent and split/silent monitor.

Silent monitor allows the supervisor to listen, undetected, to both the agent and the caller. If necessary, the supervisor may join the call as an active participant at any time. Split/silent monitor allows the supervisor to listen, undetected to both the agent and caller, but if necessary, the supervisor may prompt the agent and remain undetected by the caller. This is particularly useful in training situations, or where threatening or harassing calls are anticipated. Typically silent monitor is invoked on demand, or it may be timed, or it may rotate through the group as calls are terminated.

Forced Answer

When supervisors notice that the number of calls in queue is rising, they may wish to artificially improve the average time to answer (decrease caller time waiting in queue) by forcing agents to answer new calls as soon as prior calls are terminated. This is done by forcing a group-wide override of the wrap/work features.

Move

In the past, supervisors watched Call Center traffic, then physically moved agents to the groups that were most active. Today, it is no longer necessary to move the agent to the call. Sophisticated, intelligent systems now bring the calls to the agents. Nevertheless, Call Center supervisors want to retain the option of moving agents between groups should the need arise. Thus, systems offer an agent Move command that allows agents to be moved even while busy on an incoming/ outbound call. At the end of the call, that call's statistics apply to the original group. Then the agent should get his or her next call from the new group.

Messaging

When supervisors walked around the Call Center to monitor agent activity, they could easily stop and speak to any agent at any time. Now that Call Center systems have eliminated the need to actually go to the agent's work station, supervisors must find a new way to "talk" with their agents: hence, supervisor-to-agent messaging. Supervisors can send text messages to agent telephone displays. These messages may be predefined: "Good job!" or "Waiting time down 15 minutes" or may be created as needed. Alternatively, the supervisor may be authorized to send messages using a wall mounted display unit. Unlike display phone messaging, the wall-mounted display message is visible to everyone in the viewing area.

Agent Capabilities | Call Center Telephone System

Sign-On/Off

Agents may serve more than one group and may rotate among several workstations during a shift or during a week. In order to monitor and evaluate agent performance, it is important to be able to track which agent is at which telephone. Each time agents make a change, they are asked to sign on and sign off the group they are serving. Automatic sign on/off processes save time and prevent abuse of the system. Using screen-based software programs, supervisors may also move agents from one group to another.

ID/Password

Agents may sign on using an identification number, with or without a password. The ID and password should be viable from any agent workstation, freeing agents to work at any desk during any shift. When agents serve multiple groups, tracking requirements will determine whether or not the agent uses the same or different ID and password for each group served.

Auto Answer/Auto Release

Automatic Answer and Automatic Release are features frequently used together and in conjunction with headset operations. With Auto Answer, agents receive calls without lifting a handset or depressing a button on the telephone. Agents may be alerted to the incoming call with a ring, beep, message, zip tone or other indicator. Auto release terminates the call when the local or long distance carrier disconnects. Thus, the agent is immediately freed to move on to other activities such as follow-up paperwork or receiving the next call. This feature also prevents agents from adding seconds or minutes to each call by delaying release. Auto release serves as a productivity tool for the agent and as an anti-abuse measure for management.

Call Alert

Work conditions in a busy Call Center would be unbearable if all telephones rang with every incoming call. Silent room conditions (where telephones do not have an audible ring) improve morale and productivity. Alternative means of alerting agents to incoming calls include:

• Audible ring, ring-beep, zip tone (sounds a like a zipper being opened quickly, heard only by the agent) for agents with a headset.

• A brief announcement, which may relate to call origin or may prompt the agent for a unique greeting. Also used for agents with a headset.

• Visible indicator such as a flashing lamp or phone display, typically with incoming line or caller information.

Wrap/Work

Call Center managers must be careful to balance pressure for agent productivity against increasing agent stress and frustration. Wrap and Work are features that allow the agents some period of time between calls to complete call-related paperwork.

Management may predefine the wrap period, or may allow agents to invoke Wrap as needed.

Work is a similar feature, allowing agents time to complete call-related tasks. Unlike Wrap, Work is not an automatic feature. Agents place themselves in and out of Work as needed. While some systems may combine these two features, they should be defined and reported/displayed separately for better evaluation of agent performance.

Transaction Code

In addition to any database information agents may enter into the caller's profile, there may be a need to collect other call-related information. For example, agents may collect information on "method of payment," "how caller heard about the company or offering", etc. This information may be used for specific reports to evaluate marketing activities, meet accounting requirements, etc.

Agents are able to enter transaction codes at any time during or after the call. Codes should be flexible, allowing for multiple fields, and should provide a display so that the agent can verify the input before completing the data.

Emergency Record

Some Call Centers are susceptible to harassing or threatening calls. It's important to be able to document these calls without alerting the caller. Agents should be able to immediately conference-in a centralized recording device as soon as they recognize a call of this type.

Supervisor Alert

When agents receive threatening, harassing or other problem calls (difficult question, hostile caller) they may need supervisory assistance. With Supervisor Alert, agents are able to get their supervisor's attention without interrupting the call in progress. Supervisor Alert may have these features:

• Transparent to caller.

• Alerts designated supervisor; then, if not available, hunts for first available supervisor in management-defined sequence.

• Informs supervisor of agent calling and reason for the alert.

Calls in Queue Display

Agents need to balance providing polite and friendly service against the need to answer as many calls as possible. A "calls in queue display" notifies agents if there are any calls waiting, and alerts them if the queue builds beyond a management-specified threshold. Thus, agents are prompted to shorten calls during busier periods.

Agent Statistics Display

Typically, when agents are able to monitor their own performance they become more productive. Agent station sets can provide immediate feedback for agents who want to evaluate their own productivity. Some of the statistics that might be displayed include:

• Time on line (since signing in)

• Number of Call Center calls handled (inbound/outbound)

• Average time to answer

• Average talk time

• Time in wrap/work idle time (time between calls)

• Number of non-Call Center calls

Agent at Home

Just as management may want to send calls to remote Call Centers, they may want to send calls to individual agent homes or small storefront locations. This capability is particularly applicable for accommodating employees with special needs. In addition, it may be useful in disaster recovery situations. The work at home solution should be nearly transparent for both agents and supervisors, meaning they have the same features, regardless of location.

Switching Systems

Switching systems connect two (or more) points together. These connections can be physically connected (mechanical switch) or connected logically (through software).

The first telephone systems performed the mechanical switching of calls by human operators. The operators interconnected telephone lines by manually connecting cables at switchboards. These switchboards contained many wires that had plugs and the switchboard had many sockets for the plugs. To interconnect telephone calls at long distances, one operator would have to call other operators to setup the call. Setting up calls could be a complex process and this process got more complex as many more telephones were installed.

Switching systems have evolved many times over the past 100 years. The types of switching systems that are still in common use today include crossbar, time slot interchange (TSI), and packet switching.

Crossbar
Crossbar switches used mechanical arms to physically connect to wires (or busses) together. These mechanical arms (“Crossbars”) connect horizontal and vertical bars together to connect input and output lines together. Magnets are used to open and close the crossbar switch contacts.

Figure below shows a crossbar switching system. In this example, there is a matrix of lines (busses) where each input line can be connected to any output line. When a connection needs to be made, a mechanical switch connects one of the busses with the other busses. The disadvantage of this system is that the number of mechanical switches for connecting each input port to an output port exponentially increases with the number of ports that require connection. For example, a switch with 10 inputs and 10 output lines requires 100 switches. A switch that has 20 inputs and 20 outputs requires 400 switches.


Crossbar Switching

Time Slot Interchange (TSI)
Time slot interchange (TSI) switching is a process of connecting incoming and outgoing digital lines together through the use of temporary memory locations. In the late 1960’s, mechanical crossbar switching systems began to change to TSI digital switching systems. A computer controls the assignment of these temporary locations so that a portion of an incoming line can be stored in temporary memory and retrieved for insertion to an outgoing line.

Figure below shows a TSI switching system. This diagram shows a simplified matrix switching system. Each input line (port) is connected to a multiplexer. The multiplexer places data from each port in time sequence (time slot) on a communications line (e.g., a T1 or E1 line). This time multiplexed signal is supplied to a matrix switching assembly. The matrix switching assembly core has two memory parts: a section that holds the pulse coded modulation (PCM) data and Control Memory - CRAM that holds switching addresses data.


Time Slot Interchange (TSI) Switching

The time slots (voice channels) from the incoming multiplexed sent through switch S1 to be sequentially stored in the PCM data memory. The data is later retrieved by switch S2 and placed on a specific time slot on an outgoing line. The outgoing multiplexed line is supplied to a de-multiplexer so each time slot is routed to an output port.

Packet Switches
Packet transmission is a mode of data transmission that divides messages or data into small increments (packets) that can be routed through a network. When the packets arrive at their destination, they are reassembled in the proper order to recreate the original message or data.

Packet switching can be connection based or connectionless. For connection based switching, a path through the network is established during call initiation and packets are continuously routed through the same path. For connectionless switching, each packet is given a destination address and the switching points in the network (switching nodes) assist in routing the packet to its destination.

Figure below shows two types of packet switching in a communications system. Diagram (a) shows that connection based packet switching sets up a communication circuit prior to transmitting packets that contain data. Diagram (b) shows connectionless packet switching. Connectionless packet switching requires intelligent switching nodes (routers) that can decode the destination address and select the forwarding route based on the results of the lookup in the routing table. This diagram shows that packets of data arrive at the switch. The routing switch extracts the destination address and possibly the type of message.


Packet Switches

Private Telephone Systems

Private telephone systems are independent telephone systems that are owned or leased by a company or individual. Private telephone networks include key telephone systems (KTS), private branch exchange (PBX) and computer telephone integration (CTI).

Key telephone systems provide customers with telephones that have multi-line capability. The key telephone system is composed of multi-line telephones and a key service unit (KSU). Each multi-line telephone has several buttons (switches) to allow the user to select from several telephone lines. The KSU coordinates the activity of each line (e.g., ring or call hold).

The private branch exchange (PBX) is a computer-controlled switch that is an extension of the carrier’s central office switch. These switches are used primarily to switch a large number of “private” lines within an organization onto a smaller number of trunk lines connected to the carrier’s central office switch. Using direct inward dialing (DID), the PBX allows one caller to directly dial another line within the organization without the involvement of the switching equipment at the central office. The PBX can provide services to an organization that include, call pick up groups, call forwarding, conference calling, call detailing and automatic routing.

Computer telephony integration (CTI), allows external computers to automate the call processing activities of the PBX in real-time and consists of a set of application program interfaces that can be used to provide advanced services and complex switching functions. Figure 1.8 shows the different types of private telephone systems. The most simplistic private telephone network is a single telephone attached to a business line. Key systems allow each telephone in a business to answer and originate calls on several business lines. A PBX system allows many extensions within a business to call each other and the PSTN...