This glossary defines key terms and concepts essential to understanding the AI Voice industry, covering everything from speech synthesis and recognition technologies to applications, ethical considerations, and emerging trends in voice AI.
An abandoned call occurs when a caller hangs up before reaching a live agent or completing their intended interaction. This can happen in both inbound and outbound call scenarios, impacting customer experience and overall call center efficiency.
Abandonment rate refers to the percentage of calls that are terminated by the caller before reaching a live agent or completing the intended interaction.
An automatic contact distributor (ACD) is a telephone system that automatically routes incoming calls to the most appropriate agent or department based on predefined criteria. This ensures efficient handling of customer inquiries and optimizes call center operations.
After call work (ACW) refers to the tasks that agents complete immediately following a customer interaction. These tasks can include updating records, logging call details, and scheduling follow-up actions. ACW is essential for maintaining accurate customer data.
Adherence refers to the extent to which employees, particularly in call centers, follow their scheduled work times and tasks. It measures how well agents stick to their assigned shifts, breaks, and other activities as planned.
Agent availability refers to the status of customer service or sales agents being ready and able to handle incoming or outgoing communications. This status is crucial for ensuring that customer interactions are managed efficiently and promptly.
Agent coaching is the process of providing guidance, feedback, and training to customer service or sales agents to improve their performance and skills. This practice aims to enhance the quality of interactions with customers and increase overall team efficiency.
Agent elevation refers to the process of promoting or advancing a customer service or sales agent to a higher role or position within the organization. This can involve increased responsibilities, access to more complex tasks, or leadership roles.
Agent experience refers to the overall satisfaction, efficiency, and effectiveness of customer service and sales agents while using a business communication platform. It encompasses the tools, processes, and environment that impact an agent's ability to perform their job well.
Agent occupancy is a metric that measures the percentage of time customer service or sales agents spend handling calls and other customer interactions compared to their total available work time. It helps assess how efficiently agents are being utilized.
Agent reports are detailed summaries and analyses of an agent's performance within a business communication platform. These reports provide insights into various metrics such as call duration, number of interactions, response times, and customer satisfaction scores.
Agent script compliance refers to the adherence of call center agents to predefined scripts during customer interactions. These scripts are designed to ensure consistency, accuracy, and quality in communication, helping agents provide reliable information and maintain a professional tone.
Agent status refers to the current state or availability of a customer service or sales representative within a communication platform. It indicates whether an agent is available, busy, on a break, or offline, helping manage and route incoming interactions efficiently.
Agent utilization refers to the percentage of time that customer service or sales agents spend actively engaged in handling calls, emails, chats, or other customer interactions compared to their total available working time. It is a key metric for assessing efficiency.
AI agent assist is a feature that uses artificial intelligence to provide real-time support and guidance to customer service and sales agents during their interactions with customers. This tool helps agents by offering relevant information, suggesting responses, and automating routine tasks.
AI agent monitoring refers to the use of artificial intelligence to oversee and evaluate the performance of customer service and sales agents. This technology helps in analyzing interactions across various communication channels such as voice, SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
AI analytics refers to the use of artificial intelligence technologies to analyze data, identify patterns, and generate insights. This process leverages machine learning algorithms and other AI techniques to automate data analysis, making it faster and more accurate than traditional methods.
AI call scoring is the process of using artificial intelligence to evaluate and score phone calls based on predefined criteria. This helps businesses assess the quality of interactions between agents and customers, providing insights into performance and areas for improvement.
AI call summary is an automated feature that uses artificial intelligence to generate concise summaries of phone conversations. This tool captures key points, action items, and important details discussed during the call, providing a quick and accurate overview.
AI call transcription is the process of using artificial intelligence to convert spoken language from phone calls into written text. This technology helps businesses capture and analyze conversations for better insights and record-keeping.
AI coaching refers to the use of artificial intelligence to provide personalized guidance, feedback, and training to individuals, particularly in professional settings. This technology leverages data analysis and machine learning to offer insights and recommendations that help users improve.
AI coaching insights refer to the use of artificial intelligence to analyze communication data and provide actionable feedback to sales and support teams. This technology helps improve performance by identifying patterns, suggesting best practices, and offering personalized coaching tips.
AI custom tags are automated labels generated by artificial intelligence to categorize and organize communication data based on specific criteria. These tags help streamline the management of interactions across various channels like voice, SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
All trunks busy (ATB) is a telecommunication term that indicates all available communication lines (trunks) are currently in use, preventing any new calls from being connected. This situation can occur in both inbound and outbound call scenarios, affecting the ability to connect calls.
Contact center analytics means systematic analysis of data generated by contact center operations. This includes metrics related to call volumes, agent performance, customer interactions, and overall service efficiency. The goal is to gain insights that can improve decision-making and enhance customer experience.
The answer rate is the percentage of incoming calls that are successfully answered by agents within a specified time frame. It's a key performance indicator (KPI) used to measure the efficiency and responsiveness of a call center or customer support operation.
Answer supervision is a telecommunication feature that signals the start and end of a call. It ensures that billing starts only when the call is successfully connected and stops when the call is terminated. This feature is crucial for accurate billing.
Application-based routing and reporting is a system that directs incoming communications to the appropriate team or individual based on predefined criteria and provides detailed analytics on these interactions. This system ensures that calls, messages, and emails are efficiently managed.
An application programming interface (API) is a set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information.
Apps, short for applications, are software programs designed to perform specific tasks or functions on various devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think, learn, and make decisions. These systems can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language processing.
Auto available is a feature in call center software that automatically sets an agent's status to "available" after they complete a call. This ensures that agents are ready to take the next call without manually changing their status, improving efficiency.
An auto dialer is a software or hardware system that automatically dials phone numbers from a preloaded list. Once a call is answered, the auto dialer can either connect the call to a live agent or play a pre-recorded message.
Auto wrap up is a feature in call center software that automatically completes and closes a call record after a predefined period, allowing agents to move on to the next call without manually finalizing the previous one. This helps streamline operations.
An automated attendant is a telephony system feature that answers incoming calls and provides a menu of options for callers to choose from, directing them to the appropriate department or individual without the need for a human operator.
An automated broadcast is a pre-recorded message or series of messages sent to a large audience through various communication channels such as voice calls, SMS, email, or WhatsApp. This feature allows businesses to efficiently disseminate information to multiple recipients simultaneously.
An automated greeting is a pre-recorded message that plays automatically when a call is answered by a business communication system. This message typically welcomes the caller and provides initial information or instructions.
An automatic callback is a feature that allows a phone system to automatically call back a customer who was unable to reach an agent during their initial call attempt. This ensures that the customer does not have to wait on hold.
An automatic dialer is a software tool that automatically dials phone numbers from a preloaded list, connecting calls to agents or playing pre-recorded messages. This technology is commonly used in call centers to increase efficiency and productivity.
Automatic number identification (ANI) is a telecommunication feature that automatically determines and displays the phone number of the calling party. This technology is commonly used in call centers and other communication systems to identify incoming callers.
Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is a technology that converts spoken language into text by analyzing and processing audio signals. It enables computers and other devices to understand and respond to human speech.
Automation refers to the use of technology to perform tasks without human intervention. In the context of business communication, it involves automating repetitive tasks such as sending emails, scheduling calls, and managing customer interactions to improve efficiency and consistency.
An auxiliary work state refers to a status used by call center agents to indicate they are engaged in work-related tasks that are not directly related to handling calls. This status helps manage and track agent productivity and availability.
Available state refers to the status of a team member, indicating that they are ready and able to take calls, respond to messages, or handle other communication tasks. This status is crucial for managing workflow and ensuring efficient customer service.
Available time refers to the specific periods when a sales or support team member is ready and able to handle communications, such as calls, SMS, emails, or WhatsApp messages. This is the time during which they are not engaged in other activities.
Avatars are digital representations or icons that users can customize to represent themselves in online interactions. These can be images, illustrations, or 3D models used in various communication platforms to provide a visual identity.
Average call value is a metric that measures the average revenue generated from each call made or received by a business. This value helps companies understand the financial impact of their communication efforts and optimize their strategies accordingly.
Average contacts per hour is a metric that measures the number of successful interactions a sales or support agent has with customers or prospects within one hour. This includes conversations via voice calls, SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
Average delay of delayed calls refers to the average amount of time that delayed calls are kept waiting before being answered by an agent. This metric is crucial for understanding the efficiency and responsiveness of a call center.
Average delay to abandon refers to the average amount of time a caller waits in a queue before hanging up or disconnecting the call. This metric is crucial for understanding customer patience and the efficiency of call handling.
Average delay to answer (ADA) is the average time it takes for a call to be answered by an agent after it has been placed in a queue. This metric is crucial for assessing the efficiency of a call center.
Average handle time (AHT) is the average duration it takes for a call center agent to complete a call or interaction with a customer, including talk time, hold time, and after-call work. It is a key performance metric.
Average hold time (AHLDT) is the average duration that callers are placed on hold before they are connected to an agent. This metric is crucial for assessing the efficiency of a call center and the overall customer experience.
Average order value (AOV) is a metric that measures the average amount of money spent each time a customer places an order on a website or through a sales channel. It is calculated by dividing the total revenue by the total number of orders.
Average speed of answer (ASA) is the average time it takes for a call to be answered by an agent in a call center. This metric is crucial for assessing the efficiency and responsiveness of customer service teams.
Average talk time (ATT) is the average duration of time that an agent spends actively speaking with a customer during a call. This metric is crucial for assessing the efficiency and productivity of call center operations.
An area code is a three-digit number that precedes a local phone number in the United States and Canada. It designates a specific geographic region or service area, helping to route calls to the correct location.
