While the primary function of ACD is routing calls, there are several other features that you can leverage against ACD to improve productivity at all points of contact across your entire business. ACD comes with features that enhance the caller’s experience, improve agents’ productivity and provide managers with insightful data that can be used to optimize the contact center.
Low-Code/No-Code ACD Logic and Queue Management
You don’t need to be a coding wiz to set up and manage your own ACD logic, even if it’s elaborate and complicated. In RingCentral’s Contact Center management solution, for example, you can build IVR menus and configure workflows in a GUI environment by dragging and dropping nodes onto a canvas and programming their behavior.
Managing queues and configuring their priorities is as simple as filling out a form. Managers can select how calls should be routed (rotating, simultaneously or sequential) and define what time and day the queue is “open” for callers. RingCentral also enables managers to create skills, and to configure call distribution logic to match callers and agents based on skills, such as the ability to speak another language.
ACD Enables Data-Driven Decision Making
VoIP providers like Nextiva come with several analytics tools to collect and analyze call data. All calls are logged, and managers have access to a lot of useful data that can help them understand how their contact center is performing. Managers can see how many calls each agent takes, how long each call lasts, the number of dropped calls and so on.
This enables managers to evaluate employee performance—as well as the entire contact center—against key performance indicators. You can determine each agent’s strengths and weaknesses so you can deploy them in areas where they excel, and coach them in the areas where they need improvement. Data collection also enables businesses to implement sophisticated routing rules, such as skills-based routing.
ACD Enables Automated Callback Capabilities
In the survey from Zendesk, about one-quarter of respondents named automated callback capabilities as one of the most important aspects of a good customer service experience. It turns out, callers don’t mind waiting for help as much as they mind waiting on hold. With automated callback, callers don’t wait on hold—when their turn in the queue comes, an agent who is best suited to serve the customer will return the call and assist the customer.
ACD Integrates With Other Core Business Solutions
Most customers expect that the person on the other end of the phone knows about them. Over 40% of those surveyed by Zendesk said that one of the most frustrating aspects of bad customer service is having to repeat their information. Another 30% said that they’re frustrated when the agent doesn’t have sufficient information to help them.
ACD can integrate with other solutions that your phone-centric staff also use frequently in their day-to-day activities, such as a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. When a customer calls, the ACD can pull customer data from the CRM, such as their personal information, purchase history and any service problems they’ve had in the past.
