Contact Center Glossary

After call work (ACW)

After-call work refers to the post-interaction tasks that contact center agents have to complete after every conversation with a customer.

Agent analytics

Agent analytics refers to evaluating and assessing the performance, skills, and interactions of contact center agents.

Agent performance

Agent performance is an analysis of agents’ productivity and performance to optmize and achieve contact center goals.

Agent training

Agent training is a process where contact center employees learn new skills and knowledge to provide better customer service.

Agent turnover rate

Agent turnover rate refers to how often employees leave their jobs in a contact center. It shows how stable the workforce is and if there are retention challenges. 

A high turnover rate impacts the center’s performance and customer service quality.

Angry customer

An angry customer is someone who is irritated or dissatisfied with a product or service and expresses their disappointment or frustration to the company or its employees. 

Arrival rates

Call arrival rate refers to the rate at which incoming calls are received in a contact center. This metric helps to understand the volume of calls being handled or queued within a specific time frame.

Automated Quality Management

Automated Quality Management (AQM) is a system that employs technology to review and enhance the quality of customer interactions and agent performance in a contact center.

Average handle time

Average handle time is the average amount of time a contact centre agent spends on a customer interaction, including talk time and any after call work. 

Average speed of answer (ASA)

Average speed of answer (ASA) is a call center metric that calculates the average time taken by an agent to answer a voice call in a specific duration.

Call abandonment rate

The call abandonment rate is a call center metric that measures the percentage of callers who disconnect or hang up before connecting with a live agent. 

Call Calibration

Call calibration is a collaborative discussion between contact center managers and call tracking and assessment partners. 

Call center audit 

A call centre audit is a thorough evaluation and review of a call center’s operations, methods, and performance. 

The audit aims to improve the call center’s overall effectiveness and quality of service.

Call center compliance

Call center compliance refers to adhering to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards in the operation and management of the call center. 

Call center efficiency

The ability of a call center to meet its goals and deliver high-quality customer service with little resources and maximum productivity is referred to as call center efficiency. 

Call center evaluation form/ Call center monitoring form

A call center evaluation form/call center monitoring form is a structured document used to evaluate agents’ performance during customer interactions. 

This helps supervisors and managers provide feedback and identify areas of improvement.

Call center staffing model

A call center staffing model is a plan that determines the optimal number of agents needed at specific times to meet customer service demands efficiently and maintain service levels.

Call escalation

Call escalation occurs when a customer’s enquiry or issue cannot be resolved at the agent level and must be passed to a higher-level or specialized agent or supervisor for further assistance and resolution. 

Call transcript

A call transcript is a written record or documentation of a customer and agent’s conversation. It captures the discussion, key information, and any actions made throughout the conversation.

Conversation intelligence

Conversation intelligence is a tool that analyzes and generate insights from customer interactions from phone calls, chats, or emails using AI and machine learning algorithms.

Customer churn

Customer churn is the rate at which customers quit or end their relationship with the product or service. It is an important parameter for determining customer retention and loyalty. 

Customer quality management

CQM refers to all of the efforts made by call centers to ensure CSAT. 

It involves training and coaching agents to perform efficiently while enhancing their skills to deliver a world-class customer experience. 

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is technology and strategy used by contact centers for managing and analyzing customer interactions and data throughout.

Customer sentiment analysis

Customer sentiment analysis is the process of using NLP and ML techniques to analyze and understand emotions, and opinions of the customer.

Call monitoring

Call monitoring involves supervising and analysing phone interactions between agents and customers in order to ensure  quality, compliance, and agent performance.

Customer verification

Customer verification in the contact center is processed to authenticate customer information and validate their identity.

Dead air

Dead air refers to periods of complete silence or no audio during a phone call, where both agent and customer are not interacting.

Experience map

In a contact centre, an experience map visually illustrates the customer journey, highlighting touchpoints, emotions, and interactions to enhance understanding and overall customer experience.

First response time (FTR)

FTR is the time taken by a contact centre agent to respond to a customer’s initial message or query.