Blog
SIP, VoIP, Trunks and Gateways: Acronyms and Jargon Demystified
SIP is an acronym for Session Initiation Protocol. SIP can be described as a signalling protocol that is used for controlling communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP). Examples of the types of communications sessions controlled by SIP include voice and video calls, instant messaging, and online games. The SIP protocol can be used for creating, terminating, and modifying sessions that can consist of several media streams.
Read more
What Is the Telephone Preference Service?
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free service that allows individuals to officially register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing calls. It is also possible for corporate entities to register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing calls by registering with the Corporate Telephone Preference Service. Once registered to either of these services, it is a legal requirement for contact centres not to contact anybody registered with the TPS or CTPS.
Read more
Social Media and the UK Contact Centre
Social media is a term used to define the concept of the creation and exchange of user generated content via web based and mobile technologies. It is almost impossible to ignore the significant impact that social media has had on the every day lives of a large percentage of the worldwide population. Social media allows people to communicate in ways that have never truly been leveraged successfully by contact centres, however, based on some recent trends, this could all be about to change.
Read more
Effective Uses of IVR Menus for Inbound Call Management
An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Menu is an inbound call management feature that allows an organisation to automatically filter their inbound calls to the call centre agents that are best equipped to deal with a specific customer query. This is achieved by playing an announcement message to the caller, which provides them with a number of options, and also instructions on how to choose a specific option. For example:
Read more
How Resilient Is Your Call Centre’s Telecommunications Network?
The operational costs of a modern day call centre are significant, which means that the serious impact of any interruption of the day to day running of a call centre cannot be overstated. There are no interruptions that are more significant to any call centre than telecommunications problems, or a telecommunications outage. In short, if your agents can't make calls, they can't make sales, which will cause your organisation to hemorrhage money for the duration of the problem. Due to the significant impact that telecommunications issues can have, it is always important to question how resilient your telecommunications network is. Below are just some of the things you need to consider.
Read more
A Brief History of The UK Call Centre Industry
Within the UK, many of us will have come into contact with some variety of a call centre at some point in time, whether it be through making a call out to a call centre in order to speak to their insurance provider or bank for example, or perhaps they would have received a cold call from a call centre trying to sell them something. What many people don't realise is the history behind the call centres, and how their presence within the UK has fundamentally changed over time.
Read more
SIP Trunking and the Business IP PBX – A Brief Overview
A PBX is an abbreviation of Private Branch Exchange, which is essentially a piece of hardware that is used to provide a business telephone system. A PBX will allow a business to deliver voice and video over an internal network, in addition to offering a variety of call management features. An IP (Internet Protocol) based PBX simply describes the mechanism for connection. Instead of connecting to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network via ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), the connection is achieved via SIP.
Read more
Contact Centre Call Recording – Premise vs Hosted Solutions
Call recording is a call management feature that allows both inbound and outbound telephone calls to be recorded, and stored on a server for retrieval at a later date. Call recording is of critical importance to all call centres as it represents the only real way of confirming what was said or agreed, and by whom during a telephone call. Furthermore, it is an essential for every contact centre to record calls as it is the only real way of monitoring and correcting the performance of call centre agents. In some business sectors, it is a legal or industry requirement that all calls are recorded. For the reasons outlined above, it is difficult to imagine a situation where a call centre wouldn't record their calls - the only real question is whether to use a premise or hosted solution.
Read more
Why Is TPS Compliance More Important than Ever for UK Call Centres?
TPS is an abbreviation for the Telephone Preference Service, which is a free service that gives individuals the opportunity to register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing calls. It is unlawful under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations (PECR), for companies to make direct marketing calls to individuals that have registered with the Telephone Preference Service. These regulations are enforced by the Information Commissioner, who has the power impose sanctions on a contact centre for serious breaches of PECR.
Read more
An Alternative and Highly Scalable Model for Call Centre Outsourcing
Upon starting a new business, it is often difficult to determine how people are going to get in touch with you. It is also hard to foresee what your potential new customers may want to discuss, or how many people will call you.
Read more