CTI
Datapoint provides Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) as a core component of its routing solution set. It is also a foundation stone for providing segmented customer service by matching the customer profile and service request to best skilled agent or self service application.
In the medium term, CTI functionality will be absorbed into SIP based converged solutions. Meanwhile CTI’s traditional role is to combine the tools and functions of computer and telephone systems. By linking computer systems to telephone switches, CTI enables services such as multi media intelligent routing, preview dialling, and the automatic display of customer information on the agent desktop before the call is answered.
This last function is well known as "screen pop" in which the caller's identity is captured and passed on to the CTI system which then looks up the customer's information in the database and sends the call and the information simultaneously to the agent's telephone and workstation. When used in conjunction with unified desktop solutions, the agent is further assisted as the desktop dynamically changes to deliver the appropriate services and knowledge.
Segmented Customer Service However this ability to personalise the customer experience no longer ends with simple screen pops such as account details. Datapoint’s use of CTI in its routing solutions allows the introduction of sophisticated segmentation and profile management. This can be based on demographic scores, customer churn propensity modelling, customer value segmentation or special individual treatment based on speech analytics.
The variables depend entirely upon the sophistication of your brand’s customer management capability. However the underlying capability Datapoint is introducing can be summarised as real time segmentation that CTI can use for intelligent routing. This applies not just to live customer service but the full range of voice, text and eventually video based communication. The Overall Importance Of CTI
In fact CTI is central wherever information is required during the lifecycle of an interaction. Call recording therefore requires CTI to enable agent tagging so that a recording becomes associated with the agent that dealt with it.
The effects of CTI are wide ranging in its overall impact on call centre effectiveness. Its contribution to load balancing inbound traffic enables better overall agent utilisation in terms of their time and skills. This is particularly true in multi site operations which are prone to inefficient queuing techniques.
The automatic presentation of customer data on screen reduces administrative tasks such as re keying of customer data and allows for more productive dialogue. From a customer’s perspective, CTI decreasing queue times, call duration times and increasingly the likelihood of first time resolution by placing them in front of correctly skilled agents.
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