How Your Call Gets Around The World And Back - By: Charli Jhonson

When calling your bank, you'll often get a recorded message that directs you to answer a few questions. When you reply by answering the questions, the computer responds to your input. How can it tell what you're saying? The answer is in a system called CTI - Computer telephony integration, and it's the backbone of companies that provide answering services. Grab a seat – we're going on a tour with your phone call to see the exact steps it has to make before it reaches a representative.

The Networks

Let's say you want to make a call to your sister, who lives a of couple towns over. When you pick up the phone and dial, your call is sent along the lines to the local telephone exchange; a physical building that houses electronic components that connect telephone calls. Your call is then routed, or sent, to the location specified by the number you dialed – you're sister's house phone. Once again it travels along a network of lines, one that is probably available to the general public.

Large businesses, however, have found that it's cheaper to provide their own telephone exchange; one that is private to the company building. This type of network is called a PBX – a private branch exchange. The PBX handles calls made between company phones, as wells as incoming calls from outside – like when you call in with a question.

Change of Tracks

To help sort everything out the large numbers of calls companies receive, an Automatic Call Distributor device is installed. The ACD identifies incoming calls and re-routs them to a specified location. This is where that automated bank message comes in. That was an example of Interactive Voice Response, a piece of technology that allows a computer to recognize your voice. The ACD takes the information you gave to the IVR and uses, and compares it to information it receives from the agent's computer to determine where to forward your call. When the right agent, one that matches up with what you need, becomes available, the ACD shoves your call down the network line to the agent's location.

Telephony technology comes with it's own jargon. How many acronyms can you spot? Here are a few more you might hear in this “biz” - CLI (Caller Line Identification), ANI (Automatic Number Identification), DNIS (Dialed Number Identification Service)

Translation Is a Tricky Business

Your call has made several stops so far – from your phone, it connects to the companies PBX network. It's held up briefly while you answer questions to the IVR. Then it's sent to be examined by the automatic call distributor. The ACD matches up the info it has received from your call to the best location, and sends it on it's way, again through the PBX. It finally arrives on a computer where an agent is standing by to answer your questions. Phew!

CTI is able to display information on an agent's screen before they answer the call, including phone numbers, locations, and previously collected info saved in a database.

However, there's one more piece of technology that's needed to put all of this together, and that's the CTI. The CTI intervenes at certain points along the way, to translate computer and phone formatted information. The CTI helps the agent's computer recognize that it's getting a phone call. It changes your voice into a digital format that can be understood by the ACD. It even allows agents to chat, e-mail, and video conference with you, when needed. Answering service depend on the CTI to provide for your needs.

About the Author

VoiceNation Live is an excellent example of answering service support. Named “Top Provider in the Industry”, it leads the way for customer, and business, Las Vegas answering service. Visit their website at qualityansweringservice.com.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Charli-Jhonson/33808

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