Glossary A - D

AUTOMATED ATTENDANT

An auto-attendant is the recorded message that answers your phones and instructs callers how to reach the person or department they are looking for. The caller uses their telephone keypad to choose who they need to speak to e.g. 'for support press 1, for sales press 2.' Automated Attendant can prove to be beneficial if your company receives a high volume of inbound calls as it can reduce disruptions to your staff carrying out their duties.

ADSL – ASYNCHRONOUS DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

A broadband technology that delivers high data transfer speeds over existing phone lines.

ANALOGUE LINES

This was the original, and still is the common telephone line for many small systems, however some of today's modern telephony systems are moving from traditional analogue to more cost effective digital alternatives such as ISDN. Analogue lines are rented, if you rent 3 analogue lines then 3 members of your company can speak to 3 separate outside destinations all at the same time. If you have 3 analogue lines, yet only require 1 telephone number for your company, then you simply request 1 line and 2 auxiliary lines. Don't forget to allow lines for fax machines and franking machines etc.

ANALOGUE PHONES

Analogue phones, otherwise known as POTS (plain old telephone system), are basic telephone system phones that allow calls to be placed and received by routing them through the public switched network.

BANDWIDTH

How much you can send through a connection. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second, a full page of English text is roughly 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits per second whereas full motion, full screen video would require some 10,000,000 bits per second, depending on compression.

CALL FORWARDING

A feature of telephone systems which allows incoming calls to be diverted automatically to a different number, for example a mobile phone or a home office.

CALL MANAGEMENT

Call Management is a software client/server application that links to your telephone system and collects real time call data such as, number of calls waiting, number of available agents, number of abandoned calls, time of oldest call waiting, speed of answer and average talk time. Typically used within call centre environments, Call Management provides a means for managing call traffic and producing monthly reports, it is a graphical, PC based call reporting and administration application that makes it easy to collect, display and analyse real time and historical data that can help call you run operations more efficiently.

CALL RECORDING

Call recording allows you to record telephone conversations for later playback and analysis. Conversations are recorded to a storage medium, often a hard disc on a PC or network device. Typically, the voice recorded files are saved in Windows .wav file formats making them easy to use. There are many uses that voice recording can be put to, Solicitors, Call Centre supervisors, Doctors, Insurance Brokers and Accountants can all benefit from this facility.

CLI – CALL LINE IDENTITY

One of the key ISDN features, CLI displays the phone number of the caller on the answering phone's display. CLI alpha tagging also shows the caller's name and company. CLI is the enabling feature of many computer telephony integration applications.

CLIENT

A software programme that is used to contact and obtain data from a server software programme on another computer. Each client programme is designed to work with one of more specific kinds of server programme, and each server requires a specific kind of client. A web browser is a specific kind of client.

COMPUTER TELEPHONY INTEGRATION

Computer telephony integration (CTI) covers a wide range of applications that connect your computers to your phone system. The classic CTI application is 'screen popping', which uses CLI to identify the caller and display his/her database records on the screen before the call is answered. CTI also enables calls to be made directly from a contact management package by simply clicking the call button.

CPS (CARRIER PRE SELECT)

Carrier Pre-Select (CPS) allows us to choose which network we want to route your voice calls over. There is no inconvenience involved with CPS, no auto diallers, manual prefixing or PBX reprogramming, you keep your existing phone numbers and continue to make calls as usual. Carrier Pre-Selection uses network access technology, so traffic originating from your site will be routed directly through your chosen network with no need for prefix codes. The 'selection' of the preferred provider is done automatically at point of entry (the local exchange) to the public voice network. We can offer this even if your lines are owned by another telecoms provider i.e. BT could still own, run and bill for the physical phone line. Your phone number will remain the same and you will simply receive a separate bill for AU Telecom instead of BT (for calls).

CRM – CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Generic term for applications designed to streamline interactions with customers. CRM software allows call centre agents to access a customer's service history from the back office customer account packages. Small businesses are waking up to the advantages of CRM solutions that integrate with their PCs. The Internet, Email, IVR, Voice and Interactive TV have sparked a seismic shift towards web enabled call centres, opening up a new dimension in offering good service.

DDI – DIRECT DIAL INWARDS

A Key ISDN feature giving you the ability to assign individual phone numbers (DDI numbers) to extensions and departments, enabling callers to dial them directly without having to go through the operator.

DECT PHONES

Dect is the acronym given to the new digital cordless telephony standard available in the UK (and Europe). Dect systems are far superior to their analogue cousins in a number of respects and users of Dect are nearly always delighted with the improvement compared to an old analogue cordless phone. Dect cordless handsets can provide wireless communications within an office or company premises. The handsets can be fully integrated with the company phone system, allowing users to make, take and transfer calls securely as the move around the premises.

DIGITAL CORDLESS PHONES

Digital cordless phones now have lots of features, many the same as those we have come to rely upon with our mobile phones. Cordless phones can easily be plugged into your analogue or digital phone sockets or telephone systems extensions boxes.

DPNSS (DIGITAL PRIVATE NETWORK SIGNALLING SYSTEM)

If your company has two offices or more, you may wish to run both your voice and data communications across the same network from one centralised location. This offers a number of cost savings as you will only have to pay for one backbone infrastructure instead of two or three, one network management and one group of technical personnel. These capabilities can be provided by most, if not all, PBX manufacturers without large dedicated investments of high re occurring expenses.

DSS – DIRECT STATION SELECT

A button on a terminal that can be used to directly dial a person or extension associated with that button.

DTMF – DUAL TONE MULTI FREQUENCY

Signalling which is the basis for the operation of pushbutton telephone sets. Dialled numbers are transmitted as tones rather than electronic pulses. This is particularly useful for access to supplementary services (e.g. voicemail and auto attendants).