Call Management - In Detail

Call Manager provides essential information about telephone performance to provide real time information and reports that enables managers to identify opportunities for significant cost savings and productivity gains. Key features are:

Call Manager provides a complete record of all call activity ñ inbound, outbound and abandoned calls - its data-base can store up to 2 million calls. The comprehensive call log includes details of source and destination telephone numbers, call duration; call volumes; waiting times before answer and missed or abandoned calls. This precise information forms a platform on which further analysis of performance can be based with confidence. The call log is viewed on screen with access governed by the security rules set by management for the system.

Notes of up to 1024 characters in length can be attached to an individual call. If a call was handled by several extensions then itís possible to attach a note to each section of the call and also include a summary note against the whole call. This reference information is highlighted with a notes icon and remains associated with the call once it is stored in the database. Subsequently, searches can be made to locate calls for which the notes contain a particular phrase, word or group of letters - Ideal, to pinpoint a specific call or group of calls if there are multiple records of calls to or from the same number.

Real time information about all aspects of call activity is available on screen displays that are easily customised to give immediate feedback about service issues or impending problems. For example, speed of answer or total numbers of missed calls and physical factors that affect call performance like line overloads. This statistical information can be broken down to show the performance of individual groups, say, sales or technical support departments with real time views of own team performance available to supervisors on their own computer screens.

RThe same performance statistics available via the computer screen can also be viewed on a wall-mounted plasma screen. The information displayed can be personalised to an individual work-group to motivate performance against personal and team targets. The wallboard can also carry feeds from a variety of sources including web; XML; SQL & RSS.

Missed calls can mean lost sales and dissatisfied customers. Call Manager highlights separately calls which are terminated by the caller before they can be answered. Rapid call back, using this information, may rescue a sale from a competitor and will certainly reinforce the customer relationship.

Abandoned calls appear as real time statistics in screen view to alert managers to potential service issues when too few staff are available to handle inbound call traffic. The statistic is cumulative and although abandoned calls are clearly flagged in the running daily call log, they are not separately itemised, which can lead to multiple call backs to the same number. This can be frustrating for the customer.
The solution is a separate list of unreturned calls. Throughout the day, abandoned calls are added to the list as they occur. However, as soon as a call back to the abandoned is successfully connected or a repeat incoming call from the abandoned number is received, the number is withdrawn from the list. Unlike the abandoned call statistic which is not reduced by call backs, the list of unreturned calls eventually returns to nil as call backs are made.

More than 220 standard reports give detailed information about every aspect of call and telephone system performance. Whatís more these can be scheduled to run on a regular or an ad-hoc basis, so busy managers always have the information they need whenever it is required. The option of a report editor makes it possible to customise any of the reports in the standard suite or to design and run bespoke reports to access, revise and present information in different ways for in-depth analysis. Reports can be edited, viewed and then exported in by print or e-mail in a variety of formats, for example, MS Word, Excel, PDF, HTML, CSV, etc.

Call Manager uses alarms to notify busy managers when exceptions occur to the operational conditions they define. In addition, the system automatically raises alarms ahead of potential problems, for example when storage capacity is running low in the call logging data base. This process saves valuable time in identifying potential problems and prioritising action. Alarms are triggered at four different levels of intensity ranging from simple to severe with appropriate notification for each. Call Accounting: Call Manager can apply handling costs to both inbound and outbound calls, allocating these against extensions or DDIs. Similarly, outbound charges can be recharged to internal departments or to clients, e.g., hotel guests, marketing campaign costs, etc., with all necessary charges including taxes & profit margins, calculated & output by the system.

For security and to maintain system integrity, Call Manager only permits full administrative rights to the PBX Administrator(s) allocated to the system during configuration.
Call Manager is personalised to the organisation, reflecting work groups and hierarchical structures. There are no limits on the number of users, groups or levels of groupings that can be created. All system parameters can be modified by the Administrator simply & quickly using a series of wizards and configuration screens. A comprehensive User Manual is supplied on CD which compliments web-based tutorials and other direct training options available from Kelmar Software Solutions.