Telecommunications Glossary of Terms

Telecommunication Glossary - C

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• Call Accounting Buffer: A hardware data collection device that receives data broadcast by the telephone system and stores that data until the ACD Report Buffer program asks for it. The device is slightly larger than the standard external modem, and connects to the telephone system via standard data cabling.
• Call center: Industry term referring to a company phone center that handles such services as help desk, customer support, lead generation, emergency response, telephone answering service, inbound response and outbound telemarketing.
• Call distribution: Call center software feature that routes an inbound call to the most appropriate company representative (agent) based on the type of call.
• Call Waiting CCS: CWCCS – The number of calls waiting in queues to be connected at a given moment in time (determined by automated scan).
• Capacity Tables (see also Force Algorithm): Mathematically compiled tables which provide the number of agents needed based on a target work time, answer speed or occupancy, and work volume.
• CCR: see Customer Control Routing
• CCS: see Centi-Call Seconds
• CDNs: see Control Directory Numbers
• Centi-Call Seconds: A unit used for the measurement of telephone traffic analysis, equivalent to one hundred seconds of telephone usage.
• Commitment Index: A service index which measures how effectively a Business Office met its Final Scheduled Line.
• Connection: A two-way communication path between terminations that allows the transmission of speech (or other information) and supervisory signals.
• Control Directory Numbers: A Control DN (CDN) is a special Directory Number not associated with any physical telephone or equipment. The CDN specifies a destination ACD queue to which incoming calls are directed. Multiple CDNs can place calls into the same ACD queue. The parameters of the CDN, not those of the ACD queue, determine call treatment.
• Cost of Delay: What it costs you to queue callers waiting for an agent or operator; assuming you’re paying for a toll-free service, or, if your cal center bills you for the time that a call is delayed. (If a call centers “Average Delay of Calls” is long, and you are getting billed for it, you lose twice, once because you will have a higher abandonment rate, and twice, because you are being charged for the time they do wait before hanging up.
• Cost Per Call: Total costs (fixed and variable) divided by total calls for a given period of time.
• CTI: Computer Telephony Integration - The integration of telephony function with computer applications. It enables a host computer to control a telephone switch, adding intelligence to the making of inbound and outbound telephone calls.
• Customer Control Routing (CCR): Customer Controlled Routing enables the customer to customize the treatment and the routing of incoming calls
• Customer Service Switch: Switch that sorts calls into queues according to the type of customer service selected by the caller. Also called Operator Service Switch.