Contact Center Application Glossary
12 min
This Glossary covers essential terms and abbreviations found in Exotel Contact Center documentation- Ameyo and common industry concepts. Please Note that these definitions provide quick guidance for better understanding, not exhaustive technical details.
Exotel Contact Center erstwhile "Ameyo" Application Glossary (A-Z)
A
- Abandon Rate: The percentage of calls that are abandoned by the customer while waiting in the queue. Formula: (Abandoned Calls / Offered Calls) * 100.
- Inbound Routing Strategies /Automatic Call DistributorACD (Automatic Call Distributor): A system that routes incoming calls based on pre-defined rules (such as skill-based routing, FIFO, or priority) to ensure uniform call distribution across available agents.
- Active Interactions: The total number of interactions (calls, chats, etc.) currently being handled by agents in real-time.
- Agent State: The current status of an agent in the toolbar, typically:
- Ready / Available: Waiting to receive a new interaction.
- Not Ready / Break: Paused and unable to receive interactions.
- Busy: Currently engaged in an interaction.
- Auto-Call Off: A toolbar setting that prevents the system from automatically connecting the next call, often used when the agent needs to perform an offline task.
- Active-Active HA: A redundancy configuration where multiple instances of the application run simultaneously. If one instance fails, another active instance seamlessly takes over to minimize downtime.
- ACW (After Call Work): The duration after a call disconnects during which an agent wraps up the interaction (e.g., adding notes or dispositions) before becoming available for the next call.
- Agent Presence Management: The ability to monitor, track, and control the availability status (e.g., Available, Break, Busy) of agents within the contact center.
- Ameyo 360 AIM: Application and Infrastructure Management module that collects error reports from agents and infrastructure, providing administrators with a top-down operational view.
- Ameyo FusionCX: A unified contact center solution package that includes capabilities for voice, email, social media, and chat interactions.
- Ameyo Voiceblast: A feature enabling businesses to send thousands of pre-recorded messages to customers simultaneously for alerts, reminders, or marketing.
- API (Application Programming Interface): Interfaces (such as User Management, Stats, or Ticketing APIs) that allow third-party applications to interact with Ameyo to manage data, users, or call controls.
- Auto-failover: A mechanism that allows a backup server to automatically take control and provide services if the primary server breaks down, ensuring high uptime.
- Automatic Retries: A configuration that sets specific retry times for numbers that were not reached (e.g., No Answer, User Busy).
B
- Barge-In: A supervisor feature allowing them to enter an active call between an agent and a customer to assist or take over.
- Break Code: A specific reason selected by the agent when going into "Not Ready" state (e.g., "Lunch," "Training," "Tea Break").
- Blended Voice Campaign: A configuration allowing agents to handle both inbound and outbound calls simultaneously, prioritizing inbound calls to reduce drop rates.
- BYOB (Bring Your Own Bot): Support for integrating third-party chatbots or voicebots into the Ameyo environment.
- BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): A security feature where the customer manages their own encryption keys for securing sensitive data like PII.
C
- Calls in Queue (CIQ): The real-time count of callers currently waiting to be connected to an agent.
- CampaignCampaign: A specific project or line of business configured in the application (e.g., "Sales_Outbound").
- Conference: A feature allowing an agent or supervisor to add guests (other agents, managers, or external numbers) to a live call for a multi-party conversation.
- Cold Transfer: Transferring a call to another agent or department without first speaking to the receiving party to provide context.
- Callback Management: A feature allowing agents or supervisors to schedule, view, and manage callbacks for customers who requested to be contacted later.
- Chatbot: An automated software program capable of interacting with customers to solve queries via text. It can hand off complex queries to human agents.
- Churn Contact: A logic that marks numbers as "churned" or ineligible for dialing based on specific customer information or criteria (e.g., excluding VIP customers from auto-dialing).
- Cold Redundancy: A backup configuration where the secondary system remains inactive until needed. It can be enabled manually or automatically in case of primary system failure.
- CTI (Computer Telephony Integration): Technology that allows computers to interact with telephone systems, enabling features like Screen Pops where customer data is displayed automatically when a call arrives.
D
- Dialer State: The current mode of the outbound dialer (e.g., Active, Paused, Stopped).
- DispositionDisposition: A status or tag assigned by an agent at the end of an interaction to classify the outcome of the call (e.g., "Sale Made," "Not Interested," "Callback Scheduled").
- DB Column Encryption: Security feature that encrypts specific columns in the database (using RSA encryption) to prevent data leakage of sensitive customer information.
- ID (Direct Inward Dialing) Rotation: A strategy where outbound calls rotate through a set of DID numbers to prevent calls from being flagged as spam and to increase answer rates.
- Disaster Recovery: A strategic plan and infrastructure setup (often involving a separate site) ensuring the quick resumption of mission-critical functions following a significant negative event.
- DND (Do Not Disturb) / DNC (Do Not Call): A repository of numbers that are excluded from dialing lists to comply with regulations or customer preferences.
- DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency): The signals generated when a user presses keys on their telephone keypad, used for navigating IVR menus.
- DTMF Tone Masking: A security feature that masks the tones generated when a customer enters sensitive data (like PINs) by playing a noise, ensuring the agent cannot hear the actual input.
E
- EWT (Estimated Wait Time): An announcement played to customers in a queue, informing them of the approximate time until an agent answers.
F
- Force Logout: An administrative action to remotely log an agent out of the system.
- Fetch Order: The criteria defined for sorting and prioritizing the dialing list in an outbound campaign.
- FIFO (First In, First Out): A routing strategy where calls are distributed to agents in the exact order they were received.
- Fixed Pace Dialer: A dialing mode where a fixed number of calls are dialed per available agent based on a specific ratio.
G
- Group Manager: A user role with permissions to supervise and monitor a specific group of agents or campaigns.
H
- Hold: A toolbar action to temporarily pause the audio connection with the customer.
- Hot Desking: The ability for an agent to log in to the Ameyo application from any physical desk or device using their unique credentials.
- High Availability (HA): System architecture designed to ensure continuous operation and high uptime (e.g., 99.99%) through redundancy.
- Hybrid Cloud: An infrastructure setup combining on-premise hardware with cloud services.
I
- In-App Notification: Alerts displayed within the application interface regarding new tasks, callbacks, or system messages.
- Interaction History: A tab in the agent interface showing a chronological list of past interactions with a specific customer.
- Internal Chat: A collaboration tool allowing agents and supervisors to chat with each other within the Ameyo interface without leaving the platform.
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response): An automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information via keypad inputs (DTMF), and routes calls to the appropriate recipient.
L
- Lead Penetration: A dashboard metric showing the percentage of leads in a list that have been attempted or contacted.
- Live Monitoring: The real-time dashboard allowing supervisors to view the status of agents, queues, and ongoing calls.
- Login / Logout: The action of an agent signing into or out of the application to start or end their shift.
- LDAP Connector: A module allowing user authentication using an enterprise's existing LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) servers (e.g., Microsoft AD).
- Lead to Queue Mapping: The ability to designate specific sets of leads to be handled by specific groups of agents.
- LWA (Longest Wait Agent): A routing strategy that sends the next call to the agent who has been idle/waiting for a call the longest.
M
- Manual Dialing: Initiating a call by manually entering a phone number on the toolbar keypad.
- Monitor / Snoop: A silent monitoring feature allowing a supervisor to listen to a live call without being detected by the agent or customer.
- Maker Checker: A security principle in User Access Management where one person initiates a change (Maker) and a second person authorizes it (Checker).
- Mobile SDK: A Software Development Kit that allows businesses to integrate Ameyo's communication capabilities directly into their own mobile applications.
- MRCP (Media Resource Control Protocol): A protocol used to integrate Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) engines with the contact center.
N
- Number Masking: A privacy feature that hides the phone numbers of both the customer and the agent during an interaction.
O
- Offered Calls: The total count of calls presented to the system or a specific queue in real-time.
- Omnichannel: A strategy providing a seamless customer experience across multiple channels (Voice, Email, Chat, Social Media), where context is preserved across interactions.
P
- Pacing Ratio: A dialer setting that determines how many outbound calls are placed per available agent (e.g., 1:1.5 means 1.5 calls dialled for every 1 free agent).
- Preview Dialing: A mode where customer details are shown to the agent before the system dials the number, giving them time to prepare.
- PACE (ProActive Connect Enhancer): An intelligent outbound dialing solution that analyzes interaction history to predict the most probable time a customer will answer.
- Parallel Ringing: An inbound routing scenario where a call rings simultaneously on all connected agents' devices until one answers.
- Pattern Based Dialing: A routing rule where the system decides how to dial a number based on its pattern (e.g., routing mobile numbers via GSM gateways and landlines via PRI).
- PPD (Parallel Predictive Dialer): An advanced dialer that detects answering machines and busy tones, connecting only live humans to agents. It runs multiple dialers in parallel for efficiency.
- Preview Dialer: A dialing mode where the agent is shown customer details before the call is placed, allowing them time to prepare.
- Private Cloud: A cloud computing model where IT services are dedicated to a single organization, often offering higher security and control.
- Progressive Dialer: A dialing mode that only begins dialing when an agent becomes available, ensuring a connected customer is never left waiting for an agent.
- PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network): The traditional circuit-switched telephone network.
Q
- Queue: A "waiting line" for calls or interactions, where they are held until an agent with the matching skill set becomes available.
- Quality Monitoring (QM): The process of listening to, viewing, and scoring agent interactions to assess performance and identify training needs.
R
- Ready Time: The cumulative time an agent has spent in the "Available" state during the current session.
- Real Time Agent Assist: AI-powered live guidance provided to agents during a conversation, such as real-time translation or suggestion of answers.
- Report Designer: A tool enabling the creation of customized reports with specific data columns and formats (PDF, XLS, HTML).
- Routing Policies: Rules configured by administrators to determine how incoming calls are directed based on channel, DID, Caller ID, or time of day.
S
- Screen Pop: The automatic display of customer information (CRM data) on the agent's screen when a call arrives.
- Service Level (SL): A real-time KPI showing the percentage of calls answered within a target timeframe (e.g., 80% in 20 seconds).
- Session: The duration from an agent's login to logout.
- SLA (Service Level Agreement): The agreed-upon standard for response times or resolution times, monitored via dashboards.
- Screen Recording: The ability to capture and archive the activity on an agent's computer screen during a customer interaction.
- Sentiment Analysis (Emotional Intelligence): A feature using machine learning to analyze the mood and behavior of a customer (e.g., angry, happy) to prioritize cases or trigger alerts.
- SIP Proxy Server: A server acting as an intermediary for VoIP calls, enabling the unification of multiple call servers and handling tasks like network security and routing.
- Skill-Based Routing: A method of distributing calls to agents based on their specific skills (e.g., language proficiency, technical knowledge) rather than just availability.
- Snoop: A supervisory feature allowing a manager to listen to a live conversation between an agent and a customer without either party knowing.
- Sticky Agent/Preferred Agent: A routing feature that attempts to connect a customer to the same agent they spoke with previously to ensure continuity.
- Synthesizer: A visual, drag-and-drop tool used to design and re-engineer business rules, routing strategies, and interaction workflows.
T
- Talk Time: The real-time duration of the current conversation.
- Task: A unit of work in the workflow module (e.g., a ticket, a callback request) assigned to an agent.
- Transfer: Sending a live call to another destination.
- Blind Transfer: Sending the call immediately without checking availability.
- Attended Transfer: Speaking to the receiver before connecting the customer.
- Table Filters: Criteria used to filter customers in outbound campaigns based on specific attributes in the database.
- TPV (Third Party Verifier): A specialized external number or service used to verify customer consent or transactions, often required for compliance.
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): A security process requiring two distinct forms of identification (e.g., password + OTP) to access the system.
U
- UAD (Universal Audio Device): The component in the Ameyo interface that handles audio connections for the agent.
- User Access Management (UAM): The administration of user identities and permissions, ensuring users only have access to the specific tools and data they need.
V
- Video Call: An interaction involving two-way video, often used for KYC (Know Your Customer) or specialized support.
- Video Quality: A metric indicating the bitrate or stability of the video connection.
- Video Workbench: The agent-side interface for handling video interactions, including controls for camera and microphone.
- VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing): Security testing services provided to identify and patch vulnerabilities in the system.
- Virtual Queue: A feature allowing customers to hang up but maintain their position in the queue, receiving a callback when it is their turn.
- Voicebot: An AI-powered voice interface that converses with customers using natural language to resolve queries or route calls.
- Voicelog Archiver: A module that stores and indexes recorded calls for a defined retention period.
- VPN (Virtual Private Network) Connect: A secure way for remote agents to connect to the contact center infrastructure over the internet.
W
- Wallboard: A large-screen display or dashboard view showing critical real-time statistics (Queue Length, Service Level, Agent Status) for the entire floor.
- Wrap-Up Time (ACW): The time an agent spends completing after-call work (notes, disposition) before becoming ready for the next call.
- Warm Transfer: Transferring a call where the agent speaks to the receiving party first to explain the situation before connecting the customer.
- WebRTC: Technology enabling voice and video communication directly through a web browser without requiring external plugins or softphones.
- Whisper: A supervisory feature allowing a manager to speak to the agent during a live call without the customer hearing.
- Whitelabeling: The ability to customize the look and feel of the Ameyo interface (e.g., logos, colors) to match the branding of the organization using it.
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