Glossary

Analog Phone

Original telephone technology that is still used in most homes and small offices.

Auto Attendant

Part of an interactive voice response system that replaces a human receptionist to route calls to the appropriate extensions or mailboxes

Automated Call Distribution (ACD)

A way of evenly and automatically distributing calls to available agents in a queue

Bluetooth®

The product of a global initiative by several communications companies to create a cable free connectivity between mobile devices.  It allows mobile devices to ‘speak’ other devices.  It uses radio waves for short-range transmissions of digital voice or data.

Caller ID

A function that provides an incoming call’s origination information on a phone’s digital display.  This feature can be blocked.

Call Routing

A way of sending calls to queues or extensions based on set criteria. An example of this would be skills based routing where calls are sent to the person that has the most appropriate skills to address the problem.

Call Center

The area of the company that handles all inbound and outbound calls for an organization like a help desk, lead generation or customer service department.

Commercial Headset

Bluetooth®, wireless or corded earpiece or device that is worn around the head that provides the same functionality as the traditional telephone handset.  It allows wearers to have both hands free to work on other tasks and promotes ergonomics.

Contact Center

Similar to a call center in nature and function.  Handles all types of customer communications from inbound / outbound calls to web responses to email and faxes.  This is generally part of an organizations overall customer relationship management.

Computer Telephony Integration

The use of both phones and computers to manage calling functions

Convergence

The combination of 2 or more technologies in a single device.  Some examples of this are Web TV or a Camera Phone.

Digital Phone

A type of telephone that converts sound from analog to digital at the handset.

Direct Inward Dial (DID)

A block of phone numbers provided to a company that allows customers to contact a person directly rather than routing through the PBX for a possible connection.

Hosted Phone System

A purchased service that provides PBX functionality over standard telephone lines or the Internet where the equipment is housed and maintained at another location.

Intelligent Call Routing

The ability to route calls to call center agents based on a set of rules like skill set, round robin, or fewest calls

IP-PBX

Provides all the functionality of a traditional PBX (private branch exchange) over the Internet.  Voice and data are prioritized and sent as packets over the data network

IP Phone

A telephone set that sends voice over the data network

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, is an automated system that ‘talks’ to callers and allows them to make responses based on key-strokes or spoken phrases. These applications are generally used to gain automated account information or order tracking.  IVRs allow companies to provide 24/7 customer service and automate routine questions, allowing human agents to focus on more productive tasks

Least Cost Routing

A way of associating trunks with specific area codes to ensure the least cost route for that area code

PBX

Private Branch Exchange is a telephone switch that provides telephone capabilities to an office

Queue Monitor

Real time report showing statistics like agent status, availability, number of calls waiting, hold times, total agents in queue and total abandoned calls.

Screen Pop

A screen or window of information that appears on a monitor when a call is answered.

SIP

Session Initiation Protocol is the protocol used to create interactive user session like voice, chat and multi-media

SIP Trunk

Session Initiated Protocol Trunk is provided by an Application Service Provider.  Voice traffic is provided over a standard data circuit. When the circuit is properly conditioned and configured, provides land line quality, lower cost of entry and advanced features such as Direct Inward Dialing, Caller ID-Name and Number, Outbound Caller ID and more.

Telephone User Interface (TUI)

The application that allows a user to interact with their telephone through the computer

TeleVantage

Award winning IP-PBX software based telephone system by Vertical Communications™

Unified Messaging

The ability to send and receive faxes, data, and voice information through a single interface such as a PC, cell phone, or land line.

Universal Access

Ability to access your voicemail, email and fax from any where you can find access to a touch tone phone.  Involves Text-to-speech translation to read email messages to you over the phone. Advanced Universal Access also allows access to calendars for reading schedules or scheduling meetings, Replies to emails with a voice recording, access to the corporate contact database to initiate a phone call, email or fax. Fax messages can be forwarded to email addresses or remote fax machines.

Voice Mail

A computerized system for receiving, playing, recording, saving and sending voice messages.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Sending digital voice information over the Internet rather than through a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

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