Hi All,

I was wondering if any one is using a soft dialler preferably the Avaya system but open to all. i am looking at this system for one of our depts, as the agent and list numbers aren't that great.
What i would like, is to see a system in action and to get some honest end user feedback on the system. If anyone is using it in a blended enviroment would be really keen to touch base.

Thanks in advance

Chris

Hi Chriss,

I would think carefully before purchasing a soft dialler. Current Ofcom regulations state you must be able to play an abandon message within two seconds of a connecting a call if you have no agents available.

I am not currently aware of any soft dialler's on the market that can adhere to this rule as most will take more than two seconds.

Hard diallers are more expensive but are a better option as they can adhere to this regulation.

Regards

John

We have a concerto system currently but it struggles with meeting the needs of this small dept. Thats why we are looking at a soft dialler.

Hi All, If you are looking at a soft dialler that integrates well with Avaya you may want to look at Callmedia. The company are very well up on Ofcom regs as well. I work for their parent company and will be happy to arrange a chat.

http://www.callmedia.uk.com/products/advance.php

There are a whole range of soft diallers on the market with varying degrees of performance and sophistication. A couple of things to consider when looking at small department diallers....

- Full predictive diallers generally don't work well on campaigns that have less than 10 people unless you have particularly bad lists or very short conversations ("Hello I'd like to sell you something; No Thanks; Hangup"). So for smaller departmental diallers I generally recommend a progressive dialler.
- There are some new regulations that Ofcom now impose which again if your running a dialler in predictive mode are more difficult to comply with.
- There are no problems with the 2s and soft diallers. All the soft diallers I've worked with will connect to an agent within 1s of getting a notification of an answered call (you need to use ISDN classification though and this is the standard option on the Definity).
- There is an issue if you're running with Answer Machine Detect though. AMD almost always takes more than 2s. So by the time you're trying to connect the caller to the agent, you're already outside of the regulation. This is an issue for hard diallers as well BTW.

Steve,

Would be interested in talking but keen to see a system in action also.

Drop me an email at chrisgill@homeserve.co.uk

Regards

Chris

Hi Chris - how are things at HSGB?

The problem with soft diallers is not really that they *can't* be setup to adhere to OFCOM - they certainly can (AMD notwithstanding as Simon G correctly states).

However the problem with a software dialler is you cannot *guarantee* the 2 second OFCOM rule. This is because the control of making the calls is shared between the PBX (makes call, progress detects and AMD) and the Dialler (CTI routes the call to agent). It is not possible in current soft diallers for these two systems to share the 2 seconds between them in a useful way.

In order to guarantee OFCOM compliance using AMD, a hardware dialler with a "timeguard" option to cut-off CPD and route the call within 2 seconds allows you to continue using AMD, but will cut off and connect an agent if AMD is not complete within the timeframe.

No doubt that this will greatly reduce the accuracy of AMD for dialler users - but at least you can ensure compliance whilst still using it.

If you want to chat - give me a call - if you don't have my number then ask Lee Phillips - he has it.

Thanks,

Seb

Without answering machine detection a predictive dialler with proper CTI
integration will ring the agents telephone within 300 milliseconds from
when the called party went of hook. There is a CTI event to play a message
(before abandoning a call) using an Avaya recording device.

Call blending should work better then with a hard dialler because predictive
calls are moved to the Avaya VDN and therefore a call glitch effect cannot occur.

Using the Avaya AMD will slow down the transfer process and some calls most
likely will exceed the 2 second limit.

The great advantages of a soft dialler are call blending, quick transfers, great for multi-site call centers, use least cost routing in the PBX, save
on hardware investment in the PBX and predictive dialler, longer MTBF
(no hardware to worry about), add licenses by changing the software key.

Take a look also with the reporting modules if it gives off accurate data. If the dispositions reflect well such as Sales Made or Not Interested. Se also how a soft dialer is package if it includes comprehensive real time monitoring like call barging and queue statistics. When it all goes down to business, these data may just give you a full insight where your campaign is heading. To my experience, there's much flexibility on soft dialers than hard dialers. Flexibility in terms of reports generation and setting up multi-group campaigns. Much more here in Philippines, there are a lot of startup call centers ranging from 10seats to a hundred and a soft dialer is a risk free investment. Ofcourse, to the one we cary and install for premised based hosted dialers pricing is also flexible.