If you’re wondering what is automatic call distribution and why it would be beneficial to your business, keep reading and reap the benefits.
Automatic Call Distribution or ACD is a system used by leading businesses to regulate incoming calls from clients and/or customers. An automatic call distributor sorts out and sends the calls to appropriate personnel within the company.
Once you call a company phone that has an ACD system, your call can be transferred based on your caller ID, voice response, automatic or dialed number identification. You probably had a few encounters with these in the past.
This experience is common because automated call distribution is used by various types of agencies, including travel agencies. One of the most common uses you can encounter is with e-commerce businesses. These companies know the benefits of ACD systems, and so should you.
Automatic call distribution and your business
Apart from making it easier to handle your customers’ calls, an ACD call center can:
- Improve your customers’ experiences
- Develop the competencies of your agents
- Increase agent productivity
- Reduce the load on the communication networks
- Optimize caller waiting time
- Increase response rate during the busy season
Also, you can use this solution to manage call handling by assigning calls to agents, keeping track of the agents and their call time and quality. With an ACD call center your customers are satisfied.
Instead of your customers waiting for your response, the calls are handled promptly and efficiently with automatic call distribution. A well-handled customer inquiry results in a loyal customer. It’s no secret that ACD systems boost revenue, and it’s easy to understand how they work.
How does an ACD phone work?
ACD means that once a call comes through it is routed to the department or the agent qualified to take it. If your customer enters a number for the customer service department, the call gets transferred to an agent. If it’s the tech department number, the call is transferred to tech.
Based on caller ID, the call is transferred to an agent that speaks the same language as the caller. The automated call distribution system can also give priority to certain clients based on your preference.
So, automatic call distributors work through specific algorithms taking into account the available information from the caller. This is done through multiple types of automated call distribution:
- The most basic – simultaneous distribution is a first come first serve type of deal, the first agent to answer handles the call.
- Another one – linear distribution always starts with the first agent from the list
- Circular distribution or round-robin – a call is routed to an agent that is on a list after the one who has received the last call.
- Skill-based – weighted distribution considers the amount of workload that you have determined for your agents in percentages and assigns calls accordingly.
- Time-based – uniform distribution takes into account the agents who are in the waiting queue the longest.
Including these, advanced ACD systems have call forwarding options to make sure that you don’t miss an important call. This allows you to transfer a misplaced call to a person who can handle it appropriately. The setup is not difficult at all.
How do you set up an automatic call distributor?
Now that you understand what is automatic call distribution and its benefits for your business, all you need to know is how to set it up. It depends on what features you utilize with your ACD phone.
Most ACD system software has a similar pattern of configuration. Follow these steps and your business will be ready for its first automated call distribution:
- Your business is assigned a phone system, it can be a basic one or one that handles the calls and the agents themselves.
- Depending on the departments that handle calls, you need to create a list, e.g. customer service, tech, billing, etc.
- Each department in your ACD call center database needs to have agents assigned to it by adding their names and extensions or phone numbers, some systems include email addresses as well.
- After integrating these, you have an option to choose the automatic call distribution type, e.g. linear, uniform, circular, weighted or simultaneous.
You are all set and ready to go. Of course, you can opt for more features that play a cardinal role in customer experience development such as:
- Call forwarding to avoid missing important calls or waiting customers
- Caller identification to improve call distribution
- Interactive voice response to add authenticity
- ‘Call us now’ button on your website that routes calls to your ACD phone
With Ringblaze all these steps are quick and effortless, and you have more control over call distribution. It’s a real-time solution that lets customers communicate with you while browsing your website.
Setting up the call widget on your website takes a few minutes. No additional downloads or apps are required.
Integrating your company team into your network takes more time with a few clicks. You click on your profile, go to settings and click on the ‘plus’ button.
Once you’ve set up the team and the call widget on your website, you’ll be ready to start taking calls using your shared dashboard. With it, the whole team can articulate easily and have more info about calls.
You’ll be able to utilize incredibly useful features such as assigning calls to members of your team and track them via the company call box. It’s easy to navigate for your team members as well.
Your team members can keep track of their calls and resolve them along the way. Aside from that, you can see customers using the “customers” tab.
Among these available features, Ringblaze also offers:
- The possibility to assign, forward and record calls
- Text comments for calls so that the next shift knows how to handle them
- Adding the ‘click to call’ link anywhere, e.g. your contact information, signature, etc.
- Unlimited phone numbers that you can answer anywhere, e.g. you own a multinational business and you can answer the phone wherever you are
- The visitors of your website a free call option
- Support for 22 countries in the world
- Unofficially, sending SMS, a mobile app and voicemail
It has essential features to boost business productivity and increase revenue. It’s easy to set up, it’s reliable and it’s a worthwhile investment in your business because call centers and customer service are not going away. The best part is that it’s affordable.
What is the pricing of ACD systems for business owners?
There are various automated call distribution software that offer a variety of solutions and pricing options. More complex software usually offers a more expensive solution. Choose an automatic call distributor that fits your business and is affordable.
Ringblaze has only one subscription plan with no surprises. The plan includes all the features and the dashboard that distinguishes this system from others. It is an all-in-one solution.
You’ll see that it has up to 90 days of stored call history, call recording, custom voicemail greeting, transfer and mute controls and many other options. It is one of the most affordable ACD call center solutions.
Another ACD call center option is 8×8 which offers three pricing plans depending on which features you prefer. It covers small business phone systems, all-in-one ACD systems and analytics and administration.
Different pricing plans include different features for your business. Starting with the most basic one that covers collaboration and automated call distribution via digit choice to the one that provides insight on team productivity and analytics.
Other ACD call center software such as Genesys usually have three pricing options as well. These include more or less similar features beginning with the basic one that contains IVR and inbound/outbound voice.
And ending with the one that includes workforce management and maximum capacity for IVR minutes. The third pricing option always has more perks than the previous two, but it depends on the capacity of your business.
You should make the choice of automated call distribution software among many available. Keep in mind their prices and the needs of your business. Take into account what type of business you’re running and what kind of customer service you would want.
Conclusion
What is automatic call distribution? It is a worthwhile investment in your business that helps resolve customer inquiries and develop remarkable customer service. It’s an affordable solution for businesses that aim to expand and thrive on the market.
ACD systems boost revenues and employee productivity among other major benefits. They are not difficult to set up and they can be affordable. An example of affordability is Ringblaze offering one plan with one pricing option.
If you feel like giving your business a boost and operating smooth customer service, try using Ringblaze. The first 7 days of subscription are free so that you can see what benefits it brings to your business.
