Telnet Contact Centre
Glossary

Contact Centre Glossary

Call centre, telecommunications, omnichannel, AI and utility fault terms - explained in plain English by people who use them every day

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Five areas, one glossary

Every term has its own page explaining what it means, why it matters and how Telnet handles it for clients in New Zealand and Australia.

22 Operations & metrics The measures, staffing models and ways of working that decide how well a contact centre or call centre performs. 14 Telephony & technology The telecommunications and software that carry calls and messages to the right person, from IVR and SIP trunks to cloud CCaaS platforms. 13 Omnichannel & CX How customers move between phone, email, webchat, social media and self-service, and how to keep one joined-up conversation across all of them. 17 AI & automation Voice assistants, conversational AI, speech analytics and agent assist: the AI terms that matter when automating live customer calls. 17 Utilities & outages Fault lines, call avalanches, outage management and vulnerable customer care for electricity, gas, water and EV charging networks.

Contact centre operations & metrics

The measures, staffing models and ways of working that decide how well a contact centre or call centre performs.

Abandonment Rate Abandonment rate is the percentage of inbound calls where the caller hangs up before an agent answers, usually while waiting in the queue. It is a direct measure of how many customers gave up trying to reach you. Read more → After-Call Work (ACW) After-call work (ACW), also called wrap-up time, is the work an agent completes after a customer interaction ends, such as writing notes, recording the outcome, updating systems and arranging follow-up, before they are ready for the next contact. Read more → Agent Occupancy Agent occupancy is the percentage of an agent's available, logged-in time that is spent actively handling contacts, including talk, hold and after-call work, as opposed to waiting idle for the next contact. Read more → Average Handle Time (AHT) Average handle time (AHT) is the average total time an agent spends on one customer interaction, from the moment it is answered to the end of the follow-up work, including talk time, hold time and after-call work. Read more → Average Speed of Answer (ASA) Average speed of answer (ASA) is the average time a caller waits in the queue before their call is answered by an agent, usually measured in seconds from when the call enters the queue. Read more → Blended Resourcing Blended resourcing is a contact centre staffing model where agents are trained to handle work for more than one queue, channel or client, so a shared pool of people can move to wherever demand is at any moment instead of sitting idle on a dedicated team. Read more → Call Centre Outsourcing (BPO) Call centre outsourcing is when an organisation contracts a specialist provider to handle some or all of its customer contacts - calls, emails, chats and social messages - on its behalf, often as part of a wider business process outsourcing (BPO) arrangement. Read more → Call Scripting Call scripting is the use of prepared wording and structured steps to guide contact centre agents through customer conversations, from a simple fixed script to guided, dynamic scripting that changes on screen based on the customer and their answers. Read more → Contact Centre Business Continuity Contact centre business continuity is the planning, technology and processes that keep a contact centre answering customers through disruption - from a power cut or system failure to a storm, earthquake or pandemic - and restore normal service quickly afterwards. Read more → Contact Centre Quality Assurance (QA) Contact centre quality assurance (QA) is the process of reviewing customer interactions against agreed standards, such as accuracy, compliance, empathy and resolution, and using the results to coach agents and improve processes. Read more → Cost per Contact Cost per contact is the average cost of handling one customer interaction, worked out by dividing the total cost of running a contact centre over a period by the number of calls, emails, chats and other contacts handled in that period. Read more → Customer Effort Score (CES) Customer effort score (CES) measures how easy or difficult it was for a customer to get what they needed from an organisation, usually by asking them to rate a statement such as "The company made it easy for me to handle my issue" straight after an interaction. Read more → Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) is a measure of how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction, product or service, usually collected with a short survey question and reported as the percentage of respondents who gave a positive rating. Read more → Erlang C Erlang C is a mathematical queuing formula that estimates how many agents a contact centre needs to answer a given volume of calls within a target time. It uses call volume, average handle time and the service level target to predict waiting times. Read more → First Contact Resolution (FCR) First contact resolution (FCR), also called first call resolution, is the percentage of customer enquiries that are fully resolved in the first interaction, with no need for the customer to call back, follow up or be transferred elsewhere. Read more → Home-Based Agents Home-based agents are contact centre agents who work from their own homes rather than a central office, connecting to the contact centre platform over the internet to handle calls, emails, chats and other customer contacts. Read more → Net Promoter Score (NPS) Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty measure based on one question - how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? - scored from 0 to 10, and calculated as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Read more → Onshore Contact Centre An onshore contact centre is one where the agents handling customer contacts are based in the same country, or region, as the customers they serve - for example, New Zealand and Australian agents serving New Zealand and Australian customers - rather than in an offshore location. Read more → Overflow Call Handling Overflow call handling is the practice of automatically routing calls that your own contact centre can't answer in time - because queues are full, wait times are too long or agents are unavailable - to a backup team, often an outsourced contact centre, so customers are still answered. Read more → Service Level Service level is the percentage of contacts answered within a target time, usually written as a pair such as 80/20, meaning 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds. It is the most common measure of how accessible a contact centre is. Read more → Shrinkage Shrinkage is the percentage of paid agent time that isn't available for handling customer contacts, because of planned activities such as breaks, training and leave, and unplanned ones such as sick leave and lateness. Read more → Workforce Management (WFM) Workforce management (WFM) is the process, and usually the software, a contact centre uses to forecast contact volumes, calculate how many agents are needed, build rosters and manage staffing in real time so the right people are available at the right time. Read more →

Telephony & contact centre technology

The telecommunications and software that carry calls and messages to the right person, from IVR and SIP trunks to cloud CCaaS platforms.

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Automatic call distribution (ACD) is the part of a contact centre phone system that queues incoming calls and automatically sends each one to the most suitable available agent, based on rules such as skills, priority and how long agents have been idle. Read more → Call Recording Call recording is the practice of capturing and storing the audio of phone calls between customers and contact centre agents, so they can be reviewed for quality assurance, training, dispute resolution, compliance and analytics. Read more → Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Computer telephony integration (CTI) is technology that connects a phone system with computer applications such as a CRM, so calls and customer data work together - for example, showing the caller's record on screen as the call arrives or dialling a number with one click. Read more → Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) Contact centre as a service (CCaaS) is cloud-based software that provides everything a contact centre needs - telephony, call routing, omnichannel queues, recording, reporting and agent tools - on subscription, without on-premise hardware. Read more → Direct Dial-In Number (DDI) A direct dial-in number (DDI), known in some countries as a direct inward dialling (DID) number, is a phone number that connects callers straight to a specific person, team, queue or service within an organisation's phone system, without going through a switchboard or main number. Read more → Freephone Numbers Freephone numbers are phone numbers that are free for the caller to dial, with the cost paid by the organisation receiving the call; in New Zealand they begin with 0800 or 0508, and in Australia with 1800 (freecall), alongside 1300 local-rate numbers. Read more → Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated phone system that answers calls, plays recorded or generated messages and lets callers choose options by keypad or voice, so they can be routed to the right queue or helped without an agent. Read more → Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the worldwide network of traditional telephone lines, exchanges and carriers that connects landline calls, originally built on copper wires and circuit-switched technology. Read more → Queue Callback Queue callback, also called virtual hold, is a contact centre feature that lets a caller hang up without losing their place in the queue; the system then calls them back automatically when an agent is free. Read more → SIP Trunking SIP trunking is a way of connecting an organisation's phone system to the public telephone network over an IP connection, using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), instead of through physical phone lines. Read more → Skills-Based Routing Skills-based routing is a contact centre routing method that matches each call, chat or email to an agent who has the specific skills, product knowledge, language or authority needed to handle it, rather than to whoever is free next. Read more → Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud-delivered bundle of business communication tools - typically phone calls, video meetings, team messaging and voicemail - provided on subscription for an organisation's staff. Read more → Voice over IP (VoIP) Voice over IP (VoIP) is technology that carries voice calls as data over internet protocol (IP) networks, rather than over traditional copper telephone lines, so calls can be made and received through computers, softphones and IP handsets. Read more → Warm Transfer A warm transfer is when an agent passes a call to a colleague or another team after first speaking to them and explaining the customer's situation, so the customer doesn't have to repeat themselves; it contrasts with a cold or blind transfer, where the call is sent on without any introduction. Read more →

Omnichannel & customer experience

How customers move between phone, email, webchat, social media and self-service, and how to keep one joined-up conversation across all of them.

Asynchronous Messaging Asynchronous messaging is customer service by message where the customer and agent don't need to be present at the same time - the customer can send a message, leave, and pick the conversation up later, through channels such as SMS, in-app messaging, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Read more → Call Centre vs Contact Centre A call centre handles customer interactions by phone only, while a contact centre handles phone plus other channels such as email, webchat, social media and SMS. In everyday use the terms overlap, and many contact centres are still called call centres. Read more → Channel Shift Channel shift is the deliberate move of customer contact from one channel to another, usually from phone or face-to-face towards digital channels and self-service, to make service faster, more convenient or less costly to deliver. Read more → Customer Experience (CX) Customer experience (CX) is the overall impression customers form of an organisation across every interaction they have with it - from its website, bills and products to its contact centre - and how easy, effective and pleasant they find those interactions. Read more → Customer Journey A customer journey is the complete sequence of steps, touchpoints and channels a customer goes through with an organisation to achieve a goal, such as joining, paying a bill, reporting a fault or making a complaint, as experienced from the customer's point of view. Read more → Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Customer relationship management (CRM) is the software, and the practice, of recording and managing every customer's details and interactions in one place, so anyone serving that customer can see who they are, what has happened before and what still needs doing. Read more → Customer Self-Service Customer self-service is any way for customers to get information or complete a task without talking to an agent, such as an online account, FAQ pages, an outage map, an IVR menu, a chatbot or an AI voice assistant. Read more → Knowledge Base A knowledge base is a central, searchable library of information - answers, procedures, policies and troubleshooting steps - that contact centre agents, customers or AI tools use to find accurate, consistent answers quickly. Read more → Multichannel Customer Service Multichannel customer service is offering customers more than one way to get in touch - such as phone, email, webchat and social media - where each channel is typically run as its own stream, with its own team, tools and records. Read more → Omnichannel Customer Service Omnichannel customer service is an approach where every channel a customer uses - phone, email, webchat, social media, SMS and self-service - is connected to one shared record and one operation, so a conversation can move between channels without the customer starting again. Read more → Single Customer View A single customer view is one consolidated, up-to-date record of a customer that brings together their details, accounts and interactions from every system and channel, so anyone serving them sees the complete picture in one place. Read more → Social Media Customer Service Social media customer service is handling customer questions, requests and complaints through social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn, in both public comments and private messages, as part of an organisation's customer service operation. Read more → Webchat Webchat (also called live chat) is a customer service channel that lets website or app visitors exchange real-time text messages with a contact centre agent or a chatbot, usually through a chat window on the page. Read more →

AI in the contact centre

Voice assistants, conversational AI, speech analytics and agent assist: the AI terms that matter when automating live customer calls.

AI Agent Assist AI agent assist is technology that works alongside human contact centre agents, using AI to capture details, suggest relevant knowledge, route and prioritise work and write up outcomes, so agents spend less time on admin and more on the customer. Read more → AI Call Summarisation AI call summarisation is the use of AI to write a concise record of a customer interaction automatically, capturing the reason for contact, key details, actions taken and outcome, so agents don't have to type up notes after every call. Read more → AI Guardrails AI guardrails are the rules, technical controls and human checks that keep an AI system accurate, safe and within its intended scope, including protection against hallucination, where an AI confidently states something that isn't true. Read more → AI Receptionist An AI receptionist is an AI system that answers an organisation's incoming calls, greets callers, handles simple requests such as opening hours or messages, and routes everything else to the right person or team, around the clock. Read more → AI Voice Assistant An AI voice assistant, also called a voicebot, is software that answers phone calls and talks with callers in natural speech, understanding what they need and resolving routine requests without the caller waiting for an agent. Read more → AI-to-Human Handover AI-to-human handover is the point where an AI voice assistant, chatbot or other automated channel transfers a customer to a human agent, ideally passing on everything already said and captured so the customer doesn't have to repeat themselves. Read more → Agentic AI Agentic AI is AI that can work towards a goal by planning steps, using tools and taking actions in other systems, such as looking up an account, logging a job or sending an update, rather than only generating a response to a single prompt. Read more → Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Automatic speech recognition (ASR), also called speech-to-text, is technology that converts spoken audio into written text, either live during a call or afterwards from a recording. Read more → Chatbot A chatbot is software that holds a text conversation with customers, usually on a website's webchat, a messaging app or social media, answering questions and completing simple tasks without a human agent. Read more → Containment Rate Containment rate is the percentage of customer contacts that are fully handled by an automated channel, such as an IVR, chatbot or AI voice assistant, without being transferred to a human agent. Read more → Conversational AI Conversational AI is the family of technologies that lets software understand what people say or type and respond in natural language, so customers can hold a two-way conversation with a system instead of pressing buttons or filling in forms. Read more → Generative AI Generative AI is artificial intelligence that creates new content, such as text, summaries or speech, rather than only classifying existing data. Most text-based generative AI is built on large language models (LLMs) trained on vast amounts of written language. Read more → Intent Recognition Intent recognition is the AI task of identifying the purpose behind a customer's message, such as reporting a fault, checking a bill or moving house, so the contact can be answered, routed or prioritised correctly. Read more → Natural Language Understanding (NLU) Natural language understanding (NLU) is the branch of AI that works out the meaning behind what a person says or writes, identifying what they want (the intent) and the key details they mention (the entities), so a system can respond correctly. Read more → Sentiment Analysis Sentiment analysis is the use of AI to judge the emotional tone of a customer's words, usually as positive, neutral or negative, so contact centres can spot frustration during a conversation and track how customers feel across many interactions. Read more → Speech Analytics Speech analytics is the use of AI to transcribe and analyse recorded customer calls at scale, revealing why customers call, how they feel and how calls are handled. Interaction analytics extends the same approach to email, chat and other channels. Read more → Text-to-Speech (TTS) Text-to-speech (TTS), also called speech synthesis, is technology that converts written text into spoken audio, giving IVR systems and AI voice assistants a voice that callers can hear. Read more →

Utilities, outages & fault resolution

Fault lines, call avalanches, outage management and vulnerable customer care for electricity, gas, water and EV charging networks.

Call Avalanche A call avalanche is a sudden, massive spike in inbound calls - often many times normal volume within minutes - usually triggered by a power outage, storm, system failure or public incident that affects many customers at once. Read more → Consumer Care Obligations The Consumer Care Obligations are rules set by New Zealand's Electricity Authority, mandatory from 1 January 2025 under Part 11A of the Electricity Industry Participation Code, that set out how electricity retailers and distributors must support consumers, including medically dependent and vulnerable consumers. Read more → Distribution Network Service Provider (DNSP) A Distribution Network Service Provider (DNSP) is an Australian company that owns and operates the local electricity distribution network - the poles, wires and substations - delivering electricity from the transmission network to homes and businesses. The term is used in the National Electricity Rules. Read more → EV Charger Fault Support EV charger fault support is the customer support an electric vehicle charging network provides when a driver can't charge - for example when a charger won't start, stops mid-session, rejects payment or won't release the cable - including fault diagnosis, alternative charger options and follow-up such as reimbursement. Read more → Electricity Distribution Business (EDB) An electricity distribution business (EDB) is a New Zealand company that owns and operates the local electricity network - the poles, lines, cables and substations that carry power from the national grid to homes and businesses. EDBs are also called lines companies or distributors. Read more → Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR) An estimated time of restoration (ETR) is a utility's best estimate of when supply will be restored to customers affected by an outage. It is set by the network, updated as crews assess and repair the fault, and shared with customers through the contact centre and other channels. Read more → Fault Triage Fault triage is the process of assessing a reported fault - usually on the first call - to decide how urgent it is, what kind of response it needs and which jobs go first, so safety risks and vulnerable customers are dealt with before routine work. Read more → Field Crew Dispatch Field crew dispatch is the process of assigning fault, outage and service jobs to a utility's field crews or contractors - deciding which crew goes where, in what order, with what information - so faults are made safe and supply is restored as quickly as possible. Read more → Hazard Calls Hazard calls are calls to a utility that report an immediate risk to people or property - such as a fallen power line, sparking equipment, a gas smell or a damaged pole - and must be identified quickly and escalated ahead of routine fault and outage calls. Read more → Medically Dependent Consumers Medically dependent consumers are people who rely on mains electricity to power medical equipment or treatment, where loss of supply could put their health or life at risk. The term is used in New Zealand; in Australia the equivalent is life support customers. Read more → Outage Management System (OMS) An outage management system (OMS) is the software an electricity network uses to detect, locate, track and restore outages, combining network data, field crew information and customer fault reports into one live view of what is off and why. Read more → Planned and Unplanned Outages A planned outage is a scheduled interruption to supply, notified in advance, so a network can safely maintain, upgrade or connect equipment. An unplanned outage is an unexpected loss of supply caused by a fault, storm, accident or equipment failure. Read more → Proactive Outage Notification Proactive outage notification is the practice of telling affected customers about an outage - what has happened, the estimated time of restoration and any changes - before they contact the utility, using channels such as SMS, email, apps, outage maps and IVR announcements. Read more → SAIDI and SAIFI SAIDI and SAIFI are the standard measures of electricity network reliability. SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) is the average total minutes of interruption per customer over a period; SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) is the average number of interruptions per customer. Read more → Surge Capacity Surge capacity is the additional contact centre capacity - people, automation and telephony - that an organisation can bring online quickly when demand rises far above forecast, and the plan for how that capacity is sourced, activated and paid for. Read more → Utility Fault Line A utility fault line is the 24/7 phone line an electricity, gas or water network runs so customers and the public can report faults, outages and hazards, get restoration updates and have jobs raised for field crews. Read more → Vulnerable Customers Vulnerable customers are people who, because of their personal circumstances - such as health, age, disability, financial hardship, family violence or a life event - are more likely to suffer harm or disadvantage when dealing with a service, and may need extra care or support. Read more →
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