Abandoned Calls
Dialing algorithms which do anything more than dial out on one trunk for each agent who is free to take a call, will sometimes result in abandoned calls (a.k.a. nuisance calls), i.e. connects where no agent is available, and the call is therefore abandoned. The fact that this will sometimes happen is a statistical certainty, but one not always appreciated by users.
The point of good dialing algorithms is to strike the best balance between wait times between calls on the one hand, and the rate of abandoned calls. No more, no less. The harder the algorithms are pushed, the more the wait times will come down, and the higher will be the rate of abandoned calls.
In the past, vendors have attempted to overcome this relationship between dialing algorithms and abandoned calls by having standby agents, and also by making what are known as predictive hangups. Neither of these is a solution, nor are they on offer in Softdial CallGem™. Nevertheless, if you do want to explore these matters in more depth (and indeed argue the case with us!), feel free to send us an email at info@sytelco.com.
If a user doesn't want any abandoned calls ever, then all agents should be logged on in preview mode. As agents go available, after they have logged on, the Go Preview (GP) parameter should be used to put them immediately into preview mode. See Agent Available [AA] message.
Measurement of Abandon Call Rate
On very early versions of Softdial CallGem™ (prior to version 6.30), Sytel allowed two methods for the calculation of abandoned calls. For compliance with the standards that are set today for predictive dialers by national marketing associations and regulators around the world, only the current method is supported. Integrators offering support for the original method do not need to change their code. If it is selected, it will default to the supported method. See also the Overdial Tuning [OT] message.
Current Method (% of live calls)
(Abandoned calls / Live calls + Abandoned calls) x 100
Old (Deprecated) Method (% of all calls)
(Abandoned calls / All calls including Abandoned calls) x 100