Welcome back, and hello to our first time readers. There are three primary types of technology involved in phone dialing. The first is Analog. Analog dialing uses your standard phone company lines to dial. What this means is that you need to have a phone number for each line you wish to dial on. Predictive dialer systems generally use two or more lines per call agent meaning for larger call centers you need at least double the number of phone lines than you have employees. The second technology are digital phone lines. These connect using a router that plugs into a PRI-T1 line. T1 connections can handle up to 24 phone lines each. PRI-T1’s are generally more affordable when dialing in large numbers than your traditional analog lines. The third and final technology is Voice Over IP (VOIP). This converts your voice phone calls into digital data and transmits it over the internet. Since this is not taking up physical phone lines and is in essence computer data, you can call out on as many “phone lines” as you have available bandwidth. For larger call centers you will want to have one or more Data T1 connections to utilize this. For one or two call agents, you can use a business cable or dsl connection. VOIP also has many more call features inherent to the technology and is often used for advanced call routing.
Next you have to consider the different software technologies. Some to choose from are Automatic Dialers, Power Dialers, Predictive Dialers, and Automatic IVR. My specialty with the Razor Predictive Dialer is outbound calling, so we will focus on that area of call centers in this article. Automatic and Power Dialers are often used as interchangeable terms. An automatic dialer uses a list of phone numbers, called a Lead List, and dials them sequentially. If you have four agents, an automatic or power dialer will call four phone numbers at a time until it connects a live call to an agent. It then continues to dial one line per available agent, on down through the list. Automatic IVR (Intelligent Voice Recognition) is a technology that automatically dials just like an automatic dialer but instead of connecting a live call to an agent, it plays a pre-recorded message and has touch-tone or voice prompts to guide a potential customer through a series of menu options. IVR technology has the capability of using the answers given through touch tone to qualify a customer and then route that customer to a live agent accordingly.
The final dialing solution is the Predictive Dialer. Predictive dialers use more lines than there are agents to dial many more phone numbers at the same time. It uses an advanced algorithm to determine the average talk time of a call, the average number of calls it takes to reach a live person, how many agents are available and then determines the optimal number of lines to dial to systematically predict how many lines it needs to maximize call center productivity. This is the software Orion Communications has developed and specializes in setting up call center solutions.

Visit us at www.predictive-dialer.org/contact.html

There are many things to consider when building a new call center. Regardless of the size and purpose of your call center there are four main categories that you will need to attend to; Equipment, Technology, Operations, and Layout.
What equipment is necessary for your call center? For most call center solutions you will be using an on-site call manager. Many of you will invest in predictive dialing software; a technology that increases outbound call center productivity by ‘predicting’ how often a live call takes place and then dials more lines than agents to minimize downtime between calls. Software packages like these usually require a voice and data server, a router, a switch, cables, headsets and workstations.
Some things to consider are the quality of the equipment you purchase. When making the decision to set up a call center you will be tempted to lower your costs and cut corners whenever possible. Do this with caution.
Your headsets will need to be high quality, noise reducing, and compatible with the software you decide upon. A headset that can easily be moved from workstation to workstation is best; I recommend using a True-USB headset (meaning one that only operates on USB, do not use an adapter). This will help if you need to quickly replace a headset or with hygiene as an employee can keep their own headset.
The keyboards you use are important as well. Your agents will be spending their entire shift, every day working on their computer. This means you will want to supply ergonomic keyboards that are designed to minimize the impact of repetitive motions so you can prevent injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Your workstations are an important part of your call center. We’ve already covered headsets and keyboards, but one thing you may not have considered are the chairs. Your chairs need to promote good health by having an ergonomic design. Additionally, the layout of the workstation is important. Does your employee have enough room to work comfortably? Is the equipment arranged to allow a smooth operation of their workspace?
Agent and Supervisor PC’s: How will your agents be using their computer? Most voice software applications are memory and bandwidth intensive. Activities such as running multiple applications, browsing the internet, and accessing the company database need to be taken into account. Purchasing desktop computers that are powerful enough to handle your workload is important. Your supervisor’s machine and workstation needs to be in a central location where the supervisor can see all your employees and vice versa. A large portion of call center productivity relies on proper monitoring of employees and providing motivation where it is needed.
Each agent and supervisor station will need a computer monitor. This is where it will be worth your while to invest in a decent monitor. LCD monitors save a lot of desk space, require much less power, and are easier on the eyes. Make sure to purchase a monitor that is large enough to display your application’s information without being so large it requires a lot of eye movement to read everything on it.
The final piece of equipment is your Call Center System. Depending on the purpose of your call center, whether it is inbound or outbound, telemarketing calls or customer service; the software will vary greatly and along with it the equipment. I’ll include in this portion information from my area of expertise – Predictive Dialer Software. The Razor Predictive Dialer operates with one or two data/voice servers, uses a switch and a router, and can connect to your outgoing phone lines through your choice of analog, digital or VoIP service. As a general rule, it is usually best to go with your software provider’s suggestions on equipment. After all, they are most familiar with what works with their system.

That covers the basics in Equipment needed for “How to Set Up a Call Center”. Our next post will cover the different types of technology and call center layout.

Visit us at www.predictive-dialer.org/contact.html

An auto dialer is a telecommunications software that dials from a list of phone numbers only when a call agent is available to take the call. A predictive dialer uses a complex algorithm to “predict” when a live call will match up with an available agent.

The advantage to a predictive dialer system is that there is less downtime between calls. The science behind this is that on an auto dialer system, the software will only dial the next number on the list if an agent is ready to take another call. However, many phone calls that are made will result in an answering machine, no answer, or disconnected line. This results in delays between live calls. On predictive dialer software, using an algorithm, the system predicts when the next live customer will answer the phone and when the next agent will be available. Using this information the dialer will then dial more lines than there are available agents; matching up the most likely time that a customer will answer the phone to the next time an agent will be available.

The end result of predictive dialing technology is that your agents will be connected to live calls more often and with less down time between each call, allowing you to make more calls in a shorter time. The direct benefit of a predictive dialer is that you are reaching more customers for less money as your productivity is increased.