Contact centers have their own language. This glossary explains the terms you’ll see most often on this site and in the industry, in plain English.
A
Abandonment rate: The share of customers who hang up or leave a chat before reaching anyone. A high rate usually means wait times are too long.
ACD (Automatic Call Distributor): The system that sends each incoming call to the next available agent, or to the agent best suited to handle it.
After-call work (ACW): The tasks an agent finishes after a conversation ends, such as writing notes or updating an order. It’s also called wrap-up time.
Agent: The person who talks with customers. Agents are also called representatives, associates, or advisors.
Agent assist: AI tools that help agents during a conversation by suggesting answers, pulling up information, or writing call summaries.
AHT (Average Handle Time): How long a contact takes on average, including talk time, hold time, and after-call work.
AI agent (virtual agent): Software that can understand customers’ questions in everyday language and answer them or complete simple tasks without a person.
ASA (Average Speed of Answer): The average time customers wait before reaching an agent.
Attrition: The rate at which employees leave and must be replaced. It’s also called turnover.
B
Blended contact center: A team that handles both inbound contacts (customers reaching out) and outbound contacts (the business reaching out).
BPO (Business Process Outsourcing): Hiring an outside company to handle a business function. In this industry, it usually means an outsourced contact center.
C
Callback: An option that lets customers hang up and get a call back when an agent is free, instead of waiting on hold.
CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service): Cloud-based software that bundles the phone system, routing, chat, recording, and reporting into one subscription.
Chatbot: An automated program that answers customer questions in a chat window. Simple chatbots follow set scripts. AI chatbots can handle more natural questions.
Coaching: One-on-one feedback from a supervisor to help an agent improve, often based on recorded calls or quality scores.
Cost per contact: The total cost of running the contact center divided by the number of contacts handled.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): The system that stores customer information, such as contact details, purchases, and past conversations.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction): A score from short surveys asking customers how satisfied they were, often on a scale of 1 to 5.
Customer effort score (CES): A survey score that measures how easy it was for a customer to get help.
CX (Customer Experience): Every interaction a customer has with a business, from marketing and buying to support.
E
Escalation: Passing a customer to a supervisor or specialist when the agent can’t solve the issue.
F
FCR (First Contact Resolution): The share of customers whose issue is solved on the first contact, with no callback or follow-up needed.
Forecasting: Predicting how many contacts will come in, and when, so the right number of agents can be scheduled.
I
Inbound contact: A conversation started by the customer, such as a call, chat, or email.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response): The automated phone menu (“Press 1 for billing”) that routes callers or answers simple questions.
K
Knowledge base: An organized library of answers, policies, and step-by-step procedures agents use to respond accurately and consistently.
N
Nearshore: Outsourcing to a company in a nearby country, often in a similar time zone.
NPS (Net Promoter Score): A score based on how likely customers are to recommend a business, on a scale of 0 to 10. It’s calculated by subtracting the share of unhappy customers (0 to 6) from the share of loyal ones (9 and 10).
O
Occupancy: The share of an agent’s available time spent actively handling contacts. Very high occupancy over long periods can lead to burnout.
Offshore: Outsourcing to a company in a distant country, usually to lower costs.
Omnichannel: A setup where all channels (phone, chat, email, text, social media) are connected, so customers don’t have to repeat themselves when switching between them.
Onshore: Outsourcing to a company in your own country.
Outbound contact: A conversation started by the business, such as an appointment reminder, follow-up, or sales call.
P
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): Security rules for any business that takes credit card payments, including by phone.
Q
QA (Quality Assurance): The process of reviewing conversations and scoring them against standards to improve service.
Queue: The line of customers waiting to reach an agent.
R
Routing: How contacts are directed to the right agent or team. Skills-based routing sends each contact to an agent trained for that type of request.
S
Schedule adherence: How closely agents follow their assigned schedules, including start times, breaks, and lunches.
Service level: The share of contacts answered within a target time. A common goal is 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds.
Shrinkage: The share of paid time when agents aren’t available to handle contacts, because of breaks, training, meetings, or absences.
Speech analytics: Software that analyzes recorded calls to spot trends, such as common complaints or compliance problems.
Supervisor (team lead): The person who manages a group of agents, coaches them, and helps with difficult contacts.
T
TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act): A U.S. law that limits automated calls and texts to consumers and requires their consent in many cases.
Transfer rate: The share of contacts passed from one agent or team to another. A high rate can mean contacts aren’t being routed correctly.
W
WFM (Workforce Management): The process and software used to forecast demand, build schedules, and track whether agents follow them.
Missing a term? Let us know, and we’ll add it.