Optimize call routing with automatic call distribution (ACD)

Call center agents are more than familiar with the concept of high call volumes and the impact it can bring to their workload. To simplify call routing and reduce the headaches of heavy call burdens, modern contact centers rely on the popular telephony system known as automatic call distribution (ACD).

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Optimize call routing with automatic call distribution (ACD)

What are the benefits of ACDs?

  • Integrations

    Integrations

    ACDs integrate with popular IVRs, CRMs, and other business applications, making it easy to streamline contact center agent workflows and create a seamless agent and customer experience.

  • Agent efficiency

    Agent efficiency

    ACDs help contact center agents experience greater efficiency and reduce burnout with organized call routing systems and shared workloads.

  • Improved customer experience

    Improved customer experience

    Smart and accurate call routing not only helps minimize the workload for contact center agents, but ACDs can also lead to a better customer experience when the caller is routed to a knowledgeable expert who can resolve their issues quickly.

What is automatic call distribution (ACD)?

What is automatic call distribution (ACD)?

Automatic call distribution (ACD) helps manage inbound calls and reduces the heavy call volume burden to contact center employees by prioritizing and routing incoming calls.

Today’s ACD systems are built for omnichannel contact centers — like Zoom Contact Center — to route customer queries from a variety of digital channels, such as email, voice, SMS, and web chat. As hybrid work becomes a permanent workstyle and cloud-based contact centers continue to grow, advanced ACDs are crucial for a successful customer support operation.

What do ACD systems do?

ACDs streamline communications by answering incoming calls through intelligent routing engines that match customers with an agent who is best suited to handle the query. Using predetermined instructions  — or rules — to direct incoming calls, ACD intelligent routing engines match customer requests to the appropriate agent. They consider the agent’s skillset, customer data, caller sentiment, real-time analytics, and AI-powered behavioral profiles before connecting callers. With a goal of helping agents reach first contact resolution faster, automatic call distributors are among the best tools to minimize call center wait times and reduce agent burnout.

What do ACD systems do?
How is ACD different from IVR?

How is ACD different from IVR?

Like ACD, intelligent voice response (IVR) is a critical components of cloud phone systems and contact centers as a service, or CCaaS. You may think ACDs could replace intelligent voice response, but in fact, they are complementary. IVRs are the automated choices (once called phone trees) customers have when first contacting a call or contact center. 

Once customers input their choices, the automatic call distributors process that information, or data, and route callers to the appropriate agent. While ACDs and IVRs sound similar, they are both necessary for successful customer service operations.

How does ACD work?

So, just how does automatic call distribution work? With your IVR and ACD software in place and working together, the call distribution process typically follows these steps: 

  • Caller ID qualifies the caller’s needs via IVR along with other information such as location, language, etc.

  • Call queuing places the caller into a queue (or wait list) and determines the order based on data from the caller ID, such as query, wait times, and status.

  • Call routing uses predetermined rules to then route the agent. Depending on your rules, callers can be placed with the first agent available, the most skilled agent for their query, or qualified by their customer status, and so forth.

How does ACD work?

Different types of call distribution

Within ACD systems, there are different types of call distribution strategies you can implement based on factors such as the number of agents in your contact center, their individual skills and abilities, or the order in which calls are received.

Linear call distribution

Linear call distribution

If an agent is unavailable, the call is routed or assigned in a linear order to the next agent on the list until someone becomes available.

Rotary call distribution

Rotary call distribution

This strategy uses a circular approach to route callers and places agents in a continuous loop to spread the workload across the team.

Simultaneous call distribution

Simultaneous call distribution

Alert all agents at the same time. This approach minimizes wait times by allowing whomever answers the call first to work with the customer.

Talk-time call distribution

Talk-time call distribution

To evenly distribute the work, this approach considers time spent on previous calls and assigns callers to agents in a circular pattern.

Skills-based routing

Skills-based routing

This weighted call distribution strategy uses a scoring model to route customers based on an agents’ skills, language proficiency, expertise, response time, or other criteria.

Time-based call distribution

Time-based call distribution

Calls are routed to agents during specific time periods such as office hours or the agents’ availability status. 

What are some ACD features?

What are some ACD features?

The features found in ACDs are primarily focused on routing incoming callers with a contact or call center’s internal agents. Once you define the rules you want your ACD system to follow, the automatic call distribution software handles accepting, routing, holding, and queueing calls as they come in to your business. 

Zoom Contact Center’s ACD system can route calls to voice mail depending on the routing strategy you use, as well as manage multiple call queues at once.

Redefine your customer and agent experience with Zoom Contact Center

Zoom’s omnichannel contact center was built for video engagements and provides a personalized waiting room experience and the ability for agents to escalate issues into high-touch video conversations. The Zoom CCaaS platform offers:

  • a virtual agent for intelligent self-service
  • ACD and IVR systems for advanced call routing
  • robust reporting and analytic dashboards

Free plug-and-play integrations with popular business applications and help desk software

Redefine your customer and agent experience with Zoom Contact Center

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Discover how Zoom Contact Center can help you improve your business flows and your CSAT scores by redefining your agent and customer experience. Let’s talk, today!

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