For those of us who have lived in the trenches of a busy customer support environment, hanging up from a support call will instantly zap you with another if your company is using ACD (automated call distribution) technology. If you're a power support resource, your phone is going to be the one ringing the most because the ACD is continuously detecting your availability. Managers love this approach because it ensures productivity and optimizes time...but what about the expense?

Well, move over telephony-based ACD systems - out with the old and in with the new. Web-based ACD technology is taking over traditional ACD systems and ringing up some impressive cost savings in the process. These capabilities in many environments enable companies to scrap their expensive telephony infrastructures and ride the Internet for pennies as opposed to thousands of dollars in overhead costs.

If you are paralyzed reading this, then you might be one of the many IT professionals that may feel you have over-invested in telephony technology. Frequently these top-heavy infrastructures are put in place in anticipation of significant volume. What happens when your expectations for volume are considerably less - it's your job to explain to the division manager or VP the reasons to justify this environment. What kind of reaction do you think you are going to get?

Customer support operations are prime targets for web-based ACD re-architecture. Programming of the ACD is required so that customers are able to pick from selections in order to route the call to a certain destination. This takes time and requires maintenance when options change, something that I think many managers would agree is frequent. This also requires that the caller pick from an extensive list of product options, specify license entitlements, and other tasks that could be time better spent.

To alleviate these traditional tasks, web-based systems (customer support in particular) should provide the capability of storing this information already thorough the existing customer record. When a customer reaches the web page, they will pick the product of choice (or another decision trigger), which kicks off the routing process. Behind the scenes, the CSR record can have all sorts of routing characteristics attached to it, ensure that the customer request will make its way to the proper resource, without having to choose one option after another as is the case with a phone call. A robust system will enable a myriad of characteristics that can route "solo" or in combination with other settings, such as:

• customer to CSR (dedicated contact support)
• company to CSR (dedicated company support)
• product to CSR
• "always available" capability (for off hours, routed to static queue)
• round-robin (distribute to CSR with lowest open call count)

The method for routine varies and usually involves some sort of hierarchy that will dictate how these characteristics apply across the spectrum of broad-based capabilities. For example, if two CSR's can support the same company, the second level check might be round-robin checking. Although not as important to some companies, the resulting ticket, issue, or request (depending upon the nomenclature of the deployment) might also enable VoIP capabilities that will allow CSR's to orchestrate customer call-back, further reducing the cost and increasing the overall ROI proposition.

These capabilities are cost savers but will inevitably cause problems if customers are not able to see what kinds of activities are going on inside the company by the CSR to resolve the request. Refer to the article entitled "Accountability Enforcement through Web-based Activity Management" for more information on this important aspect on streamlining support.

Leandro Goldberg is a frequent blogger and CRM Advisor Email: lgoldberg@supportfusion.com Company: http://www.supportfusion.com Blog: supportfusion.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leandro_Goldberg