ABSTRACT
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) defines predictive dialing as a process designed to maximize the time agents spend talking to contacts by automating the non-productive aspects of outbound calling, for example, deciding who to call, dialing numbers, waiting for an answer and filtering out telephone messages. The driver towards the predictive dialing technology that is used today is the result of the following call centre needs: automation of call processing, calling list preparation and management, management of multiple telephone lines, and predictability and information access. In general terms, a predictive dialler in business-to-consumer (B2C) contact increases agent productivity by 150 to 400 per cent, depending on the application of the call. A subtle, often unnoticed, major benefit of a predictive dialler is the management control, or operational streamlining, it provides over inbound/outbound calling campaigns. Predictive dialling technology can provide significant results to applications such as collections, telemarketing and customer service in the right environment, with relatively quick return on investments.
