myContactCenter is software for automatic conversation distribution, usually called ACD for short in contact centers (from Automatic Call Distribution). An ACD ensures that a request does not end up with just anyone, but with someone who can resolve it and is free right now. Originally, such systems only distributed phone calls; myContactCenter distributes calls, emails, faxes and chats according to the same rules and in the same user interface.
What myContactCenter does
Receiving. A call first reaches a flow: a graphically designed sequence that greets the caller, plays announcements, asks for input or determines the request by speech recognition. There are separate flows for email, fax and chat.
Assigning. The flow determines which skill the conversation belongs to (such as sales or technical support) and in which language it is conducted. It then places the conversation in the queue of this skill.
Distributing. From the queue, myContactCenter selects an agent who is qualified for the skill, channel and language and is currently available. Who comes first and which agent gets the conversation is determined by priorities, VIP classes and the distribution rules of the skill.
Handling. The agent is shown the conversation, accepts it and handles it in the Agent program — talks on the phone, replies, transfers. Afterwards, a wrap-up follows before the next conversation arrives.
Analyzing. Every conversation feeds into the statistics. Reports, dashboards and wallboards show how reachability and workload are doing; performance indicators raise an alarm when limits are exceeded.
How these steps interlock is shown in The path of a conversation.
Channels
| Channel | How it reaches myContactCenter |
|---|---|
| Call | The phone system delivers the call to myContactCenter. A call flow greets the caller and places them in the queue. |
| Callback and Dial in | Callers who don’t want to wait on the line hang up and still keep their place in the queue. When it is their turn, myContactCenter calls them back — or they call again themselves within a set period. |
| Web callback | Customers request a callback through a form on your website. |
| Voicemail | The caller leaves a message. It is distributed like a call to an agent, who listens to it. |
| myContactCenter fetches emails from the configured mailboxes. The agent’s reply leaves the company through your mail server. | |
| Fax | Faxes arrive through a service that converts them into emails and are handled like emails. |
| Chat | Customers write through a chat window on your website. |
Agents can also start conversations themselves: they call customers or write them an email, provided their profile allows it.
What else is included
- Recordings and transcription. Calls can be recorded and transcribed as text. The flow obtains the caller’s consent for this.
- Realtime translation. For calls, myContactCenter translates what both sides say and speaks the translation with a synthetic voice; emails are translated on arrival. This lets agents also serve customers whose language they don’t speak.
- Tickets. All conversations about a case are bundled in a ticket, including recording and transcription.
- Supervisor functions. Supervisors follow agents and conversations in real time, listen in on calls, whisper to the agent or join the call.
- High availability. A second server can stand by as a standby server, and multiple Routing Services take over for one another.
Speech synthesis, speech recognition, transcription, translation and the AI functions use services from Microsoft Azure.
The programs
You work with myContactCenter in three programs:
| Program | Who works with it |
|---|---|
| Agent | Agents and supervisors. This is where conversations are accepted and handled and where agents control their availability. |
| Administration | Administrators. This is where the contact center is set up: agents, skills, flows, distribution rules, reports and wallboards. |
| Wallboard | Nobody directly — the Wallboard shows real-time key figures on a screen in the room. Its content is designed in the Administration. |
Several services run on the server in the background. Which ones they are and how they fit together is described in System architecture.
Phone systems
myContactCenter works together with a phone system through which all calls run. SwyxWare, SwyxON, Wildix and IlogixxUC are supported; any other phone system can be connected via SIP (SipOnly). With SwyxWare, SwyxON and Wildix, myContactCenter takes over the users of the phone system as agents; with the others, you create the agents yourself.
User interface languages
The Agent, Administration and Wallboard are available in German, English and French. In the Agent and the Administration, you choose the user interface language in the program settings; the language of a wallboard is set when it is designed. This has nothing to do with the languages in which your customers are served — you define those freely in the Administration.