User guide

Virtual Contact Centers
71
Introduction
This section provides an overview of virtual contact centers and how they work. For more
information, refer to the following topics:
•Overview
• Benefits
• Configuration
Overview
Networked ACD is based on ACD overflow functionality. Overflow permits a call originating in
a particular geographic location to overflow to an agent on a different system in a different
geographic location in the event of high call volumes.
Traditionally, one of the limitations of networked contact centers has been that while the load
of the primary agent group is lightened, the overflow groups only receive calls when all of the
agents in the primary group are busy. Also, networked contact centers are not suitable for evenly
distributing calls among geographically dispersed agents.
Virtual contact centers remove these limitations by enabling
• Geographically dispersed agent devices to be registered on the same 3300 Agent Controller
across an IP network and to be placed in the common agent group(s) on the same controller
• Calls to be evenly distributed, based on which agent has been idle the longest, regardless
of their physical proximity to the 3300 Agent Controller they are registered on and/or to
other agents in their group
In a virtual contact center, the agents work in different geographical locations, but the contact
center functions as if the agents are all located locally in the same office. A virtual contact center
can be created by combining Networked ACD and ACD resiliency.
Benefits
A virtual contact center can evenly distribute calls among agents in a specific agent group,
irrespective of the agent’s geographic proximity to
• Other agents in their group
• The agent controller to which they are registered