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Glossary of terms — Business VoIP

This is a glossary of commonly used abbreviations and technical terms that apply to telephony, VoIP and telephony platforms

Glossary of common abbreviations and terms

AA
Auto Attendant, an automated attendant is a pre-recorded menu that allows callers to transfer to an extension without the intervention of a live receptionist

AAC

Adjusted Abandoned Calls Number of calls that abandoned the queue, minus all calls that were abandoned in under 10 seconds.

AAR

Adjusted Abandon Rate The percentage of calls offered that abandoned the queue, minus all calls that were abandoned in under 10 seconds. Calculation: (Adjusted Abandoned Calls) / (Calls Offered)

AAS

Average Answer Speed Average time a call is in the queue before being answered by an agent, in seconds.

AC

Abandoned Calls Number of calls that abandoned the queue before being offered to an agent.

ACO

Adjusted Calls Offered The adjusted number of calls that reached the queue. ACO excludes calls abandoned in less than 10 seconds.

AH

Average Hold Time Average time a caller spends on hold with an agent. AH excludes waiting time in the call queue.

AHT

Average Handle Time Average time an agent spent on a call. AHT includes Talk Time (TT), Hold Time (HT), and Disposition Time (ACW).

AR

Abandon Rate The percentage of calls that were offered and abandoned in the selected queue. If none are selected, the total for all queues is displayed. Calculation: (Abandoned calls) / (Calls offered)

AST

Assisted Calls Handled Number of calls answered and passed onto a different agent for further handling.

ATA

Analog Telephone Adapter

ATT

Average Talk Time Average number of minutes spent by an agent talking per answered call on calls originating through a call queue.

CDR

Call Data Records

CH

Calls Handled Number of calls answered by agents originating through a call queue.

CO

Calls Offered Number of calls that reached the queue that will be dispatched to agents. CO includes abandoned calls and excludes forward calls and voicemails.

CPE

Customer Premises Equipment

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

CSR

Customer Service Record

DECT

Digital Enhanced Cordless Communications

DID

Direct Inward Dialing

DSL Internet

Digital subscriber line

DT

Percent Dial Transfers The percentage of calls landing in a queue and were offered to an agent.

FWD

Forward Number of calls forwarded to another queue or an offnet (a non-Versature) phone number for handling. FWD includes forwarded calls to voicemail.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response Interactive voice response is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF tones input via a keypad.

LAN

Local Area Network

LNP

Local Number Portability

MAC Address

Media Access Control Address

MC

Missed Calls Number of calls originating through a call queue offered to an agent but not answered.

MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching

MRR

Monthly Recurring Revenue

MSP

Managed Service Provider

NAP

Network Access Point

NPA

Number Plan Area (Area Code)

NXX

The three digits of a phone number immediately following the area code, also called the “exchange” or the “Central Switching Office Designation." In the number (555) 222-3333, the NPA is “555” and the NXX is “222”

PBX

Private Branch Exchange

POE

POE describes any of several standard or ad-hoc systems that pass electric power along with data on twisted pair Ethernet cabling. This allows a single cable to provide both data connection and electric power to devices such as wireless access points, IP cameras, and VoIP phones.

Point to point Internet

Point to point dsl and cable all are effectively the same concept. You have a cable connection of some sort. The difference is that dsl is run through phone lines in the ground so the availability is higher/wider. Cable is faster but requires a coaxial connection whereas point to point is the same concept but a different cable that's usually rented from another provider.

QoS

Quality of Service

Roll-Over Lines

Rollover lines are used with traditional landlines to enable businesses to handle more than one phone call at a time. The concept with rollover lines is that one landline can only handle one call, so any additional calls would roll over to the next line.

SaaS

Software as a Service

SIP

Session Initiation Protocol

SIP Trunking

The use of VoIP to facilitate the connection of a traditional PBX to the Internet. The Internet replaces the conventional telephone trunk, allowing a business to communicate with a traditional PSTN subscriber.

SL

Service Level The percentage of calls originating through the call queue that are answered within 60 seconds or less.

SLA

Service Level Agreement

STUN

Simple Transversal of UDP through NATs A protocol for assisting devices behind a NAT firewall or router.

Traffic Shaping

Bandwidth management used on networks to optimize performance. At Versature, we traffic shape Voice to ensure high call performance.

TT

Talk Time Number of minutes spent by an agent on answered calls originating through a call queue.

UCaaS

Unified Communications as a Service

VARS

Value Added Reseller

VM

Voicemail Number of calls handled by the automated voicemail system.

VOL

Call Volume Number of calls originated through the selected queue. If none are selected, the total for all queues is displayed. VOL includes answered calls, abandoned calls, forwards, and voicemails.

WAN

Wide Area Network