ASAI application types

The capabilities provided by the ASAI feature support three classes of applications:

• Voice response applications
• Routing applications
• Data screen delivery applications

These classes of applications can all run simultaneously on a Avaya IR system. This implies that a Avaya IR ASAI system provides coresident voice response and DEFINITY G3 switch-to-host gateway capabilities. A single call, for instance, can first be routed by the Avaya IR system, handled with a voice response application on the Avaya IR system, and then be monitored by the same system as the call is ultimately delivered to a live agent. Furthermore, integration of the voice response and gateway capabilities allows agents to interact with callers based on the data collected in a voice response application through a host screen. The delivery of a data screen to an operator that contains information about the incoming caller is called a screen pop.

ASAI voice response applications

In voice response applications using the ASAI feature, incoming calls can be routed to the Avaya IR system over telephony channels via an ACD split on the DEFINITY G3 switch.

As a call is delivered to the Avaya IR system, it receives ASAI information related to the call through the Ethernet LAN circuit card in the Avaya IR system. ASAI allows it to receive the DNIS and/or ANI information of an incoming call to a telephony line over this D-channel. The DNIS and ANI information can be used to control the voice application used for the call. The ASAI information related to the call is made available to the specific voice application that interacts with the caller. In addition, the call control capabilities of ASAI can be used to transfer the call away from the Avaya IR system if the caller needs to speak to a live agent. The ASAI feature provides the following for voice response applications:

• Channel sharing – The DNIS and/or ANI information associated with the incoming call is used to select a particular IVR Designer application to service the call. This allows telephony ports to be shared across many applications. With port sharing, the same number of ports can handle more calls while maintaining the same grade of service. Alternatively, the same number of calls can be handled at a higher grade of service.
• ANI service – Providing this service allows applications to be customized according to the calling party number or a range of numbers, for example, an area code.
• Call information – Once the call is answered by the Avaya IR system, the ASAI information related to the call (such as ANI and DNIS) can be retrieved for use in the voice application that is handling the call.
• Enhanced transfer – The use of ASAI call control capabilities allows the transfer to be faster, quieter from the caller's perspective, and more reliable. In addition, the G3 ASAI feature of direct agent calling can be used to transfer the call. This allows the call to be delivered to a specific agent while maintaining accurate ACD split statistics. Calls placed to specific agents without the direct agent calling feature do not count as ACD calls in calculating and reporting ACD split statistics. Finally, data that is captured in the voice application can be saved and associated with the transferred call. This enables a host application to deliver data screens to agents that are based on data collected by the voice application that previously serviced the caller and any combination of ANI and/or DNIS information. See "Data screen delivery applications" for more information. The availability of ANI for application selection or within the voice application permits the design of unique voice response applications. Examples include:
  • Locator service. A local or host database can be used to determine the closest car dealers, ATMs, stores, and so on.
  • Weather reports. A weather report for the caller's area can be provided.
  • Pay-per-view. A cable company can use ANI to automate customer selection and billing of pay-per-view programs.
  • Caller-dependent transfers. The full 10-digit ANI can be used to identify callers and determine where they should be transferred if they need to speak to a live agent. This is desirable if, for instance, the caller is a preferred customer or is usually handled by a specific agent.
  • Geographically based call transfers. The area code and/or exchange can be used to determine where callers should be transferred if they need to speak to a live agent. This is desirable if, for instance, agents handle calls from specific geographic regions.

Routing applications

In routing applications using the ASAI feature, the Avaya IR system is used as a routing server to support the routing capabilities of ASAI and the call vectoring feature on the DEFINITY G3 switch. The DEFINITY G3 switch generates these call-routing requests when a call is processed by specific call vectors on the switch.

Information as to where to route calls can reside on the Avaya IR system in a local database or can be provided by a host to which the Avaya IR system is connected. Call routing is typically based on ANI or call-prompting data collected by the DEFINITY G3 switch.

The use of routing capabilities can significantly improve the efficiency of a call center as shown in the following examples:

• Priority service – Important or priority callers such as major clients can be routed to a common agent group but queued at a higher priority so that they are serviced faster. These callers can also be routed to the specific agent who normally handles their transactions.
• Call redirection – Callers dialing into a particular call center application can be redirected to other call center applications. For example, callers who have delinquent accounts can be redirected to a collections department when they call a sales department.
• Call screening – Fraudulent callers can be disconnected before being connected to an agent so that no network costs are incurred and no agent time is wasted.
• Geographically-based service – Where service is provided on a regional basis, callers can be routed to the agent group that is responsible for their region.

Data screen delivery applications

In data screen delivery applications, an application that resides on the host delivers a specified data screen related to a caller or dialed number to an agent at the same time that a voice call is delivered to the agent's telephone. This reduces both the agent time and network time required to service the caller.

Note that the delivery of data screens is not a function of the Avaya IR system itself. The system acts only as a communications gateway between the DEFINITY G3 switch and the host computer. A monitoring application on the Avaya IR system provides the ability to track the status of calls on the switch. This monitoring application receives information about calls delivered to live agents and forwards this information to the application on the host. The host application in turn uses this information to deliver a data screen to the agent receiving the call.

The information made available to the host includes which agent receives a particular call and the ASAI information associated with the call, such as ANI, DNIS, and any DEFINITY G3 switch call-prompting information collected from the caller. In addition, the call may have been serviced by a Avaya IR system voice application and then transferred to a live agent. In this case, information collected in the voice application can be saved and passed to the host at the time the call is delivered to the agent. Monitoring applications on the Avaya IR system can therefore be used to support data screen delivery for three different call-flow scenarios:

• Avaya IR system-to-agent transfers – In this scenario, calls are delivered to the system and then transferred to a live agent. As described previously, data screens delivered to agents in this scenario can be based on information collected in a voice application in addition to ASAI information such as ANI and DNIS and call-prompting information collected by the DEFINITY G3 switch.
• Incoming call directly to agent – In this scenario, incoming trunk calls are delivered directly to live agents. Data screens delivered to agents are based primarily on ANI and DNIS and/or call-prompting information. Data screens are not based on data collected in a voice application, since a voice application is not used to collect data from the caller.
• Agent-to-agent transfers – In this scenario, calls are transferred between live agents. Here, for example, "screening" agents can be used to collect information from the caller and handle simple transactions. The call can subsequently be transferred to "specialized" agents to handle more complex or detailed transactions. In these scenarios, data screens can be based on information keyed in to the host application by live agents. The host application can save data collected and entered by a screening agent and then use this data as the basis for data screens delivered to specialized agents who can receive the call. Note that the information available for the other two scenarios (that is, ANI, DNIS, call-prompting information, and voice-application data) is also available in this scenario. This information can be used in conjunction with data entered by a live agent to provide the basis for data screens.

Note:
You must plan your call flows carefully if you are using multiple ASAI adjuncts with the same DEFINITY G3 switch. Once a call is monitored by a particular Avaya IR system, the call cannot be redirected or transferred to a domain that is monitored by another system or ASAI adjunct. This is a consideration primarily for data screen delivery applications. For example, if you have agent-to-agent transfers for data screen delivery applications, agents must restrict transfers to domains monitored by the same Avaya IR system that monitors calls delivered to them. Also, for example, you might have Avaya IR system-to-agent transfers to support data screen delivery based on data collected by the Avaya IR system. In this case, you should configure multiple Avaya IR systems to "front end" mutually exclusive sets of live agents. These considerations do not apply if you are using only one Avaya IR ASAI system and it is the only ASAI adjunct.

The Avaya IR system-to-agent transfer scenario described above is supported using the enhanced-transfer capability provided for ASAI voice-response applications. The enhanced-transfer capability allows data collected in the voice application to be saved and associated with the transferred call. Data saved in this fashion can be included in the call-event information that is passed to the host at the time the transferred call is delivered to an agent.

The ability to save voice application data is useful in many ways. A voice application can be used to collect a variety of information such as account number, social security number, personal identification number, desired service, and so on. In many cases, this type of information is more useful than ASAI information such as ANI to both the host application and the live agents handling calls.

The ability to save voice application data with the enhanced transfer capability provides a useful bridge between voice response and data screen delivery applications. It provides true integration (in addition to coresidency) of the voice response and switch-to-host gateway capabilities offered with the Avaya IR system's ASAI feature. This mechanism for embedding voice application data in call event information for the transferred call can significantly reduce the complexity of the host application. Without this mechanism, the host application is typically required to associate information from two different physical interfaces (one interface from the voice response unit to receive data collected from the caller and another interface from the monitoring device over which call events are received). Also, the host application is typically required to track and associate multiple events for multiple calls (the initial incoming call to the voice response unit and the second, transferred call that is delivered to an agent). With the ASAI feature, a single message to the host over a single interface provides all the information needed to deliver a data screen based on data collected in a voice application.

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