Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Garlands invests in advanced outbound contact centre technology to ensure compliance and boost productivity

Manchester, UK, 5th December, 2006 – Garlands Call Centres has extended its investment in Amcat contact centre technology to ensure that its outbound operations are fully compliant with current and future compliance regulations. Garland’s new Amcat Contact Centre Suite technology will make conforming to OFCOM regulations easier and less time-consuming on a day-to-day basis.

In addition, new Amcat multi-number dialling features will help Garlands deliver more contacts per hour (improving productivity and efficiency), while enhanced granular recycling rules will mean less data is required as numbers can be re-dialled immediately.

Chris Colyer, IT Director at Garlands Call Centres commented, “As a leading UK outsourcer, we are always looking to improve the inbound and outbound services we offer clients as well as improve customer experiences. We take compliance matters very seriously and it makes a great deal of business sense to use automation to ensure we address our compliance obligations. It requires less management time, delivers consistency and reduces overheads across our six sites.”

Key compliance requirements that will be automated using the Amcat software technology include:-

-The ‘abandoned call’ rate not to exceed 3% on each individual campaign over any 24 hour period.

The drop rate is set within Amcat’s management console. This is a configuration setting done on a per campaign basis and can be operated by a non-technical person. Once the campaign drop rate is set, Amcat’s sophisticated dialling algorithms dynamically adjust their dialling speed so as not to exceed the target drop rate.

-Playing of a recorded message within 2 seconds when a representative is not available to take the call.

Amcat technology fully supports the “informational message” feature as standard functionality with its proprietary ACF engine (Amcat Communication Framework). The recordings used in conjunction with this are stored locally and the contact centre can record its own “informational message” to comply with the above criteria.

-Calls which aren't answered must ring for a minimum of 15 seconds before being terminated

“Minimum ring time” is a campaign setting within the Amcat management console which is a default setting. Typically users would have to be responsible for manually administering this setting.

-When an ‘abandoned call’ has been made to a particular number, any repeat calls to that number in the following 72 hours must be made by a live operator;

When using Amcat in Predictive Dialler mode, “Abandoned” calls are given a system call result of “Drop” so that the same number will not be called within the next 72 hours.

-For each outbound call a CLI number is presented to which a return call may be made which is not charged at a higher rate than the national call rate

Outbound CLI is controlled at network level by the telecommunications provider; Amcat works with all the major carriers and can provide further assistance as to how this is achieved if desired. No system features are required to fulfil this requirement, every Amcat system can generate an outbound CLI.

-Records keeping for minimum period of six months

Amcat software technology is based upon SQL or Oracle databases, as such all agents, campaign and system information is never deleted. Amcat recommends that regular back ups and archives are created in line with the above.

Editor’s Notes:

About Amcat:

Amcat™ is a leading provider of contact centre solutions. With an Amcat IP-based contact centre platform, organisations can guarantee that each customer contact is intelligent and productive, increasing employee morale and customer satisfaction. The Amcat customer contact platform ensures that companies align their entire organisation around customer care, providing better service at lower cost. As a result, companies profit from better customer acquisition and retention metrics, and ultimately, more revenue and profit. Today, Amcat is helping over 2,000 companies delight their customers while improving efficiency, increasing productivity and enhancing professionalism.

For more info visit www.amcat.co.uk or call 0161 772 7100.

About Garlands:

Garlands is a leading UK provider of outsourced customer contact services via phone, e-mail and the Web.

Garlands' services range from customer service to outbound customer acquisition, debt collection, customer retention, technical assistance, cross-selling, upselling, staff accounts, activations, credit management, customer registrations, customer lifecycle management and many other back office functions.

Garlands believes that people are the key to delivering superb customer service. It provides comprehensive and innovative programmes with a holistic focus to develop the skills of its staff - programmes that extend beyond the call centre and into the local community.

The company owns six prestigious contact centres, three in Hartlepool Marina, one in Middlesbrough town centre and two at a new Contact Centre Village development in Stockton. Garlands was named ‘North East Company of the Year' at the 2005 National Business Awards; the Garlands’ Quality Team for Vodafone was awarded "Best Work by a Contact Centre" at the 2006 Marketing Direct SMART awards.

For further media information, contact:

Michael Gray
Garlands Call Centres
Tel: 020 8744 9168
E-mail: michael.gray@cjgarland.com

Jane Moores
TTA Communications LTD. (for Amcat)
Tel: 00 44 (0) 845 658 0120 or 01225 731 317
E-mail: jmoores@ttauk.com

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