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OTHER DIALING OPTIONS  

Predictive dialing is the most productive use of a dialer - the amount of time your agents will actually spend talking to debtors can not be approached with any other dialing method. However, there are other several other dialing options that are available to you, depending on the way your accounts and agents are managed. Each method is typically used under different circumstances. In the collection industry, predictive campaigns would usually be the choice in high volume pooled environments, where ownership of accounts is not an issue. When ownership has to be maintained (e.g. a cradle-to-grave environment in medical collections), preview, power or progressive dialing will be more appropriate. The options that are available in addition to predictive dialing are described below.

• Preview dialing - In this mode, the agent will select a category of accounts to be called (e.g. new business or broken promises). RMEx would then display each account that met the selection criteria, in the order defined by management. The agent would usually review the account and select an option that would dial the phone numbers on the account. The agent would hear the progress of the call and would then work and document the account as they would have, had they manually called the debtor. Accounts that are attempted and not connected (e.g. busy or no answer) would be documented by the agent in the same manner as a manually dialed call.
  
  
• Power dialing - This is similar to preview mode - The agent will select a category of accounts to be called (e.g. new business or broken promises). RMExwould then display each account that met the selection criteria. When the account is displayed, the system would automatically make the call unlike in preview mode, where the agent initiates each call. The agent would hear the progress of the call and would then work and document the account as they would have, had they manually called the debtor.
  
  
• Progressive dialing - This is similar to the power dialing mode. The difference is that the agent does not see the account that is being called and does not hear the progress of the call. The account would be displayed when there was a connect or other status that required the agent's attention. Progressive dialing can also be compared to predictive dialing, with the difference being that we are dealing with only one agent and the system making only one call at a time. With predictive dialing, we are looking at a single campaign involving multiple agents, with the system placing a number of calls per agent in an effort to minimize the idle time between each connected call. With progressive dialing, accounts that are attempted and not connected would be automatically documented and acted upon by the system as defined by the management.
  
  
• Unattended (agentless) dialing - This a a variation of predictive dialing. You assign a specific number of "virtual" agents to a predictive campaign and usually play a standard message to the person who answers or leave the message on an answering machine. You can add IVR to the option and play a more personalized message that uses text to speech, giving the person who answers the option to talk to an agent. With the IVR feature, the debtor could check on their balance or make a payment.