GuruSup Glossary
All the key terms you need to know about AI agents, support automation, and customer service technologies.
A
Abandon Rate
Abandon rate is the percentage of incoming support interactions (calls, chats, or tickets) that customers abandon before receiving assistance, typically due to long wait times.
Account Management
Account management is the practice of building and maintaining long-term relationships with key customers to ensure satisfaction, retention, and revenue growth.
ACD
ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) is the technology that automatically routes incoming calls to available agents based on skills, availability, priority, and other configurable criteria.
After-Call Work
After-call work (ACW) is the set of tasks an agent performs immediately after ending a customer interaction, including notes documentation, ticket updates, follow-up scheduling, and disposition coding.
Agent Assist
Agent assist is AI technology that provides real-time suggestions, relevant knowledge articles, and automated actions to human support agents during customer interactions, improving speed and accuracy.
Agent Attrition
Agent attrition is the rate at which customer support agents leave their positions, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, typically measured as an annual percentage of the total workforce.
Agent Occupancy
Agent occupancy is the percentage of time an agent spends handling customer interactions relative to the total time they are logged in and available to receive work.
Agent Orchestration
Agent orchestration is the process of coordinating, sequencing, and managing the interactions between multiple AI agents to complete complex workflows efficiently.
Agent Scheduling
Agent scheduling is the process of assigning work shifts, breaks, and tasks to support agents to ensure adequate coverage during all operating hours while respecting labor rules and agent preferences.
Agent Utilization
Agent utilization is the percentage of an agent's working time spent actively handling customer interactions versus total available time, measuring productive capacity usage.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can autonomously plan, reason, use tools, and execute multi-step tasks to achieve goals, going beyond simple question-answering to take real-world actions.
AI Agent
An AI agent is an autonomous software entity that perceives its environment, makes decisions, and takes actions to achieve specific goals without continuous human intervention.
AI Agent Framework
An AI agent framework is a software toolkit that provides the foundational components — reasoning engines, tool integration, memory management, and orchestration — needed to build autonomous AI agents.
AI Bias
AI bias refers to systematic errors in AI system outputs that result in unfair treatment of certain groups, typically caused by biased training data or flawed model design.
AI Chatbot
An AI chatbot is a software application that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to simulate human-like conversations with users through text or voice interfaces.
AI Ethics
AI ethics is the study and application of moral principles to the design, development, and deployment of AI systems to ensure they benefit society and minimize harm.
AI Governance
AI governance is the set of policies, frameworks, and organizational structures that ensure AI systems are developed, deployed, and monitored in compliance with ethical, legal, and business standards.
AI Guardrails
AI guardrails are safety mechanisms and constraints built into AI systems to prevent harmful, inaccurate, or off-topic outputs and ensure the AI operates within defined boundaries.
AI Hallucination
AI hallucination occurs when an AI model generates plausible-sounding but factually incorrect, fabricated, or nonsensical information that is not grounded in its training data or provided context.
AI Hallucination
An AI hallucination occurs when a language model generates confident-sounding but factually incorrect, fabricated, or nonsensical information not grounded in its training data or provided context.
AI Payback Period
AI payback period is the time it takes for the cumulative cost savings and revenue gains from an AI support deployment to equal the total investment in implementation, licensing, and integration.
AI Safety
AI safety is the field dedicated to ensuring that AI systems behave as intended, avoid causing harm, and remain aligned with human values and organizational goals.
Annual Recurring Revenue
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is the annualized value of recurring subscription revenue, calculated as MRR multiplied by 12, used for long-term financial planning and valuation.
API Integration
API integration is the process of connecting two or more software applications through their Application Programming Interfaces to enable automated data exchange and workflow coordination.
ARPU
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is a financial metric that measures the mean revenue generated per user account, commonly used in SaaS, telecom, and subscription businesses.
ARR
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is the yearly value of a SaaS company's recurring subscription revenue, used as the primary metric for growth tracking and company valuation.
Auto Reply
An auto reply is an automated response sent immediately when a customer submits a support request, acknowledging receipt and setting expectations for response time.
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
ACD is a telephony system that automatically routes incoming calls to the most appropriate available agent based on predefined rules such as skills, priority, wait time, or customer segment.
Automatic Call Distributor
An Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) is a telephony system that receives incoming calls and routes them to the most appropriate available agent based on predefined rules.
Availability
Availability is the ability of a system to be operational and accessible when needed, encompassing uptime, performance, and the capacity to handle expected workloads.
Average Handle Time (AHT)
Average handle time (AHT) is the mean duration of a customer support interaction from start to finish, including talk time, hold time, and any after-call work required to resolve the issue.
Average Revenue per User
ARPU (Average Revenue per User) is a key SaaS metric that divides total revenue by the number of subscribers or active users to measure monetization effectiveness.
Average Speed of Answer
Average speed of answer (ASA) is the average time a customer waits in a queue before their call is answered by an agent, measured from the moment they enter the queue.
B
Blended Agent
A blended agent is a contact center agent who handles multiple communication channels — such as phone, email, chat, and social media — within the same shift, rather than being dedicated to a single channel.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave a website or page without taking any action, such as clicking a link, filling a form, or starting a conversation.
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence (BI) is the technology-driven process of collecting, integrating, analyzing, and presenting business data to support better-informed decision-making.
C
Call Abandonment
Call abandonment occurs when a caller hangs up before being connected to an agent, typically because of excessive wait times or frustration with the IVR system.
Call Analytics
Call analytics is the collection and analysis of data from phone interactions to measure performance, identify trends, and optimize call center operations.
Call Center
A call center is a centralized department or facility that handles a high volume of inbound and outbound phone calls for customer support, sales, or other business purposes.
Call Monitoring
Call monitoring is the practice of listening to live or recorded customer calls to evaluate agent performance, ensure quality standards, and identify coaching opportunities.
Call Recording
Call recording is the practice of capturing and storing audio from phone conversations for quality assurance, training, compliance, and dispute resolution purposes.
Call Routing
Call routing is the process of directing incoming phone calls to the appropriate agent, team, or automated system based on predefined rules, caller information, or AI-driven analysis.
Call Transcription
Call transcription is the automated process of converting spoken words from phone conversations into written text using speech-to-text technology.
Canned Response
A canned response is a pre-written template reply that support agents can quickly insert into conversations to answer frequently asked questions consistently and efficiently.
Case Management
Case management is the comprehensive process of handling complex customer issues that require multiple interactions, cross-department coordination, and extended resolution timelines.
CCaaS
CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) is a cloud-based subscription model that provides businesses with contact center technology and capabilities on a pay-per-use basis.
Change Management
Change management is the ITSM process of controlling modifications to IT systems, services, and infrastructure to minimize disruption and ensure changes are implemented successfully.
Chatbot
A chatbot is a software application designed to simulate conversation with human users through text or voice interfaces, ranging from simple rule-based bots to AI-powered agents.
Chatbot as a Service
Chatbot as a Service (CaaS) is a cloud-based platform that provides businesses with ready-to-deploy chatbot capabilities without requiring custom development or infrastructure management.
Chatbot Fallback
Chatbot fallback is the response or action triggered when a chatbot cannot understand or adequately handle a customer's query, typically resulting in escalation to a human agent or a generic error message.
Chatbot vs AI Agent
Chatbots follow predefined scripts and decision trees to respond to user inputs, while AI agents use reasoning capabilities to autonomously understand context, make decisions, and execute actions.
Churn Prediction
Churn prediction uses data analytics and machine learning to identify customers who are likely to stop using a product or service before they actually leave.
Churn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop using a product or service within a given time period, calculated by dividing lost customers by total customers at the start of the period.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services — servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and AI — over the internet, offering scalable resources on demand.
Cloud Contact Center
A cloud contact center is a customer interaction management platform hosted in the cloud, providing omnichannel support capabilities without on-premise hardware or infrastructure.
Co-Browsing
Co-browsing is a technology that allows a support agent to see and interact with a customer's web browser session in real-time, guiding them through web-based tasks.
Cold Transfer
A cold transfer is the process of redirecting a customer to another agent or department without prior introduction or context sharing, requiring the customer to explain their issue again.
Community Forum
A community forum is an online discussion platform where customers can ask questions, share knowledge, discuss best practices, and help each other with product-related topics.
Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
CTI connects telephone systems with computer applications, enabling features like screen pops, click-to-call, automatic call logging, and synchronized data between phone and CRM systems.
Computer Vision
Computer vision is a field of AI that enables machines to interpret and understand visual information from images, videos, and other visual inputs.
Contact Center
A contact center is a centralized facility or cloud-based operation that manages customer interactions across multiple channels including phone, email, chat, social media, and messaging.
Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)
CCaaS is a cloud-based customer experience solution that allows companies to run their contact center operations without on-premises infrastructure, paying on a subscription or usage basis.
Contact Center Automation
Contact center automation is the strategic use of AI, machine learning, and intelligent workflows to handle customer interactions, route inquiries, and execute support processes with minimal or no human intervention.
Contact Deflection
Contact deflection is the strategy of redirecting customer inquiries to self-service channels like knowledge bases, chatbots, and FAQs before they become agent-handled interactions.
Contact Management
Contact management is the process of storing, organizing, and maintaining information about customers, leads, and business relationships in a centralized system.
Content Management System
A Content Management System (CMS) is a software platform that enables creating, managing, modifying, and publishing digital content without requiring specialized technical knowledge.
Conversational AI
Conversational AI refers to technologies that enable computers to engage in natural, human-like dialogue, understanding context, maintaining conversation history, and generating relevant responses.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of users who complete a desired action out of the total number of users who had the opportunity to do so.
Cost Per Contact
Cost per contact measures the total expense of handling a single customer interaction, including agent labor, technology, overhead, and management costs divided by the total number of contacts handled.
Cost per Resolution
Cost per resolution is the total cost of resolving a customer support issue, including agent time, technology, overhead, and any associated operational expenses.
Cost Per Ticket
Cost per ticket is the total expense a company incurs to resolve a single customer support interaction, calculated by dividing total support costs by the number of tickets handled in a given period.
Cost to Serve
Cost to serve is the total expense required to deliver service to a customer across all touchpoints, encompassing support interactions, account management, onboarding, documentation, and self-service infrastructure.
CRM Software
CRM software is a technology platform that helps businesses manage customer data, track interactions, automate sales processes, and analyze customer relationships at scale.
CSAT Score
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) is a metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction or overall service, typically collected through post-interaction surveys.
Customer 360
Customer 360 is a unified view of all customer data — interactions, purchases, preferences, support history, and engagement — aggregated from multiple systems into a single comprehensive profile.
Customer Acquisition Cost
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total cost of sales and marketing efforts required to acquire a new customer, including advertising, salaries, and technology expenses.
Customer Advocacy
Customer advocacy is a strategy and mindset that prioritizes the customer's best interests, turning satisfied customers into vocal promoters of the brand.
Customer Care
Customer care is the ongoing practice of nurturing customer relationships through attentive, empathetic interactions that go beyond solving immediate problems to build long-term loyalty.
Customer Churn
Customer churn is the rate at which customers stop doing business with a company over a given period, typically expressed as a percentage of the total customer base.
Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer effort score (CES) is a metric that measures how much effort a customer had to exert to get their issue resolved, their question answered, or their request fulfilled through a support interaction.
Customer Engagement
Customer engagement refers to the ongoing interactions and emotional connections between a customer and a brand across all channels and touchpoints.
Customer Experience
Customer experience (CX) is the total perception a customer forms about a brand based on every interaction across all touchpoints throughout the entire customer lifecycle.
Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is information provided by customers about their experience with a product, service, or interaction, used to guide improvements and measure satisfaction.
Customer Health Score
A customer health score is a composite metric that aggregates multiple data points to assess the overall health of a customer relationship and predict the likelihood of renewal or churn.
Customer Journey
The customer journey is the complete sequence of interactions and experiences a customer has with a brand, from initial awareness through purchase and beyond to advocacy.
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual representation of every touchpoint and interaction a customer has with a company, from initial awareness through purchase, support, and renewal.
Customer Lifecycle
The customer lifecycle describes the stages a customer goes through in their relationship with a business, from first contact to long-term loyalty or eventual churn.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account throughout the entire duration of their relationship.
Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is the ongoing positive relationship between a customer and a brand that drives repeat purchases and resistance to switching to competitors.
Customer Onboarding
Customer onboarding is the process of guiding new customers through initial setup, training, and adoption of a product or service to ensure they achieve value quickly.
Customer Persona
A customer persona is a semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer based on market research and real data about existing customers' demographics, behaviors, and motivations.
Customer Portal
A customer portal is a secure, personalized web interface where customers can access account information, submit support requests, track orders, and manage their relationship with a business.
Customer Profile
A customer profile is a detailed record of an individual customer's information, including contact details, interaction history, preferences, and account data.
Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and technology system for managing all interactions and relationships with current and potential customers throughout the customer lifecycle.
Customer Retention
Customer retention is the ability of a business to keep existing customers over a period of time, measured as the percentage of customers who continue using the product or service.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well a company's products, services, and overall experience meet or exceed customer expectations.
Customer Satisfaction Score
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction, product, or service, typically through a post-interaction survey.
Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that share similar characteristics, behaviors, or needs.
Customer Service
Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to people who buy or use its products or services, encompassing all interactions before, during, and after a purchase.
Customer Success
Customer success is a business strategy focused on ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes while using your product, driving retention, expansion, and advocacy.
Customer Success Manager
A Customer Success Manager (CSM) is a professional responsible for building relationships with customers, ensuring they achieve their goals, and driving retention and account growth.
Customer Support
Customer support is the range of services provided to help customers resolve specific issues, troubleshoot problems, and get the most value from products or services they have purchased.
Customer Support Automation
Customer support automation uses AI and technology to handle customer inquiries, resolve issues, and complete service tasks without manual human intervention.
Customer Support ROI
Customer support ROI measures the return on investment from support operations by comparing the financial benefits gained — such as cost savings, increased retention, and revenue from upsells — against the total investment in support infrastructure and staff.
Customer Survey
A customer survey is a structured data collection tool used to gather feedback from customers about their experiences, satisfaction, and expectations.
Customer Touchpoint
A customer touchpoint is any interaction or point of contact between a customer and a business, whether digital (website, app, email) or physical (store, call center).
D
Dashboard
A dashboard is a visual interface that displays key metrics, KPIs, and data in real-time through charts, graphs, and indicators for monitoring performance at a glance.
Data Encryption
Data encryption is the process of converting readable data into an unreadable format using cryptographic algorithms, protecting it from unauthorized access during storage and transmission.
Data Visualization
Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data using visual elements like charts, graphs, maps, and infographics to make patterns and insights easier to understand.
Deal Management
Deal management is the process of tracking, organizing, and optimizing sales opportunities from initial contact through negotiation to close.
Deep Learning
Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses multi-layered neural networks to learn complex patterns and representations from large volumes of data.
Deflection Rate
Deflection rate is the percentage of customer support inquiries that are resolved through automated channels — such as AI agents, chatbots, knowledge bases, or self-service portals — without requiring intervention from a human agent.
Digital Assistant
A digital assistant is an advanced AI application that uses natural language processing, machine learning, and integrations to help users complete tasks through conversational or voice interfaces.
Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery (DR) is the set of policies, tools, and procedures designed to restore critical business systems and data after a catastrophic event like hardware failure, cyberattack, or natural disaster.
Disposition Code
A disposition code is a standardized label assigned to a support interaction upon closure that categorizes the outcome, reason for contact, and resolution type for reporting and analysis.
Documentation
Documentation is the organized collection of written materials that explain how a product, service, or process works, including user guides, API references, and technical specifications.
E
Elasticity
Elasticity is the ability of a cloud system to automatically scale resources up during demand spikes and scale down during quiet periods, optimizing costs.
Email Automation
Email automation is the use of predefined rules and triggers to send targeted, personalized emails to customers automatically based on their actions, behaviors, or characteristics.
Email Management
Email management in customer support is the systematic process of receiving, categorizing, prioritizing, routing, and responding to customer emails efficiently.
Employee Wiki
An employee wiki is a collaborative internal knowledge platform where team members can create, edit, and organize company information, procedures, and documentation.
End-to-End Encryption
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a communication security method where only the sender and recipient can read the messages, preventing any intermediary — including the service provider — from accessing the content.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is a metric that measures the level of interaction and involvement that users have with content, channels, or features relative to total exposure.
Escalation
Escalation is the process of transferring a customer support interaction from one level of support to a higher level — from AI to human, or from junior to senior agent — when the current handler cannot resolve the issue.
Escalation Management
Escalation management is the structured process of transferring unresolved customer issues to higher levels of authority, expertise, or specialization when initial support cannot resolve them.
Explainable AI
Explainable AI (XAI) refers to AI systems designed to provide clear, understandable explanations of how they arrive at their decisions, predictions, or recommendations.
F
Failover
Failover is the automatic switching to a backup system, server, or network when the primary system fails, ensuring continuous service availability.
FAQ Page
A FAQ page is a web page that lists and answers the most commonly asked questions about a product, service, or topic in a concise, easily scannable format.
Fine-Tuning
Fine-tuning is the process of further training a pre-trained AI model on domain-specific data to specialize its behavior and improve performance for particular tasks.
First Call Resolution
First call resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues that are fully resolved during the initial phone call or contact, without requiring follow-up interactions.
First Contact Resolution (FCR)
First contact resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer support inquiries that are fully resolved during the initial interaction, without requiring follow-up contacts, transfers, or escalations.
First Response Time
First Response Time (FRT) measures the elapsed time between when a customer submits a support request and when they receive the first meaningful response from the support team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is a curated collection of common questions and answers about a product, service, or process, designed to provide quick self-service information.
G
GDPR
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the European Union's comprehensive data protection law that governs how organizations collect, process, store, and share personal data of EU residents.
Generative AI
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content — text, images, audio, or code — based on patterns learned from training data.
H
Help Center
A help center is a customer-facing online resource that provides self-service support through knowledge base articles, FAQs, tutorials, and community forums.
Help Desk
A help desk is a centralized point of contact that provides information and support to customers or employees, typically managing requests through a ticketing system.
Historical Reporting
Historical reporting is the analysis of past customer interaction data over defined time periods to identify trends, measure performance, and inform strategic decisions.
I
In-App Messaging
In-app messaging is a communication channel that enables customers to send and receive messages directly within a mobile or web application without leaving the product.
Incident Management
Incident management is the ITSM process of identifying, logging, categorizing, and resolving unplanned service disruptions to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
Inference
Inference is the process of using a trained AI model to make predictions or generate outputs on new, previously unseen data in real time.
Intelligent Routing
Intelligent routing uses AI and data analysis to automatically direct customer inquiries to the most appropriate agent, team, or AI system based on context, skills, and predicted outcomes.
Intent Detection
Intent detection is the process of identifying the purpose or goal behind a user's message, allowing AI systems to route requests and trigger appropriate actions.
Interaction Analytics
Interaction analytics is the AI-powered analysis of customer interactions across all channels to extract insights about customer behavior, agent performance, and business trends.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
IVR is a telephony system that interacts with callers through pre-recorded voice menus and keypad inputs to route calls or provide automated self-service before reaching a human agent.
Internal Knowledge Base
An internal knowledge base is a private repository of organizational knowledge accessible only to employees, containing procedures, policies, product details, and troubleshooting guides.
IT Service Management
IT Service Management (ITSM) is a set of policies, processes, and procedures for designing, delivering, managing, and improving IT services to meet business needs.
ITSM
ITSM is the acronym for IT Service Management — the discipline of implementing, managing, and delivering IT services through structured processes and best practices.
IVR
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an automated phone system that interacts with callers through voice prompts and keypad inputs to route calls or provide self-service options.
K
Key Performance Indicator
A Key Performance Indicator is a quantifiable metric used to evaluate the success of an organization, team, or process in meeting specific performance objectives.
Knowledge Article
A knowledge article is a structured piece of content in a knowledge base that provides information, instructions, or solutions for a specific topic, question, or issue.
Knowledge Base
A knowledge base is a centralized repository of information — articles, FAQs, policies, documentation — that AI agents and customers can access to find answers to questions and resolve issues.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is the systematic process of creating, organizing, sharing, and maintaining an organization's collective knowledge to improve efficiency and decision-making.
KPI
A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively an organization is achieving its key business objectives.
L
Large Language Model
A large language model (LLM) is a deep learning model trained on vast amounts of text data that can understand, generate, and reason about human language with remarkable fluency.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with potential customers at every stage of the sales funnel through targeted content, education, and communication.
Lead Qualification
Lead qualification is the process of evaluating whether a potential customer has the need, budget, authority, and timeline to purchase your product or service.
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is a methodology that assigns numerical values to leads based on their characteristics and behaviors to prioritize sales efforts on the most promising prospects.
Live Chat
Live chat is a real-time messaging channel embedded on a website or app that allows customers to communicate with support agents or AI agents instantly.
Load Balancing
Load balancing is the process of distributing network traffic and workload across multiple servers to ensure no single server is overwhelmed, improving performance and reliability.
M
Machine Learning
Machine learning is a branch of AI where systems learn patterns from data and improve their performance over time without being explicitly programmed for each task.
Macro
A macro in customer support is an automated sequence of actions — such as inserting a reply, changing ticket status, adding tags, and assigning to a team — triggered by a single command.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation uses software to automate repetitive marketing tasks like email campaigns, social media posting, lead scoring, and audience segmentation at scale.
Mean Time to Resolution
Mean time to resolution (MTTR) is the average time it takes to fully resolve a support ticket or incident from the moment it is reported until the issue is confirmed fixed.
Mean Time to Respond
Mean time to respond (MTTR) is the average time elapsed between a customer submitting a support request and receiving the first meaningful response from the support team.
Microservices
Microservices is a software architecture pattern where applications are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate through APIs and can be deployed separately.
Middleware
Middleware is software that acts as a bridge between different applications, databases, or services, enabling them to communicate and exchange data seamlessly.
Model Training
Model training is the process of teaching an AI system to recognize patterns, make predictions, or generate outputs by exposing it to labeled or unlabeled data and adjusting its parameters.
Monthly Recurring Revenue
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is the predictable, normalized monthly revenue from all active subscriptions, the foundational financial metric for subscription businesses.
MRR
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is the total predictable revenue a subscription business earns each month from all active customers.
Multi-Agent Orchestration
Multi-agent orchestration is the coordination of multiple specialized AI agents working together to handle complex tasks, where each agent focuses on a specific domain or function.
Multi-Agent System
A multi-agent system (MAS) is an architecture where multiple autonomous AI agents collaborate, each specializing in different tasks, to collectively solve complex problems.
Multi-Modal AI Support
Multi-modal AI support uses AI models capable of processing and generating multiple data types — text, images, audio, and video — to handle customer interactions that involve more than just written text.
Multichannel
Multichannel is a customer communication strategy that offers support across multiple channels (phone, email, chat, social media) that operate independently of each other.
N
Named Entity Recognition
Named entity recognition (NER) is an NLP technique that identifies and classifies key information in text into predefined categories such as names, dates, amounts, products, and locations.
Natural Language Generation
Natural Language Generation (NLG) is the process by which AI systems produce coherent, contextually appropriate human language text from structured data or internal representations.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language in a meaningful way.
Natural Language Understanding
Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is a subset of NLP focused on enabling machines to comprehend the meaning, intent, and context behind human language input.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend a company on a 0-10 scale, categorizing them as promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), or detractors (0-6).
Neural Network
A neural network is a computing system inspired by the human brain, composed of interconnected nodes (neurons) organized in layers that process information and learn patterns from data.
No-Code Automation
No-code automation enables non-technical users to build and deploy automated workflows, chatbot flows, and business processes using visual drag-and-drop interfaces without writing any programming code.
O
OAuth
OAuth is an open authorization framework that enables applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on third-party services without exposing the user's password.
Omnichannel
Omnichannel is a customer engagement approach that provides a seamless, integrated experience across all communication channels, with full context preserved as customers switch between them.
Omnichannel Support
Omnichannel support provides a seamless, unified customer service experience across all communication channels — chat, email, phone, social media, and messaging apps — with shared context between them.
Opportunity Management
Opportunity management is the systematic process of identifying, tracking, and managing potential sales deals to maximize win rates and revenue.
Optical Character Recognition
Optical character recognition (OCR) is the technology that extracts text from images, scanned documents, and photos, converting visual text into machine-readable data.
Outbound Dialer
An outbound dialer is a software system that automates the process of placing outgoing calls, used for sales, customer follow-ups, surveys, and proactive support campaigns.
P
Pipeline Management
Pipeline management is the process of monitoring and optimizing the flow of deals through the sales pipeline to ensure consistent revenue generation and accurate forecasting.
Power Dialer
A power dialer is an automated calling system that dials one number at a time from a list, connecting the agent to the call only when someone answers, ensuring no abandoned calls.
Predictive Dialer
A predictive dialer is an automated phone system that dials multiple numbers simultaneously using algorithms to predict agent availability, maximizing outbound call efficiency.
Predictive Routing
Predictive routing uses AI and machine learning to analyze customer data, interaction history, and agent skills to match each incoming inquiry with the agent most likely to achieve the best outcome.
Predictive Support
Predictive support uses data analytics, machine learning, and AI to anticipate customer issues before they happen and proactively deliver solutions.
Proactive Support
Proactive support is the practice of identifying and resolving customer issues before they contact support, using data signals, predictive analytics, and automated outreach to prevent problems.
Problem Management
Problem management is the ITSM process of identifying and addressing the root causes of recurring incidents to prevent future occurrences and minimize service impact.
Progressive Dialer
A progressive dialer is an automated phone system that dials the next number on a list only after the previous call is completed and the agent signals readiness for a new call.
Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the practice of designing and refining the instructions given to AI language models to elicit accurate, relevant, and useful outputs.
Prompt Engineering for Support
Prompt engineering for support is the practice of designing and optimizing the instructions, context, and constraints given to AI language models to produce accurate, on-brand, and helpful customer support responses.
Push Notification
A push notification is a message sent from an application to a user's device that appears even when the app is not actively in use, used for alerts, updates, and re-engagement.
Q
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance (QA) in customer support is the systematic process of evaluating interactions to ensure agents meet defined service standards for accuracy, professionalism, and effectiveness.
Quality Assurance (QA)
QA in customer support is the systematic process of monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of agent interactions to ensure they meet established standards for accuracy, tone, and resolution effectiveness.
Quality Management
Quality management in customer support is the systematic process of monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of customer interactions across all channels.
Queue Time
Queue time is the duration a customer waits in line before being connected to a support agent, starting from when they enter the queue until an agent begins handling their request.
R
RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
RAG is a technique that enhances AI responses by retrieving relevant information from a knowledge base before generating an answer, ensuring responses are grounded in accurate, up-to-date data.
Reactive Support
Reactive support is the traditional customer service model where the support team responds to customer-initiated inquiries, issues, and complaints after they occur.
Real-Time Analytics
Real-time analytics is the continuous analysis of data as it is generated, providing immediate insights into customer interactions, agent performance, and operational metrics.
Relationship Intelligence
Relationship intelligence uses AI to automatically capture, analyze, and surface insights about business relationships from communication data like emails, meetings, and calls.
Reporting
Reporting is the structured process of collecting, organizing, and presenting data about business performance to stakeholders for analysis, accountability, and decision-making.
Resolution Rate
Resolution rate measures the percentage of customer support tickets that are successfully resolved, either on first contact or within a defined timeframe.
Responsible AI
Responsible AI is the practice of developing and deploying AI systems with accountability, transparency, fairness, and ethical considerations at every stage of the lifecycle.
REST API
A REST API (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for building web services that use standard HTTP methods to create, read, update, and delete data resources.
Return on Investment
Return on Investment (ROI) is a financial metric that measures the profitability of an investment by comparing the net gain to the cost, expressed as a percentage.
Revenue Forecasting
Revenue forecasting is the process of predicting total future revenue across all sources — new sales, renewals, expansions, and recurring revenue — over a defined time period.
Revenue per User
Revenue per user is a financial metric that calculates the average revenue generated by each active user or customer over a specific time period.
Role-Based Access Control
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a security model that restricts system access based on a user's role within the organization, granting permissions to perform only authorized actions.
S
SaaS
SaaS (Software as a Service) is a cloud-based software delivery model where applications are hosted by a provider and accessed by customers over the internet on a subscription basis.
Sales Automation
Sales automation uses software to automate repetitive sales tasks such as data entry, email follow-ups, lead assignment, and pipeline management, freeing sales teams to focus on selling.
Sales Forecasting
Sales forecasting is the process of estimating future revenue by predicting how much a sales team will sell over a given period based on pipeline data and historical trends.
Sales Pipeline
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, tracking deals through stages from initial contact to closed-won or closed-lost.
Saved Reply
A saved reply is a reusable pre-written response template stored in a support platform that agents can search, select, and customize before sending to customers.
Scalability
Scalability is the ability of a system to handle increased workload by adding resources, either by upgrading existing hardware (vertical) or adding more machines (horizontal).
Screen Pop
Screen pop is a CTI feature that automatically displays relevant customer information on an agent's screen when a call or interaction is connected, eliminating the need for manual lookup.
Screen Sharing
Screen sharing is a technology that allows a support agent to view or control a customer's screen in real-time to diagnose and resolve technical issues.
Self-Service Portal
A self-service portal is a customer-facing platform where users can find answers, troubleshoot issues, and complete tasks independently without contacting support agents.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is an NLP technique that identifies and classifies the emotional tone behind text, determining whether a message expresses positive, negative, or neutral sentiment.
Service Desk
A service desk is an IT service management function that serves as the primary point of contact between the IT organization and its users, handling incidents, service requests, and communications.
Service Level Agreement
A service level agreement (SLA) is a formal contract between a service provider and customer that defines the expected quality, availability, and responsiveness of the service.
Shared Inbox
A shared inbox is a collaborative email management tool that allows multiple team members to access, manage, and respond to messages from a single email address.
Single Customer View
A single customer view (SCV) is a unified, consolidated representation of all data about a customer from every system and touchpoint, accessible from one place.
Single Sign-On
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method that allows users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials, eliminating the need for separate passwords.
Skills-Based Routing
Skills-based routing is a contact distribution method that matches incoming customer interactions with agents who possess the specific skills, knowledge, or certifications required to handle each issue.
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a formal commitment between a service provider and customer that defines expected performance metrics like response times, resolution times, and uptime guarantees.
SMS Customer Service
SMS customer service is the use of text messaging to provide support, send notifications, and communicate with customers through their mobile phone's native messaging app.
SOC 2
SOC 2 (Service Organization Control 2) is an auditing standard that evaluates how a service organization manages customer data based on five trust service criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Social Listening
Social listening is the process of monitoring social media platforms and online communities for mentions of your brand, products, competitors, and industry topics.
Social Media Customer Service
Social media customer service is the practice of providing customer support through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn.
Speech Analytics
Speech analytics uses AI and NLP to automatically analyze recorded or real-time voice conversations, extracting insights about customer sentiment, agent performance, compliance, and trending topics.
Speech Recognition
Speech recognition is the technology that enables computers to identify and process human speech, converting spoken words into actionable data for AI systems.
Speech-to-Text
Speech-to-text (STT) is the technology that converts spoken language into written text, enabling AI systems to process and understand voice interactions.
SSO
SSO (Single Sign-On) is an authentication protocol that enables users to log in once and gain access to all connected applications without re-entering credentials.
Standard Operating Procedure
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a documented set of step-by-step instructions that describes how to perform a specific task or process consistently and correctly.
Support Automation
Support automation is the use of technology — AI, workflows, rules, and integrations — to handle customer support tasks with minimal or no human intervention.
T
Team Inbox
A team inbox is a unified communication hub where all customer messages from multiple channels are collected, organized, and managed by a support team.
Technical Support
Technical support is specialized assistance provided to customers experiencing problems with technology products, software, hardware, or digital services.
Text-to-Speech
Text-to-speech (TTS) is the technology that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken audio, enabling AI systems to communicate with customers through voice channels.
Ticket Deflection
Ticket deflection is the practice of resolving customer inquiries through self-service resources, AI agents, or automated workflows before a support ticket is created or assigned to a human agent.
Ticket Management
Ticket management is the process of creating, tracking, prioritizing, and resolving support requests (tickets) through their entire lifecycle from submission to closure.
Ticket Routing
Ticket routing is the process of automatically directing customer support requests to the most appropriate agent, team, or AI workflow based on the ticket's content, priority, and required expertise.
Tier 1 Support
Tier 1 support is the first level of customer assistance that handles basic inquiries, common troubleshooting, and routine requests using standard procedures and knowledge base articles.
Tier 2 Support
Tier 2 support is the second level of assistance that handles complex issues requiring deeper technical knowledge, advanced troubleshooting, or specialized domain expertise beyond Tier 1 capabilities.
Tier 3 Support
Tier 3 support is the highest level of technical assistance, involving subject matter experts, engineers, or developers who handle the most complex issues that lower tiers cannot resolve.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a comprehensive financial estimate that includes all direct and indirect costs associated with owning, operating, and maintaining a customer support operation over its lifetime.
Transformer Model
A transformer is a deep learning architecture that uses self-attention mechanisms to process sequential data in parallel, forming the foundation of modern large language models.
U
Unified Communications
Unified Communications (UC) is the integration of multiple communication tools — voice, video, messaging, email, and collaboration — into a single, cohesive platform.
Unified Customer Profile
A unified customer profile is a comprehensive, real-time view of a customer that combines data from all business systems into a single, actionable record.
Uptime
Uptime is the percentage of time a system or service is operational and available, typically measured over a month or year and expressed as a percentage like 99.9%.
V
Video Support
Video support is a customer service channel that uses real-time video calls to provide face-to-face assistance for complex issues that benefit from visual communication.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is an AI-powered software agent that can perform tasks, answer questions, and assist users through natural language conversation across various domains.
Virtual Call Center
A virtual call center is a distributed customer support operation where agents work remotely from different locations, connected through cloud-based technology.
Voice AI
Voice AI combines speech recognition, natural language understanding, and speech synthesis to enable AI agents to handle phone conversations with customers in real-time.
Voice of Customer
Voice of Customer (VoC) is a research methodology that captures customers' expectations, preferences, and aversions through direct and indirect feedback across all touchpoints.
Voice Synthesis
Voice synthesis is the artificial generation of human-like speech using AI models that can produce customizable, natural-sounding voices for various applications.
Voicebot
A voicebot is an AI-powered conversational agent that interacts with users through spoken language, using speech recognition and natural language processing to understand and respond to voice inputs.
W
Wait Time
Wait time is the total duration a customer spends waiting for assistance across all stages of a support interaction, including queue time, hold time, and transfer wait time.
Warm Transfer
A warm transfer is the process of connecting a customer to another agent or department while the original agent stays on the line to introduce the customer and provide context before disconnecting.
Web Chat
Web chat is a messaging interface embedded directly on a website that enables visitors and customers to communicate with support teams or AI agents in real time.
Webhook
A webhook is an automated HTTP callback that sends real-time data from one application to another when a specific event occurs, enabling event-driven integrations.
Webhook Integration
A webhook is an HTTP callback that automatically sends real-time data from one application to another when a specific event occurs, enabling event-driven integrations without continuous polling.
WhatsApp 24-Hour Window
The WhatsApp 24-hour window is the time period after a customer sends a message during which a business can respond with free-form messages without using pre-approved templates.
WhatsApp Broadcast
WhatsApp broadcast is the ability to send a single message to multiple recipients simultaneously using approved message templates, enabling mass communication for notifications and campaigns.
WhatsApp Business API
The WhatsApp Business API is a programmatic interface that enables medium and large businesses to send and receive messages on WhatsApp at scale, with automation, chatbot integration, and CRM connectivity.
WhatsApp Business Platform
The WhatsApp Business Platform is Meta's enterprise solution that provides APIs and tools for businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp at scale with automation, AI, and CRM integration.
WhatsApp Business Solution Provider
A WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) is a company authorized by Meta to help businesses access and implement the WhatsApp Business Platform with value-added services.
WhatsApp Catalog
WhatsApp Catalog is a feature that allows businesses to showcase their products and services directly within WhatsApp, enabling customers to browse, select, and inquire about items in the chat.
WhatsApp Chatbot
A WhatsApp chatbot is an automated conversational agent deployed on WhatsApp Business that handles customer interactions, answers queries, and executes tasks through the messaging platform.
WhatsApp Cloud API
WhatsApp Cloud API is Meta's hosted solution that allows businesses to integrate WhatsApp messaging into their customer support workflows without managing their own infrastructure.
WhatsApp Conversation Pricing
WhatsApp conversation pricing is Meta's billing model where businesses are charged per 24-hour conversation window rather than per individual message.
WhatsApp Flows
WhatsApp Flows is a feature that allows businesses to build structured, multi-step interactions within WhatsApp, such as forms, surveys, appointment booking, and product selection.
WhatsApp Green Tick
The WhatsApp green tick (verified badge) is an official verification mark displayed next to a business name, confirming that the WhatsApp account belongs to a legitimate, verified business.
WhatsApp Interactive Message
WhatsApp interactive messages are rich message formats that include buttons, lists, and product catalogs, enabling customers to take actions directly within the chat.
WhatsApp Message Template
A WhatsApp message template is a pre-approved message format that businesses must use to initiate conversations with customers outside the 24-hour customer service window.
WhatsApp Multi-Agent
WhatsApp multi-agent is a setup where multiple human agents and AI agents can access and respond to customer conversations on a single WhatsApp Business number simultaneously.
WhatsApp Opt-In
WhatsApp opt-in is the explicit consent a customer must provide before a business can send them proactive messages on WhatsApp, required by Meta's Business Policy.
WhatsApp Payment
WhatsApp Payment is a feature that enables customers to make payments directly within WhatsApp conversations, supporting in-chat purchases and transactions.
WhatsApp Quick Reply
WhatsApp quick replies are pre-defined button responses that customers can tap to answer a question or make a selection, streamlining conversations and reducing typing effort.
WhatsApp Webhook
A WhatsApp webhook is an HTTP endpoint that receives real-time notifications from the WhatsApp Business API about incoming messages, message status updates, and other events.
Whisper Coaching
Whisper coaching is a real-time guidance technique where a supervisor or AI system provides suggestions to an agent during a live customer interaction without the customer hearing.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation uses technology to execute repetitive business processes automatically based on predefined rules and triggers, reducing manual effort and increasing consistency.
Workforce Engagement Management
Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) is a comprehensive approach to improving employee engagement, performance, and satisfaction in contact centers through technology and process optimization.
Workforce Management (WFM)
WFM is the set of processes and tools used to forecast contact volumes, schedule agents, track adherence, and optimize staffing levels to meet service level targets while controlling labor costs.
Workforce Optimization
Workforce optimization (WFO) is a comprehensive strategy that integrates workforce management, quality assurance, performance management, and analytics to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of support teams.
Wrap-Up Time
Wrap-up time is the measured duration an agent spends on after-call work before becoming available for the next customer interaction.
