Abandonment rate
Share of callers who hang up before they are connected to a person. Many reports do not count very short abandonments in the first few seconds. A rising abandonment rate is often an early sign of understaffing.
Glossary
Customer service terms, briefly explained.
51 terms from AHT to workforce management – clear for procurement, operations and management.
51 terms
After-Call WorkACW
Time after the end of a call in which employees document the contact and initiate follow-up steps. It is part of the average handling time.
AI Act (KI-Verordnung)
EU Regulation 2024/1689 on artificial intelligence. It prohibits certain practices, such as emotion recognition in the workplace, and sets transparency obligations. Under Art. 50, from 2 August 2026 people must be informed that they are interacting with an AI system such as a voicebot, unless this is obvious.
Automatic Call DistributionACD
Telephone system that distributes incoming calls to available employees according to defined rules. Criteria include qualification, waiting time or priority. The ACD also supplies the raw data for key figures such as waiting time and abandonment rate.
Average Handling TimeAHT
Average time taken to handle a contact. It is made up of talk time, hold time and after-call work. AHT is a central figure for workforce planning, but it should not be reduced at the expense of resolving cases.
Average Speed of AnswerASA
Average waiting time until a call is answered. It is measured from the moment the call enters the queue. ASA complements the service level because it also makes long waits for individual callers visible.
Back office
Processing of cases without direct customer contact, such as applications, reimbursements, correspondence or data entry. In customer service, the back office takes on cases that cannot be closed during the conversation.
Base fee (Grundpauschale)
Fixed monthly amount with which a client pays for a service provider's readiness, regardless of actual contact volume. It covers items such as trained staff, workstations and technology. Volume-based prices are usually added, for example per hour, minute or contact.
C1 (language level)CEFR
Level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. At C1, speakers understand demanding, longer texts and express themselves spontaneously, fluently and precisely. C1 is often required as the minimum level for customer advice in a foreign language.
Corrective and Preventive ActionCAPA
Quality management method for corrective and preventive measures. An error is not only fixed; its cause is identified and eliminated. The effectiveness of the measure is then checked.
Customer Relationship ManagementCRM
System in which customer data, contacts and cases are stored centrally. In customer service, employees document every request there so that the next contact can pick up where the last one left off.
Customer Satisfaction ScoreCSAT
Key figure for satisfaction with a single contact. It is usually collected directly after the conversation with a short question and a rating scale. The figure reported is generally the share of positive ratings.
Data confidentiality (Datengeheimnis)
Obligation of employees to process personal data only within the scope of their duties and on instruction. The term comes from the former German Federal Data Protection Act. Today, the duty of confidentiality derives mainly from Art. 28, 29 and 32 GDPR.
Data processing agreement (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag)DPA
Contract under Art. 28 GDPR between the controller and a service provider that processes personal data on its behalf. It sets out the subject matter, duration, type of data, rights to issue instructions, subcontractors and the technical and organisational measures.
Doctor appointment service (Arzt-Terminservice)
Appointment service for statutory health insurance funds, associations of statutory health insurance physicians and other healthcare companies. It arranges appointments with specialists, GPs and paediatricians as well as outpatient hospital treatment for their insured persons. Requests and responses are exchanged electronically, for example via a web portal or an interface (API).
Erlang C
Mathematical queueing model for calculating staffing requirements. Call volume, handling time and the target service level give the number of employees needed. As the model does not take abandoned calls into account, the calculated requirement tends to be slightly too high.
Escalation
Passing a request to a higher level when it cannot be resolved at the current level. This can be functional, for example to 2nd level, or hierarchical, up to management. A defined escalation path prevents cases from being left unresolved.
First Contact ResolutionFCR
Share of requests that are fully resolved in the first contact, without a callback or further contact. It is also called first contact resolution rate. A high value reduces contact volume and increases satisfaction.
Full-Time EquivalentFTE
Unit for staffing requirements in which one full-time position has the value 1. Two half-time employees together equal one full-time equivalent.
General Data Protection Regulation (Datenschutz-Grundverordnung)GDPR
EU Regulation 2016/679 on the protection of personal data, applicable since 25 May 2018. It applies directly in all EU member states. For customer service, the most relevant aspects are legal bases, data processing on behalf of others and data security.
Hypercare
Phase of increased support directly after regular operation starts. Key figures, errors and open questions are closely monitored, client and service provider coordinate at short intervals and adjust at short notice. The project plan sets its duration and rhythm.
Identity verification (Legitimation)
Checking whether a person is entitled to receive information or request changes, for example using a customer number, date of birth or agreed security features. The client defines the procedure. Without successful verification, no information on personal data is given.
Inbound
Incoming contacts in which customers approach the company themselves, for example by phone, email or chat. Typical inbound requests are questions, changes and complaints.
Interactive Voice ResponseIVR
Voice dialogue system at the start of a call. Callers select their request by keypad or speech input so that the call is routed correctly. The IVR can also provide simple information itself.
ISO 9001
International standard for quality management systems. It requires documented processes, clear responsibilities, customer focus and continual improvement. Compliance is checked in annual audits by a certification body.
ISO 14001
International standard for environmental management systems. Companies record their environmental aspects, set objectives and check that they are met. As with other ISO standards, certification is confirmed through regular audits.
ISO 18295
International series of standards for customer contact centres. Part 1 sets out requirements for the contact centre, for example regarding staff, processes and customer communication, and is published in Germany as DIN EN ISO 18295-1. Part 2 is aimed at clients who engage a contact centre.
ISO 22301
International standard for business continuity management, meaning keeping operations running during disruptions. It requires risk analyses, contingency plans and regular exercises. For customer service, this means remaining reachable even if technology or sites fail.
ISO/IEC 27001
International standard for information security management systems. It requires a systematic assessment of risks to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. The measures are checked in audits.
Key Performance IndicatorKPI
Key figure used to measure the success of a process. In customer service, these include service level, reachability, handling time and first contact resolution. KPIs are only meaningful if the definition and measurement method have been agreed.
Knowledge base
Central collection of answers, process descriptions and rules that employees access during a contact. It ensures that everyone advises on the basis of the same, current information. A knowledge base must be maintained continuously with the specialist department.
Mystery call
Test call in which a trained person poses as an ordinary caller and assesses a hotline's availability, waiting time and call quality. Several calls at different times of day give a more reliable picture than a single one. Recordings require the consent of the parties to the call.
Nearshoring
Relocating services to sites in nearby countries. Unlike offshoring, the sites are usually in a similar time zone and often within the EU. As a result, comparable legal frameworks apply, such as the GDPR.
Net Promoter ScoreNPS
Key figure for willingness to recommend, on a scale from 0 to 10. The share of detractors (0 to 6) is subtracted from the share of promoters (9 to 10). The score ranges from −100 to +100.
Occupancy
Share of logged-in working time in which employees are actually handling contacts, including after-call work. Very high occupancy over a longer period increases strain and the risk of errors. It is therefore managed together with the service level.
Omnichannel
Customer service across several channels in which all contacts come together in one shared history. If a customer switches from live chat to the phone, the customer service adviser sees the current status. Unlike multichannel, the channels are not kept separate from one another.
Outbound
Outgoing contacts in which the company actively approaches customers, for example for callbacks, appointment confirmations or surveys. In Germany, advertising calls to consumers are only permitted with prior express consent, and calls to businesses with at least presumed consent (§ 7 UWG, the German Act against Unfair Competition).
Overflow
Routing contacts to an additional team when your own team is at capacity or outside service hours. Overflow absorbs peak load without the need to build up additional staff permanently.
Peak load
Period with significantly higher contact volume than usual, for example after bills are sent, during disruptions or at the turn of the year. Peak load can be absorbed with overflow, flexible shift planning or self-service.
Pilot operation
Operation under real conditions on a limited scale, for example with some of the request types or at certain times; also called test operation. Processes, technology and training levels are checked before regular operation begins.
Quality monitoring
Regular review of contact quality based on samples, for example through listening in, call recordings or checking documentation. The results feed into feedback, training and process improvement. Call recordings generally require the consent of the parties to the call.
Reachability (Erreichbarkeit)
Share of answered calls out of all incoming calls in a given period. Reachability shows how many callers actually get through to someone. It is closely linked to the abandonment rate.
Regular operation
Ongoing operation of a project in the agreed scope, after the pilot and approval. In this phase, the agreed service levels are measured and shown in reporting. Hypercare usually follows directly after regular operation starts.
Service levelSL
Share of calls answered within a defined time. A commonly used target is 80/20: 80% of calls are answered within 20 seconds. The service level is the most important control variable for inbound workforce planning.
Service Level AgreementSLA
Contractual agreement on measurable performance values between client and service provider. An SLA defines key figures, target values, the measurement method and the reporting channel. It can also set out consequences if targets are missed.
Shrinkage
Share of paid working time in which employees are not available for customer contacts. This includes breaks, training, meetings, holidays and sickness. Shrinkage must be planned for in addition to the calculated requirement.
Social data processing on behalf of others§ 80 SGB X
Social data is personal data that social insurance bodies such as health insurance funds process for their tasks. If they have it processed by service providers, § 80 SGB X (German Social Code, Book X) applies in addition to Art. 28 GDPR. Among other things, it governs notification of the supervisory authority by the client and, subject to further conditions, also permits processors in other EU member states.
Technical and organisational measuresTOMs
Measures under Art. 32 GDPR that protect personal data. They include physical and logical access controls, encryption, logging and training. In data processing on behalf of a controller, the TOMs are set out in the DPA.
Ticket
Record in which a single request is captured with all contacts, processing steps and its current status. Tickets make it traceable who handled a case and when. They are the basis for deadlines and reporting.
Voicebot
Speech-controlled system that answers calls automatically, records requests and answers simple questions. It hands complex requests over to customer service advisers. If a voicebot uses AI, callers must be able to recognise under the AI Act that they are talking to an automated system.
Workforce ManagementWFM
Planning and managing staff deployment in customer service. This includes forecasting contact volume, calculating requirements, shift planning and intraday management. The aim is to achieve the service level with the most suitable staffing.
