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You are having a nice dinner and the phone rings. Though you don’t really want to answer it, there is something about a phone ringing that drives people to go against their will. You reach for the phone and say, “Hello.” Silence follows. “Hello…Hello?
Then there’s the soft sound of a recording starting up and a sales message begins to play. Or a live person might begin talking and you discover someone wants to sell you car insurance. As dinner gets cold, you listen with one ear while your thoughts are busily trying to figure out how to end the call without being rude.
Most people don’t like being rude and that same urge to pick up the phone also prevents them from simply hanging up on another human being. The telemarketer is trying to earn a living and you can respect that. But the autodialing is truly annoying because it boils down to the fact that a piece of equipment is calling your home and interrupting your dinner. Instead of you controlling technology, it feels like technology has become intrusive.
An autodialer is a short term for automatic dialer. An automatic dialer is a combination of software and a computer that can dial phone numbers. The technology is computer telephone integration (CTI) and uses software that has a number of features.
For example, some software just dials the phone but a person must detect when someone answers. Many of the software programs available today though have a feature that lets the software detect whether someone has answered the phone. If it does detect a live person has answered then the call is routed to an operator.
In fact, some software for automatic dialers can wait out your voice mail responder message and will leave you a message. Most people have come home at some point and found a sales recording on their phone. The recording may be a live person or it might be a pre-recorded message the software program can play when an answering machine or voice mail systems answer the call.
The people using the computerized dialer often work in a room where a number of operators are located. There might be rows of computer screens and sales persons wearing headsets in front of each one ready to handle the call should a person answer the phone. Because of technology, the call center could be physically located anywhere in the world.
The equipment needed for the autodialers is relatively standard. There is a computer, a voice modem and software required. The modem must be able to be plugged into a telephone line of course. The systems can use standard telephone lines or can also be set up as a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) system.
Voice Detection technology is what makes this system possible. The voice detection system is capable of differentiating between a human voice and a recorded answer. It detects a human by measuring the speed and continuity of the words spoken when the phone call is answered. Humans will say hello whereas an answering machine will talk continuously.
If the software decides it is a human then the call is forwarded to an operator or to a recorded message. The fact is that autodialers are used by companies selling goods and services, doctor’s office to send appointment reminders and even companies to remind people about meetings or conferences. There are many uses for automatic dialers.
So when the phone rings and there is a bit of silence, don’t automatically assume someone is going to sell you something. It just might be the airlines software letting you know the flight times have changed.
