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Contact centers already know the value of predictive dialers; they can keep agents productive by cutting down-time, deliver automated messages, and help with managing agents. But more than just contact centers can benefit from a predictive dialer, and not every business knows where to start when it comes to selecting a dialer solution.

There are several predictive dialers on the market, making it important to understand the essentials of how a predictive dialer works, as well as the advanced features that a business should look for in a predictive dialing solution.

A good enterprise predictive dialer should give a business all it needs to make both blended inbound and outbound calling campaigns. Using a preloaded list of numbers, a dialer should be able to quickly and automatically place outbound calls and connect the answered calls to available agents. Enterprise predictive dialers should monitor call volume and time per call, intelligently adjusting its dial rate to minimize the time your agents spend waiting between conversations.

One important thing to look for is support for all the various dialing modes. There typically are five different modes, each best suited for a different calling situation.

First, there is predictive dialing mode. This mode uses sophisticated algorithms to speed up and slow down the call rate based on number of available agents, number of available lines, the campaign's average call time and other statistical information.

Second, there should be a quick-connect mode that allows agents to log into a campaign with a one-to-one dial ratio, which can be good for situations where dropped calls in a campaign is not acceptable.

Third, fixed dialing mode can be useful for manually setting the volume of calls. Predictive dialer software will then automatically dial a predetermined number of lines per agent. This mode is good for political campaigns and other situations where dropped calls are not a problem at all.

A fourth mode that businesses will want is preview dialing mode, which allows an agent to view the information in the contact record and decide to dial or snooze the call.

Then there is manual dialing mode, where the agent tells the software when to dial.

Businesses should not just make sure the dialer has all these modes, but also look for integration with their existing phone or contact center system, and things like automatic disposition-based redialing and management features such as dynamic campaign changing and a call-back manager.