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About Our Telecom Guru
Bruce Kamin has over twenty-five years experience as a Senior Account Executive with General Communications Corporation. He is a popular conference and seminar presenter.
"Bruce Kamin was instrumental in guiding us to what was best for our company and what our needs were. Without his guidance, we would still be writing messages. Thanks Bruce!"
- Karen McBride, Operations Manager, White Hen Pantry
Question of the Month:
"What is DNIS?"
DNIS
Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) is a carrier-based service that allows incoming phone calls to be routed to a pre-determined phone(s), attendant position, call center, voicemail box or just about any answering position, with its routing determined by the phone number that was dialed by the outside caller. DNIS is a feature almost always associated with digital trunking (PRI or T1 voice service). This is because multiple incoming (DNIS) phone numbers can be assigned to a single digital trunk without the need to allocate individual trunkline circuits for each number. This "dynamic allocation" allows a company to procure an unlimited amount of individual phone numbers (some have hundreds of numbers in use or reserved) for different purposes as long as the total amount of simultaneous calls do not exceed the amount of trunk circuits available.
Examples of DNIS routing applications:
...Multiple companies sharing trunklines can use DNIS to route incoming callers to their respective answering points ...Individual marketing campaigns can be assigned a DNIS numbers to gauge their effectiveness and public response ...A special phone number may be provided to route preferred customers to priority support groups ...Toll Free numbers may have a different routing plan than local numbers
In addition, DNIS allows a "reason-for-call" identifier in the phone's digital display. This is useful when an individual handles calls for multiple companies or greets callers differently depending on the information presented in the display.
Examples of DNIS Display applications:
...Shared Trunking Service - When calling ABC COMPANY's number, the ringing set may display ABC COMPANY. When calling XYZ Company's number, "XYZ COMPANY" is displayed. This allows the answering position to greet the caller with scripting based on the displayed name. Calls may routed to a common attendant or calls can route independently depending on the number dialed.
...When a caller dials a number for "Priority Tech Support", the call may be routed to a priority call center. The call center agent will know it's a "Priority Client" ringing before answering.
For companies that have integrated their phone system with their data network, a "screen pop" may occur where information is displayed in a window that may contain scripting or information based on the DNIS identifier.
How DNIS works:
DNIS service is provided by your local and long distance carrier. When a call rings in, the phone system answers and signals the carrier. The carrier then sends a predetermined amount of identifying digits which is captured by the phone system. Using these captured digits, the phone system's DNIS programming determines the call routing and display information.
Bruce Kamin
"Ask Bruce, your Telecom Guru"
bkamin@generalcom.com
