Integrating computers and telephones: Problems and possible solutions

Increasingly businesses and organizations are handling incoming calls with the assistance of a computer system that routes the calls to the appropriate destination. Automation provides some benefits to the companies including reduced labor cost and more efficient telephone use, but callers are not always satisfied with the new technology. Good design of the human-computer interaction is essential in order to satisfy the needs of users and callers. This paper focuses on the problems involved in designing for computer-answered telephone systems. Possible solutions for improvement are offered along with guidelines for setting up a computer-answered system.