Outbound Hubs

uContact has different types of Outbound Hubs that you can use in certain channels. An Outbound Hub is a really powerful tool that allows you to upload a list of contacts, and uContact takes care of making the calls or sending text messages or emails, depending on the channel you are using.

Telephony, SMS, WhatsApp and Email

Important Concepts

Before starting to create the Outbound Hub, it is important to consider some fundamental concepts about the Hubs.

Time Zone

Lists do not have a time zone; each record in the list can have its own time zone. This is important when creating a list, especially if we have clients in different countries or states within the same country that have different time zones.

How to assign a time zone to a client?

If you want to assign a time zone to a client, it must be specified in the list using the Continent/City format, for example: America/Montevideo.

Schedules

One of the most important aspects of a Hub is having correct schedule configuration to try to connect with as many list contacts as possible in the shortest time possible. There are two types of schedules.

Dialing Schedule

The dialing schedule is the schedule configured in the campaign associated with the Hub. This is the time frame during which the Hub will be active, creating interactions. This schedule has a time zone and can be composed of multiple time ranges, for example: from 09:00 to 15:00 and from 16:30 to 21:15. This can be configured through custom schedules, adjusting the dialing times according to the Contact Center's needs.

Contacting Schedule

The contacting schedule does not have a time zone. It is the time frame when contacts must be in their time zone to be contacted. For example, if the Hub has a schedule configured from 09:00 to 18:00, clients will only be contacted if, at the time the Hub is running, their local time is between 09:00 and 18:00.

Time conversion is performed through time zones. For example, if the Hub has a time zone of America/Montevideo (GMT-3) and a schedule from 09:00 to 15:00, and one of the contacts in the list has a time zone of Europe/Madrid (GMT+2), the Hub will be able to contact this client from 14:00 to 15:00 (Hub time).

This should only be taken into account if the Hub will have lists with contacts with different time zones from the Hub. If the list has only local contacts, this does not need to be considered.

In Summary!

If the Hub will have lists with contacts with a different time zone from the Hub, the dialing and contacting schedules must be correctly configured to take advantage of the time and be able to contact all clients in the shortest time possible.

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Dispositions

If dispositions are created, the interactions created by the Hubs must be dispositioned by users. They can use global dispositions and campaign dispositions. Additionally, there are different types of actions that are important to consider. Here they are!

• Respool

This action will add one attempt to the record. If this was the last contact attempt for the contact, it will move to the next number uploaded in the list for this client, if available.

• Respool Alternative

This action will reset the attempts and move to the next number uploaded in the list for this client, if available.

• Reschedule

This action allows choosing a date to call the contact following the Hub's dialing logic. Dates are filtered based on the client's and user's schedule.

• Blacklist

This action adds the client to the campaign's Blacklist associated with the Hub, which will prevent the client from being called again in the future.