Lucent Technologies Announces Call Center Networking Breakthrough; Solution to Connect Separate Locations for Single Corporate-Wide Customer Care.DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 1999--Lucent Technologies today announced a breakthrough solution enabling a business to combine multiple call centers into one system. Lucent said it designed the ATM-based solution, demonstrated here at Call Center '99, to enable customer care resources in separate locations to work together without boundaries. Examples include connecting calls immediately to the best-equipped agent no matter where in the world they are. Databases and administration tools will be extended easily among sites rather than being duplicated at multiple locations. The solution combines Lucent's CentreVu(R) customer care applications software and some of the company's most powerful enterprise networking The networking infrastructure in a large enterprise with multiple computer systems and networks of different types is extraordinarily complex. Due to the myriad of interfaces that are required, much of what goes on has little to do with the real data processing of the payroll and orders. solutions. It will create a complete system delivering, to an enterprise, one customer care center even as its call center sites are spread around the world. The solution is ideal for call centers with multiple locations that want to take advantage of public and private high-speed converged networks The integration of the telephone system with IP-based data networks. See softswitch. (networking) converged network - A single network that can carry voice, video and data. . "Today's multi-site customer contact centers may look like one operation, but in many cases they need `workarounds' to try and act as one," said Janice P. Anderson, Lucent vice president, Customer Care Solutions. "Lucent has pulled together our unmatched expertise in customer care applications and enterprise networking to create a solution that breaks down the walls of time and distance. We call it a 'flat' network solution because the ATM network allows the most direct path for a call, eliminating latency and creating a single call center platform. "With this solution, call center managers can simplify their operations and run a more efficient business that focuses on providing great service," Anderson said. As part of the ATM-based platform, for example, Lucent plans that its CentreVu Advocate, which selects and routes incoming calls using predictive algorithms, will be able to handle calls among separate locations as if they were one site. This makes agents from the entire enterprise available to serve customers. Similarly, Lucent's CentreVu Call Management System, which provides call center operation performance measurement tools, will, from a centralized cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. site, use graphical tools to manage all agents connected via the ATM backbone. For CTI (Computer Telephone Integration) Combining data with voice systems in order to enhance telephone services. For example, automatic number identification (ANI) allows a caller's records to be retrieved from the database while the call is routed to the appropriate party. applications, customer records in one city will be instantly accessible by agents in other locations. Enterprises will no longer need to concentrate on integrating or linking databases and CTI applications. The solution includes the integration of Lucent's family of CentreVu Call Center Solutions with its DEFINITY(R) ATM. DEFINITY ATM gives Lucent's flagship DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server See network access server, modem server, terminal server and communications controller. (operating system) Communications Server - IBM's rebranding of ACF. a migration path to transmit voice traffic on an ATM infrastructure. The solution also includes Lucent's PacketStar(tm) Access Concentrators See remote access concentrator. , which are designed to serve the emerging ATM wide area access market. The PacketStar solutions will enable voice, data and video traffic at each call center location to be supported over the ATM backbone network A backbone network provides a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks.[1] A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same building, in different buildings in a campus environment, or over wide areas. . "Seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. of dispersed call centers can improve customer service and lower costs," said Don Van Doren Van Dor·en , Carl Clinton 1885-1950. American literary critic, editor, and writer whose biography of Benjamin Franklin (1938) won a Pulitzer Prize. , president of Vanguard Communications, a New Jersey-based telecommunications consultancy specializing in customer contact solutions. "Lucent's ATM-based solution provides a new approach for companies that want a virtual call center with centralized administration. Opportunities include global routing or linking smaller remote sites." Testing of Lucent's ATM-based call center solution is underway with select customers. Controlled introductions are expected to begin during the fourth quarter of 1999. General availability is scheduled for the first quarter of 2000. Lucent expects pricing for various components, applications and packages to be available in the fourth quarter of 1999. Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill Murray Hill may refer to one of the following places:
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