Relief For The Dog Days.AltiCenter: Standalone IP Call Center For The Midmarket Cost and system integration are two significant hurdles to clear when implementing technology solutions. No business, particularly a contact center, is going to jump at the prospect of dumping legacy systems for the glitter and burdensome expense of the "New, Improved" all-in-one platform/system, especially if the return on investment hides in some nebulous future time frame. Similarly, no business will invest in a compromise solution that either does not integrate with systems on hand or requires a lot of .."T support to effect integration. Building on its market position and expertise in the IP-PBX and server-based telecommunications system marker, AltiGen Communications developed AltiCenter, a standalone IP call center for the small and mid-size business market. AltiGen's chief marketing officer, Richard De Soto de So·to , Hernando or Fernando 1496?-1542. Spanish explorer who landed in Florida in 1539 with 600 men and set out to search for the fabled riches of the north. , commented that "...small call centers have had no good alternative thar to implement systems for $50,000 -$100,000 and seat licenses of up to $5,000 per seat. What these businesses need is an affordable and comprehensive call center solution that works with their existing PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). or an AltiServ PBX." AltiCenter provides the ability to integrate voice and data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. such as phones, voice mail, e-mail, Web interactions, and local and remote IP calling. The IP call center is designed to work with legacy PBXs as well as AltiGen's AltiServ IP-PBX for greater flexibility and compatibility. AltiCenter enables a company's internal IT staff to reduce the number of systems needed to deliver converged services by performing communications functions typically relegated to separate systems, such as automatic call distributors (ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) A computerized phone system that responds to the caller with a voice menu and connects the call to the appropriate agent. It can also distribute calls equally to agents. ), voice mail systems and computer-telephony middleware. It also provides additional enhanced capabilities, including e-mail management, Web chats and Web push for improved productivity, e-commerce capabilities and better customer service. AltiCenter, designed for ease of use and management, provides IP and analog phone The original telephone technology, which converts air vibrations into an analogous electrical frequency. Unless a key telephone system, digital PBX or voice over IP (VoIP) is used, most homes and small offices still use analog phones, and the local loop is mostly analog. capabilities. With the majority of its qualities coming directly from AltiGen's AltiServ 4.0 Advanced IP-PBX server platform, AltiCenter offers the ability to create call waiting and overflow queues, route calls to IP phones via the Internet or to traditional analog phones and enables complete supervisory break-in and queue management capabilities. Owing to its modular design, AltiGen systems are able to grow as a business requires, starting from support for as few as four agents. AltiCenter is a "complete call center in a box A Holy Grail of the call center community has been the production of a self-contained server that delivers call processing and routing, ACD, management reports and an agent desktop interface, among other features, for small and medium sized businesses. " that includes: IP and/or analog calling; voice mail with voice response, one-number "find me" and direct callback while in voice mail; automatic call distribution; local and remote IP agents supported as agents in local and multiple workgroups; an integrated e-mail server, 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. screen pops using Goldmine, ACT or Outlook software; legacy PBX support and support for IP or analog phones (including "softphones") from multiple phone vendors, AltiCenter also features call monitoring, the AltiAgent desktop client interface, Web interaction features (Web callback, chat and push) and application programming interfaces to integrate third-party applications, such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response) An automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller with a combination of fixed voice menus and data extracted from databases in real time. , voice call recording and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. . A free demonstration CD is available from the company. |
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