Shoreline4.3 IP PBX empowers the mobile workforce; softphone, "find-me" call handling enable real-time response.

Shoreline Communications has announced new software and hardware products that help mobilize businesses and keep human as well as information resources in play--any time and from anywhere. Shoreline4.3, the latest version of Shoreline's award-winning multi-site IP PBX, integrates a new softphone and find-me features with Shoreline's unique Personal Call Manager interface to deliver a complete mobility solution that is easy to deploy, manage and use. It is complemented by two new contact center products, new ShoreGear Voice Switch product configurations and enhanced administrative assistant solutions.

"The Shoreline softphone has dramatically changed the way I can manage my business," said Neal Waldman, president, Musiker Discovery Programs, Inc. "In the student-travel industry, there is a significant seasonal variation in my staffing needs, which poses real business challenges for me with eight offices worldwide. Now, using the Shoreline softphone, I can easily bring on additional staff without the hassle of creating a formal office--my call center agents can work from home or from any of our seasonal offices. Additionally, I find myself on the road and working out of hotel rooms on a regular basis. With the Shoreline softphone I can be just as productive and connected from my West Coast office in Los Angeles or from my hotel room in Tokyo as I am at our headquarters in New York."

Shoreline4.3 is a user-centric voice system that associates phone numbers with people, not offices. Your calls find you whether you are at your desk, working at a branch office, or using Shoreline's new ShorePhone SP 100 softphone over a remote VPN connection. You give out a single contact number and have a single voicemail box, eliminating a lot of redundant calls and duplicate messages.

"Immediacy is an imperative in today's business world, and people must be accessible and able to react on a moment's notice, whenever and wherever opportunities arise," said Shoreline president and CEO Thomas van Overbeek. "With Shoreline4.3, employees take their office telephone number and voice features on the road and don't have to sacrifice functionality for mobility."

When you aren't present on the network, callers can ask Shoreline4.3 to track you down. You control how and when this option is offered, and Shoreline4.3 can even check your Outlook calendar to determine what to do with the call. Personal information is now being combined with presence and used to manage call flow.

The ShorePhone SP 100 raises the mobility bar by encapsulating a full-featured phone in your notebook computer that you connect over your broadband network. When you log into the enterprise VPN, your calls are automatically routed to you. Suddenly, a consistent voice environment customized by your personal telephony profile is available whenever you want to work.

Shoreline is also introducing new contact center solutions aimed at larger, more formal call center operations. It operates across multiple locations as a virtual call center, enabling skills-based routing to match the best agent to a particular caller as well as the use of lower cost agents where appropriate. Further cost savings can result from reduced staff due to the virtual nature of the call center.

Shoreline's contact center includes IVR scripting that prompts callers for information and can be integrated with a customer database so the system checks order status or other variables before routing the call. Contact center supervisor tools enable real-time monitoring of agents. The tools also offer extensive historical reporting of agent performance and provide real-time statistical views.