The IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Awards.Customer Interaction Solutions realizes that technology is the key to the success of any call center, as we have been editorially covering call center technology for 25 years. We also realize that with new products and new categories of products in the call center space, it can be strenuous and difficult for our readers keep up with the latest and greatest products and services. This is why we launched the IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Awards, so we can highlight for readers the best of the best in this emergent technology that is saving call centers all over the world a great deal of time, effort and capital. We've chosen as winners the products with the most admirable feature sets and the best track records of dramatically improving the operations of today's call centers. Each company that submitted for this award was required to complete a questionnaire detailing its target market, its product's unique or distinctive features, its competitors and, of course, a list of customer references of organizations that have deployed the solution. Following is the full list of IP Contact Center Pioneer Award winners. To all of the recipients, congratulations. Altitude Software www.altitude.com Altitude IP Contact Center Altitude IP Contact Center is a complete contact center suite, based on SIP, which includes flexible inbound and powerful outbound dialing algorithms, call classification, unified supervising, universal queuing and built-in business routing. Amcat www.amcat.com Amcat Enterprise Interactions Amcat Enterprise Interactions drives business revenue by delivering on a true "contact center without boundaries" model. Compared to traditional call centers, the next-generation model eliminates traditional boundaries found in most contact centers and gives users abilities to optimize customer traffic, enable the use of true anywhere/anytime resources and increase per-contact revenue. Amcat Enterprise Interaction leverages a direct path to IP, which enables rich media usage, provides for enter-prisewide first-party call control and builds on existing contact center investments through hybrid and pure VoIP configurations. Arcosoft, Inc. www.vonalink.com VONaLink TeamRecord VONaLink is call recording and productivity software designed to work with Voice over Internet (VoIP) phone systems. With traditional phone systems, companies recorded calls using an analog system and, in a corporate environment, were limited to expensive and proprietary products from the phone company. With the latest VoIP systems built on open, standard protocols, VONaLink software delivers features that were, until recently, cost-prohibitive. Aspect Software www.aspect.com Aspect Unified IP Aspect Unified IP incorporates an 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 portal An interactive voice response (IVR) front end to a data retrieval system. This does not differ in core technology from traditional IVR; rather, the difference is in the application presented. Where old-style IVR was mostly a routing application (press 1 for sales, 2 for service, etc. , quality management and recording, a predictive dialer An automatic telephone dialing system that dials from a list of numbers and turns the call over to an agent when a human responds. It increases productivity in a call center, because the agents can spend their time talking rather than waiting for calls to go through as well as hanging up and Internet contact. It also provides unified reporting, routing and administration functionality and hosted capabilities with multitenancy while running on the customer's transport of choice. These transport options include open-source IP-PBX solutions such as the Asterisk Business Edition package offered by Aspect Software at significantly less than the cost of traditional IP-PBX, closed-source IP-PBX offered by companies like Cisco, Avaya and Nortel, any session initiation protocol (protocol) Session Initiation Protocol - (SIP) A very simple text-based application-layer control protocol. It creates, modifies, and terminates sessions with one or more participants. Such sessions include Internet telephony and multimedia conferences. It is described in RFC 2543. (SIP) 2.0-compliant 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). and traditional voice telephony. Autonomy etalk www.etalk.com Qfiniti Observe Qfiniti Observe, Autonomy etalk's call and desktop recording product, enables organizations to record interactions for regulatory compliance, risk management and quality monitoring. Qfiniti Observe supports call recording on a pure VoIP or TDM-IP hybrid network In communications, a network made up of equipment from multiple vendors. . VoIP logging is performed by network "sniffing," the interception of traffic passing over a digital network, or the use of a SPAN port to mirror or copy traffic sent to a destination port. Autonomy etalk also supports call recording for remote agents using VoIP phones See IP phone and softphone. that connect to the organization's existing network. Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. www.cisco.com Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD) Cisco Agent Desktop keeps agents productive and enforces best practices by automating transaction workflows, enabling team collaboration and unifying agent productivity tools in a services-oriented architecture. Cisco Agent Desktop integrates call information (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. ), call control, screen pop, third-party applications, Web services (1) Loosely, any online service delivered over the Web. Such usage appears in articles from non-technical sources, but not in IT-oriented publications, because definition #2 below describes the correct use of the term. , e-mail, agent dashboards and alerts, presence and chat tools, soft phone, phone books, agent schedules (WFM (1) (Wired For Management) A specification from Intel for a PC that can be centrally managed in a network. It must be DMI compliant, be accessible by a management server prior to booting, contain instrumentation for component discovery and identification and ), task automation and training into a common, easy-to-navigate interface that eliminates keystrokes, minimizes the number of applications an agent must touch to complete a transaction, and provides agents with a common view of the customer. Cistera Networks Inc. Cistera Convergence Server v1.7 www.cisteraexperience.com Based on open standards Specifications for hardware and software that are developed by a standards organization or a consortium involved in supporting a standard. Available to the public for developing compliant products, open standards imply "open systems;" that an existing component in a system can be replaced and a server technology foundation, the Cistera Convergence Server enables customers to create a robust and scalable environment that is flexible enough to adapt to their changing needs over time. The CCS (1) (Common Channel Signaling) A communications system in which one channel is used for signaling and different channels are used for voice/data transmission. Signaling System 7 (SS7) is a CCS system, also known as CCS7. See SS7. platform scales platform scales a weighing machine which has a platform on which animals can stand to be weighed. up to support organizations with thousands of users and scales down for offices with fewer than one hundred users, making it a viable alternative for a broad range of organizations. Citrix Online Citrix Online is a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) that sells Web-based remote access, support, and collaboration software and services. Its products are GoToAssist, GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, and GoToWebinar. www.citrixonline.com Citrix GoToAssist 8.0 GoToAssist is a remote assistance solution designed for contact centers and outsourcers, consulting and IT professionals to instantly help customers, anytime and anywhere. Now in its eighth generation, GoToAssist is a managed service offering that provides ease-of-use, quality of service, availability, security and capability. With its suite of new features, including enhanced collaboration functionality, system administrator access, manager silent monitoring and annotation 1. (programming, compiler) annotation - Extra information associated with a particular point in a document or program. Annotations may be added either by a compiler or by the programmer. tools, GoToAssist 8.0 can help transform remote support into competitive advantage. CosmoCom www.cosmocom.com CosmoCall Universe 5 CosmoCall Universe (CCU CCU abbr. 1. coronary care unit 2. critical care unit CCU critical care unit. CCU Critical care unit, see there ) 5 is the fifth generation of the company's IP-based contact center technology. CCU was designed to leverage emerging IP-based convergence to unify customer communications across all channels, including voice, video, e-mail and Web sessions, across all locations, and across all knowledge workers in the enterprise. CosmoCall Universe 5 expands on its roots, introducing a number of new tools that simplify contact center operations and provide enhancements to messaging infrastructure, call flow, reporting and security. Intervoice www.intervoice.com Intervoice IP Contact Center (IPCC See IMS Forum. ) The Intervoice IP Contact Center is a new approach to routing and responding to customer inquiries. It combines the capabilities of self-service applications A software application that allows a user to obtain information or complete a business transaction on the computer that has traditionally required the help of a human representative. Voice response systems and Web sites are widely used for self-service applications. See kiosk. software with live agent assistance to provide companies with improved flexibility when responding to customers. The system intelligently routes any type of customer contact--phone calls, e-mail, Web chat, voice messages, and fax--in a consistent manner on a single system. It is a system of choice for mission-critical call centers over legacy ACD, 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. and CTI systems. KNOVA Software www.knova.com KNOVA 7 KNOVA 7 is the latest version of a suite of Intelligent Customer Experience applications designed to reduce service costs, increase revenues and improve customer satisfaction. Built on a next-generation search and knowledge management platform, KNOVA 7 applications include KNOVA Contact Center, KNOVA Self-Service, KNOVA Forums, KNOVA Field Service, KNOVA Guided Selling Guided Selling is a concept that enhances the sales process of customer specific products and services. Guided Selling enables organizations in an automated fashion to analyze customer needs, determine the proper features, products and services and to translate the result into a and KNOVA Knowledge Desk. Mitel www.mitel.com Mitel Customer Interaction Solutions The Mitel Customer Interaction Solutions set is a two-tiered offering that encompasses the Contact Center Enterprise Edition and Contact Center Business Edition. The new offering allows organizations of any size the flexibility to implement a contact center solution for their unique service requirements. The Enterprise Edition supports all forms of communication including voice, e-mail, Web chat and fax. The solution combines robust communications platforms, automatic call distribution and a modular suite of Web-based applications See Web application. for streamlining contact center management and enabling advanced multimedia customer transactions. NICE Systems www.nice.com NICE VoIP Solutions With NICE's unified-software-only approach to VoIP recording Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) recording is a subset of telephone recording or voice logging, first used by call centers and now being used by all types of businesses. , along with advanced applications for quality monitoring, liability and interactions analytics, the contact center can expand advanced capabilities to all branches and remote locations and improve overall business performance. The result is increased agent productivity, seamless business continuity, mission-critical reliability and IT investment protection. Notel www.nortel.com Nortel IP Contact Centers Nortel's IP Contact Centers give call centers the power, flexibility and geographic independence by using their IP network to support agents and managers almost anywhere, allowing organizations to use open, standard interfaces between software components of the contact center. Nortel's Contact Center Solutions enable personnel to work from virtually anywhere with an IP-based Thin Client Agent Desktop. With Smart Client Technology from Microsoft, client applications are always up to date. This allows clients to load "new from the server" each time the application is run, ensuring the thin client can be maintained on the server and the changes are in effect with the next sign-on. Plantronics www.plantronics.com Plantronics VistaTM M22 Amplifier with SupraPlus Wideband Ideal for VoIP users VoIP User is a community driven and financed SIP based VoIP network. The projects aim is to introduce people to the concept of VoIP by allowing members to experiment with SIP and IAX2 devices. , the Vista M22 amplifier delivers precise levels of listening comfort, hearing protection and audio performance. The Vista M22 includes Clearline audio to improve call quality in any environment, especially wideband VoIP. The amplifier includes near-universal compatibility with single and multi-line telephones, as well as ergonomically designed volume, headset/handset and mute controls. The Quick Disconnect feature between the amplifier and headset Headphones combined with a microphone. Used in call centers and by people in telephone-intensive jobs, headsets provide the equivalent functionality of a telephone handset with hands-free operation. Many people use headsets at the computer so they can converse and type comfortably. allows users to move away from their phones without removing their headsets or disconnecting the call. Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. www.telecom.toshiba.com Strata ACD IP Call Center Solution Toshiba's Strata ACD is an IP call center solution designed for small to medium-sized enterprises or larger corporate users with multiple sites. Compatible with Toshiba's Strata CIX (Commercial Internet Exchange Association, Herndon, VA, www.cix.org) Pronounced "kicks," it was a membership organization that promoted the development of a level playing field for ISPs. IP family of business communication solutions, which range from a few to hundreds of ports, and larger with multiple systems networked together, the Strata ACD provides an IP call center solution that can be customized to meet the needs of each enterprise. Transera Communications www.transerainc.com Seratel Seratel, delivered as a service, enables organizations to globalize glob·al·ize tr.v. glob·al·ized, glob·al·iz·ing, glob·al·iz·es To make global or worldwide in scope or application. glob , diversify and grow call center operations to deliver exceptional customer care with no infrastructure investment required. With Seratel, organizations of any size can rapidly deploy a feature-rich call center with agents located anywhere in the world, including in-house, outsourced, remote, branch offices or at home--a browser, a phone and an Internet connection is all that agents require. UCN UCN Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile) UCN University College of the North (The Pas, Manitoba, Candad) UCN Ultra Cold Neutron UCN Unión del Centro Nacional , Inc. www.ucn.net InContact/WFM InContact Workforce Management Workforce Management (WFM) encompasses all the responsibilities for maintaining a productive and happy workforce. Sometimes referred to as HRMS systems, or even the larger ERP systems (Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP). There are many software vendors within this space. Software (WFM) helps companies manage workforce scheduling, forecast demand, report real-time adherence, and simulate, analyze and optimize staffing in the call center. Companies can use the simulation module to predict employee occupancy, service levels, abandon rates and queue times, and use a break/lunch optimization wizard to improve staffing efficiency. Call centers can offer employees a Web and a phone interface to review their schedules, report in sick or late, set up their availability and preferred schedule, request time off and swap shifts with other agents. Witness Systems www.witness.com Impact 360 IP Recording Impact 360 IP Recording is a proven, reliable system for capturing, indexing and retrieving customer/caller interactions in IP, traditional and mixed telephony environments. It captures 100 percent of interactions and provides the performance organizations need to meet their IP recording requirements. Impact 360 IP Recording supports occasional recording on a single channel and around-the-clock recording in high-volume, multi-site environments with equal reliability and resiliency. Full integration with a wide range of VoIP systems (including Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel) and the new session-initiated protocol (SIP) enables it to capture additional information such as call date, duration, call ID and more, right out of the box. Zeacom, Inc. www.zeacom.com Zeacom Communications Center An agency charged with the responsibility for handling and controlling communications traffic. The center normally includes message center, transmitting, and receiving facilities. Also called COMCEN. See also telecommunications center. v4 SP2 Zeacom ContactCenter is a scalable contact center solution that offers high-end functionality at an affordable price. Zeacom ContactCenter dynamically reacts to caller demands and organizes incoming calls based on parameters set by users. Whether they arrive by telephone, e-mail or the Web, contacts can be managed and reported on in a single 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. environment. Using its sophisticated CTI-based routing features, callers can be directed to the right agent every time. |
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