West Corp. can help you maximize customer service savings by using VoIP.

For years, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has been a hot topic in the business community. Experts touted the eventuality that replacing normal telephony connections with Internet-based connections would revolutionize telecommunications by allowing companies and consumers alike to ditch their local and long-distance providers, saving millions of dollars in the process.

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The advantages of VoIP also extend to the customer contact center. For example, a traditional domestic telephony call may be routed through several contact and data centers before being routed to a contact center offshore. However, a call entering an IP port can be routed directly to that end point at a much lower cost.

So why hasn't this revolution fully happened yet? First, it is taking time to develop the technology to the point wherein it can be a viable replacement for all elements of TDM voice technology. Second, despite the fact that large corporations are typically the earliest adopters of new technologies for enhancing productivity and reducing costs, many companies are reluctant to swap their current phone networks for VoIP because the overall industry is still young. Those conducting VoIP deployments successfully are doing so gradually, enabling VoIP at various levels of their networks under stringent testing and performance-level guidelines.

Will VoIP Eventually Replace TDM Phones?

VoIP has the potential to replace the current TDM system for three reasons: 1) VoIP protocols support higher quality at lower cost; 2) Huge amounts of excess broadband capacity are currently going unused; and 3) Most companies currently support separate voice and data systems. By replacing traditional phone systems with VoIP, companies can consolidate two network systems into one.

Why Should Companies Partner With West To Benefit From VoIP?

Selecting a partner such as West Corporation is the natural choice when it comes to deploying an evolving technology like VoIP. With nearly two decades' of customer-service outsourcing experience, West has built a robust global infrastructure that includes over 135,000 telephony ports, many of them VoIP-enabled, as well as five fully redundant domestic data centers. West is already investing in VoIP to drive cost savings for its clients by migrating customer service calls from TDM telephony standards to VoIP and back again at various points in the process depending on the client's particular needs and capabilities.

Partnering with West enables you to take advantage of the cost savings offered by VoIP while minimizing your investment risks. Even those companies that manage their own contact centers can profit from West's VoIP experience through the company's hosted solution that allows companies to manage their own applications and drive calls to their own agents.

About West Corporation

West has helped many of America's largest companies discover the numerous advantages of outsourcing their customer care and customer service functions. For more information, please contact West Corporation at 1-800-841-9000, or visit www.west.com.

By Steve McCoy, Director, Strategic Technology Planning

A Special Editorial Series Sponsored by West Corporation