Interactive Commerce
March 2001
Daniel Callahan

 

No Running In The Halls!

BY DANIEL CALLAHAN
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Did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched? The concept of monitoring has almost always had a pejorative sense about it. This usually starts in early childhood: you had hall monitors, bathroom monitors, lunchroom monitors, and playground monitors, all watching your every step (and none winning any popularity contests). Older schoolchildren would be threatened with the inevitable, “I hope you know that this is going down on your permanent record.” Do we really want everything we do to end up logged in a database somewhere?

Paranoia aside, logging and monitoring is central to the telecommunications industry in developing standards and service levels. One obvious area is workforce management and agent training. Envision Telephony’s Click2Coach integrates agent training with quality monitoring technology. Racal Recorders’ Agent Quality Management (AQM) system integrates with any enterprise data source that impacts on the agent’s performance, as well as typical CTI data sources such as ACDs and dialers.

Knowledge management solutions also depend on logging and monitoring to mine and share information within organizations. Lotus has recently released the Lotus Discovery Server and combined it with their K-station knowledge portal to create the Lotus Knowledge Discovery System. Lotus K-station collects, documents, and stores pieces of the decision-making process to be reused in the future. Users will be able to understand how and why decisions were made, and the steps involved in the decision-making process, based on the information gathered. The server is based on industry standard technology to allow customers the flexibility to leverage their existing investments while taking advantage of knowledge management solutions.

Of course, the real driver behind logging and monitoring is CRM. Merely recording incoming and outgoing calls in order to verify a transaction is a thing of the past. Now a contact center must track and evaluate the entire customer experience for opportunities to improve service and stimulate greater customer loyalty. The key objective is to retrace each customer experience as accurately as possible, rather than depending on an agent’s scattered and sketchy notes.

Proactive outbound customer service is evolving CRM even further. TELLnGO’s Proactive Voice Response system is one example: callers can instruct a contact center to perform various tasks by using simple voice commands, such as “call me when my credit limit is within $500.” Many online self-help systems are adding new features to proactively provide information that was specifically requested by the individual customer. This reduces inbound calls and gives customers much more control over their own experience. Big Brother is still watching, but it’s not so bad when you can watch back.

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Interactive Commerce News

TELLnGO Launches PVR
TELLnGO has announced the release of Proactive Voice Response (PVR) Version 1.0, an intelligent, self-service agent system. Using PVR technology, callers can instruct contact centers to monitor and process queries offline and authorize contact centers to call them based on their individual events, rules, time, and device preferences. PVRs monitor various databases, Web sites, and e-mail, and can be deployed against any corporate applications behind the firewall. It is designed to open industry standards and integrated into existing contact center equipment rooms, including PBXs, CTIs, IVRs, and legacy applications and databases.

Intervox Intros Panel-Mounted Sounder/Speaker
Intervox, a division of International Components, has introduced a panel-mount sounder capable of delivering voice alert messages. The audible signal device, part #SPHA150 RS-M-42W, offers flexibility required by applications such as security systems, medical equipment, and products with integral alarms. In addition to voice commands, the product generates a variety of sounds and tones for applications such as medical equipment, where different sounds can signal specific malfunctions. The device utilizes a footprint for both new product designs, and retrofits for existing designs. Each unit is supplied with two leadwires, 155 mm in length, with connectors compatible with customer requirements. The case is constructed of ABS plastic and weighs 28.6 grams, with dimensions of 43.5 mm diameter by 36.7 mm height. The voice coil impedance is 8 ohms with a sound pressure level of 84 dB ± 3 dB.

SYMON Announces Publisher 6.0 Portal
SYMON Communications has announced a major redesign of its Publisher data collection and distribution software, now renamed Publisher 6.0 Portal. The software consists of two main NT services: SYMON Publisher 6.0 Portal Service and SYMON Composer Service. The Publisher 6.0 Portal Service is the entry point for data to the SYMON software suite, and its user interface is the SYMON Publisher 6.0 Portal Administrator. This is the GUI used to create and configure data collectors and publish the selected fields to other SYMON applications. The Portal Service is composed of collectors that act as interfaces to the outside data sources or monitored systems, and the Composer Service takes over the management of outbound objects. The Portal allows users to generate messages through a standard interface (the Composer) by subscribing to fields published by the Portal Service. The Composer Service is a subscriber service application included within the portal and developed specifically for use with the SYMON2000 server.

Entuity Introduces Eye Of The Storm 2.5
Entuity has introduced Eye Of The Storm 2.5, a new version of its out-of-the-box, intelligent software solution for proactively accessing and controlling network degradation in real time. The solution monitors both network faults and performance, while supporting historical reporting and real-time event notification. Eye Of The Storm brings level two visibility to devices, detecting early indicators of network degradation, and providing notification in the terms of a business service. The solution is comprised of the Early Warning Center and the Report Center. The Early Warning Center provides real-time alerting tools for use in the NOC, while the Report Center offers Web-based tools for tracking valuable network assets from bandwidth to spare port allocations. Eye Of The Storm is presented in a browser-based GUI and is scalable from small businesses to service provider networks.

Eyretel Announces Version 6.0
Eyretel has released version 6.0 of its customer interaction recording, monitoring, and analysis suite. Included in the release are all of Eyretel’s products and applications: MediaStore, eWare, Unify, QualityCall, Replay Studio, and ScreenCapture. Replay Studio enables managers and supervisors to visualize agent screen activity to review Web chat, e-mail preparation, collaborative browsing, and voice interaction. QualityCall has enhanced capability in importing data from enterprise applications such as workforce management or customer databases. MediaStore offers a new feature called Talk/Listen Ratio, and new MediaStore Max will allow up to 480 trunk channels into a recorder, with recording capability of up to 128. Unify can be customized in the field to tightly integrate with an existing IT infrastructure, and also act as the business rules engine for the recording system.

Altitude And ClearCube Sign Agreement
Altitude Software and ClearCube Technology. Will jointly sell, deploy, and use each other’s products, offering enterprise call centers a hybrid solution for eCRM capabilities. Altitude’s uCI 2000 is an integrated eCRM solution that provides a comprehensive view of all interactions across multiple touchpoints, and ClearCube’s next-generation C3 architecture provides companies with the ability to lower operation costs while increasing security and manageability of their computing assets. ClearCube has implemented the joint solution within its own call center, where it relies on Altitude’s Collaborator, CTI, and Power Dialing modules to better serve customers.

Primal Technologies Launches Network Monitoring Tool
Primal Technologies has launched its latest software operations tool, Primal Skylight, that allows telecom service providers to monitor real-time status and revenues on the Primal Service Node (PSN). Primal Skylight connects to the Primal Service Node(s) via a VPN and provides real-time data on usage, customer balance, revenue generation, and system status on a continuous, hourly, or daily basis. Primal Skylight’s GUI runs on the desktop and connects to the PSN that is processing prepaid and voice mail calls. It allows network operations centers to observe the system and permits marketing and sales departments to see the revenue that has been collected in the last hour, day, or week. The PSN offers enhanced AIN applications. Applications include pre-paid, one number, voice mail, and VoIP trunk gateway. All applications interoperate with numerous protocols, including ISUP, PRI, IS41, SMS, T1, TCP/IP, and VoIP. The PSN has also been developed to operate within an intranet or Internet environment.

Spherion Deploys Witness’ equality
Spherion and Witness Systems have announced Spherion’s deployment of the equality recording and evaluation solutions from Witness Systems. Spherion is also playing an active role on Witness Systems’ Customer Advisory Committee, which is comprised of representatives from a variety of industries that use monitoring and performance analysis solutions to help optimize their customer relationship management initiatives. Spherion uses Witness Systems’ equality software to record, evaluate, and analyze its customer contacts in an effort to continually enhance the quality of its customer interactions. “We consider eQuality to be the premier monitoring and reporting solution on the market — said Bill Parker, president of Sherion’s customer care solutions.

ASC Introduces InspirationPro
ASC has introduced its new InspirationPro, a multimedia quality-monitoring solution for contact centers. InspirationPro coordinates evaluation and training of CSRs for contact centers via its browser-based GUI. The interface allows supervisors to attach comments to real-time or recorded calls and eliminates the necessity to install any proprietary software on the desktop. The system monitors voice, screen capture, video, fax, data, e-mail, Web chat, Web collaboration, and Web browsing. The software application uses a distributed Web-based architecture and may be integrated into any organization’s IT infrastructure. The architecture also allows for total recording of all activity, if desired, or may be used to selectively record specific calls or agents through CTI or ASC’s Call Commander module. InspirationPro manages call-related data through tables in a central database. Specialized criteria for testing as well as customized reports are available, and analyses and performance trends may be charted.
www.asctelecom.com

NICE To Partner With Astound
NICE Systems has announced a new partnership with Astound to deliver integrated e-learning solutions for customer contact centers. The integrated Astound and NICE solution will provide enhanced features, including rules-based e-learning and the ability to use recorded content for training and real-time reports. NICE recordings can be incorporated into Astound training modules, real-time reports will allow supervisors and managers to access detailed information so they can track their agent’s progress, and customizable e-learning dashboards enable agents to view their own quality management and training scores. The Astound solution is a new enhancement to NICE Systems’ platform for customer experience management (CEM) and will be sold through NICE’s global distribution channels. “Astound’s e-learning integrated with NICE Systems’ quality monitoring will allow contact centers to deliver focused training to agents based on their specific requirements,” said Yuval Ofek, president of NICE’s CEM division.

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The Management Service Provider: Proving That Out Is In

BY LAURA GILLESPIE  

One thing that remains constant in today’s rapidly changing business environment is the need for technical experts to manage your company’s systems, servers, and applications. As qualified staff becomes more difficult to find, organizations must face the reality of paying more for less. Add to a movement toward Web-centric solutions, proliferation of databases, Web and application servers, and companies face daunting challenges.

These issues translate to complicated technology environments, frequently staffed by inexperienced personnel or plagued with staff turnover.

New challenges demand new solutions. Instead of looking inward, companies are looking outside their walls for the critical ongoing management of their systems applications. By outsourcing this function, your company can realize a number of key benefits: high level of expertise, security, reliability and scalability, round-the-clock support, and significant cost savings. Perhaps the best benefit of all: outsourcing frees up your staff to use its development talents, rather than focusing energy on the mundane task of waiting for problems that may or may not happen.

Outsourcing to a qualified Management Service Provider (MSP) that specializes solely on the proactive management and maintenance of your mission-critical applications enables your company to leverage the expertise of an organization that focuses completely on systems application management. This depth of experience is difficult to find and cost-prohibitive for an individual organization to afford 24 hours a day/365 days a year. By outsourcing, you won’t worry about recruiting, sick time, vacations, or terminations.

The MSP market is often confusing because there are dozens of companies in this new space and each offers its own set of products and services. Companies that claim they can do it all should be questioned. In the Internet industry, business changes daily and technology evolves rapidly, so it’s nearly impossible for any company to master all aspects of any industry. Good MSP companies recognize their core competency and dedicate their resources to becoming the best they can be in their space.

By tracking key information about clients’ systems and applications, MSPs are able to proactively prevent problems from happening. As critical data is collected for individual clients, this knowledge becomes a powerful tool that can benefit multiple customers. The key is to manage the activity on a client’s servers proactively – through a combination of installed technology and professional expertise – and leverage information across many customers. Ultimately, clients reap the benefits of having the shared knowledge of many customers’ experiences.

Laura Gillespie is the director of marketing for SiteLite. For more information, please call (949) 635-2400 or visit www.sitelite.com. 

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