Communications SOLUTIONS (TM) March 2001 Table Of Contents

Formerly CTI® Magazine
March 2001
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Fax's Role In Your Communications Strategy Mark Malone and Terry Hemphill, AVT A cohesive and efficient e-document delivery strategy is of increasing importance as enterprises attempt to control and reduce communication costs while maintaining an effective flow of information. Fax servers capable of sending information over the Internet directly to fax machines, printers, and e-mail inboxes represent technological potential that cannot be ignored in a comprehensive communication strategy.

FEATURES Development, By Definition By Kevin Mayer and Chris Donner Hey, you got your application in my softswitch. Is this a new combination that service providers will love, or are applications-enabled softswitch manufacturers trying to mix oil and water? Kevin Mayer and Chris Donner consider the different softswitch models and their potential for service creation. The Voice Portal -- Gateway To A Universe Of Data Tim Walsh, Philips Speech Processing The future of voice portals seems promising. But how will its future play out in terms of application development, consumer adoption, and business models? NEWS AND VIEWS Breaking News Letters To The Editor Enabling Technologies Chris Donner, Contributing Editor Service creation environments -- are they the answer to the question of the next-gen network, or do they leave things still pretty much uncertain? Interactive Commerce Dan Callahan, Associate Editor It seems that from the time we're born, bits and pieces of our lives are being logged in databases somewhere. But when it comes to logging and monitoring solutions for the contact center, this becomes an important step in a company's CRM strategy and allows customers to have control over their experience.	PUBLISHER’S OUTLOOK A Masterpiece By Midday Rich Tehrani, Publisher Today's businesses often operate similar to a jazz ensemble, with people playing off each other, notes sparking new ideas, new tunes to be played. And just as business is about communication, jazz is about communication. Rich Tehrani examines this analogy and relates the results of our readership survey. EDITOR'S OUTLOOK The Virtual Fairy Tale Theatre Kevin Mayer, Editorial Director The "virtual company" is an often-told tale, but once a company is virtually integrated, it that really the end? Kevin Mayer examines some of the difficulties inherent in this model and seeks to find out what makes it so attractive. TOM KEATING'S CC: A Case Of Techno-Paranoia Tom Keating, Executive Technology Editor Twenty years ago people were sending letters instead of e-mail; instant messaging and video conferencing were straight out of sci-fi paperbacks. But all that's changed, and a bevy of new communications technologies allows us to stay in touch no matter where we are, or when it is. Tom Keating looks at a few of these technologies and asks: Have we become too connected? REVIEWS eShare Corporation's NetAgent 4.0 Z-Firm LLC's FaxRush 4.0 DEPARTMENTS Analytical Views: CRM: The Changing Of The Guard Brian Strachman, Cahners In-Stat Group In this month's column, Brian looks into the different types of solutions that both traditional CRM vendors and non-traditional vendors offer, and how their different approaches might eventually become more similar. Inside Networking: Meet Customers On Their Own Terms Tony Rybczynski, Nortel Networks What makes a successful voice portal? Tony Rybczynski explains how natural speech recognition and voice verification technologies can help you offer customers a more human experience. At Your Service: The Future Of Converged Networks Jonathan Rosenberg, dynamicsoft In this column, Jonathan Rosenberg discusses whether the development of converged communications networks is more dependent on new applications and services or on an advanced network infrastructure to support such new services.