Call Centers

I got a statistic stuck in my head last week during a visit to a client in California. Sometimes you hear or see something so interesting for its oddity that it stays with you no matter what. For me, this was one of those times. There are actually two closely related bits of information, and both r...

Voice over Internet protocol has recently become more common in corporations large and small. By combining separate voice and data transmissions onto the same line, this new communications option enables companies to lower their telecommunications costs and, after taking advantage of the savings, co...

As technology collides with forces of globalization, contact centers and the executives who run them find themselves in the midst of five megatrends. These trends present unique opportunities for these executives to add strategic value to their business, reposition themselves within their organizati...

Amdocs has rolled out Smart Agent Desktop, a new product that gives contact center agents visibility into back-end applications and provides guidance on decision making processes related to calls. It is the combination of both factors in one product that makes this rollout unique in the industry, Ho...

OpenSpan, a Microsoft partner, rolled out an application integration platform that allows users of Microsoft's Customer Care Framework 2008 -- which was also introduced Wednesday -- to link together older applications and custom-built systems with the front-end agent desktop. Built on the Microsoft ...

Companies' integrated voice recognition applications are being stretched thin. Even when the best interface designs are in place, customers are abandoning calls before completion. Forty-three percent of companies surveyed in the "Contact Center Analytics" benchmark were either seeing poorer performa...

Calabrio has upgraded its workforce optimization products, which go to market through several channel partners, including as an OEM to Cisco's Unified Contact Center product line. The company upgraded Workforce Management to version 8.1 and Quality Management to version 2.4. The latter in particular...

Aspect Software has introduced a series of software modules under one suite aimed at optimization performance in the contact center. The modules are for workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management and coaching and e-learning. Called "Performanc...

Avaya has made a significant upgrade in three self-service offerings that it introduced at the beginning of last year. Introduced at SpeechTEK 2007 in New York City, the three products are Avaya Voice Portal 4.0, its flagship self-service software; Interactive Response 3.0, a self-service platform; ...

Companies are increasingly faced with the challenge of how to leverage the large amounts of data available in the contact center. The data is accumulated through customer management systems -- CRM, SFA, ERP and order fulfillment -- and interactions with the customer. Even though providing consistent...

Determining the right combination of people, processes and technologies is critical to the effectiveness of the virtual call center -- a call center that functions in every respect as a single logical entity with agents that are physically distributed across multiple locations. An integral piece to ...

Epicor has released its first major overhaul of its CRM application since the company shifted its product line to the .NET platform. At that time, in 2002, Epicor introduced new CRM functionality that played upon the benefits of moving away from a client-server environment. This release focuses more...

Interactive Intelligence has released its second-generation session initiation protocol Interaction Gateway, an appliance that enables connections between traditional T1 and E1 trunk lines and Voice over Internet Protocol networks. The new version includes support for global protocols, fax support ...

FrontRange Solutions has made available version 5.1 of FrontRange Voice, an IP telephony software application that can be installed on the desktop without the need for other equipment. It targets small and medium-sized businesses and offers upgrades in functionality and integration over previous ve...

ATG has introduced a service center application for its e-commerce suite, ATG Commerce, that builds on some of the company's previous acquisitions. The Commerce Service Center contact center application integrates e-commerce functionality with back-end order administration, sales support and custome...