Top Ten Attributes of a True Carrier-Class ASP Offering

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DEPLOYING THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER
Presenter Lance Fried Director of
Marketing Telephony_at_Work
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DEPLOYING THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER
TOPICS TO BE COVERED

• What are the capabilities of an effective
  virtual call center solution?
• What are the attributes of effective
  infrastructure designed for purpose -- versus a
  make-fit deployment that cannot deliver the
  benefits?
• What are the benefits of deploying virtual call
  center infrastructure designed for purpose?

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• Communications From _at_nywhere
• Phone, Fax, Internet
• Routed To _at_nywhere
• Central Center / Remote Center / Telecommuter
• Supervision From _at_nywhere
• Call Screen Monitoring / Recording/ Whisper
  Coaching
• Administration, provisioning, moves, adds
  changes from _at_nywhere

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I Need to Talk To Someone!

• I Can Choose
• Regular Phone Call
• Email
• Chat
• Web Callback
• Voice-Over-Web

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THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER
ACD
WHAT SHOULD IT DO?
PBX VoIP Circuit
Fax
E-Mail With suggested Responses
Chat
WebCollaboration
Call Screen Monitoring Coaching
Recording Logging
Web-Callback
Queuing
Skills-Based Routing
IVR
Voice-Over-Web
Voice Mail
Unified Messaging
Predictive/Preview Dialing
Automated E-Mail Analysis Response
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• Browser-Based, Multi-Channel Contact Center
• Multimedia Skills-Based Routing
• Handles Blends All Media Types In An Integrated
  Interface

Web Self-Help
Voice
Email
Web Chat

• Touch Tone Menus (IVR)
• Queuing
• PSTN / VoIP H.323, SIP
• Integrates with or
• replaces PBX

• Build knowledge-base
• without programming
• Auto-generate web-pages
• with imbedded intelligence
• for content analysis
• web-response

• Instant Text Chat
• Web Collaboration
• Form Sharing
• Suggests Responses
• URL Push Libraries

• Content Analysis
• Template Matching
• Automated Response
• Routing To Agents With
• Suggested Response

Recording Monitoring
Voice Mail / Fax
Automated Callback

• Interaction Alarms
• Scheduled on-the-fly recordings
• Join or take over calls
• Whisper Coaching Chat Coaching
• Screen Monitoring

• Unified Messaging
• E-Mail Accessible
• Remote Retrieval
• Fax Fax Libraries

• Web-Callback Requests
• IVR-Based Callback Request
• Scheduled Callback
• Immediate Callback

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Quality Monitoring Recording
Ensuring Quality In the Virtual Call Center

• Can supervisors monitor, record coach from
  anywhere?
• Can supervisors see and control agents screens?
• Can supervisors access all recordings on demand?
• Can recordings can be scheduled automatically?
• Can supervisors initiate on-the-fly recording of
  agents?
• Can supervisors leverage multi-channel
  interaction alarms?

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Browser-Based Interfaces

• Agents, Supervisors and Administrators Can Log On
  From Anywhere
• -- Ability To Deploy Remote Workers
• Eliminates Desktop Administration Costs
• Simplified Firewall Security
• Operates Over Regular Ports (80/443)

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Virtual Call Center Corporate Hosting

• Overlay on top of multiple call center sites
• Different PBXs and ACDs controlled by unified
  system
• Telecommuters with browser controls
• No forklifting of existing gear required
• Disaster recovery and alternate routing built-in

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Agents Can Be Local With CPE Installation
Agents Can Be Remote With Access To HOSTED
Infrastructure
AND / OR
CENTRALIZED CONFIGURATION
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Agents Can Be Local With CPE Installation
Agents Can Be Remote With Access To HOSTED
Infrastructure
AND / OR

How It Works Centralized
Infrastructure For Multiple Locations
DECENTRALIZED CONFIGURATION
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Skills-Based Routing of All Forms of
Communication Regardless of Location

• Define unlimited skills
• Weight skills for agents workgroups
• Factor in outside variables (idle time, agent
  cost, etc.)
• Skills-based routing is automatic
• Skills-based routing can span over multiple sites

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Blended Predictive Preview Dialer Options

• Calls clients automatically - calls pushed to
  agents regardless of location
• Agents can handle both incoming and outgoing
  calls
• Preview - agents review scripts before calls are
  placed
• Multiple outbound campaigns can run all at once

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PBX Capabilities With Unified Messaging

• Users can do 32-way conferences and transfers
• Users can pull callers out of voicemail in real
  time
• Ordinary, non-proprietary phones can be used
• Voicemails, faxes emails delivered in email
  client

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Must Work With Legacy PBXs At Remote Locations

• Any switch Avaya, Nortel, Mitel, NEC, Fujitsu,
  Siemens, etc.
• Hooks up as adjunct over TIE trunks, eliminating
  need for CTI
• Allows normal PBX functions to continue
• Call center agents upgraded with browser
  interface

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Must Work Without Legacy PBXs

• As a Communications Server using Intel/Dialogic
  boards
• As a Soft Switch controlling ANY H.323 or SIP
  gateway
• As Controller of Cisco VoIP gateways
• As Controller of Nortel MPS 1000 multimedia
  tandem

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Mixed Circuit Packet Switching

• Either/or propositions are simply naïve today
• Imperative to blend media from either type of
  transmission seamlessly
• Protects your investment when you must make the
  inevitable shift to IP telephony
• Seamlessly Blend Circuit H.323 and SIP for
  universal compatibility

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Remote Agent / Telecommuting Capabilities

• Agents can work at home with just a PC and phone
• All capabilities extended to remote users
• Multiple sites can treated as one virtual call
  center
• Remote users piggy back on central system L.D.

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Built-In Customer Record Management

• Customer data POPS on agent screen with calls
• Agents can enter store notes on calls
• Unified customer history log -- accessible to all
  agents
• Includes chat email transcripts, call logs,
  notes, etc.

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Cross-Media Licensing

• Platforms that require separate licenses for each
  individual medium of communication are inherently
  inefficient
• Capacity-based licensing eliminates idle license
  inefficiencies allows you to share licenses
  among multiple sites and seats.
• Per-seat or Per-Log-in licensing penalizes use of
  casual agents (who rarely take calls) and remote
  agents (because their seats are only in use part
  of the time)
• Look for unlimited client software distribution
  in the browser unlimited log-ins!

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Globalization and Localization Support

• Multiple time zone support time-zone consistency
  in both reports and real-time information
• User interfaces should deliver localization of
  languages, date and monetary formats

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Multi-Host Data Polling Allows Data To Live At
Various Sites

• Allows remote databases to be polled for data
  through firewalls from multiple on-premises
  database tables
• Access to multiple databases through firewalls
  allows the logic flow and applications that
  direct the contact center to live in a
  variety of locations
• Most vendors dont support this through
  standard ports (80/443) and require you to
  sacrifice security by making Swiss cheese
  out of your firewall!

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Multi-Host Data Streaming Allows Customer Data
To Be Deposited At Various Sites

• Enables companies to stream and store all
• consent-to-transaction recordings
• quality monitoring recordings
• interaction history data
• all other private information

behind their firewalls, centrally or at remote
locations
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The Traditional One Off Approach -- A Square
Peg In A Round Hole --

• Too many points of failure
• Too long to deploy
• Too expensive to deploy custom programming
  compiling, integration, testing debugging, etc.
• Too expensive to own (continuous
  re-integration required - fixes updates)
• Too rigid changes require programming/
  integration
• Too many vendors/ integrators involved

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THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER

• Designed for hosted services
• No Downtime Carrier-Class Hot-Backup
  Reliability
• Multi-Site Disaster Recovery
• Dynamic Scalability
• Fast deployment
• No-cost hosted-services provisioning from menu
  selections in the browser -No programming
  or compiling
• Dramatically lower cost of ownership (continuous
  re-integration NOT required)
• No cost changes changes dont require
  programming or re-integration
• Efficient cross-media licensing
• Economies of scale licensing is capacity-based

Integration-By-Design
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THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER
Integration-By-Design
How Should It Work?
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• SELECTING A VENDOR IN THE ONE-OFF
  INTEGRATION MODEL FOR AN INTERNAL CORPORATE
  ASP INITIATIVE IS NEEDLESSLY RISKY.
• -- Why not piggyback on carrier testing and due
  diligence?

In the one-off paradigm End users spend much
more on the integration of convergence
applications than they do on the technologies
themselves. Mary Bradshaw,
Vice President

Telecommunications Industry
Association
CommWeb,
September 9, 2002
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Scalability Try To Pick A Platform You Wont
Outgrow!

• Must scale down to one communications server for
  small to mid-size implementations
• Must scale up in a network-based configuration to
  deliver carrier-grade scalability for large
  enterprises, Telcos ASPs
• Avoid the pain cost of a forklift and staff
  re-training

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Reliability
Traditional (Outdated) Way Fail
Over
Fail-Over Schemes Require System-Wide Downtime!
System Failure results in disconnection of all
agents and all communications in-progress - with
fail over to back up system after 10 to 30
seconds of downtime! Result you have to
hope that they call back!
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Carrier-Grade Reliability
Software processes mirrored hot in the network
Communications can stay alive even if individual
servers fail!
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Reliability Hot-Backup Architectural
Extensions

• Provides real-time redundancy of mail servers
• and web servers
• Sessions are seamlessly rerouted and session
• contexts are seamlessly maintained in the
  event
• of failures

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Security-By-Design
Everything works through port 80 or port 443NO
NEED TO TRANSFORM FIREWALLS INTO SWISS CHEESE!
NEVER consider technologies that-- compromise
firewalls to maintain connections with offsite
agents -- do not provide support for proxies
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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Unify Multiple Locations

• Virtual call center capabilities are an effective
  means of unifying call centers with multiple
  locations
• Consolidation of regional call centers into one
  seamlessly integrated, geographically distributed
  enterprise offers compelling efficiencies as well
  as cost savings

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Cut Costs

• Dramatically Reduce IT Infrastructure Costs
  Through Centralization
• Cut Facilities and Security Related Overhead by
  leveraging telecommuters
  
• Expand hours of operation while eliminating
  overtime Route communications to different time
  zones
• Cross-Media Traffic-Based Licensing eliminates
  licensing inefficiencies and enables you to
  leverage your investment across geography with
  unlimited seats at no cost (--you license based
  on traffic-capacity).
• Low, low cost of satellite office infrastructure
• Much lower staffing requirements because IT
  infrastructure is centralized

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Slash Cost-Of-Ownership Without Sacrifice!

• Dramatically reduce infrastructure management and
  support costs via centralization and
  integration-by-design
• Unified, menu driven administration enables
  moves, adds and changes to be delegated to the
  site manager and be provisioned at no cost
• Hot Backup eliminates costs associated with
  downtime
• Industry average cost-of-ownership is 30k per
  year per seat to keep software integrated (must
  re-integrate and retest fix bugs test again,
  etc.. with every new patch or update (includes
  software maintenance) -- Purdue University
• Integration-By-Design, Thin-Client Browser
  Interfaces Unified Administration can reduce
  annual per-seat costs to between 500-1000
• (29,000 per year hard savings per seat!)

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Dramatically Faster Time-To-Market ROI

• Remote Locations Can Be Turned Up In just hours
• Even More Compelling for Seasonal Call Centers
• Unified, menu driven administration enables
  moves, adds and changes to be delegated to the
  site manager enabling call centers to make
  no-cost changes and become more responsive to
  changing needs

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Ensure Staffing Levels

• Access to agents across all centers
• Offering a telecommuting option can often
  effectively address agent recruiting and
  retention problems
• A telecommuting option can also attract better
  agents who might not be willing to work in a
  physical call center but who would accept such
  employment if they could telecommute from home

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers

• Reliability Multi-Site Disaster Recovery
• (Assuming proper Infrastructure)

• Real-time Back Up of All Processes (Hot
  Mirroring) across multiple locations ensuring
  communications stay alive even if individual
  servers fail
• Dynamic Scalability No Service Disruption During
  Upgrades

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Additional Disaster Recovery Option
On-the-fly Telecommuting To Provide Back-up
Agent Resources
Ability to add remote agents on the fly can prove
useful even for single-site call centers. For
example, if too few agents show up for work or if
unanticipated volumes of calls must be handled on
a short notice, 'back-up' agents could log in
remotely from home while others work from the
call center's physical location. On-the-fly
telecommuting capabilities are also extremely
useful in cases of bad weather that affect
employee attendance.
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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Expand Your Skills Base

• The ability to add outside resources to your
  enterprise, or even to seamlessly outsource
  certain categories of calls to other companies
  with call screen monitoring by your supervisors
  are important benefits.

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
Remote Supervision

• Supervisors find it hard to be objective when
  they evaluate a person they know - perhaps
  someone they hired or trained. In such cases,
  they may even feel that a low rating reflects
  poorly on their coaching skills. Supervisors may
  also be too close to the situation to understand
  the customer's perspective.
• Companies that outsource their agent monitoring
  report that unlike internal supervisor ratings,
  outsourced ratings correlate highly with customer
  experiences. But many companies are not
  comfortable with outsourcing their quality
  control.
• Offsite monitoring evaluation yields more
  objective results

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Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers
The Bottom Line

• Customers are better served when communications
  are routed to the best qualified agent
  regardless of location
• SS7 Schemes tend to select sites before people
  and are pure circuit-switched technologies that
  are ultimately going away

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Were The Market Leader The
only vendor with top-tier carrier deployments of
infrastructure for centralized technology
hosting at scale
Rated 1 in Reliability- PELORUS Group
Study, Carrier Class Contact Center
Applications I highly recommend
Telephony_at_Works CallCenter_at_nywhere. - Mike
Trotter, Center For Customer Driven Quality,
Purdue University Telephony_at_Work has built a
carrier-class architecture. Its
self-healing capabilities are unique in the
industry. - GIGA Information Group, Ideabyte
Report, 2001
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Industry Awards
2002

• 15 Product of the Year Awards
• 14 Best of Show Awards
• 5 Editors Choice Technology
  Innovation Awards

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Telephony_at_Works
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