April 1998

BY JEFF HOLTMEIER

Today’s competitive PBX and Key system environment will continue to force issues of differentiation to win sales. One of the greatest opportunities for positioning is with computer telephony (CT) applications focused on the call center/ workgroup segment. Of the estimated four million call center seats, 45 percent are in call centers with less than 40 agents. This small (informal) call center segment is a large and ripe market.

By now, everyone knows the three major segments for computer telephony applications: formal (large) call centers, informal call centers, and personal productivity enhancements. Suffice it to say that the traditional telecom VAR probably would not play in the 500agent, multisite, networked formal call center space, which leaves the informal call center and personal productivity as their target market. Using Dataquest’s most recent CTI report, these markets combined represent nearly $1.4 billion in 1998.

In addition, CT products such as unified messaging and IVR (interactive voice response) represent significant opportunities as products become more affordable and reach the mainstream market. These products have obvious applications, and are usually a part of the voice processing solution as they are packaged and sold by these manufacturers. Where these applications may be a part of the overall CT opportunity, we will focus on more informal call center and personal productivity here.

THE NATURAL EXTENSION
Remember, even the best PBX/Key system telephone is still a proprietary, dumb terminal incapable of managing information. Though, by combining the PBX and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) with the power of the personal computer and local-area network (LAN) you can build powerful, robust computer telephony applications. Now incoming and outgoing calls can be managed intelligently. And, with computer telephony call center applications installed, the "power" phone users — in Customer Service departments, at Help Desks, at Order desks, in Accounts Receivable (A/R) or at call coverage positions — are now turbo-charged with caller information at their fingertips. CT adds more value to the call by automating the tasks of retrieving information.

Not since voice mail has there been a telephony application that is so cost effective. Your customers can’t afford not to arm their key departments with CT. Companies that don’t take advantage of CT’s breakthrough advances severely limit their ability to keep up with their competitors who do leverage new technology. On the other hand, companies that deploy CT applications will be significantly enhancing the way their people communicate — both internally and externally — reducing the cost of doing business, and leveraging the technology investments already made in PCs, LANs, and databases.

IDENTIFY THE WORKGROUP
As a telecom VAR, you have been conditioned to identify customer problems through a consultative and qualitative sales approach. When prospects need calls distributed in a Customer Service or Order entry department, the solution would call for designing an ACD (automatic call distributor). When customers require centralized answering and messaging, you would design and install a transparent wide-area voice network and single consoles with one voice mail system. CT applications are the natural extension of consultative sales approach for telephony VARs.

When prospecting and selling into your market, you will, through a needs analysis, find that almost every prospect has an informal call center right in their business. Remember, an informal call center is nothing more than a group of people who require answering the telephone and accessing information, but who also have other responsibilities. This scenario is in contrast to the formal call center agent who has but a single task — production answering. Most companies have one or more of the following groups that can be considered "low-hanging fruit" for CT applications:

• Customer Service Departments.
• Help Desks.
• Accounts Receivable.
• Order Departments.
• Sales Departments.

We will focus on two of these segments: One inbound CT application; and the other outbound.

INBOUND (CUSTOMER SERVICE)
Most businesses that serve customers have a Customer Service department to field incoming calls from customers. In smaller organizations, the Customer Service representatives probably have multiple responsibilities and need to be armed with information quickly in order to efficiently handle the customers’ needs.

These call centers could be two agents within a basic hunt group or 50 agents in a sophisticated ACD routing scheme. Look for the following:

• "Power" phone users who also access information from their PC.
• Traditional ACD/UCD (uniform call distribution) routing environment.
• Responsiveness to callers.
• Required interaction with other departments and employees.

Sales Approach
Identify the customer service department within the prospect’s organization. Watch the typical call flow and the time required to manage and handle the caller’s request. In addition to the UCD or ACD routing from the PBX, suggest using CLID or ANI (calling line identification or automatic number identification). If not available, call tagging (IVR) capability will prompt callers for information (account number, telephone number, and the like), and after retrieving database information, will route the call to a defined destination, thus adding tremendous value to the call.

Most call center applications deliver the following features and functionality:

• Agents can preview specific (user-configurable) information about the caller pulled from any database on a local or network drive. The agent can then make the decision on how to handle the call before answering, even while still on another call.

Example
While handling one caller placing an order, another call is presented to the agent. Instantly, the agent sees that this caller’s account has a past due balance and must be handled by Accounts Receivable. The agent simply clicks the A/R group members, graphically sees the status of each member (including itinerary) and drags the call to an inactive/available member in the A/R department. The result is an immediate transfer of the caller to the proper person to manage the call, along with all the information required prior to the call being answered.

On the receiving end, where the A/R person may be busy entering receipts in the accounting system, the call automatically pops to the front of their Windows accounting application. The database preview information alerts the A/R clerk who the caller is and a simple click of the screen pop button takes the clerk to that caller’s record field in the A/R application.

The result is an intelligently managed call that reduces time and dramatically improves customer service.

• Customer Service groups can be reduced in size by tagging each call with information and routing it to the proper person or group.

Example
If customer records are retrieved by account numbers (or some other method other than a telephone number), or if ANI or CLID are not available in a particular area, call tagging (IVR) capability will prompt callers for information (e.g., account number) and, after retrieving database information, will route the call to a predefined destination.

The caller experience is an announcement asking for information to be entered via their touch-tone phone. Once that is done, the call, along with the information matching that caller that is retrieved from the database, is then routed to the appropriate agent who can intelligently handle the call. This eliminates the requirement for a person to answer the call, retrieve information, and then find the appropriate party to handle the call. Additionally, the time required to handle the call is greatly reduced, which, in turn, may reduce the number of agents required to handle calls, or allow existing agents to handle more calls.

Abandoned calls (when the caller hangs up before the call is answered) are also captured with most applications, which enables agents to call the customer back to solve their problem, or make the sale.

Most applications allow agents to view important statistical ACD data (longest waiting, calls in queue, agents available, etc.) right from their PC. This feature will present data — usually restricted to external display signs — in a banner format across the PC monitor.

Qualifying Questions

• Do certain employees handle incoming calls from customers?
• Is a certain percentage of these calls made up of repeat callers?
• Are these employees required to retrieve and provide information as part of handling the calls? •Do these employees need to interact with other members of their group or other employees?
• Are these agents required to provide call activity logs or reports?
• Do you get abandoned calls?

CT solutions can generate immediate payback by improving the way in which customers’ calls are managed by delivering not just the call, but information about the caller. Such intelligent call management reduces time, improves communication, and delivers a higher level of customer service.

Independent studies have shown that CT applications yield an average of 23–48 percent reduction in call completion time, which can result in significant cost savings or a dramatic increase in the number of calls handled by the same number of agents.

OUTBOUND (SALES)
A salesperson’s primary responsibilities include prospecting, managing accounts, processing orders, responding to customers’ and prospects’ needs, and preparing call reports. All of these actions involve obtaining information and communicating via the telephone. Merging the two most powerful tools that a salesperson uses (phone and PC), makes CT the most useful tool that has come along for salespeople since voice mail.

• CT applications will integrate with all major PIMs (personal information managers), contact managers, and the like.
• Preview dial from standard databases for prospecting or telemarketing.
• Use call logging for call reports, to sort by fields, take notes, calculate cost.
• Statistical reports for instant review of activity.
• Type a name to automatically search all databases (including the Internet) for the number. Then, just hit Enter to dial.
• With database preview, customers are greeted more personally and efficiently.
• Launch from database preview directly to the customer record in Order entry via screen pop.
• While on a call, handle additional calls by previewing the caller’s information and deciding the priority of the calls and whether to transfer the call (before answering).
• While handling multiple calls, graphically view other members of your groups to see who can assist in handling the calls. By previewing caller information, you can intelligently decide whether the Customer Service department, A/R, another sales person, or an assistant can manage the call.
• Call filtering can have priority calls track you down, wherever you are. Simply list the important calls you want to get through to you (by time of day) and the number at which you can be reached. And while you’re being tracked down, some applications even announce to the caller that this is a priority call.

Sales Approach
You may not need to search too far for opportunities in a Sales or Order Entry department. From your own experiences, you may already know the key questions to ask when trying to apply CT to your prospect’s business. From making cold calls to processing incoming orders, the methods sales people use are not much different today than 20 years ago.

Imagine for a moment if sales people didn’t have voice mail today. Remember the pink message pads? One simple process is altered and the paradigm in which people do business is dramatically changed. CT is the present day voice mail application that can have an even greater impact on the way in which calls are managed and how customers are served.

Example
When prospecting for business or even returning calls, don’t waste time searching for numbers. With CT, simply type in a name (or number) and all databases are searched for a match, preview information about the party is displayed, and the call is made instantly. All calls are recorded in the call log for later review or for reporting.

Example
When receiving calls from customers, you’ll immediately know who’s calling, even when you’re on the phone with someone else. This enables you to intelligently manage calls, and prioritize your call handling. If you’re on a call with a prospect, and your Mr. Big calls, you can quickly place your prospect on hold and handle Mr. Big. And while you’re on the phone with Mr. Big, and a coworker happens to call, you can ‘drag’ that call to voice mail or to another member of one of your groups, without interrupting your call with Mr. Big.

Example
If you leave the office without hearing from a prospect about that big contract, simply enter the name (or number) of the person that you are expecting to hear from in your itinerary, along with the telephone number(s) at which you can be reached. When the call arrives, CT software will redirect that call to you, while informing the caller that they are a "priority caller" and that you’re being tracked down.

Example
If you’re required to call from a list of contacts or prospects, CT will automate the task through its "power" dialing capability. Now, salespeople or telemarketers can have calls automatically placed and preview the information on the caller. Once the caller is connected and an order needs to be placed, a click of the mouse takes you directly to the record field in the order entry application. In Busy or No Answer conditions, calls may be recycled for future attempts. Reports can be generated by user for activity, incomplete calls, and more. This powerful feature is useful for those who need to make 20 calls per day or 200.

Qualifying Questions

• Do sales people make calls from lists (databases)?
• Do sales people receive incoming calls from repeat customers?
• Do sales people receive incoming calls from new customers?
• Do sales people access information on a PC (or LAN) about customers and prospects?
• Do sales people require interaction with other departments and employees?
• Are salespeople required to complete call reports? CT solutions can generate immediate payback for Sales departments by improving the way in which customer calls are managed, and responded to. Prospecting is also brought to a new level of sophistication.

SUMMARY
CT applications are not relegated to the 500 agent, formal call centers, but can be found in virtually every business, regardless of size. Telecom VARs need only to approach this opportunity in the same manner that they approached earlier applications such as voice mail, ACD, and wide-area networking. Once this paradigm is recognized, you will see the significance of the market opportunity of the low-hanging fruit just waiting to be plucked.

Jeff Holtmeier is Founder and President/CEO of Q.SyS, Inc., a leading developer of phonecentric CTI desktop applications, founded in 1992. All Q.SyS products support Novell’s TSAPI and Microsoft TAPI standards and are supported by all major PBX/Key system manufacturers worldwide. Jeff Holtmeier is also Founder and CEO of InfiNET, a regional telecom integrator with more than 100 employees that was founded in 1982. InfiNET represents major PBX and Key System telephony products and voice processing systems, and is a Microsoft Solutions Partner and Novell Platinum Reseller. For more information, contact the author at 513-745-8940. Email to [email protected] is also welcome.