News Breif

Envision Telephony (www.envisioninc.com)

has come out with a revamped version of Envision Workforce Management, scheduling, forecasting and staff adherence solution, which is part of Envision Centricity, the firm’s Web-based workforce optimization application.

Envision Workforce Management offers drag-and-drop editing in real time, automatic selection and approval of vacation time and instant notifications of changes. It has Scheduling Wizards such as for specifying work habits and staffing needs to generate unlimited scheduling scenarios. Menus are highly configurable and user-friendly; they with messaging and a virtual bulletin board provide agents access to schedules. There is a robust collaboration console for communicating availability and time off preferences. There is also intraday management for monitoring and reporting agent adherence in real-time, while recognizing trends and automatically re-forecasting. The software provides forecasting and what-if scenario-building capabilities and custom reports.

Inova (News - Alert) Solutions (www.inovasolutions.com)

has released a new version of its Inova LightLink middleware, which powers several different reporting products such as Desktop Presenter, a desktop application that displays real-time metrics and messaging. LightLink is simpler to install by allowing the system to be preconfigured. When users log in, Desktop Presenter applications are ready to go and do not have to be individually configured on each machine. LightLink also permits authentication and messaging tied to Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows user names rather than IP addresses. This feature improves security by only allowing users to see messages tied specifically to individual log-ins. There is also remote log-ins.

Maximizer Software (www.maximizer.com)

has come out with Maximizer CRM 11 with several new features, among them:

• Support for the Firefox Web browser;

• Full marketing campaign support including action plan creation and access to the document library;

• Expanded sales force automation and business intelligence capabilities;

• New wizard-driven, easily-customized dashboards;

• Optimized usability, such as a redesigned interface and tighter integration with native BlackBerry (News - Alert) applications. Real-time access to content, documents and e-mail; attachments housed in the central Maximizer CRM database;

• Multimedia support for video, voice and images that can be easily saved to a current Maximizer CRM record; and

• Mobile CRM multi-user support, which allows users to assign tasks, escalate cases and assign opportunities to other colleagues without returning to the desktop applications.

Microsoft will make available the next version of its unified communications (UC) software, code-named Communications Server 14 in the second half of 2010. The new product includes a complete communications solution, with full enterprise telephony and a sleek, simplified Communicator client that works with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Server and MicrosoftExchange. It will feature a versatile platform that allows customers to embed communications in applications.

Communications Server “14” will permit firms to use instant messaging, presence and other software capabilities both on-premise and in the cloud with Microsoft Office Communications Online. It will for example help people find colleagues based on their expertise through a new skill search feature, understand when their colleagues are available to collaborate and, with a new location-awareness feature, where they are available. It can also easily initiate collaboration and bring together the needed content, resources and people.

UTOPY (News - Alert) (www.utopy.com)

has come out three new solutions: UTOPY First Call Resolution, UTOPY Handle Time Optimization and UTOPY Call Volume Reduction.

• UTOPY First Call Resolution detects any indications of repeat calls within the conversation. It also integrates all available
caller identifiers and correlates that information with the actual conversation content to identify whether the call is an initial or repeat call for that caller regarding each particular issue. It then correlates repeat calls with call reasons, agents, products, processes and customers to discover the drivers, alerts organizations of these issues and recommends remedial actions. UTOPY Coaching facilitates targeted coaching on the particular topic within which deficiencies are identified

• UTOPY Handle Time Optimization automatically measures handle time by call reason, agent, product and process, determines why customers are calling and detects which types of calls use the most resources. It also uncovers policies and processes that are driving handle time, discovers opportunities to reduce the duration of those calls and recommends targeted programs to reduce the handle time while ensuring that customer satisfaction is not adversely impacted

• UTOPY Call Volume Reduction automatically and objectively classifies 100 percent of calls. It discovers root causes of unnecessary calls, such as those that could have been handled by self-service applications, or calls caused by a sub-optimal product feature or business process. It also makes the business case for changes to products, processes and self-service applications; and tracks the success of these changes over time

Varolii (www.varolii.com)

has come out with Varolii Fast Solutions for Customer Service and Collections and Varolii Smart Solutions for Customer Service and Collections. Varolii Fast Solutions for Customer Service and Collections
include Varolii ID that personalizes each message to individual recipients, queue management, professional voice recordings and detailed reporting. Varolii Smart Solutions for Customer Service and Collections include all the features found in Varolii Fast Solutions, plus three more Varolii ID business rules, dynamic transfer options and current contact center activity and three more conversation types, one more voice persona, and one more language. It now has cross-channel communications and the ability to automatically connect high-customers to agents. There are also enhanced reporting.

Verint (News - Alert) (www.verint.com)

has enhanced its Impact 360 Workforce Management solution with several new capabilities for contact centers and back offices. These include:

• Time Banking, which models and tracks of annualized hour banks mandated in employee contracts by government labor laws and Time Off Accrual, which allows detailed and flexible modeling of rules associated
with how employees accumulate vacation time. It also helps validate and process time off requests.

• Work Item Tracking, which simplifies set-up, viewing and drill-down into workloads by age of individual items.

• Linked Queue Forecasting, which expands on existing multi-queue forecasting
by defining linkages based on workflow from one queue to the next.

• Pre-defined Key Performance Indicators and corresponding reports are now available to address the most common measures of back-office performance.

The Impact 360 suite also supports compliance with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, benefiting individuals with disabilities and Job Access With Speech, a software program created to eliminate barriers in information technology.

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