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August 2001
Relief For The Dog
Days
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AltiCenter:
Standalone IP Call Center For The Midmarket
www.altigen.com/888-ALTIGEN,
ext. 300 |
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Cost and system integration are two significant
hurdles to clear when implementing technology
solutions. No business, particularly a contact center,
is going to jump at the prospect of dumping legacy
systems for the glitter and burdensome expense of the "New,
Improved" all-in-one platform/system, especially if
the return on investment hides in some nebulous future
time frame. Similarly, no business will invest in a
compromise solution that either does not integrate
with systems on hand or requires a lot of IT support
to effect integration. Building on its market position
and expertise in the IP-PBX and server-based
telecommunications system market, AltiGen
Communications developed AltiCenter, a standalone IP
call center for the small and mid-size business
market.
AltiGen's chief marketing officer, Richard De Soto,
commented that "...small call centers have had no good
alternative than to implement systems for
$50,000-$100,000 and seat licenses of up to $5,000 per
seat. What these businesses need is an affordable and
comprehensive call center solution that works with
their existing PBX or an AltiServ PBX."
AltiCenter provides the ability to integrate voice
and data communications such as phones, voice mail,
e-mail, Web interactions, and local and remote IP
calling. The IP call center is designed to work with
legacy PBXs as well as AltiGen's AltiServ IP-PBX for
greater flexibility and compatibility. AltiCenter
enables a company's internal IT staff to reduce the
number of systems needed to deliver converged services
by performing communications functions typically
relegated to separate systems, such as automatic call
distributors (ACD), voice mail systems and
computer-telephony middleware. It also provides
additional enhanced capabilities, including e-mail
management, Web chats and Web push for improved
productivity, e-commerce capabilities and better
customer service.
AltiCenter, designed for ease of use and
management, provides IP and analog phone capabilities.
With the majority of its qualities coming directly
from AltiGen's AltiServ 4.0 Advanced IP-PBX server
platform, AltiCenter offers the ability to create call
waiting and overflow queues, route calls to IP phones
via the Internet or to traditional analog phones and
enables complete supervisory break-in and queue
management capabilities. Owing to its modular design,
AltiGen systems are able to grow as a business
requires, starting from support for as few as four
agents.
AltiCenter is a "complete call center in a box"
that includes: IP and/or analog calling; voice mail
with voice response, one-number "find me" and direct
callback while in voice mail; automatic call
distribution; local and remote IP agents supported as
agents in local and multiple workgroups; an integrated
e-mail server, CTI screen pops using Goldmine, ACT! or
Outlook software; legacy PBX support and support for
IP or analog phones (including "softphones") from
multiple phone vendors. AltiCenter also features call
monitoring, the AltiAgent desktop client interface,
Web interaction features (Web callback, chat and push)
and application programming interfaces to integrate
third-party applications, such as IVR, voice call
recording and CRM. A free demonstration CD is
available from the company.
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CRM
In A Hurry For SMEs
www.multiactive.com/800-804-6299 |
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The premise behind Multiactive Software, Inc.'s
Maximizer Enterprise 6.0 solution is delivery of
effective customer relationship management tools that
can be implemented rapidly, right "out-of-the-box," and
can be easily customized and integrated with other
systems, such as accounting, ERP or inventory management
systems. The software helps small to mid-sized companies
build lasting and profitable relationships with their
customers, and the solution's built-in e-commerce
functionality provides easy-to-use to tools that allow
any business to find and qualify leads online and sell
through their own Web store. Multiactive states that a
typical installation of 20-30 seats can be up and
running in one week, which certainly makes the solution
worth a closer look.
Maximizer's Contact Manager permits tracking every
customer interaction and sharing this information
throughout the organization. Along each step of the
sales cycle, managers and sales team members can track
the progress made on each sales opportunity. A Strategy
Library component provides a structure for defining and
recording a sales strategy. Applying users' criteria,
the solution can assess ideas provided by the sales
force and evaluate the probability of success for a
sales campaign strategy. With Maximizer's Remote
Synchronization feature, the system's single,
distributed database can be updated remotely in
real-time, and sales people can interact with customers
and their peers from any location. Combined with a
company's e-mail system or file transfer protocol (FTP),
remote team members can receive accurate and timely
information on all opportunities. At each remote site, a
copy of part or all of the database is kept. Remote
Synchronization automatically merges Maximizer
Enterprise database changes to a central database and
receives updated data back from the central database
files over a LAN, WAN or the Internet. Additionally,
Multiactive offers Enterprise Link 6.0 synchronization
software for the Palm PC platform and all of the 3Com
Palm Connected Organizers' built-in functions. The Palm
To-Do List, Date Book, Address Book and Memos link to
the Hotlist, Calendar, Address Book and Notes Maximizer
Enterprise and automatically synchronize with the touch
of a button.
Maximizer Enterprise features a wealth of software
drivers, instructions and code examples to assist IT
staff and software developers in tailoring the solution
to a company's needs. The software supports many Windows
industry standards (ODBC, OLE, ActiveX and COM, for
example), facilitating database creation/ linkage, form
creation for data entry, interface customization, etc.,
without the need to muck about in the applications'
source code. When information is updated in one
database, the ODBC driver passes the information to
other linked databases. For reporting and analysis, ODBC
ensures that information is always current and
eliminates the need to enter the same information into
more than one system. A free trial CD is available from
the company.
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FrontOffice
Optimization
www.techexcel.com/800-439-7782 |
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TechExcel Inc.'s FrontOffice is an integrated suite of
five products intended for managing all aspects of the
customer lifecycle. FrontOffice combines ServiceWise,
the company's customer support solution, with four new
applications: SalesWise, a sales force automation
package; MarketingWise, a complete online marketing
tool; AssetWise for advanced asset management and
FormWise for online forms automation.
The two components that struck our fancy,
MarketingWise and SalesWise, are geared to offer dynamic
support for closing the loop in the customer lifecycle.
MarketingWise manages comprehensive online marketing
programs, from high-level marketing campaigns to
sophisticated online marketing initiatives and data
analysis. It focuses on the target customer and manages
the complete marketing lifecycle from first impression
to qualified prospect, tracking each prospect's
qualification status throughout. MarketingWise also
escalates qualified prospects automatically into
SalesWise, initiating the sales process.
Among MarketingWise's features is detailed task
management with easily assigned owners, due dates and
progress status tracking. There is a document management
component for marketing-related files (such as artwork
and logo images, white papers, marketing collateral and
banner ads) with complete revision history tracked for
each file. Activities can be organized by major program,
individual project and specific task, each with a
different owner. The application allows for implementing
sophisticated online marketing programs, and customized
fields can be created for program tracking. Response
rates to e-mail "blasts" can be tracked and individual
responses can be monitored using sales points defined
for each marketing program. Sales point values can be
defined and assigned to all online programs, used to
identify those prospects that accumulate the most points
and escalate qualified prospects directly into SalesWise
when defined thresholds are reached. Since MarketingWise
and SalesWise share the same database, the transition
from marketing prospect to sales lead is seamless.
SalesWise manages all aspects of the sales process,
from initial contact through quote management and order
processing. It creates an extended sales team that
incorporates marketing, sales, support and field service
into the sales process. SalesWise integrates seamlessly
with ServiceWise to provide efficient customer support
before and after the sale. The product allows for
creating fully customized sales workflow, detailed task
lists and logging of sales activities. It can create
sales groups and automatically assign sales leads to the
appropriate person based on any criteria defined by the
user. Sales staff can easily monitor the support issues
for all customers and prospects, and be automatically
notified by e-mail, pager or cell phone when high
priority customer support incidents are entered.
Customized sales workflows can be created, and all sales
leads and associated contacts are managed in the central
SalesWise database. The module also provides for
multiple quote generation and management, analysis of
competitors' Web sites, offers a wide range of reporting
and analysis tools and provides a Web interface to
facilitate collaboration with the extended sales team
throughout the sales process.
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Champagne
Networking And Software Solutions On A Beer Budget
www.zeroen.com/818-991-2400 |
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Zero Effort Networking, Inc. adds a clever twist to the
ASP model with its introduction of "instant" virtual
private networks and monthly software rentals. The
company provides the network infrastructure, instant
access to popular software applications and the ability
to collaborate and share information using any computer
connected to the Internet. These services are designed
to allow small to medium-sized businesses to create
complete IT networks in minutes. The intent is to
provide an IT solution for network managers who can, in
short order, create information-sharing workgroups with
just the necessary software, eliminating upfront
investments in hardware and software, and costs
associated with in-house network management. Subscribers
select the software they want to rent and the software
icon instantly appears on the screen in a familiar
Windows 2000 virtual desktop. The software rental
applications are installed on Zero Effort Networking's
servers and ready for immediate use.
A virtual "home" drive provides secure storage for a
user's personal files, which can also be stored on the
user's local machine. Corporations are provided with a
shared 30 MB virtual drive that allows users to exchange
information and files based on permissions set by the
company's IT manager. The IT manager can also add/remove
users, change passwords, add/remove applications, edit
system resources and view billing information. Zero
Effort Networking manages the network and provides
regular backups of the data. Software upgrades are
in-stalled immediately to ensure that users have access
to the latest versions of all programs.
"Small companies and individual users can benefit
from the same kind of technology and applications used
by Fortune 100 companies," explained Michael Day, CEO of
Zero Effort. "Applications are assigned on a
per-employee basis, so the company only pays for
software that each employee requires. This is the
perfect solution for companies that have limited
financial resources or lack the technical resources to
build infrastructure and manage the IT functions
in-house."
Zero Effort Networking also offers OEM, reseller and
affiliate programs to distribution partners, software
developers and broadband suppliers who offer ASP and
broadband connectivity. Resellers can private-label and
resell software rental services that are hosted and
supported by Zero Effort Networking.
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