March 2001

Two For The Contact Center

• White Pajama: Integrated Contact Center Network
• SYMON Enhances Real-Time Data Messaging, Utilization And Flow

Delivered on the ASP model, White Pajama combines state-of-the-art functionality into a seamlessly integrated package that includes channels (phone, chat and e-mail), CRM applications (case management, contact management, knowledge base, co-browsing and self-service), and contact center management applications (centralized configuration, real-time reporting and analytical reporting). Clients can be up and running in a matter of hours.

White Pajama cites industry studies stating the average cost of handling a call in a telephony-based center ranges between U.S. $50-70 while the average costs falls 43 percent in a Web-based call center. The solution represents more proof of the trend to provide a level of technological sophistication to companies of smaller size; at least, smaller than the prestige market that receives the most attention. By leveraging White Pajama's advanced architecture, businesses can set up and operate a "world-class" customer contact center with no capital investment. Clients can configure and use integrated telephony, fax, e-mail, Web self-service, chat and co-browsing. The ASP model of delivery also permits demystification of the customer service representative interface. That is, it places all applications at an agent's fingertips, requires little training and the interface unifies front-office applications, Web self-service and the aforementioned multichannel communications capabilities.

A Web-enabled contact center solution allows companies to outsource the contact center infrastructure yet maintain high service quality and control of service using their own agents. Incoming interactions are integrated, queued and forwarded according to easily established and customizable skill and traffic parameters. A fully integrated self-service module provides access to case management history and the knowledge base, and allows users to check status of orders or requests via the Web. Co-browsing capabilities enable customers and agents to collaboratively complete forms, share pages and navigate a Web site, and are integrated to chat, telephony and VoIP. The service features complete historical views of all customer interactions, questions, cases, etc. Administrative features include queue configuration for all media, and agent, groups, IVR and knowledge base configuration. The knowledge base has a fully customizable hierarchy, is accessible through all channels (voice, e-mail, chat, etc.) and is integrated into e-mail and chat responses. 

 SYMON Communications, Inc. has redesigned its Publisher data collection and distribution software. Renamed Publisher 6.0 Portal, the software consists of a unique architecture designed for greater flexibility for users to easily generate customized messages using any of the data received from outside sources, and forward to the SYMON2000 Server for distribution to display media. Display destinations may include Windows desktops, Web browsers, wallboards, projection monitors, pagers, e-mail, cellular phones and ODBC databases. With Windows 95/98/2000 or NT, information can originate from virtually any contact center communications technology, such as databases, host computer systems, ACDs, IVRs, network management systems, Web pages, custom software applications, etc. Publisher 6.0 Portal consists of a set of NT services and related client applications that run on Windows NT 4.0 (or higher). It can collect real-time data from a variety of outside sources and systems, then publish those data to subscribing systems. The Publisher 6.0 Portal software consists of two main NT services: SYMON Publisher 6.0 Portal Service, the entry point for data to the SYMON software suite; and SYMON Composer Service, which takes over the management of outbound objects. Each of these services has client software for its user interface.

Publisher 6.0 Portal allows users to generate messages through a standard interface, SYMON Composer Service, which is a subscriber service application included within Publisher 6.0 Portal and developed by SYMON for use with the SYMON2000 Server. It is the interface for updating variables from the SYMON service, applying logic, thresholds and calculations to published fields, creating message text, and sending messages for delivery to SYMON2000 destinations without the custom programming. New features are included so users can set thresholds, incorporate messages with data from multiple sources, add math functions to produce new statistics and create comparisons between the number of agents scheduled in a workforce management application and the actual number of agents logged into the ACD system.

The Publisher 6.0 Portal Administrator is the GUI used to create and configure data collectors and publish the selected fields to other SYMON applications. The Publisher 6.0 Portal Service is composed of "collectors" that act as interfaces to the outside data sources or monitored systems. Some of the collectors include: Apropos, Aspect, Avaya, Intecom, NEC, Nortel, Peregrine, Rockwell, Siemens, XML and ODBC databases (e.g., Oracle, SQL, Sybase), as well as emulators for TTY and VT-100 data.