July 27, 2006

German Firm Opts For VoIP-Enabled Virtual Contact Center

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

German tour operator Frosch Touristik GmbH has set up an IP-based telephony and contact center network using Nortel (News - Alert) equipment, which FTI officials say improves the efficiency of FTI's customer service by "connecting its four locations into a virtual contact center environment."

The idea is that in such a setup, each call is directed quickly to the most appropriate agent regardless of their location. Cuts down on overhead like you wouldn't believe. And as industry observer Betsy Wood notes, "a virtual contact center is ideal, whether you operate a multichannel, 24-hour-a-day global contact center, use outsource partners when required, or draw on specialized skill sets."

"By switching to a single network for all our communication needs we have been able to reduce the operating costs for our telephony system by 25 percent within six months," claims Frank Hobrecht, head of IT Systems at FTI.

In addition to 270 travel agencies and a number of websites FTI also operates the TV travel shopping channel sonnenklar.tv. Thousands of calls are often received while the show is on the air.

FTI's new, IP-based infrastructure was integrated with the company's existing network and, in part, replaces existing systems. It consists of the Nortel Communication Server 1000, the Nortel Contact Center software suite, IP telephones and softphones.

Around 200 employees at the FTI contact center in Munich (dang, didn't know about that when I was there last week, missed a great tax writeoff, "touring beer gardens" doesn't really work as well as "researching businesses for reporting," he said from experience), plus an additional 500 users at other locations, are using the new stuff.

To further improve customer loyalty, FTI officials claim, they're now planning to make use of additional contact center platform functions, such as fully integrating the customer database to reduce response times in the contact center, and allowing agents to handle customer requirements faster.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page.

(source: http://news.tmcnet.com/news/-contact-center-voip-/2006/07/27/1746082.htm)