Computer telephony integration (CTI) has been a bedrock technology in advanced customer service environments for more than 25 years. The Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP) is the best thing to happen to CTI since it was invented — even if it eliminates CTI as we know it today.

CTI is a critical function that makes automated and agent-based customer interactions efficient and productive. CTI infrastructures route calls and automate information retrieval to help customer service reps resolve issues accurately and without transferring callers or leaving them on hold. This is the “one and done” nirvana that call center managers strive for. SIP promises to change the way in which applications, agents, systems and networks work together to provide CTI capabilities.

SIP’s ability to take over call setup, routing and teardown will enable companies to infuse CTI functions throughout IT infrastructures instead of concentrating them in a proprietary hardware/software layer, as they must today. Applications will use SIP commands to perform call-related tasks and non-call related functions such as presence management. When that happens, CTI will be far more widely implemented than it is today, even though it will have disappeared as a discrete function.

The BMW of Customer Service Technologies

CTI is one of customer service technology’s crown jewels. It enables contact centers to use IT to its highest potential through its two primary functions of automating customer information retrieval and coordinating voice and data traffic.

When a call comes in to a CTI-enabled environment, CTI servers use caller ID information from PBXs to retrieve customer profile information — name, address, transaction history, previous service issues, credit reports, etc. — from applications within and outside the contact center. CTI servers load the information into a screen pop, pair it with the voice call and send them as a package to a service rep. This automation eliminates all the time wasted when a sales rep has to take information over the phone, enter it into their call center application, and search outside databases and applications for additional information they need to close the call. Also, if they have to transfer the caller to another rep, the information follows the voice call so the customer does not have to repeat him/herself. These and other CTI functions are the difference between good customer service and outstanding customer service that helps bring customers in the door and keep them there. CTI functions improve customer loyalty by cutting wait times and making customer service reps more productive. They’re also beyond the reach of all but the best-heeled companies.

CTI middleware infrastructures are proprietary and complex. Entry prices are high and implementation costs can be even higher. Integrating applications into a CTI environment is a series of time-consuming custom jobs because proprietary protocols prevent the knowledge gained from integrating one application from carrying over to the next. Even large companies that can afford CTI systems often use them only for select customer segments because using them for all customers is too expensive. SIP’s move into the IT infrastructure will open CTI functions to almost any company, at reasonable price and complexity levels.

SIP Expands the CTI World

The basic function of enabling a voice device to communicate with a data network has, until now, required the specialized CTI middleware layer to translate TDM (Time Division Multiplexed) voice traffic into packet traffic so the customer endpoint could communicate with backend applications. The combination of SIP and an all-IP infrastructure eliminates CTI as a distinct layer in the IT infrastructure because SIP enables customer endpoints — cell phones, laptops, PDAs — to communicate directly with IT resources.

SIP assumes the call setup, routing and teardown functions once locked in the proprietary CTI layer. In all-IP networks, calls will enter the application infrastructure as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) traffic and travel to a SIP proxy server. The SIP proxy server will initiate sessions with the necessary applications to perform call routing and information lookups that once required a CTI server. In this way, CTI will dissolve into the larger fabric of call routing. The functionality for specific tasks such as transferring a call within the contact center will be embedded directly into applications.

SIP will also ensure that the current centralized architectures are decomposed into distributed system components with specific capabilities such as presence state servers, rules engines, routing systems and standard SIP switching systems. All this infrastructure will seamlessly integrate with the business applications and web infrastructure that already exists in more corporate IT departments.

The immediate benefit from SIP supplanting proprietary CTI is cost. Standards-based SIP proxy servers are inherently less expensive to buy and maintain than proprietary CTI servers. Companies can implement SIP proxy servers on standard hardware, which helps make better use of existing resources. Integration is much less costly and complex because all the input and output in the network is one standard protocol.

Standardization will also drop the CTI cost barrier for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). In today’s environment, it isn’t profitable for CTI vendors to develop CTI solutions for SMBs. Re-writing applications in proprietary code to interoperate with the applications found in smaller companies is expensive, and there aren’t enough smaller companies that can afford them. However, when all applications are written for all-IP environments, it will be cost effective for vendors to adapt their high-end products to smaller companies’ needs.

SIP-enabled environments with integrated CTI functions are still two to five years away from widespread implementation. Many difficult questions remain to be resolved — security, authentication and authorization chief among them. Companies must also migrate from TDM voice traffic to VoIP.

Nevertheless, the market is definitely moving towards SIP in the contact center. The TDM-to-VoIP migration is underway as transitional platforms reach the market — PBXs that can handle both TDM and IP traffic then evolve to all-IP, for example. SIP is already making its way into the IT infrastructure. BEA Systems has added SIP support to its Java platform and Oracle (News - Alert) has purchased the Swedish company HotSip to add SIP functionality to its middleware. Solution providers such as Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Envox and Genesys have announced plans to develop SIPenabled products. The first generation of servers that can perform CTI functions in a SIP environment — called either SIP proxy servers or SIP application servers — have recently come onto the market.

The companies investing in SIP-enabled product development today aren’t the kind that rush down blind alleys. Delivering CTI functions through SIP may be a futuristic idea, but it’s neither far-fetched nor likely to fizzle out before it gains a foothold in the business world, primarily because of its potential to raise customer service levels. Customer service is an increasingly important differentiator in competitive markets. Companies that seize the opportunity that SIP offers them to implement CTI functions will win in those markets.

Sanjeev Sawai is Vice President of Research and Development at Envox Worldwide (News - Alert) (www.envox.com), a voice solutions developer based in Westboro, Massachusetts.