Once upon a time, Telecom was iconoclastic - keeping to itself and inventing everything it needed to perform its mission. Huge labs like Bellcore and Ipswitch Labs advanced human ingenuity. Telecom developed distinct standards and unique tools.

Building feedback-oriented, online customer communities provides organizations a better, more effective method of collecting feedback by engaging customers and listening to their natural dialogue. This white paper will walk you through the steps of defining objectives, recruiting and engaging members, responding to member feedback, and other guidelines for building and maintaining a healthy customer community.

A look at how PerSay’s voice biometric technology provided an innovative solution for Canada’s largest communications provider. Bell, delivering the most comprehensive and innovative suite of communications services to residential and business customers in Canada, deployed its Voice Identification Service (VIS) powered by PerSay VocalPassword™ in March 2007—making a spoken pass phrase the universal identifier for customer support.

The rise in security threats from both employees inside the organization and anonymous hackers on the outside has led to the adoption of strict enterprise security measures, such as frequent password expirations and minimum password lengths. Compromised passwords are not only a personal security risk for the user, but also pose a serious breach of security to the company, which can result in extensive financial losses. PerSay simplifies and secures the automated password reset process with biometric speaker verification, enabling users to conveniently reset their own passwords using an automated secure voice application. PerSay VocalPassword™ quickly and seamlessly integrates with existing IVRs and Voice XML platforms. There’s no trade-off between security and convenience.

An inside look at how PerSay’s FreeSpeech™ and VocalPassword™ voice biometric products enable
cost-effective, multi-factor authentication solutions for one of Israel’s largest contact centers. Providing remote services demands advanced customer authentication procedures to ensure the security of private and sensitive information. The First Direct Bank, a member of the Leumi Group, was unsatisfied with its two-step authentication process using PINs and verification questions. Manual authentication was time consuming, frustrating to customers, and insufficient in guaranteeing security. First Direct turned to PerSay to increase security, enhance the customer experience, and improve contact center efficiency.

Managed service providers (MSPs) are at a critical juncture, facing an increasingly competitive marketplace. Service offerings built to remotely manage clients' converging voice and data systems present an enormous business opportunity—but significant challenges emerge. How can a Managed Service Provider profitably deliver on converged IP telephony promises? Is there an easy way to cost effectively deliver managed services for clients’ entire converged telecommunications network? This step by step road map guides you through effectively delivering competitive converged voice management services that will lower your overhead costs, increase your profits, and grow your business. Use this White Paper to learn:

• What are the primary pitfalls that make convergence both friend and foe?

• How can you lower overhead costs without undermining service levels?

• What is the key to winning more clients that provide higher profit margins?


This invaluable White Paper delivers key technology and business strategies every Service Provider needs to know to take their Service Business to a higher level of success.

While online survey software tools make it easy to create and deploy a survey, there are some very important steps that must be followed to drive high response rates and ensure that quality feedback is gathered. This white paper will define six easy steps to follow to maximize the value of any survey.

Online communities can be an excellent source of consistent and continuous feedback for any organization. This white paper will describe the process of building panels, recruiting members, managing the survey process, managing incentives and consolidating the results to gain important insights from online communities.

Knowing what to ask, who to ask, and how to ask it are the key elements to survey success. Vovici has captured the experience of over 100 million completed surveys into a best practice that defines what to do and what not to do in building a great survey.

This paper provides an overview of industry trends and issues involving ENUM. Additionally, this document proposes the concept of a subscriber routing database (SRdB), to house all subscriber routing information - thus allowing operators to create a more efficient network.

This paper looks at how new, innovative SMS solutions can be used to optimize the current legacy SMSC network.

This paper, jointly prepared by Frost & Sullivan and Tekelec, provides an overview of industry trends and issues impacting the evolution of wireless and wireline networks – and proposes signaling related solutions that span the TDM, NGN and IMS domains.

The fourth paper in this multi-part series provides the arguments for a SIP signaling layer in next-generation networks

This paper provides an overview of the challenges, requirements, benefits and potential solutions for monitoring today’s and tomorrow’s hybrid network.

This paper examines how operators can use service orchestration and mediation to create a flexible service architecture for the delivery of rich, mixed services in pre-IMS, IMS and hybrid networks

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 allows companies to integrate VoIP technology into existing telephony infrastructure, eliminating the need for expensive network overhauls and also extending the useful life of existing investments. The purpose of this white paper is to propose the criteria on which to select a SIP-based gateway appliance to connect Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 with legacy TDM-based equipment. Topics addressed include: deployment scenarios; lowering the total cost of ownership; ease of use; protocol support; and the benefits of a hybrid gateway.

IT organizations are considering application delivery from new perspectives due to the automation of key business processes, and the fact that acceptable application performance is continually becoming more difficult. Three IT managers were interviewed to help identify key issues that make ensuring acceptable application performance difficult and describe how they use WAN emulation tools to improve application performance.

Signature–oriented technology is decades old and proven ineffective. The Tenets of Endpoint Control are introduced in this Special Report:
• Control what you know. It is easier to control configurations and acceptable use policies; it is impossible to control what an attacker might try.
• Control at the lowest possible level. Endpoint control solutions need to operate in the kernel where they cannot be easily subverted and have visibility to all network, file, and processor operations.
• Control transparently. Endpoint control solutions need to give performance back to the user, and allow them to do their jobs without interruptions from the endpoint security software.

Organizations adopting these tenets and deploying endpoint control solutions are realizing benefits in more effective defenses against attacks, greater end-user satisfaction with performance gains, and lower operating costs due to reductions in the value of attack signature streams.

Maintaining the security and integrity of Payment Card Industry (PCI) computer systems is essential to complying with the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS). While financial penalties result for non-compliance, a larger threat to organizations is the negative impact from a data breach that involves the unauthorized access to payment card information. Learn why companies are looking at an innovative approach to application whitelisting and endpoint control to solve their PCI/DSS requirements.

Maintaining control of SCADA systems is critical to the nation’s infrastructure safety and efficiency. Antivirus solutions are ineffective and kill performance, so IT teams are turning to next-generation endpoint control solutions driven by application whitelisting. If an application is on the list, it can run; if it isn’t, it cannot—it is that simple. Learn why companies are adopting application whitelisting to secure and control SCADA environments, and how they can just “set it and forget it”.

Blacklist-based anti-malware is past its prime. The technology is decades old and is proven to be ineffective. Next-generation endpoint control solutions, driven by application whitelisting, offer an attractive alternative to suites of recycled security components. IT is learning that it is easier to control what you know than it is to try to prevent unknown attacks. If an application is on the list, it can run; if it isn’t, it cannot—it is that simple. Learn more about the shift in this new whitepaper by CoreTrace.

Honoring InsideView CRM for giving customers a competitive advantage in the sales process, Beagle Research Group has given its 2008 WizKid Award to InsideView.

You need your network to run your business. In today's competitive business environment few businesses can afford a branch location to go off-line, let alone the headquarters or data center location. This whitepaper examines the importance of path diversity and backup connectivity as an increasing number of enterprise-critical business applications are run over public and private networks.

There is no single reason for high turnover in contact centers. Common reasons include; schedule poor relationships between agents and supervisors, incorrect hiring decisions, lack of career path, poor skills development, and the list goes on. Some of these are just a contact center fact of life. Contact centers can be stressful places to work, and many of the agents are a flight risks to start with. Moreover, the sheer volume of hiring all but guarantees that a large percentage of bad hires will slip through the cracks.

But for the agents who want to be there—and who you most want to keep—there is a new approach that has proven effective in increasing agent satisfaction and reducing attrition in service organizations in the highest volume industries.

Download this whitepaper to learn the latest best practices for reducing agent turnover.

The paper covers:

• Building trusted and productive relationships between supervisor and agents
• Creating incentive for agents to stay
• Helping your agent understand their part in impacting their companies success

First contact resolution (FCR) is the KPI attracting the most attention among contact center and customer care executives today. Yankee Group believes that FCR is the foremost KPI in evaluating a contact center’s overall operating performance. The benefits of FCR improvement include overall customer call reduction, a decrease in call center “rework,” improved service, enhanced customer satisfaction, incremental up-sell and cross-sell opportunities and increased opportunities for high value customer interactions.

In this paper, Ken Landoline, from the Yankee Group, examines the benefits of using FCR as a key measurement in customer service environments and the issues involved in defining FCR. It also provides a comparison of FCR measurement methodologies and a discussion of best practices in implementing an FCR measurement program allowing companies to go beyond the measurement of FCR to address the critical issue of reducing repeat calls and customer service rework.

Mobile Service Providers struggling to compete and succeed in the

changing market must address the need to enhance their voice offerings

and deliver innovative new experiences for their customers. Many

companies are accomplishing this by consolidating on a single, agile

platform that also allows them to launch innovative new services that go

beyond voice to video, instant communication, video conferencing, and

other new ways their subscribers want to communicate. This whitepaper

discusses four key ingredients for making the approach work: IVR

consolidation, flexible deployment, new media capabilities, and a

future-proof platform.

Two sites placing calls through one phone system. Devices for new employees ready to use within 30 minutes. And WLAN phones a hit with staff. In September 2007, Pyramid Computer GmbH replaced several older telephone systems with one Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone system - STARFACE.

Employees constantly crisscrossing the globe, sales reps at home on the road, telecommuters, just-established or pre-existing temporary sites - all pose significant challenges to company telephone systems. eC4u IT Solutions AG in Germany has mastered every one. With
STARFACE, a server-based VoIP solution.

As of mid-2007, software manufacturer OXID eSales has been making its calls using Voice-over-IP (VoIP). With one STARFACE telephone system, the company links multiple sites, puts the conference functions through their paces, and even handles WLAN cell phone calls - all with VoIP.

What businesses need to know.

Every interaction is an opportunity for a contact center to do more for its customers and its company. Yet
many centers struggle to take the next step in improving cost efficiency, optimizing operational effectiveness, and creating positive revenue impact. We need a change in thinking and approach to help centers rise above their performance plateau.

This white paper discusses how hosted proactive communications solutions help centers take the next step to efficient and effective operations and differentiate sales and service delivery.

The author, Lori Bocklund, is President of Strategic Contact, an independent consulting firm that helps
companies optimize the strategic value of their customer contact technology and operations.

Pre-recorded and automated customer communications have proliferated in the past few years. These communications are used for a variety of consumer issues: from collecting on past-due accounts to informing about policy expiration. But do consumers merely hang-up or hit the “delete”
button when receiving these communications? Or do they find them useful and interact with the message.

This paper provides research from several customer surveys that show consumers are appreciative and accepting of automated communications.

IMPROVE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, REDUCE INBOUND
CALLS, BUILD CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Automated communications are proven to deliver efficient, effective solutions for contact centers. They offer an interactive experience that emulates the type of experience a customer might have when speaking to your best call center representatives—at a fraction of the cost. These highly scalable solutions enable organizations to communicate more productively with large numbers of customers.

This paper describes and provides case examples showing how automated communications can improve your contact center’s operational efficiency, boost agent productivity, and reduce the volume of inbound calls.