March 1999

Performance-Measurement & Small To Mid-sized Call Center Solutions

From a call center supervisor's or manager's standpoint, achieving the lofty corporate goal of "loyal customer relationships" boils down to productive, well-trained agents that have the necessary skills to best serve (or sell to) customers.

CenterForce's new product, CenterForce Analyzer, is designed to facilitate and expedite the supervisor/manager's task in analyzing the productivity and performance of call center agents. CenterForce Analyzer enables the collection of data from disparate technologies in the call center - like the ACD, predictive dialer, IVR, CTI systems, enterprise software - which allows management to make trend analysis observations and correlations that might not otherwise be readily apparent.

For example, when an outbound collections center manager sees how many dollars they lose in dollars collected per agent-hour (downloaded from the host) because of long wrong party wrap-up time (downloaded from the predictive dialer), they can set a training and incentive strategy to reduce wrong party wrap-up time. Then the call center supervisors can track ongoing agent performance in this area and can determine -- at a glance using Analyzer's color codes -- which agents need to be closely monitored.

Analyzer tracks user-specified Performance Indicators, which are criteria set by management for the measurement of success (sales per agent-hour, right party connect time, agent schedule adherence, etc.). Management can set goals within Analyzer for these Performance Indicators, then track results with a series of Performance Measurements, which colorfully and graphically display actual historical results. These results can be viewed across time by day, week, month or year. They can also be viewed across personnel to track the effect of staff changes or new training techniques, and across work groups to compare teams and campaigns.

Analyzer consolidates and processes data from predictive dialers, ACDs, CTI systems and enterprise applications. It runs on open standard hardware in a Windows NT server environment. The program features a standard browser interface using either Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, or Netscape 3.0 or higher, and requires no additional user hardware installation.

Analyzer pricing begins at $49,500 for a five-user license, which includes four Performance Users and one Power User.

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The following four applications comprise the ProCenter Express offering:

• ResumeRouting Express allows smaller call centers to take advantage of the productivity and quality-boosting effects of virtual group routing - matching agent skills to customer needs on a dynamic, call-by-call or customer-by-customer basis. This application includes a simplified version of virtual group routing (as opposed to the fully-featured ResumeRouting 2.0 package), a complete historical and real-time reporting package, Siemens' unique skills-based forecaster/simulator, five supervisor desktops, tutorial CDs, all server hardware and software, and standard installation. ResumeRouting Express can be fully implemented in two weeks, and is available at a list price of $39,000 for up to 35 users or $49,000 for up to 75 users. Agent desktops with screen pops and soft phones, and other additional features are also available.
  
  Using the forecaster/simulator allows growing call centers to anticipate the need for additional agents, skills and routing criteria/features. The application is able to expand incrementally with the changing needs of the call center, obviating the need for a complete overhaul of the call routing platform. ResumeRouting's distributed architecture simplifies the addition of more capabilities, and the same ResumeRouting Express server is leveraged as the call center grows.
  
  
• Prompt Response Express allows growing call centers to implement interactive voice response applications without the need for costly and time-consuming custom applications development. As such, Prompt Response Express can be fully implemented at a fraction of the cost, and complexity, of conventional IVR systems. Prompt Response Express can be configured to support auto attendant, audio information libraries, speech recognition, queue time announcements to callers, database queries, voice forms and ACD group messaging. It is easily programmed by the customer, using pre-defined applications templates.
  
  Two packages of Prompt Response Express are available. The "Call Center Basics" package includes a six-port IVR server with auto attendant; queue time announcements; and audio and fax information libraries. Its list price is $39,000. The "Call Center Deluxe" package includes the features of the basic package and adds database queries, ACD group messaging and voice forms. Both packages can be expanded up to 12 ports, and options to add additional features are available. Customers who wish to later expand their system to larger or more customized IVR applications will pay only the difference in the price of the features and capacity. The Call Center Deluxe package is priced at $47,000.
  
  
• Help Desk Express packages the Remedy help desk application with CTI integration to provide screen pops, helping to eliminate a long and complex implementation cycle, normally the hallmark of CTI solutions. The package includes Remedy software, Siemens' CallBridge CTI link and licenses, all NT server hardware and software for integration with databases/servers, and packaged professional services. The package can be fully implemented and integrated in approximately 30 days, for a fixed price of $95,000 for up to 15 users and $125,000 for up to 35 users.
  
  
• MX Email Express comprises the e-mail ACD aspect of the ProCenter package. The application provides routing of e-mail messages to properly skilled agents; auto-response; auto-confirmation of receipt; and queuing, reporting and administration functions similar to those used for voice traffic. This ensures that e-mail transactions, direct or from Web-based forms, are managed for speed and quality of response, just like voice calls. ProCenter MX Email Express includes all hardware and software, standard integration with the customer's e-mail server, three days of professional consulting/design and remote installation. It is listed at $30,000 for up to 35 users and can be implemented in two to four weeks.

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