IP Telephony In The Contact
Center
BY REBECCA KAY PHELPS AND
JAMES R. SMITH, AVAYA
It seems there has been a lot of talk about voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for years, but little implementation. Now, however, businesses are beginning to find compelling benefits from implementing VoIP in their enterprises ' benefits ranging from adding or increasing a remote agent workforce, eliminating the costs of brick-and-mortar and providing round-the-clock customer service through the much-touted 'follow-the-sun' strategy.
According to a research study conducted last year by Phillips InfoTech,
17 percent of U.S. businesses began implementing IP telephony, and
Phillips projects the number will grow to 80 percent within four years.
The discussion around IP has changed from 'why?' to 'when and how?'
Another significant question has been, 'Is IP reliable enough for my
business-critical applications, such as my contact center?'
Faced with rising costs and pressure from new, non-traditional
competitors, businesses are seeking to differentiate themselves with
technology-enabled services ' personalized tools for attracting new
customers and upselling to existing ones. Companies must choose the
networking infrastructure that will allow them to manage customer
transactions and workflows efficiently, cost-effectively and reliably.
This is easier said than done.
VoIP may be right for a business if it is seeking to integrate all
voice, text and Web customer contacts; if the company wants to communicate
and share applications seamlessly across physical locations such as
multiple stores or a showroom and a warehouse; if the organization wishes
to enable its outside employees to serve customers more efficiently and
effectively; and if it is looking to save money on its communications
networking. Nowadays, it would be difficult to find a company that isn't
seeking any and all of the above, particularly the 'saving money' part
of the equation.
The Basics
IP is a transport protocol that uses data switches and routers to move
'packets' of data from one place to another, with many packets from
many different data streams all traveling together to fully utilize the
capacity, or bandwidth, of the network. Most business data networks
already use packet technology on their local area networks (LANs) and wide
area networks (WANs). By contrast, the traditional voice network uses a
PBX, key system or phone company central office switch to provide a
dedicated channel for each call. Voice over IP involves taking the voice
stream, converting it to packets and transporting it on the data network,
essentially converging voice and data (and, perhaps, video) on a single
network infrastructure.
The IP contact center is a multi-protocol input point to the company.
It receives phone calls, faxes, e-mail and Web-clicks ' both text-based
and voice-based. Contact center solutions that use IP technology in the
PBX are sometimes placed into one of two categories: a 'pure IP'
contact center in which all forms of communication within the contact
center enterprise network are treated as data (including voice); or an 'IP-enabled'
contact center, which supports both IP and traditional voice transmission.
The optimal solution is a platform that allows either approach or a
mixture of the two.
In a contact center, examples of VoIP include one or more of the
following:
- Some or all agents use IP telephones or IP softphones;
- Voice contacts are transmitted within a contact center site over a
LAN;
- Inter-site IP connectivity between multiple sites is enabled over a
WAN; or
- Multiple contact centers are connected to operate as one, using IP
connectivity over broadband services.
There are two options for becoming IP-enabled. A company can IP-enable
an existing PBX or it can voice-enable the LAN. When IP-enabling a PBX,
the best offerings will provide transparent integration of and migration
between circuit-switched and packet-switched environments. Voice-enabling
the LAN should involve choosing a vendor that can assess a data network's
readiness for voice traffic and provide the voice features required. Not
all switches and routers are created equal, and each business has
different requirements and data flows. Organizations should be sure to
explore the advantages and disadvantages of each. Companies would do well
to remember that VoIP is a technology, not a business strategy. Investment
in VoIP for the contact center should happen only where and when it is
appropriate from a business perspective. The real question is this: What
gains will customers and businesses realize from this technology?
The Technology
Until recently, data networks were not designed for transporting
time-sensitive information such as voice. This has caused many people to
be skeptical about IP's reliability and voice quality. The challenge
convergence vendors face is to provide the scalability, applications
richness and feature-functionality of the traditional PBX-based contact
center with all the reliability and voice quality that businesses expect.
The overwhelming perceived weakness in IP telephony is its relative
lack of voice quality, as compared to traditional circuit switched
networks. However, with the right policy management tools and quality of
service (QoS) features, a network can prioritize voice (which can tolerate
errors, but not delay) over data (which can tolerate delay, but not
errors), providing users the undistorted, real-time calling experience to
which they are accustomed. It also helps if the PBX is smart enough to
know when IP voice quality is less than optimal, and can automatically put
calls back on the switched telephone network until IP quality comes back
up to muster.
Reliability (a measure that indicates time between failures) and
availability (a measure of the percentage of time a system or component
performs its function) are also perceived as weaknesses of VoIP.
Availability of telephone systems, or 'uptime,' is expressed in the
form of '9's ' for example, a vendor might be able to offer 'five
nines,' or 99.999 percent uptime.
Some IP-PBX (LAN-based telephony) suppliers have yet to prove their
availability and reliability. By contrast, many traditional PBX vendors
offer 'shadowing,' meaning if a processor goes down, the mirrored
standby will assume operation and maintain all active calls. Although
several IP-PBX vendors offer redundancy options, this does not necessarily
guarantee high availability or reliability unless active calls are
maintained in the case of failure. Ensuring high availability extends
beyond providing duplicate power supplies or servers to which endpoints
can reconnect. High availability can be achieved through software design
that allows for call state information to be shared between primary and
backup processors so that in the event the primary processor fails, users
and callers are transparently moved to the secondary processor with no
service outage.
It is worth mentioning that a system may be available with a failed
component if availability is obtained through redundancy. However, when
high availability is obtained through redundancy, it is necessary to have
the ability to test the redundant component on a regular basis to make
sure that it is available when needed. Other issues include time to
recovery (milliseconds, minutes, etc.) and the behavior of the system
during the transition (e.g., does it drop all the calls?).
Another area of interest to a company considering VoIP is cost savings.
Anticipated cost savings are not being realized as quickly as some would
like, but companies implementing the technology do have the opportunity to
save as much as 40 to 60 percent of networking costs by converging data
and voice on a single network: fewer cables, wires and boxes; fewer
management and maintenance resources; consolidated reporting of call
records detailing activities and trends; and easier moves, adds and
changes are examples. By using broadband data networks to pool agents from
separate sites into one virtual contact center, an organization can reduce
network costs when calls are transferred between these locations.
Additionally, if the proposed solution is standards-based, it can
interoperate seamlessly with other systems. This can make it easier to
develop or acquire third-party applications, and if a company grows
through mergers or acquisitions, its network will be able to interoperate
and share applications with equipment from different vendors.
Once voice quality, reliability and availability are assured, the next
area of concern is the ability to retain the rich set of features and
applications on which businesses rely. If an IP solution is an upgrade to
an existing PBX, a company will not lose any of the functionality it has
come to rely upon and need not waste the time and expense of training
workers on a new and different interface.
A company can leverage its existing investment in its PBX and, at the
same time, 'future-proof' the network by ensuring its upgradability;
if the network can keep the content and context of an interaction intact
as it moves from front office to back office and among different media
types or network protocols; if the network can provide the security,
reliability, scalability, feature-functionality and applications a company
needs, then the organization can feel it has chosen the best solution for
its needs.
Following are some business scenarios that may help determine if it
makes sense to integrate IP into a customer contact center.
Attract And Retain Excellent Agents
One of the challenges companies face today is attracting and retaining
good agents. An expanded pool of talent for an existing contact center is
available through telecommuting and/or part-time workers. Companies that
can offer agents the ability to work from home may find it easier to keep
top-notch workers. With adequate network engineering for the right QoS,
contact centers can use IP telephony to merge the voice calls and the data
(for screen pops) to these agents, requiring the use of only one line to
the home office. This low-cost option saves the installation expenses and
monthly costs of a second line. Or, as an alternative to VoIP, consider
continuing to send voice calls over a separate line, simultaneously
providing the screen pop to the agent over the second line. Regardless,
remote agents will be able to handle all contacts, whether voice, Internet
or e-mail, just as efficiently as if they were on-site. They can be
tracked and reported on in the same manner as on-site agents.
When adding agents who typically work on-site but may need to
telecommute at times, consider providing these new agents an IP softphone
' client software on a PC that emulates the phone in the office. This
approach allows for the same interface for agents, regardless of whether
they are on-site or at home or remote offices.
Eliminate Costs Of Brick-And-Mortar
Some companies are beginning to take the remote agent approach a step
further, and are recruiting an entire population of agents who work from
their homes. Other than perhaps a small training facility, no building
costs are incurred. Reporting and monitoring tools assist in the
management of the remote agents in the same manner as if they were
physically co-located. Companies that implement co-location programs with
remote agents report almost no turnover, which, in the call center
industry, is truly a revelation. These organizations are claiming enhanced
productivity due to happier agents.
Add A Site To 'Follow The Sun'
If your contact center is growing, you may be considering adding a new
site rather than expanding an existing site. By locating the new site in a
different time zone, a company will be able to interflow calls between
sites and provide a larger real-time response window for customers.
Traffic can interflow between contact center locations using VoIP and,
with the right PBX, can overflow to the PSTN if the data channel is too
busy to accommodate the traffic or if the quality of service does not meet
pre-defined standards.
The end goal is to ensure that customers are able to contact an
organization easily, that they are quickly connected to the right agent
and receive satisfactory service regardless of the physical layout of the
communication system infrastructure. Using an IP network and broadband
services to interflow traffic allows for the merging of individual contact
centers into one highly efficient virtual contact center. This can
maximize the use of agents between locations, while significantly
decreasing overall network costs.
It's no secret that competitive pressures are greater than ever
before. Customers have more options ' more information and more shopping
choices ' and customer loyalty is more difficult to maintain. We live in
a world in which competitors are a few mouse clicks away, so it becomes
crucial to create a customer experience that is positive enough to keep
customers interested and motivated to return. It's about aligning the
enterprise around the customer; sharing valuable information with
suppliers, partners and associates; and making it meaningful and relevant
for the ultimate decision maker ' the customer.
Jim Smith is CRM CTO for Avaya, responsible for directing strategy,
product realization, business development and technology alliance
functions for Avaya's CRM Solutions Business. Rebecca Kay Phelps is a
CRM Solutions Manager. Avaya is a provider of corporate networking
solutions and services, and a worldwide leader in call centers. Avaya's
CRM Solutions are a system of software, services and communications
technology for building customer relationships, fulfilling customer
requests and gathering and analyzing information needed for insight into
customers and the business.
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