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Technology Highlights
March 2002


Innovations From Industry Bellwethers


2002 Editors' Choice Awards

Rockwell FirstPoint Enterprise 2002

Rockwell is a name that has been associated with call centers going back to 1973, when it developed the first ACD, and it has been working on innovations ever since, such as the first implementation of CTI in 1983, the first direct digital connection for a client in 1985, the introduction of Web callback services in 1995 and the introduction of an open-standards-based contact management platform in 1997. In February, Rockwell Automation Inc. announced it has changed the name of its subsidiary, Rockwell Electronic Commerce Corp., to Rockwell FirstPoint Contact Corp., and that Rockwell FirstPoint Contact's first release is FirstPoint Enterprise 2002, an interaction infrastructure designed to support multiple contact channels while tying together business and customer data.

Integration has been a major stumbling block to successfully implementing CRM programs, and FirstPoint Contact aims to alleviate the problems of combining diverse IT and telephony infrastructures required by CRM initiatives by allowing IT and contact center administrators to adopt and integrate the technologies and applications they need to meet business requirements while adding functional, operational and integration intelligence.

FirstPoint Enterprise 2002's open interaction infrastructure provides a single entity view, extending FirstPoint Enterprise 2002's contact center data environment model to third-party platforms. So, irrespective of the device it came from, FirstPoint Enterprise 2002 facilitates the flow of customer data from the enterprise to the point of contact.

Integration intelligence unifies data from disparate business systems, consolidates it and uses it to contribute to routing decisions. Data generated by the contact itself and/or applications used to service it become a common resource available to create consolidated reports. Data from billing or other transactions can be delivered to the point of contact to facilitate customer interactions. Through centralized management and consolidated reporting, managers can use FirstPoint Enterprise 2002's operational intelligence to decipher important trends and business metrics that were previously unobtainable as they were locked in corporate data. FirstPoint Enterprise 2002 also provides a predictive simulation tool that can be used to work out strategic scenario simulations to identify potential problems or opportunities.

Rockwell FirstPoint also offers a series of enhancements including Virtual Contact Center, Outbound Contact, Service Provider, VoIP Branch Office and Connectors for IVR.

www.rockwellfirstpoint.com/630-227-8000

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2002 Editors' Choice Awards

Siebel 7 Call Center

As Siebel has been building CRM software for nearly a decade, one would expect they have observed trends in CRM over that time. According to Matt Malden, senior director of product marketing for Siebel's Call Center Web Services products, they have seen a 'trend in consolidation of information and consistency of information across all channels.' Drawing on its vast customer base, Siebel worked with more than 70 data customers on the Web/client application, the Siebel Smart Web Client, which in Siebel 7 uses Dynamic HTML (a combination of HTML, JavaScript and Document Object Model [DOM]). The DOM allows individual elements on an HTML page to be programmatically manipulated without refreshing the entire page from the server, thus speeding up the rate at which information is delivered to the user, helping to alleviate what Malden called 'the challenge to keep CRSs productive,' and also reducing the amount of bandwidth needed for each transaction.

The Siebel Smart Web Client also provides the ability to drag-and-drop elements on the page, to select rows and fields within an element, to selectively update portions of the page based on data changes, to have smart controls that support auto-complete, and to automatically save information.

Siebel Call Center 7 includes service capabilities for service request management, problem resolution, quality management and contract management. Sales capabilities include opportunity and pipeline management, campaign management, account management, contact management, order entry, time management, marketing collateral, product configuration, quote generation, proposals and presentations, and sales forecasting. Among the management tools included are Siebel Smart Reports and the Siebel Executive Information System, Siebel Data Quality and Siebel Service Analysis, which provide means to measure and analyze performance. Siebel Remote provides tools for the exchange and synchronization of data for remote workers through laptops, PDAs and other mobile devices.

Also included with Siebel Call Center 7 are CTI integration, e-mail response management integration, VoIP, Web browser and application sharing, fax and paging integration, global support (Siebel 7 ships in 20 languages), and universal queuing. The Persistent Agent Dashboard keeps key customer information in front of the agent throughout a transaction and a consolidated search center allows agents to search for information no matter where it resides in the system.

www.siebel.com/650-295-5000

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2002 Editors' Choice Awards

Siemens HiPath

Another company with a long history in telecommunications that is expanding the boundaries of IP communications and the contact center environment is Siemens, which, through its enterprise network division, has released more than a dozen new products in its HiPath line. HiPath provides communications platforms, telephones and applications options that range from circuit-switched to packet-switched to a mixture of circuit- and packet-switched. The HiPath line is designed to help companies move to the next generation of contact center solutions, allowing companies to choose circuit-switched solutions but maintain an upgrade path to an IP-switched environment.

The HiPath 3000 line of IP communication platforms is designed for small to medium-sized enterprises, but when used with the HiPath AllServe networking solution, can scale to 1,000 users. It supports circuit-switched, packet-switched or mixed system configurations and all Siemens optiset E and optiPoint telephones.

The HiPath 4000 line is designed for large enterprises and scales to 100,000 users. The HiPath 4000 line also supports circuit-switched, packet-switched or mixed system configurations and all Siemens optiset E and optiPoint telephones. The 4000 line also provides Web-based centralized system management and capitalizes on open interfaces and industry standards. Both the 3000 and 4000 series provide an integrated IP gateway for IP networking and deployment of IP workpoints and clients. Their IP distributed architecture uses CorNet IP multisite networking to connect multiple locations over the IP network.

The HiPath 5000 is a native IP enterprise softswitch that provides multimedia communication capabilities that support applications such as the HiPath Xpressions unified messaging product (which has been enhanced to support integration with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes) and the HiPath ProCenter suites. It allows internetworking with PBXs and IP convergence platforms through H.323, H.450, Qsig, CorNet and, shortly, SIP.

The HiPath ProCenter suites have been enhanced to provide R'sum'Routing call distribution to contact centers of all sizes, as well as provide multisite routing, mobile CRM features and a consistent user interface.

Siemens is also introducing the optiPoint 500 and optiPoint 400 families of telephones. The optiPoint 500 family offers additional functions via snap-in modules and enable easy integration with peripherals and applications via a built-in TAPI interface and dual USB ports. OptiPoint 500 features include the OptiGuide context-sensitive user interface, full-duplex speakerphones and standard USB connection to simplify TAPI development, as well as module options that include an optiPoint IP adapter, signature module (card read/write unit), key module, acoustic adapter, phone adapter, analog adapter and ISDN adapter. The optiPoint 400 family supports multiple protocols, including H.323, H.450 and SIP, and CorNet IP TS, and provides a full-duplex speakerphone, integrated 10/100 Ethernet switch, 2x24 LCD display, optiGuide menu navigation and the ability to download software upgrades and protocol changes.

www.siemensenterprise.com/703-262-2689

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2002 Editors' Choice Awards

Enhancements To Oracle's E-Business Suite

E-commerce has certainly been a boon to the way business is conducted, but it has also led to a vast proliferation of customer data collected from around an enterprise, but which has been essentially locked up to all but a few. Oracle's E-Business Suite is aiming to put an end to this unobtainable information in that it is built upon Oracle Information Architecture, which is an open, standards-based architecture that consolidates data from Oracle and non-Oracle applications, which allows the consistent definition of customers, suppliers, partners and employees, no matter where in the enterprise the data resides. This gives all E-Business Suite applications access to a single, unified database, and allows access through any device, anywhere in the world.

Oracle recently introduced a new application of the E-Business Suite, Oracle Customers Online. Oracle Customers Online is designed to enhance the gathering, cleansing and enhancing of customer data, no matter where in the enterprise it entered the system. Oracle Customers Online provides a configurable tool to import and load customer data from legacy systems and other third-party applications, as well as tools to identify and merge duplicate records and prevent the creation of further duplicates. Oracle Customers Online can also integrate with third-party data providers, compare that data with existing customer records, and amend or enhance records in real-time without leaving the Oracle Customers Online application.

Oracle also recently added the Oracle Partners Online application, which is designed to give companies a portal through which they can offer their partners sales opportunities, sales and technical content, and support. Companies can define criteria for qualifying, rating, channel selection and opportunity matching, allowing them to pass opportunities to the proper sales channel or partner, manage and track joint marketing funds and budgets, as well as giving partners added visibility.

Also new to Oracle is the Daily Business Close, which capitalizes on the Oracle E-Business Suite's information architecture to provide consolidated, up-to-date business information such as daily sales, satisfaction, monitoring, etc. According to Lisa Arthur, vice president of CRM Product Marketing Strategy at Oracle, the Daily Business Close 'tells you everything you need to know about your leads, sales, inventory and revenue,' all summarized and available when it is needed.

www.oracle.com/650-506-7000

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2002 Editors' Choice Awards

DD Series Version 3.0 From DataDistilleries

With multichannel integration of contact center systems, enormous quantities of data are flowing into enterprise databases at amazing speed, yet the problem remains that it often takes someone with a PhD. in statistical mathematics to turn that data into meaningful information that can be acted upon by the enterprise. According to Marcel Holsheimer, founder and president of DataDistilleries, in the current economic climate, 'companies now want to see short-term results, not long-term, for CRM,' and that 'knowing when and what to offer customers is one of the main goals of CRM.' To help provide companies with information they can act upon is the goal of Holsheimer's company, DataDistilleries, which recently released version 3.0 of its real-time predictive analysis product, DD Series.

DD Series 3.0 ships with APIs for Siebel 7, provides SDKs for multichannel integration and, according to Holsheimer, can connect to any CRM package. DD Series 3.0 is designed to provide users with a unified view of each customer across all channels, identify high-risk and potentially fraudulent customers, and predict the most relevant and profitable offer to be presented to customers during relevant interactions.

Through multichannel and back-end integration layers, the Unified Customer View gives a consistent view of each customer based on data combined from all enterprise data sources. This view supports bulk access, high-performance, real-time access, and the deployment of analytical models in a real-time environment.

Real-time customer assessment enables companies to detect potential fraud or credit risk, and automatically block offers to these customers. DD Series 3.0 bases its assessment on external credit data (if available), historical customer data and the current customer situation. The Advanced Offer Qualification provides credit scoring integrated into the marketing process, allowing companies to take advantage of existing systems to better identify and target profitable customers, as well as avoid high-risk customers.

The system can dynamically prioritize different objectives, such as cross-selling and customer retention. Value-Based Interaction Optimization enables companies to get the most value from each customer interaction and provide targeted and personalized service to minimize customer churn.

www.datadistilleries. com/212-672-1900

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