New
Products... [return to the top]Applied Voice Technology (AVT) has announced four new telephone
integration modules that extend the functionality of AVTs family of
computer-telephony applications when used in conjunction with Lucent, Mitel, Nortel and
Panasonic telephone systems. New features introduced include support for ANI, DNIS and
visual menu support via the telephone display. For more information, call 425-820-6000 or
see www.appliedvoice.com
Computer Communications Specialists, Inc. (CCS) has announced its
new LANbased SoftACD automated call distribution software. SoftACD operates on the
CCS FirstLine IVR system; features include skills-based routing, optional supervisor
console, wallboard and reporting options, and is TAPI compliant. For more information,
please contact Elizabeth Rubbo at 770-441-3114, ext. 7291.
Call Interactive, Inc. has announced Reverse It, a reverse
telephone number append product that employs a scripted, interactive phone message to
capture and confirm the caller address information. For more information, please contact
Rich Nelson at 402-498-7424 or see www.callit.com. Cintech Tele-Management Systems has
announced its newest ACD addon product, linkIT!, which offers screen pop capabilities for
small- and mid-sized call centers. When a call comes in, linkIT! displays caller
information on the agents PC screen while announcing the callers name. Then
linkIT! launches any Windows application based on whos calling, then files are
opened (including network files) within the application. linkIT! will perform recordlevel
searches of Microsofts Access database or Symantecs ACT 3.0 contact manager.
For more information, contact Cintech Inside Sales at 800-833-3900 or see www.cintech-cti.com
Clarify Inc. has announced ClearCallCenter 2.0, which is an
enhanced Acxiom Corporation has announced DecisionEdge for Utilities, a suite of
utilities-oriented marketing applications that are designed to help utilities: assess the
risk of losing a customer; classify customers with seemingly unrelated characteristics
into market segments of one; and manage marketing campaigns. Acxiom has also announced six
enhancements to the Acxiom InfoBase product line. These improvements include expanded
coverage and elements for IB Consumer Data Enhancement and IB TeleSource , as well as
the Business Data Enhancement product. Three new products include: Consumer Prospects,
Business Prospects and Business TeleSource. For more information, please contact Marice
Gardner at 501-3361264 or see www.acxiom.com
Adrian Miller Direct Marketing has announced a "Mystery
Call" skills assessment program designed to assess the sales, service and
communications skills of telemarketing, customer service and help desk representatives,
and provides for the identification of weaknesses in call handling. For more information,
please contact Naomi Tepper at 516-767-9288.
American Power Conversion (APC) has announced Smart-UPS XLT
uninterruptible power supply designed specifically for the telecommunications industry.
The Smart-UPS XLT offers 208 Vac and 120 Vac power output to ensure maximum uptime for
computer-based telecom systems and can be managed remotely via a modem or SNMP and can be
fully integrated into a dry contact environment. For more information, please contact
Scott Clough at 401-789-5735 or see www.apcc.com
Applix, Inc. has annouced the Applix Enterprise 7.0, which offers a
seamless integration of sales, marketing, service and product quality functions. It is a
thinclient, Java-enabled customer interaction software solution supporting all major
database platforms. For more information, please contact Jillian HarveyAsquith at
508-870-0300 or see www. applix.com
Clarify Inc. has announced ClearCallCenter 2.0, which is an
enhanced version of Clear Telebusiness that adds new features including workflow-based
action items, advanced scripting and post-call fol-lowup capabilities. For more
information, call 408-573-3000 or see www.clarify.com. Customer Insight Company has
announced plans to release version 3.2 of the AnalytiX System and version 2.2 of its
companion Import Database Build software. The new release of AnalytiX, a
highperformance marketing data mart solution, will feature an ODBC driver and a Webbased
module. Import 2.2 will offer a grouping scheme. For more information, please contact
Laine Neukomm at 303-7051173 or see www.customer-insight.com
DC Systems Software has announced the Mercury CustomerCentric
suite of applications designed to help manage and facilitate all aspects of telephone
contact between your business and customers and prospects, and provides real-time control
and reporting; it is also Web enabled. Theyve also announced Apollo, a virtual call
center manager, that integrates all call center components to provide centralized control
and site management. Both products are seamlessly integrated with the InterDial
multiapplication call and voice processing platform from InterVoice. For more information,
please contact Kathy Houska 630-834-2095 or see www.dcsys.com
DGY Associates has announced a new study for the teleservices
market: "Trends, Issues and Opportunities Driving the Teleservices Market." It
is the result of candid interviews with Fortune 1000 companies and shows the financial
effect outsourcing call center functions has had for those surveyed. The results also
include: overall survey analysis; internal call centers vs. outsourcing; inbound vs.
outbound vs. both; regional views; financial performance. For more information, please
contact Dorothy G. Young at 972-501-1452. EIS International, Inc. has introduced
ScriptMaker, a flexible off-line scripting tool that provides both centralized and
telecommuter scripting capability for its Call Processing System (CPS). The program
can be installed on any PC running Windows 95 and the resulting scripts can be downloaded
to a diskette or sent via FTP to any CPS system. For more information, please contact
Rosanne Desmone at 703-318-6509 or see www.sersolutions.com.
Envision Telephony has announced SoundByte Enterprise,
a Windows 95/NT solution composed of three primary elements: SoundByte Server, SoundByte
Supervisor and SoundByte Agent. The product enables control over recording, call
monitoring and feedback. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Jewell at
206-621-9384.
GN Netcom/Unex has announced ADDvantage Plus Series of
headsets. It is designed to withstand the heavy use of call center environments and is
available in both monaural and binaural models, with a noise-canceling microphone, the
Stay-Put adjustable headband and the DuraFlex flexible boom. For more
information, call 800-826-4656 or see www.gnnetcom.com
Group 1 Software has announced Canadian CODE-1 Plus for Call
Centres, which allows telemarketing support representatives to obtain a complete and
accurate address at the point of information capture with few keystrokes. The software
uses information from Canada Post Corporations master files to validate and correct
addresses, and to add postal information when needed. For more information, please contact
Suzanne Porter-Kuchay at 800-368-5806, ext. 341 or see www.g1.com. Harris Corporation,
Digital Telephone Systems, has announced its Integrated Network Server, which integrates
Windows NT into the switch itself. For more information, please contact Julie Carlson at
415-382-5268 or see www.harris.com
Hello Direct has announced HelloSet Executive, which is
designed specifically for managers and professionals who use the phone on and off during
the day. For more information, please contact Kelly Kim at 408-363-2085 or see
www.hellodirect.com. High Performance Group has announced an interactive, multimedia
training course designed for call center personnel. The CD-ROM-based course is designed to
teach call center representatives how to improve their skills and productivity by
immersing students in a simulated work environment. For more information, please contact
Carol Savage at 508-887-5419 or email at [email protected].
IntegraTRAK has announced an addition to its suite of
native-Windowsbased telemanagement software products: TRAK Interface for Lucent
Technologies G3 Auto Transfer. It is a PC-based switch administration tool that is
designed to give administrators access to information stored in Lucents G3 switches.
Through automatic file transfer, this information can now be incorporated into the various
components of the WinTRAK telemanagement product suite. For more information, please
contact Nancy Gates at 425-401-1000.
Integrated Technology USA, Inc. has announced the latest version
of its CompuPhone 2000 , a fully functional "smart" phone built into a 101-key
keyboard. It is ready to use as a telephone, integrates with the PBX and Centrex systems,
can be used with contact management programs and includes a high-fidelity, lightweight
headset, PC AT-compatible keyboard, autodial software and telephone connection cable. For
more information, please contact Ed Abramson at 201-837-8000 or see www.iti2000.com
Kaplan Learning Services has announced an interactive CD-ROM
designed to help companies identify candidates who will be successful in telephone service
positions. For more information, please contact Melissa Mack at 212-492-5849. Lucent
Technologies Octel Messaging Division has announced the general availability of Octel
Unified Messenger, which adds voice mail to Microsoft Exchange e-mail. For more
information, please contact Kelli Harris Wong at 408324-2605 or see www.lucent.com
Lucent Technologies has announced EuroGeneris, which supports
tracking and close management of telecom expenditures and has a range of built-in features
that enable users to monitor and manage calling costs. It is designed specifically for the
needs of small businesses. For more information, please contact Lena Pavlova at +322 357
5875 or e-mail at [email protected]
Maximizer Technologies Inc. has announced Maximizer 97is (the
"is" stands for Internet Savvy), a contact management software solution that now
incorporates email capabilities and Internet integration. For more information, please
contact Jacqueline Parker at 604-601-8025 or see www.maximizer.com.
Melita International has announced MAGELLAN 3.0 customer
interaction management software. The new version adds the following: support of multiple
host sessions, extention of ODBC capability and the ability to build applications in a
simpler, faster environment; it also includes enhancements to help boost agent
productivity. For more information, please contact Maryjane Stout at 770239-4402 or e-mail
at [email protected]
Metromail Corporation has announced the release of Connexion, a
new suite of telemarketing services which includes telephone number append, verification,
reverse append, improved match rates and a set of nine confidence codes. For more
information, please contact Tim Fitzpatrick at 630-620-2333 or see www.metromail.com
Mitel Corporation has announced its ISDN Network Gateway, an
enterprise solution that interfaces with ISDN networks, leverages existing services for
both voice and data applications and brings ISDN call control and management to the LAN.
It is an NT-based network server that provides a single point of access for voice and data
applications into the ISDN network. For more information, please contact Kris Sherry at
613-592-2122 or see www.mitel.com
Nortel (Northern Telecom) has announced the addition of Desktop
Messaging to its Norstar Communications System, which allows users to now organize and
track incoming voice, fax and email messages on a single user interface. As part of a
technical trial between Nortel and the Societe Internationale de Telecommunications
Aeronautiques (SITA) and EQUANT, Nortel has demonstrated the first transatlantic call
between PBXs with a switching fabric based on asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Nortel has
also announced the release of Voice Mail 3.0 for the Norstar Communications System. The
new release features include: call screening, timed message delivery and customizable
directories. Finally, Nortel has announced the addition of Digital Networking capability
to Norstar, which enables companies to transform multiple voice and fax messaging systems
into a single Power Network. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Lindsey at
919-992-0262 or see www.nortel.com
Nova Solutions, Inc. has anounced the Retrofit Kit, which enables
users to recess the monitor, CPU and cables within Novas patented system. For more
information, please contact Jessica Rommel at 217-3427070 or e-mail at [email protected].
Periphonics Corporation has announced the release of version 5.2.1
of system software for its VPS/is IVR systems, which introduces VPS/is Credit Card
Authorization software, Simple Network Management Protocol. It also enables access to the
World Wide Web for Internetbased transactions. For more information, please contact Anne
M. Strauss at 516-468-9276 or see www.peri.com
RightFAX, Inc. has introduced RightFAX Enterprise v5.0, which
leverages Internet, WAN or LAN connectivity between RightFAX fax servers to share
workloads and route faxes economically. For more information, please contact Jim Jonez at
520-320-7098 or see www.rightfax.com
Rockwell Electronic Commerce Division has announced it has stopped
manufacturing the Galaxy ACD. It will support all existing service contracts until
November 1, 2007. Rockwell has also announced major enhancements to its Spectrum ACD. With
Spectrum Release 6, Rockwell has doubled the capacity of the ACD from 1,200 to 2,400
agents. It has enhanced and simplified remote agent capabilities and allows calls to be
distributed to any person with a telephone connection and a networked PC. Rockwell ECD has
also announced Convergence 3, a suite of desktop applications which allows anyone using a
phone and a networked PC to become a fully functional call center agent. The software also
provides international language support. For more information, please contact Michael
Collyer at 630-227-8212 or see www.ecd.rockwell.com
ServiceWare, Inc. has announced it is including SEARCH 97
from Verity, Inc. as a standard embedded component of Knowledge-Pak Viewer. The company
has also announced that Knowledge-Pak Viewer is a Web-based product that provides full
searching and viewing capabilities for ServiceWares Knowledge-Paks, as well as
other knowledge bases created with ServiceWares Knowledge-Pak Architect
software. For more information, please contact Bernard J. McCrory at 412-826-1158, ext.
414 or see www.serviceware.com
smallwonder! Softworks, Inc. has announced the release of XChange,
a PCbased client/server call center management system based on Windows NT 4.0 that is
designed for mid- to large-size call centers. Xchange offers predictive dialing, scripting
and data management, inbound call processing, conference calling, digital voice recording
and message playback, FoxProcompatible data formats, complete list management, reporting
and full SQL functionality for custom reports and queries. For more information, please
contact Kim Hendon at 800-258-5828 or see www.smallwondersoftworks.com.
Tadiran Telecommunications, Inc. has announced its new integrated
voice processing platform, the Coral Message Center (CMC). Through an OEM agreement with
Active Voice Corporation, CMC integrates Active Voices Repartee platform. For more
information, please contact Candy Barr at 813-523-0000 or e-mail at [email protected].
TASK2 has announced that its Figure 1 ergonomic keyboard platform
now has a swing-out mouse area. The new mouse area mounts on either the left or the right
side of the keyboard and retracts under the main platform when not in use. It can be
retrofitted to existing Figure 1 keyboards. For more information, please contact Steve
Bragato at 800-592-ERGO or e-mail at [email protected].
TCG Telecommunications has announced Voice Print Digital
Voice Logger. The system is designed around Windows NT and the RhetorexLucent Technologies
voice board. It is managed from a CRT with a GUI. It digitally records all or selected
telephone conversations. For more information, please contact Eugene Silvers at
818-597-3302 or see www.tcgtele.com
TELS Corporation has announced WIN-SENSE version 1.3. The upgrade
is designed to be faster, easier to use and more efficient than the previous 1.2 release.
It has also been redesigned for better organization, easier readability and improved
graphical interface. For more information, please contact Stephen M. Nelson at
801-756-9606.
Tiger Logic Systems, Inc. has announced TigerTracker Pro, a field
and corporate sales force automation software application for Windows 3.1/95/NT and the
Mac OS. For more information, please contact Mel Fenson at 303-444-6161 or see www.tigertracker.com
Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Telecommunications
Systems Division, has announced the Strata DK40, a digital telephone system that provides
small- to medium-sized businesses with advanced PBX telephone system features like
multiple directory numbers, direct inward dialing, tie lines, caller ID, ANI, DNIS and
SMDI voice mail integration. Toshiba has also announced the Strata DK14 digital business
telephone, which features: multiple directory numbers, Caller ID, CTI TAPI integration,
external call forward with remote change, call park capabilities, SMDI voice mail
integration, auto attendant and more. For more information, please contact JoAnn
Moradshahi at 714-583-3714 or see www.toshiba.com
Vertel has announced the availability of TMN Agent
Development Environment and TMN Manager Development Environment on the Windows
NT platform. The products provide interfaces, tools and functionality that automate most
of the tasks associated with building TMNconformant manager and agent applications while
taking advantage of the NT platform. For more information, please contact Vicki Vaughn at
818227-1456 or see www.vertel.com
Versatility Inc. has announced Versatility Energy for the
utilities marketplace, its third customized, vertical software solution. It provides
out-of-the-box CTI capabilities, legacy integration and automated workflow. For more
information, please contact Lana Sansur at 703-9347631 or see www.versatility.com.
Video Arts Incorporated has announced its newest training video
"Telephone Behavior: The Rules of Effective Communication." The video features
actor John Cleese, who humorously demonstrates how to handle business calls efficiently
and effectively. For more information, call 800-553-0091 or see www.videoarts.com
Vodavi Communications Systems, Inc. has announced the availability
of STARPLUS Dispatch, a new voice mail platform that offers high perfomance,
scalability and ease of installation. Its available in two- to eightport
configurations, has a hard drive that supports a minimum of 35 hours of voice storage and
an unlimited number of mailboxes. It features 900 programmable audiotext menus, dial by
name, park and page, automated attendant, pager notification, fax detection, message
waiting indicator, message notification and delivery options, back-up power, year 2000
compliance, call queuing, custom call routing and multiple mailbox greetings. For more
information, please contact Jill Edwards at 602-443-6036 or e-mail at [email protected]
Witness Systems has announced a new data monitoring architecture
for the capture, analysis and reporting of changed screen areas for a variety of operating
systems. This new system inserts the WITNESS client/server voice and data monitoring
application between the graphics engine and the display device driver. By analyzing the
parameters to the graphic primitives, the software can determine the changed area of the
screen and capture only that data. For more information, please contact Ryan Hollenbeck at
770-754-1962 or see www.witsys.com
XTEND has announced Touch Screen Registry which displays staff
availability and on-call coverage information on a touch-activated screen. Searches can be
conducted by name or pager ID for information including availability/status, pager ID,
department and whereabouts. For more information, please contact Seth Loonan at
212-951-7672 or see www.xtend.com
Internet And Help Desk Products... [return to the top]
Comdial Corporation has announced plans to release its unified
messaging product in early 1998 and a product for Internet telephony as early as the
second half of next year. For more information, please contact Dick Bucci at 804-978-2525
or e-mail at [email protected]
Diffusion, Inc. has announced Diffusion Server 2.0, designed to
extend the reach of enterprise information sources, including Web sites and other
application servers, by providing subscription-based delivery of business materials via
multiple delivery media and file formats. For more information, please contact Beth Lee at
650-2378505 or see www.diffusion.com
First USA Paymentech, Inc. has developed secured
electronic payment transaction processing via the Internet. The service is called
SecureTrans and offers online and batch processing of authorization and electronic
draft capture transactions. It supports other Paymentech services such as conditional
batch deposit, electronic check processing and international currency processing. Various
merchant reports may also be delivered via the Internet. For more information, please
contact Rodney Bell at 214-849-3776.
Interactive Intelligence has announced Enterprise Interaction
Center (EIC) version 1.01, its new Java-based communication system for LANs and
Intranets. EIC is a client/server software package capable of putting all communications
services (for telephone, fax, e-mail, pager, or Internet) on a single Windows NT server.
The product turns every PC into a graphical phone system with screen pop and universal
inbox capabilities and can even be accessed over the Internet or a corporate Intranet via
any Java-enabled browser. For more informaContinued from previous page tion, please call
317-872-3000 or see www.inter-intelli.com
Magic Solutions International, Inc. has announced SupportMagic
Enterprise Edition 4.0. The new version features enhanced customization, new purchasing
and configuration modules for fullcycle asset management; an advanced fulltext knowledge
engine; Web-based help desk connectivity via SupportMagic/Web; and support for a range of
databases. Magic Solutions is offering expanded QuickStart training and implementation
programs. For more information, please contact Carole Walters at 201-587-1515, ext. 196 or
see www.magicsolutions.com
MicroMedium Inc. has announced v4.11 of Digital Trainer
Professional, a product designed to simplify employee training over the Internet and
Intranets. New features include: faster Windows 95/NT Intranet-based training delivery
with improved remote file server technology; an updated tracking feature that logs
additional employee answer data; an email feature that allows e-mail to be sent from
training; improved linking to Web pages outside of the training; and others. For more
information, please contact Martin A. Renkis at 800-561-2098, ext. 16 or see www.micromedium.com
Mustang Software, Inc. has announced it is now shipping the Web
Essentials Internet Message Center (IMC), corporate application designed to route inbound
Internet e-mail addressed to aliases. Based on user-defined rules, IMC will route inbound
e-mails to the specified parties. It also enables companies to track e-mails, as well as
manage message traffic, agent efficiency and pool activity. For more information, please
call 805-873-2500 or see www.mustang.com
TouchWave, Inc. has announced the WebSwitch, a network-integrated
phone system that delivers full phone system functionality and uses the network to provide
improved desktop control, management and expandability. The WebSwitchs support for
MAPI and TAPI allows it to be used in conjunction with personal information managers,
e-mail packages and productivity. It is also capable of routing voice calls over data
networks. For more information, please contact Oliver Muoto at 650-843-1700 or see www.touchwave.com
UniDial has announced CallVision Billing Software, which allows
users to view their bills online. The system allows customers to receive a monthly
download of detailed information about their UniDial accounts, and then allows them to run
standardized reports and pull-up billing information. For more information, please contact
Susan Gosselin at 502-394-0789.
CTI Products... [return
to the top]
Applied Language Technologies, Inc. (ALTech) has announced
SpeechWorks version 3.0. It features: highaccuracy, speaker-independence, continuous
speech, large vocabulary, phonetic segmentbased, database integration with real-time
vocabulary generation directly from text, "nbest" output and associated
confidence scores; and "barge-in" capability. For more information, please
contact Alisa Moyer at 617428-4444 or see www.altech.com. Amper Consulting, LLC has
announced SBT/CTI Solution 1, which provides for automatic customer identification (ANI),
and a full set of features including screen pops identifying the caller, call forwarding
with caller information, call conferencing and call utilization reports. It is designed
for small call centers currently using SBTs business software. For more information,
please contact John Ayoub at 732-2871000.
AnswerSoft, Inc. has announced the shipment of Sixth Sense 4.0,
SoftPhone Agent 4.0 and SmartRoute 2.0. Sixth Sense allows organizations to seamlessly
link applications, databases and telecommunications technologies to automatically deliver
customer data to a CSRs desktop simultaneously with a customer call. Softphone Agent
consolidates and simplifies call management and control on the CSR desktop, and SmartRoute
intelligently routes calls based on call data and information from customer records. For
more information, please contact Lisa Chiranky at 972-997-8405 or email at [email protected]
BCS Technologies, Inc. has announced a low-cost alternative to
middleware PC Phone Control on the DSP 1000 ACD, with which an agents PC can
fully control his/her phone using TCP/IP on the company LAN via BCS internal CSTA
server. PC Phone Control talks to the CTI application using a simple API that relays call
state information. It also provides the agent with a consistent user interface. For more
information, call 800-756-8633 or see www.bcstechnologies.com
Bosch Telecom, Inc. has announced the Integral T1 Digital Phone,
which is designed to be a control center for PCbased telephony as it can be directly
connected to the PC and is capable of high-speed ISDN transmission. It is available in a
high-comfort ISDN model with over 300 features to an economy model with 10 programmable
function keys. For more information call 908-769-8700.
Copia International, Ltd. has added support for Windows Active
Messaging to its suite of fax server products with FaxFacts X/Mail. Users can now use
their Microsoft Exchange mailboxes with X/Mail to send or receive faxes through
Copias FaxFacts LAN server. Any MAPI-compliant mail service can be used, faxes can
be routed to email, and the software will notify email clients when a fax is delivered,
received and/or failed. For more information, please contact Dorothy Gaden-Flanagan at
800689-8898 or see www.copia.com
Envision Telephony has announced their full integration with
Dialogic CTConnect, resulting in the recognition of Soundbyte Enterprise 97 as a call
center solution interoperable with CT-Connect enabling technologies. For more information,
please contact Elizabeth Jewell at 206-621-9384, ext. 103 or see www.envisiontelephony.com.
Nabnasset Corporation has announced release 3.5 of its Voice
Enhanced Services Platform (VESP) product. It features: a status module to track agent
activity; VESP Blend, which allows customers to implement a blended environment with
outbound dialers; Test Interface, which provides an off-the-shelf interface to testing
tools; and a Mail Gateway, which provides a server interface to accept and route e-mail
from a variety of sources. For more information, please contact Susan Cohen at 978-7872800
or e-mail at [email protected].
PSS has announced TeleTrend, a software product that helps
streamline the way call centers manage their business process. Major features include:
Davox dialer integration; integration with enterprise data warehouse; client/server
technology; OLE automation to Word; Internet functionality; customization; data import and
export management and tracking; mail interfaces; and broad scaleability applications. For
more information, please contact Greg Susoreny at 800-352-2797 or see www.positivesolutions com/teletrend.
Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Telecommunications
Systems Division, has announced the Strata PC Digital Telephone. It installs in any
Windows-compatible PC and connects directly to a Toshiba Strata DK business telephone
system digital station port to function as a fully featured, standalone telephone. It
features: point-andclick speed dialing, call logging and recording, control voice mail, is
compatible with third-party TAPI applications, customized ring tones, analog device
connections and online help. For more information, please contact JoAnn Moradshahi at
714-5833714 or see http://telecom.toshiba.com
Expansions... [return to the top]
Access Direct Telemarketing, Inc. has announced plans to expand
both their Cedar Rapids, Iowa and their Ames, Iowa calling centers. The expansion will
increase the annual call center payroll in Cedar Rapids to $2.0 million and the payroll in
Ames to $2.2 million.
The Invest in Britain Bureau has announced that the Dutch airline
KLM is to build a 3,500-square-meter reservations call center for its Air UK subsidiary at
Norwich airport in Eastern England. It will open with a staff of 90, but will expand to
250 over three years. Invest in Britain has also announced that Market Reach, an American
call center company, is expanding its British operations with a new facility at Plymouth,
in Devon. Market Reach is investing US$1.7 million in the new, multilingual call center.
Additionally, QVC is investing another US$9 million on an expansion of its new UK call
center at Knowsley in Merseyside, North West England. The site will employ an additional
250, bringing total employment to 1,250.
Signature Telemarketing has announced the opening of its 35 th and
36 th telemarketing centers. Signatures San Bernardino, California facility totals
400 full- and part-time employees, and handles both inbound and outbound calling. Their
new Independence, Missouri facility will employ 400 full- and part-time associates and
handle outbound calling. They now have 36 sites in 11 states.
USA 800 has announced the opening of their newly renovated office
space on the fifth floor of the Brittain-Richardson building in St. Joseph, Missouri. USA
800 is a 1800 inbound teleresponse service agency, answering more than nine million
minutes of toll-free calls a year.
West TeleServices Corporation has announced it will open a
20,855-squarefoot call center in Texarkana, Arkansas, creating approximately 250 jobs, 60
percent of which are full-time positions. The center will have a total annual payroll
estimated at more than $3.5 million, generating an economic impact estimated at more than
$14 million.
Happenings... [return to the top]
Centennial College has announced the opening of Centennial
College Call Centre, a one-year, comprehensive Call Centre Operations certificate program.
This is the first program of its kind in Ontario. Four hundred students a year will
graduate with skills in customer care and relationship marketing.
Computer Generated Solutions Call Management Services
Division has announced it teamed up with the American Heart Association, which recently
launced a three-year, national "Each One, Reach One" campaign to improve
American womens awareness about the true extent of their risk of heart disease and
stroke. The program features a nationwide toll-free number, 1888-MY HEART, as a key
vehicle for pro-viding information. CGS furnished the technical and logistic support for
the telecommunications component of this program.
COPC has announced that SOFTBANK Services Group has become
certified to the COPC-2000 standard.
EIS International, Inc. has announced it is pursuing plans to make
its software year 2000 compliant and will release software upgrades to fix the
"millennium bug" by the end of 1998. EIS has also announced they will adopt the
Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) as a platform for all future products.
IEX Corporation has announced that its TotalNet Call Routing has
passed the test standards for network interfaces, service performance and responsiveness
as established by major interexchange carriers.
In a study released by KPMG Canada, Canada and Ontario were ranked
number one in lowest business costs among seven leading industrial countries in North
America and Europe.
Strategic Alliances... [return to the top]
AnswerSoft, Inc. and Rockwell Electronic Commerce Division have
announced their intent to jointly develop a TAPI 2.1 software driver for linking call
center environments with standardsbased automation software. AnswerSoft, Inc. and Nortel
(Northern Telecom) have announced that AnswerSoft will provide its Sixth Sense and
SoftPhone Agent call center automation solutions to Nortels customers and authorized
distributors through the Nortel Symposium Partners Program.
Apropos Technology, Inc. has announced a partnership with Remedy
Corporation. The relationship pairs Remedys help desk product, Action Request
System, with Apropos all-inone client/server total call center management
software.
Call Interactive, Inc. and RediMail Direct Marketing have
announced a partnership to provide a turnkey solution to direct response fulfillment
campaigns.
Chordiant Software, Inc. has announced it has formed a strategic
alliance with Aspect Telecommunications, by joining Aspects Affinity Alliance
program.
Clarify and SLP InfoWare have announced a partnership to integrate
SLPs churn identification software, Churn/ Customer Profiling System with
Clarifys front office suite of cutomer care applications for the telecommunications,
financial services and insurance industries.
Comdial Corporation has announced an agreement with Harris
Corporation, Digital Telephone Systems. Under the terms of the agreement, they will
collaborate to expand the capabilities of the Harris Information Platform and Harris 20-20
digital switching system.
Dickens Data Systems and Silvon Software have announced an
agreement to jointly market IBM hardware and Silvons data warehousing software for
the IBM AS/400.
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. has announced a
strategic alliance with Connectivity Managed Network Services, Inc., a newly created joint
venture between Bell Canada and NBTel interActive. Connectivity will provide CTI solutions
as subscriptionsbased services.
Ingram Micro, Inc. has announced its Telecom Integration Division
has reached an agreement with five national comput-ertelephony integration resellers, who
collectively form the CTI Consortium. The new organization is dedicated to the development
of a national network of resellers that is committed to providing complete solutions for a
wide variety of end users.
InterVoice, Inc. and ALTech have announced the use of their
combined technologies to develop and deploy E*TRADE Group Inc.s speech-enabled
TELE*MASTER investing system.
InterVoice, Inc. and Atlantis Technologies, Inc. have announced an
agreement in which Atlantis will integrate its ASSISTCare product suite with
InterVoices OneVoice call and business process automation platform.
ITI Marketing Services has been awarded a business-to-business
customer capture contract to provide sales support and database development to USN
Communications. ITI has also been awarded a bilingual customer capture program by
BellSouth, Small Business Services to sell ancillary products and services to BellSouth
customers.
Lucent Technologies is working with SITEL Corporation to design
and install its first operational Internet Call Centre in Europe at SITELs site in
Brussels.
Melita International has announced three new agreements with
Accelerated Payment Systems, Inc., MultiCall and Witness Systems, to focus on joint call
center customer solutions for the companies respective products and applications and
comarketing activities.
NEC America and MultiMedia Access Corporation have announced they
have joined forces to develop and market highquality video communications systems for
enterprise applications.
NICE Systems Ltd. and Lucent Technologies have announced they have
entered into a worldwide distribution agreement under which Lucent will market and
distribute NICEs voice logging solutions.
Siemens Business Communication Systems, Inc. and SoftLinx, Inc.
have announced a joint agreement to provide a seamless solution to customers who are ready
to add integrated fax messaging to their Lotus environment. Siemens will offer
SoftLinxs Replix FaxCenter for Lotus Notes/Domino product to its PBX customers.
Installation and support will be provided by SoftLinx.
Versatility Inc. and Affinity Technology Group, Inc. have
announced a joint commitment to deliver highly integrated call center solutions with
various loan processing systems. The partnership will create an enterprisewide sales
production system delivering real-time "closed-loop" loan entry, decisioning
support for loan approvals, credit function processing and loan tracking and booking.
Versatility has aslo announced a marketing alliance with InteliData. The two companies
have agreed to jointly market each others products and work together on future
product integration. Versatility Inc. has also announced it will team with NCR to deliver
a fullysupported Chinese language call center solution to the Asia Pacific market.
Finally, Versatility has joined Aspect Telecommunications Affinity Alliance
program.
Mergers and Acquisition... [return to the top]
Acxiom Corporation has announced the acquisition of
Multinational Concepts, Ltd., an international mailing list and database maintenance
provider for consumer catalogers, and Catalog Marketing Services, Inc., dba Shop the World
by Mail, a leader in cooperative customer acquisition programs.
Harte Hanks Communications, Inc. has announced the acquisition of
Mercantile Software Systems, Inc., a provider of open architecture software and systems
integration solutions for direct marketing and other applications.
Metromail Corporation has announced the acquistion of Saxe, Inc.,
a developer of object-oriented, open architecture software solutions and databases.
Quintus Corporation has acquired Nabnasset Corporation, a provider
of computer-telephony integration software. SalesLogix Corporation has announced the
purchase of Opis Corporation, a provider of customer support software.
Universal Teleservices Network (UTN) has announced the acquisition
of teleservices firm Direct Marketing Services, Inc. UTN has also announced the acquistion
of The Development Center, a supplier of telephone fund-raising and marketing services to
the nonprofit sector.
VocalTec Communications Ltd. and ITXC Corp. have announced the
closing of an agreement providing VocalTec with a minority equity stake in ITXC.
International News...[return to the top]
Aspect Telecommunications has announced the company is
increasing its international presence by expanding its international management team with
three new management positions and by opening new offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and, in
the near future, in Japan.
Davox Corporation has announced it is in the process of
establishing a subsidiary (Davox Mexico S. de R.L.) in Mexico, to be headquartered in
Mexico City. It will engage in marketing and technical support throughout the country.
Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. has announced it has exercised
its option to buy 100 percent of TeleSupport Services, a provider of response management
services to the high-technology industry in Europe.
Melita International has announced the opening of a new facility
in Mexico City, Mexico, to provide direct sales and firstline customer support to Mexico
and all of Central and South America.
Mosaix has announced it will be partnering with Telnorm, a
systems integrator and service provider in Mexico.
Rockwell has announced that its Electronic Commerce Division has
entered the call center markets in Australia and New Zealand with its portfolio of
products and services.
SITEL Corporation has announced a partnership with Corporacion
Interamericana de Entretenimiento, S.A. de C.V. (CIE), a publicly traded growth company in
Mexico, by acquiring 41 percent of CIEs teleservices subsidiary, Grupo de
Comercializacion Integrada, S.A. de C.V (GCI).
TCS Management Ltd. and Lucent Technologies Belgium S.A./N.V.
have announced the signing of a marketing agr eement whereby the Business Communications
Systems division of Lucent Technologies Belgium will actively market the TCS TeleCenter
System and the TCS NetForce.
Telstra has announced a comprehensive report of the investment
opportunities in the Asia Pacific call center market. The study was conducted by ACA
Research and was sponsored by Price Waterhouse, Telstra, IBM, Rockwell and American
Express.
People... [back to the top]
David W. Brandenburg has been named president and CEO of
AnswerSoft, Inc., a provider of inter-application automation solutions. He has also been
appointed to its Board of Directors.
Melita International Corporation, a provider of customer
interaction and call management systems, has announced its president and COO, J. Neil
Smith, will leave his post in January 1998, but will serve as a consultant to Melita
during 1998.
ALTech, a vendor of conversational speech recognition software
for telephony applications, has announced the appointment of Stuart R. Patterson to
president of the company.
R. Scott Davis, founder and president of Affinitec, a call center
management software company, has retired his day-to-day duties: he is replaced by Joseph
V. Russo, former senior vice president at AAC Corporation.
Davox Corporation, a developer of call management software, has
announced that Rusty Coleman is to spearhead the team dedicated to the development and
marketing of its IN/UNISON inbound call center management system. Davox has also announced
the appointment of Ronald B. Thompson to director of professional services.
Donald J. Vrana has been promoted to chief financial officer and
Larry Hefling has been appointed chief information officer of SITEL North America, a
provider of outsourced tele-phonebased customer service and sales pro-grams.
OCurrance Marketing Communication Services, a sales
department for hire, has announced that Roger T. Muir was named vice president of sales
and marketing.
Michael R. Zucchini has been elected to the board of directors at
Technology Solutions Company, a provider of information technology and strategic business
consulting services.
Impact Telemarketing, a telemarketing service agency, has
announced the following: Patrice Bridgeman has been named center coordinator of
Impacts Voorhees, New Jersey location; Deborah Wentzell-Brown has been named
director of marketing.
Ron Weber and Associates, a teleservices agency, has named Aiden
J. Colie to the position of chief information officer.
Consolidated Market Response has promoted Kevin Fields to head
its sales and marketing department.
Martin L. Anderson has been named vice president for call center
operations at Daisytek International Corporations subsidiary Priority Fulfillment
Services, Inc. (PFS) and C. Jeffrey Chick was appointed vice president of sales for PFS.
Daisytek is a distributor of computer and office automation supplies and accessories.
Paul Flanders has been named director of marketing, and Larry
Mayfield has been appointed support and training engineer at Voiceware Systems, Inc.
Borealis Technology Corporation, a provider of sales force
automation solutions, has announced that Michael DEath has joined as vice president
of business development.
Robert G. Hooson has been named vice president of sales at Xantel
Corporation, a developer of customer interaction technology.
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunications
Systems Division, which markets the Strata DK family of digital business telephone systems
and Toshiba Stratagy and VP voice processing systems, has announced that Chris Harrington
has joined the division as vice president of business planning.
Eric Pratt has joined InterVoice, Inc., a supplier of automated
call processing solutions, as vice president, telco sales.
IMA the customer interaction software company has
announced that Kian Saneii has been appointed vice president of worldwide marketing.
Jim Long has been appointed executive vicepresident and
president, Enterprise Networks at Northern Telecom (Nortel), which helps customers to
design, build and integrate their communications products and advanced digital networks.
Nortel has also announced that Clarence Chandran will assume
responsibility for Asia, in addition to his role as executive vice president and
president, Public Carrier Networks. David Ball, senior vice president and president,
Public Carrier Networks, Europe, will begin a transition toward retirement in 1998. Gary
Donahee will be appointed senior vice president and president of that division to smooth
the transition.
Comdial Corporation, an innovator of com-putertelephone solutions
as well as wired and wireless telecommunications products, has appointed Christian L.
Becken senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Shannon Highley has been appointed director of marketing at
Telescan Corporation, a hardware and software company specializing in telecommunications
and telemessaging equipment.
|