|
CIS:
What is your company's specialty and mission statement?
JF:
Concerto Software's business is the contact center. We have been 100 percent
focused on that market for more than two decades, and the company is
dedicated to helping our customers improve the way they interact with their
customers ' whether by phone, e-mail, the Web or fax. Historically, our
expertise has been in outbound dialing, and we maintain a leadership
position in this part of the market. Following the creation of Concerto
Software (Davox merged with CELLIT in January 2002), we combined our
industry-leading outbound dialing capabilities with CELLIT's unified
platform and created EnsemblePro, a complete solution that offers inbound
and outbound call handling, call-blending, e-mail management, Web chat, IVR,
monitoring, recording and reporting. Since its introduction, EnsemblePro has
picked up an enormous amount of momentum and is proving to be a success in
the market because it offers contact centers the ability to meet their
current business needs while also offering an evolutionary approach to
adding new functionality.
In terms of a mission statement, ours is bold and perhaps a little
audacious. We aim to become the outright global leader in the contact center
market while sustaining profitable growth. We'll accomplish this by
executing a strategic plan, delivering leading-edge solutions that truly
solve customers' business problems and by consistently being a trusted,
reliable technology partner with which companies want to do business.
CIS:
What makes your services unique and how can users benefit by using them?
JF:
Flexibility is the hallmark of EnsemblePro. The solution offers greenfield
contact centers the broad multimedia functionality required to meet today's
rigorous customer interaction needs. This includes an advanced ACD,
predictive dialing, IVR, e-mail, Web chat and collaboration, universal
queuing, recording and reporting. New centers can choose from among these
capabilities to rapidly build the center they need today, but still have the
option to easily tack on additional functionality as business needs dictate.
On the other hand, EnsemblePro also integrates easily with existing contact
center systems to help companies fully maximize those prior investments,
while extending their contact center capabilities. In this case, EnsemblePro
adds value through the 'unifying' impact it has on the entire center by
enabling users to operate their centers ' including existing systems tied to
EnsemblePro ' from a single point. For example, companies can connect
EnsemblePro to their existing ACD to add IVR, predictive dialing and
reporting functionality, and have a supervisor manage all these
functionalities from a central location in EnsemblePro. This greatly reduces
the complexities traditionally associated with implementing, owning and
operating multimedia contact centers.
Corporate stability also sets Concerto Software apart from others in the
industry. More than two decades of experience, a 100 percent focus on the
contact center market, cash in the bank, little debt and numerous quarters
of continuous growth and profitability make Concerto Software a solid
technology partner. Merging with Melita and becoming a private company
further strengthens this position, and provides us with greater access to
resources and more flexibility to accomplish our business goals.
CIS:
What is your vision of the future of the CRM/contact center/teleservices
industry?
JF:
It certainly is an exciting time to be involved in the contact center
industry ' there are a number of trends in the marketplace that will forever
change the landscape. For one, I see widespread adoption of bundled contact
center suites that wrap multichannel functionality into one package and
universal queues that manage and prioritize contacts across multiple media.
As broadband technology becomes more pervasive, consumers will increasingly
demand to contact companies via the phone, e-mail or the Web. As a result,
customers will dictate how they interact with businesses, more so than they
already do. In this environment, companies must be prepared to handle all
communication channels and provide a consistent customer experience across
these media. This will require unified solutions that can easily integrate
with CRM and other database systems, ensuring personalized, consistent
customer service.
Secondly, you have to consider the impact that voice over IP and SIP will
have on the industry. While VoIP and SIP are several years away from being
the driving market force, the next several years will see an increased
adoption of these technologies because they give end users a broader set of
options when it comes to routing rules, remote contact centers and disaster
recovery. However, it's important for companies not to get entirely swept up
in the hype. VoIP can be an ideal solution for some companies and may not
meet the needs of others. In order to make a sound technology investment,
companies should thoroughly assess their strategies and goals and evaluate
potential solutions in that context.
Finally, the contact center technology market can expect additional waves of
consolidation in the future, with vendors joining forces to better meet
market demands. This trend will provide greater value to end users, because
they'll be able to work with a single vendor that can understand their
business requirements and meet their varied needs. In this landscape,
companies will need to look at vendors as business problem-solvers, rather
than purveyors of discrete functionality. Customers and vendors will have to
forge true partnerships in order to advance business and grow in the
long-term.
CIS:
What, in your opinion, is the most pressing issue facing our industry today?
JF:
I think there are several. One of the issues that has been a high priority
for several of our customers of late is permission-based marketing.
Consumers have mandated a change in the way businesses contact them, and the
government has responded with several regulations, from a revised
Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to the CAN-SPAM Act. These laws have
permanently changed how businesses can leverage contact centers and contact
center technology to sell and market to consumers. While these regulations
certainly pose challenges, they also offer our industry several
opportunities. In general, contact centers should see improved workforce
productivity as a result of the revised TSR and CAN-SPAM. In addition, the
do-not-call list will create a more qualified pool of consumers for
businesses to target with their sales and marketing efforts, and should lead
to more successful campaigns.
CIS:
What are your recommendations with regards to compliance with this
legislation?
JF:
There really is only one solution here: companies must create a culture that
insists upon and rewards compliance. However, compliance is not just a
matter of staying on top of the do-not-call list and pushing a button on the
predictive dialer ' there are a number of factors to consider as companies
look to adhere to the revised TSR and CAN-SPAM. For example, businesses must
realign their sales and marketing efforts to ensure they have a corporate
environment that promotes compliance. They must also give agents guidelines
on proper behavior when contacting consumers in view of the new regulations
and the current consumer climate. Finally, after considering their business
needs, some companies may need to make investments in new contact center
technologies in order to best meet the government's stipulations.
CIS:
What is your vision for future trends in the contact center/CRM/teleservices
outsourcing market regarding profitability and international competition?
JF:
While the issues I've mentioned pose an immediate challenge to companies
contacting U.S. customers, there are other issues affecting the industry on
a more global scale. Outsourcing and offshoring are certainly hot buttons
for the contact center, as well as for business and politics in general.
Being competitive in a global economy has driven the globalization of
contact centers ' both in-house and through third parties. In short,
companies need to be able to provide high-quality, follow-the-sun service as
well as better products at lower prices. As the economy continues to
improve, companies will look to make strategic, cost-effective decisions to
achieve these goals and this will continue to fuel the outsourcing/offshoring
trend. This globalization trend will only intensify in the coming years
because new markets will emerge. For example, China could be the sleeping
giant of the outsourcing market, and could challenge India's recent
dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. Similarly, nearshore operations in
Canada could also command a greater share of the market because of cultural
similarities with the U.S. Ultimately, we believe this competition benefits
global business and consumers. Companies will be forced to find ways to be
more competitive and that translates to a win for consumers in the end.
If you are interested in purchasing reprints of this article (in either
print or HTML format), please visit Reprint Management Services online at
www.reprintbuyer.com or contact a
representative via e-mail at
[email protected] or by phone at 800-290-5460.
For information and subscriptions,
visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800.
For information and subscriptions, visit
www.TMCnet.com or
call 203-852-6800.
[
Return To March 2004
Table Of Contents ] |
SUBSCRIPTIONS
TMCnet LOGIN
WEBINARS
