60 Seconds with Pedro Quintas,
Founder & CEO of COLLAB

By Richard "Zippy" Grigonis, Q&A

Pedro Quintas founded the highly innovative 3G audio/ video call center company COLLAB (http://www.collab.pt) in 2003. Previously, he was an integral member of the team that developed and launched Altitude Software (then called Easyphone), an award-winning company working in the international call center marketplace. After holding various positions, he was appointed Altitude’s Chief Technology Officer in 1998. Prior to joining Altitude Software, Quintas was project leader for the team that designed and developed one of the key solutions at SSF, Portugal’s leading provider of business apps to the finance and credit industry. He holds a computer sciences degree from the University of Portugal, where he also earned a grant for research into artificial intelligence and also completed the International Executive Program at INSEAD.

Richard “Zippy” Grigonis recently spoke with Pedro Quintas about SIP and the 3G audio/video call center business.

RG: Does SIP function well in a mobile video/ call center environment? Did you need to do any “special” modifications or extensions to SIP?

PQ: The option of going with SIP proved to be the right one, especially in a multimedia environment. Mobile video calls are just one example of the many rich call scenarios that are already appearing and will continue to evolve with the widespread adoption of IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) architectures and Instant Messaging. Another example already being launched in some countries is video sharing developed on top of an IMS architecture. In our implementations to date, we have been able to stay within the SIP standard, with the only special modification being the video fast update for improved video call picture quality.

RG: Is SIP really easier to work with than competing protocols such as H.323?

PQ: SIP is easier to work with, since it was inspired by web technologies, so it is easier to grab than H.323 by the developers. The other big advantage is interoperability, which with SIP becomes a reality, whilst with H.323 was a big problem. Our solution could have not reached the development stage it has today, in terms of fault-tolerance, multimedia features and interoperability, if it had been developed using H.323.

RG: As I understand it, COLLAB’s call center system can be used by enterprises or it can be scaled up to be provided as a service by a carrier or service provider.

PQ: Yes. It is also quite flexible. Many of our customers use it as an audio call center, but it can be upgraded to a video call center quite easily. In fact, our system supports multiple channels of communication between a customer and contact center agent. And although it’s a pre-IMS system, it provides many of the same features and is compatible with IMS.

The way people communicate is changing. Videocalls, emails, SMS, MMS, file sharing, web collaboration and presence information have become commonplace. Companies are switching to VoIP and telco operators continue to evolve to IMS architectures, enabling rich-call scenarios and presence awareness. The way companies communicate with their customers also continues to change and contact center architectures must evolve to meet these challenges. The industries most likely to spearhead the revolution are telcos, banking, healthcare, travel and entertainment. Medical screening, technical help-desk and product promotion will be among the successful applications. Current architectures which use CTI [Computer Telephony Integration] to integrate with proprietary voice systems cannot cope with such changes. Standards, such as SIP, have already emerged and continue to shake up the established industry landscape and value chain.

RG: So SIP helps with providing this flexibility or versatility?

PQ: Oh yes. SIP is the cornerstone standard of future IP Communications and helps make possible our [COLLAB’s] One Contact. Basically, we offer an IP-based 3G call center software-only solution that offers full multimedia contact management. It seamlessly integrates video calls, enables multi-location contact centres in a distributed model and reduces deployment costs. We target 3G mobile operators willing to expand their 3G offer in Europe and Asia; NSPs [Network Service Providers] who may provide their corporate customers with the contact center infrastructure as a service in a hosted model, and contact center outsourcers who are doubtless eager to reap the benefits of costs reduction and flexibility in capacity and geography. Finally, enterprise contact centers can benefit from COLLAB too. We address the marketplace through regional and global distributors such as HP, and with our own salesforce.

It’s quite an exciting business.