DEPLOYING THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER Presenter Lance Fried

DEPLOYING THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER Presenter: Lance Fried Director of Marketing Telephony@Work

DEPLOYING THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER TOPICS TO BE COVERED: § What are the capabilities of an effective virtual call center solution? § What are the attributes of effective infrastructure designed for purpose -- versus a make-fit deployment that cannot deliver the benefits? § What are the benefits of deploying virtual call center infrastructure designed for purpose?

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? § Communications From @nywhere Phone, Fax, Internet § Routed To @nywhere Central Center / Remote Center / Telecommuter § Supervision From @nywhere Call & Screen Monitoring / Recording/ Whisper Coaching § Administration, provisioning, moves, adds & changes from @nywhere

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? I Need to “Talk” To Someone! I Can Choose: § Regular Phone Call § Email § Chat § Web Callback § Voice-Over-Web

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER ACD WHAT SHOULD IT DO? PBX Chat Queuing Skills-Based Routing E-Mail With suggested Responses Web Collaboration Web-Callback IVR Voice-Over-Web Voice Mail Unified Messaging Predictive/Preview Dialing Automated E-Mail Analysis & Response Recording & Logging Fax Call & Screen Monitoring & Coaching Vo. IP & Circuit

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? • Browser-Based, Multi-Channel Contact Center • Multimedia Skills-Based Routing • Handles & Blends All Media Types In An Integrated Interface Voice • Touch Tone Menus (IVR) • Queuing • PSTN / Vo. IP: H. 323, SIP • Integrates with or replaces PBX Email • Content Analysis • Template Matching • Automated Response • Routing To Agents With Suggested Response Automated Callback • Web-Callback Requests • IVR-Based Callback Request • Scheduled Callback • Immediate Callback Web Chat • Instant Text Chat • Web Collaboration • Form Sharing • Suggests Responses • URL “Push” Libraries Voice Mail / Fax • Unified Messaging • E-Mail Accessible • Remote Retrieval • Fax & Fax Libraries Web Self-Help • Build knowledge-base without programming • Auto-generate web-pages with imbedded intelligence for content analysis & web-response Recording & Monitoring • Interaction Alarms • Scheduled & on-the-fly recordings • Join or take over calls • Whisper Coaching & Chat Coaching • Screen Monitoring

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Quality Monitoring & Recording Ensuring Quality In the Virtual Call Center 1. Can supervisors monitor, record & coach from anywhere? 2. Can supervisors see and control agents’ screens? 3. Can supervisors access all recordings on demand? 4. Can recordings can be scheduled automatically? 5. Can supervisors initiate on-the-fly recording of agents? 6. Can supervisors leverage multi-channel interaction alarms?

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Browser-Based Interfaces • Agents, Supervisors and Administrators Can Log On From Anywhere -- Ability To Deploy Remote Workers • Eliminates Desktop Administration Costs • Simplified Firewall Security • Operates Over Regular Ports (80/443)

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Virtual Call Center – Corporate Hosting • “Overlay” on top of multiple call center sites • Different PBXs and ACDs controlled by unified system • Telecommuters with browser controls • No forklifting of existing gear required • Disaster recovery and alternate routing built-in

Agents Can Be Local With CPE Installation CENTRALIZED CONFIGURATION AND / OR Agents Can Be Remote With Access To HOSTED Infrastructure

Agents Can Be Local With CPE Installation DECENTRALIZED CONFIGURATION Agents Can Be Remote AND / OR Access To HOSTED Infrastructure How It Works: With Centralized Infrastructure For Multiple Locations

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Skills-Based Routing of All Forms of Communication Regardless of Location • Define unlimited skills • Weight skills for agents & workgroups • Factor in outside variables (idle time, agent cost, etc. ) • Skills-based routing is automatic • Skills-based routing can span over multiple sites

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Blended Predictive & Preview Dialer Options • Calls clients automatically - calls pushed to agents regardless of location • Agents can handle both incoming and outgoing calls • Preview - agents review scripts before calls are placed • Multiple outbound campaigns can run all at once

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? PBX Capabilities With Unified Messaging • Users can do 32 -way conferences and transfers • Users can pull callers out of voicemail in real time • Ordinary, non-proprietary phones can be used • Voicemails, faxes & emails delivered in email client

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Must Work With Legacy PBXs At Remote Locations • Any switch: Avaya, Nortel, Mitel, NEC, Fujitsu, Siemens, etc. • Hooks up as adjunct over TIE trunks, eliminating need for CTI • Allows normal PBX functions to continue • Call center agents “upgraded” with browser interface

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Must Work Without Legacy PBXs • As a “Communications Server” using Intel/Dialogic boards • As a “Soft Switch” controlling ANY H. 323 or SIP gateway • As “Controller” of Cisco Vo. IP gateways • As “Controller” of Nortel MPS 1000 multimedia tandem

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Mixed Circuit & Packet Switching • Either/or propositions are simply naïve today • Imperative to blend media from either type of transmission seamlessly • Protects your investment when you must make the inevitable shift to IP telephony • Seamlessly Blend Circuit & H. 323 and SIP for universal compatibility

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Remote Agent / Telecommuting Capabilities • Agents can work at home with just a PC and phone • All capabilities extended to remote users • Multiple sites can treated as one “virtual” call center • Remote users “piggy back” on central system L. D.

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Built-In Customer Record Management • Customer data “POPS” on agent screen with calls • Agents can enter & store “notes” on calls • Unified customer history log -- accessible to all agents • Includes chat & email transcripts, call logs, notes, etc.

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Cross-Media Licensing • Platforms that require separate licenses for each individual medium of communication are inherently inefficient • Capacity-based licensing eliminates idle license inefficiencies & allows you to share licenses among multiple sites and seats. • Per-seat or Per-Log-in licensing penalizes use of casual agents (who rarely take calls) and remote agents (because their seats are only in use part of the time) • Look for unlimited client software distribution in the browser & unlimited log-ins!

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Globalization and Localization Support • Multiple time zone support: time-zone consistency in both reports and real-time information • User interfaces should deliver localization of languages, date and monetary formats

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Multi-Host Data Polling Allows Data To Live At Various Sites • Allows remote databases to be polled for data through firewalls from multiple on-premises database tables • Access to multiple databases through firewalls allows the logic flow and applications that direct the contact center to live in a variety of locations • Most vendors don’t support this through standard ports (80/443) and require you to sacrifice security by making Swiss cheese out of your firewall!

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Multi-Host Data Streaming Allows Customer Data To Be Deposited At Various Sites Enables companies to stream and store all: • consent-to-transaction recordings • quality monitoring recordings • interaction history data • all other private information behind their firewalls, centrally or at remote locations

The “Traditional” One Off Approach -- A Square Peg In A Round Hole - • Too many points of failure • Too long to deploy • Too expensive to deploy – custom programming & compiling, integration, testing & debugging, etc. • Too expensive to own (continuous reintegration required fixes & updates) • Too rigid: changes require programming/ integration Multi-Vendor Custom “One-Off” Design Complexity BUGS! ERRORS! • Too many vendors/ integrators involved

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER Integration-By-Design • Designed for hosted services • No Downtime: “Carrier-Class “Hot-Backup Reliability • Multi-Site Disaster Recovery • Dynamic Scalability • Fast deployment • No-cost hosted-services provisioning – from menu selections in the browser -No programming or compiling • Dramatically lower cost of ownership (continuous re -integration NOT required) • No cost changes: changes don’t require programming or re-integration • Efficient cross-media licensing • Economies of scale: licensing is capacity-based

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER Integration-By-Design How Should It Work?

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER Integration-By-Design • SELECTING A VENDOR IN THE “ONE-OFF” INTEGRATION MODEL FOR AN INTERNAL “CORPORATE ASP” INITIATIVE IS NEEDLESSLY RISKY. -- Why not piggyback on carrier testing and due diligence? “ 60% of [one-off] customer-management projects don't reach the goals that were promised” (Business Week 06/02) [In the “one-off” paradigm] “End users spend much more on the integration of convergence applications than they do on the technologies themselves. ” Mary Bradshaw, Vice President Telecommunications Industry Association Comm. Web, September 9, 2002

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Scalability Try To Pick A Platform You Won’t Outgrow! • Must scale down to one communications server for small to mid-size implementations • Must scale up in a network-based configuration to deliver carrier-grade scalability for large enterprises, Telcos & ASPs • Avoid the pain & cost of a forklift and staff re-training

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Reliability “Traditional” (Outdated) Way: Fail Over “Fail-Over” Schemes Require System-Wide Downtime! System Failure results in disconnection of all agents and all communications in-progress - with “fail over” to back up system after 10 to 30 seconds of downtime! Result: you have to hope that they call back!

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Carrier-Grade Reliability Software processes mirrored “hot” in the network Communications can stay alive even if individual servers fail!

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Reliability “Hot-Backup” Architectural Extensions § Provides real-time redundancy of mail servers and web servers § Sessions are seamlessly rerouted and session contexts are seamlessly maintained in the event of failures

THE VIRTUAL CALL CENTER WHAT SHOULD IT DO? Security-By-Design Everything works through port 80 or port 443 NO NEED TO TRANSFORM FIREWALLS INTO SWISS CHEESE! NEVER consider technologies that: -- compromise firewalls to maintain connections with offsite agents -- do not provide support for proxies

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Unify Multiple Locations • Virtual call center capabilities are an effective means of unifying call centers with multiple locations • Consolidation of regional call centers into one seamlessly integrated, geographically distributed enterprise offers compelling efficiencies as well as cost savings

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Cut Costs • Dramatically Reduce IT Infrastructure Costs Through Centralization • Cut Facilities and Security Related Overhead by leveraging telecommuters • Expand hours of operation while eliminating overtime – Route communications to different time zones • Cross-Media Traffic-Based Licensing eliminates licensing inefficiencies and enables you to leverage your investment across geography with unlimited ‘seats’ at no cost (--you license based on traffic-capacity). • Low, low cost of satellite office infrastructure • Much lower staffing requirements because IT infrastructure is centralized

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Slash Cost-Of-Ownership – Without Sacrifice! • Dramatically reduce infrastructure management and support costs via centralization and integration-by-design • Unified, menu driven administration enables moves, adds and changes to be delegated to the site manager and be provisioned at no cost • Hot Backup eliminates costs associated with downtime • Industry average cost-of-ownership is $30 k per year per seat to keep software integrated (must re-integrate and retest – fix bugs – test again, etc. . with every new patch or update (includes software maintenance) -- Purdue University • Integration-By-Design, Thin-Client Browser Interfaces & Unified Administration can reduce annual per-seat costs to between $500 -$1000 ($29, 000 per year hard savings per seat!)

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Dramatically Faster Time-To-Market & ROI • Remote Locations Can Be Turned Up In just hours • Even More Compelling for Seasonal Call Centers • Unified, menu driven administration enables moves, adds and changes to be delegated to the site manager – enabling call centers to make no-cost changes and become more responsive to changing needs

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Ensure Staffing Levels • Access to agents across all centers • Offering a telecommuting option can often effectively address agent recruiting and retention problems • A telecommuting option can also attract better agents who might not be willing to work in a physical call center but who would accept such employment if they could telecommute from home

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Reliability & Multi-Site Disaster Recovery (Assuming proper Infrastructure) • Real-time Back Up of All Processes (Hot Mirroring) across multiple locations – ensuring communications stay alive even if individual servers fail • Dynamic Scalability: No Service Disruption During Upgrades

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Additional Disaster Recovery Option: On-the-fly Telecommuting To Provide Back-up Agent Resources Ability to add remote agents on the fly can prove useful even for single-site call centers. For example, if too few agents show up for work or if unanticipated volumes of calls must be handled on a short notice, 'back-up' agents could log in remotely from home while others work from the call center's physical location. On-the-fly telecommuting capabilities are also extremely useful in cases of bad weather that affect employee attendance.

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Expand Your Skills Base • The ability to add outside resources to your enterprise, or even to seamlessly outsource certain categories of calls to other companies with call & screen monitoring by your supervisors are important benefits.

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: Remote Supervision • Supervisors find it hard to be objective when they evaluate a person they know - perhaps someone they hired or trained. In such cases, they may even feel that a low rating reflects poorly on their coaching skills. Supervisors may also be too close to the situation to understand the customer's perspective. • Companies that outsource their agent monitoring report that unlike internal supervisor ratings, outsourced ratings correlate highly with customer experiences. But many companies are not comfortable with outsourcing their quality control. • Offsite monitoring & evaluation yields more objective results

Top Ten Benefits of Virtual Call Centers: The Bottom Line • Customers are better served when communications are routed to the best qualified agent – regardless of location • SS 7 Schemes tend to select sites before people – and are pure circuit-switched technologies that are ultimately going away

We’re The Market Leader: The only vendor with top-tier carrier deployments of infrastructure for centralized technology hosting at scale “Rated #1 in Reliability” - PELORUS Group Study, “Carrier Class Contact Center Applications” “I highly recommend Telephony@Work’s Call. Center@nywhere. ” - Mike Trotter, Center For Customer Driven Quality, Purdue University “Telephony@Work has built a carrier-class architecture. Its self-healing capabilities are unique in the industry. ” - GIGA Information Group, Ideabyte Report, 2001

Industry Awards 2002 • 15 Product of the Year Awards • 14 Best of Show Awards • 5 Editors Choice & Technology Innovation Awards

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