Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog - Contact Center Archives tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2011-06-15:/blog/greg-galitzine//6 2009-04-07T15:13:36Z VoIP and IMS News and Views Upcoming Webinars Designed to Save You $$$ tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.40459 2009-04-07T15:10:15Z 2009-04-07T15:13:36Z I am privileged to work with a great team at TMC.  One of the things our team does exceptionally well is organize webinars, and I saw two upcoming events to which I wanted to draw your attention. First on Thursday, April... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ I am privileged to work with a great team at TMC.
 
One of the things our team does exceptionally well is organize webinars, and I saw two upcoming events to which I wanted to draw your attention.
 
First on Thursday, April 23rd at 10am PT/1pm ET UTOPY is presenting a real-world case study that will highlight the successful deployment of their speech analytics solution with E-LOAN.
 
In fact, Michael Miller, VP Customer Care, E-LOAN will be presenting his real life experiences, so it's an opportunity to hear firsthand how that firm has seen a 41% improvement in sales conversion and a $2M increase in incremental revenue annually by deploying UTOPY's speech analytics solution.
 
Register now for this interactive and informative session!
 
 
And then on the 28th of April, Tuvox will be presenting a webinar titled 5 Ways To Stop The Flow Of Money Out Of Your Contact Center. In this economy, you just can't miss the chance to get this type of expert advice when it comes to saving money!
 
The webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 28th at 2:00p ET/11:00a PT, and there is no charge for this event.
 
For registration information, please visit http://www.tuvox.com/webcast9/
 
If you are responsible for customer service or customer care, you need to attend these events to see how you might be saving money.
 
]]> Mitel Meeting Notes tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.40319 2009-03-31T02:35:51Z 2009-03-31T02:41:13Z I visited with Mitel today, and they showed me several solutions designed to drive productivity, enhance customer service, and simplify network management. Thanks go to Stephen Beamish, vice president of business development and strategic alliances and Danielle McNeil, public relations... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ I visited with Mitel today, and they showed me several solutions designed to drive productivity, enhance customer service, and simplify network management. Thanks go to Stephen Beamish, vice president of business development and strategic alliances and Danielle McNeil, public relations manager for spending the time with me to discuss the new solutions.
 
First we discussed the Mitel Business Dashboard, a management portal designed to allow enterprise and contact center management to monitor call activity and collect trend data on call volumes and times.
 
Mitel Business Dashboard.jpg.png
 
The intelligent call tracking solution is available on the Mitel 500 Communication Platform.
 
In addition to the Business Dashboard, I also received a firsthand look at Mitel's latest desktop IP Phone, the 5360.
 
The 5360 color phone with Web capabilities designed to deliver a whole series of HTML-based applications. The phone boasts a 7-inch touch-screen display, which grants access to the applications. The device also features wideband audio, embedded gigabit Ethernet, and a built-in HTML toolkit for application development.
 
And lastly, while not exactly telling me what the surprise would be, Beamish told me of an upcoming Mitel promotion scheduled for April 16th. Under the banner "One Connection - No Limits: Where You Are Should Not Dictate Where You Work," Mitel has created a Web page which apparently has received over 1,500 signups in the short time it has been public. For more on this upcoming news, visit http://pages.mitel-news.com/april16
 
It's clearly a mobile solutions play, but I'm curious to hear more on this.
 
 
]]> Dimension Data Drives Productivity, Cost Savings tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.40318 2009-03-31T02:10:33Z 2009-03-31T02:13:34Z Down at the VoiceCon show in Orlando today I had the opportunity to meet with Mark Zerbe of Dimension Data. Zerbe is vice president, Converged Communications at the IT services and solutions provider. Our discussion ranged to include a series of... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Down at the VoiceCon show in Orlando today I had the opportunity to meet with Mark Zerbe of Dimension Data. Zerbe is vice president, Converged Communications at the IT services and solutions provider.
 
Our discussion ranged to include a series of topics, but the key message that Zerbe spoke to was the fact that clients today want to talk about solutions that drive productivity and cut costs.
 
Zerbe told me that he believes that integrated collaboration is the technology wave for clients to ride this economic transition, in fact, he said, "IC may turn out to be the wave that helps pull us out of this 'transition.'"
 
I asked him to explain why it seems that video collaboration solutions seem to have taken off recently, to which he responded:
 
"Cisco Telepresence + Microsoft OCS + slow economy are combining to drive the market to adopt integrated video solutions."
 
The proof of course is in what the customers think:
 
The confluence of these technologies is helping to transform organizations, and customers are saying that these solutions are driving productivity and saving them money.]]> ITEXPO Award Confusion tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.39506 2009-02-09T20:01:27Z 2009-02-09T20:04:31Z At ITEXPO, the editorial team was tasked with many assignments, but perhaps the most gratifying of all the items that appears on our collective "to-do" list is rewarding deserving companies with the best of show awards. One particular award seems to... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ At ITEXPO, the editorial team was tasked with many assignments, but perhaps the most gratifying of all the items that appears on our collective "to-do" list is rewarding deserving companies with the best of show awards.
 
One particular award seems to have raised a bit of a "stink" in the blogosphere.
 
At the most recent ITEXPO, Interactive Intelligence was awarded a best of show award in the SMB category, which on the surface may seem like an odd thing to do, considering the company's Enterprise Interaction Center solution is geared to companies that employ at a minimum 100 people.
 
There is no question that the solution deserves praise and in fact Interactive Intelligence has received much acclaim for their products over the years.
 
Perhaps, the issue at hand is really one of proper designation.
 
While small and medium business, or SMB, generally implies companies on the smaller end of the spectrum, we often tend to forget the "M" or mid-size group of businesses.
 
Most accepted definitions of SMB center around the following breakdown:
·         0-10 employees = SOHO
·         10-50 employees = Small business
·         50-250 employees = Medium business
·         250 and up = large enterprise.
 
Depending on revenues, some analysts extend the medium sized group out to 500 employees.
 
So it's clear that Interactive Intelligence serves the M in SMB with their EIC product.
 
On the application that Interactive Intelligence submitted for best of show as well as on their Web site, the company claims their solution offers support for:
 
...100 to 15,000 users with a single all-software, SIP-based IP PBX application suite that easily integrates with your existing business applications.
 
They also claim:
 
The all-in-one EIC platform is built to give your mid-sized business a total IP PBX solution for multi-channel communications, business processes, contact center operations, and optimum performance from your employees, all to offer superior service for your customers.
 
Still, with the growing acceptance (rightly or wrongly) of SMB being defined with a focus on the small, I can understand the confusion associated with awarding a vendor that primarily serves large enterprise and contact center customers with a plaque reading SMB. However until such time as we come up with a category that specifically addresses the M in SMB, this label will have to apply.
 
The reaction simply underscores the importance of the various TMC award programs and the fact that people do ascribe value to being named an award winner. 
Congratulations again to all the award winners and I look forward to seeing you all in Los Angeles, CA from October 27-29 when we once again will award the best of show awards, at the next ITEXPO.
]]> TMC Blogs: The Week in Review tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.39231 2009-01-23T16:51:00Z 2009-01-23T16:52:54Z What was the big story this week? No doubt it was the inauguration of Barack Obama, as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to hold that post. Truly a historic day for our nation: a... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ What was the big story this week? No doubt it was the inauguration of Barack Obama, as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to hold that post. Truly a historic day for our nation: a day when many people put politics aside to welcome our newest leader to his job, and judging by the crowds in Washington, D.C. this past Tuesday it was quite a welcome indeed.
 
Rich is excited. Not so much from any overtly political stance, but he's psyched that the Obama Administration appears to be well versed in technology and will likely raise the tech-level of the White House and the U.S. government in general to new heights.
 
In his recent post, Tech Change is Here, Rich notes that technology is not just a "nice to have" but a necessity that drives an organization's ability to compete.
 
Of course, with ITEXPO just 9 days away, Rich has been hard at work writing about some of the big elements of the show that will take place Feb 2-4, in Miami Beach, FL.
 
Among many other things, Rich blogged about the open source educational opportunities (Asterisk Training Details; Asterisk, Trixbox, and Switchvox Training), and the temperature differential, and he also posted an entry highlighting the series of interviews he conducted with the thought leaders who will be participating at the event (Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO).
 
Back on the political thread... Tom posted his thoughts regarding the reported $40 Billion Broadband stimulus that the Obama Administration was proposing: President-Elect Barack Obama's $40 billion Handout Bailout to Internet Providers
 
While that was technically last week, this week saw a tremendous amount of activity in the comments section of his blog. There was some really interesting back and forth, and if you have any thoughts on our government spending $40 Billion on broadband, it's worth a look.
 
Peter Radizeski weighs in with details on the Broadband Stimulus Bill.
 
Tom also was busy doing what he does best, and that's writing about and reviewing gadgets, such as the Verizon Hub (a Web browsing, VoIP phone gadget...), the TechCrunch Touchpad, the AT&T tl7610 headset, and the HTC Touch Cruise.
 
Tony Rybczynski opened the week with a simple message: Nortel is Open for Business, underscoring the message that "Nortel plans to emerge more focused, financially sound and competitive."
 
On his SIP and Serve by a Foodie blog, Broadvox' David Byrd spoke of developments at his firm and some partnerships they announced this week ahead of their participation at ITEXPO.
 
In today's installment, Byrd also discusses the latest adventures of IP Man:
 
This week we announced interoperability with Panasonic's new NCP IP PBX and we released the new IP MAN Adventure featuring AudioCodes, episode 5. The new villainess, Echo, is scheduled for launch during the week of IT Expo. It's a fun story with an exciting storyline featuring Panasonic. Like the duck paddling on a pond, our calm exterior hides the furious effort below the water line.
 
In what's fast becoming one of my favorite features in the TMCnet blogosphere, every Monday, Byrd dishes on what he's been up to in the kitchen over the preceding weekend, in addition to providing insightful commentary on what's happening in the market. This week it was beef short ribs. Yummy.
 
Over in the Convergence Corner, Erik Linask discussed the significance of Interactive Intelligence integrating with IBM for enterprise-wide unified communications.
 
Brendan Read offered a Readerboard post on Genesys' double acquisition; Jessica Kostek covered Apple's first quarter financials as well as the "Fall of Kennedy" -- her take on Caroline Kennedy's withdrawal from consideration for the open Senate seat in NY; and Scott Bouchard vented his frustration at being unable to watch the inauguration live on CNN.
 
Hunter Newby had a pair of interesting posts this week on Skype and Internet-based VoIP Peering as well as the effects of broadband development on the economy.
 
Tsahi Levent-Levi has some great post-CES follow-up on the video solutions on display at that event, and perhaps the funniest blog post of the week, entitled The Naked Truth About Video Conferencing.
 
 
]]> Genesys Acquires Conseros, SDE tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2009:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.39211 2009-01-22T18:41:19Z 2009-01-22T18:42:40Z Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company today announced two acquisitions. The company has acquired German firm SDE Software Development Engineering GmbH ("SDE") as well as New Brunswick, Canada-based Conseros. SDE's primary product, called Genesys Customer Interaction Portal, is a Web-based thin... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company today announced two acquisitions. The company has acquired German firm SDE Software Development Engineering GmbH ("SDE") as well as New Brunswick, Canada-based Conseros.
 
SDE's primary product, called Genesys Customer Interaction Portal, is a Web-based thin client software solution designed to enable service providers deliver hosted contact center capabilities, such as self-service and agent-assisted service, to enterprise customers. The portal is a key component of Genesys' hosted contact center solution strategy.
 
Conseros provides a key business application that enables enterprises to manage and distribute high volumes of work items virtually anywhere in the enterprise.
]]> Podcast: Interactive Intelligence & Business Process Automation tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.38471 2008-11-25T20:18:35Z 2008-11-25T20:28:42Z I recently recorded a podcast with Joe Staples, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Interactive Intelligence, where we spoke about a new approach to business process automation. Ironically, what prompted this conversation was a white paper written by Interactive Intelligence... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ I recently recorded a podcast with Joe Staples, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Interactive Intelligence, where we spoke about a new approach to business process automation. Ironically, what prompted this conversation was a white paper written by Interactive Intelligence CEO Dr. Don Brown entitled -- you guessed it -- A New Approach To Business Process Automation. The white paper is available for download here.
 
Staples gives several examples of business processes and how enterprises can really benefit by leveraging some sort of process automation strategy. In his opinion, the current trends of UC and CEBP (unified communications and communications enabled business processes, respectively) are fine as far as they go, but a new approach, one he dubs CBPA or communications-based process automation takes things to another level, offering enterprises a more efficient solution to their business needs.
 
I urge you to give the podcast a listen. It may change the way you view unified communications. If nothing else, it will prompt you to ask more questions of the vendors you plan to do business with. ]]> Interactive Intelligence Announces SMS Capability for CIC tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.38446 2008-11-24T17:14:54Z 2008-11-24T17:16:14Z Brendan Read of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine covers today's news that Interactive Intelligence would be adding short message service (SMS) as an additional media type to its all-in-one multi-channel contact center software suite, Customer Interaction Center or CIC. The new SMS... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Brendan Read of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine covers today's news that Interactive Intelligence would be adding short message service (SMS) as an additional media type to its all-in-one multi-channel contact center software suite, Customer Interaction Center or CIC.
 
The new SMS features are designed to help contact centers increase customer retention and satisfaction by enabling mobile customers to use SMS to communicate with the contact center; have those SMS messages routed, recorded, and reported on, the same way as other media types; enable contact center agents to reply using SMS; and enable notifications to customers to be sent via SMS.
 
Interactive plans to release the features by the end of Q4 08
 
Check out Brendan's article here.
]]> SunPorch Picks Fonality Contact Center, Saves $100K tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.38373 2008-11-19T12:56:40Z 2008-11-19T12:57:41Z Fonality today announced a customer win with SunPorch, the Westport, CT-based manufacturer of sunroom kits. SunPorch says they have saved $100,000 by deploying Fonality's PBXtra Call Center solution. The news was announced here, and a case study detailing how SunPorch was... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Fonality today announced a customer win with SunPorch, the Westport, CT-based manufacturer of sunroom kits. SunPorch says they have saved $100,000 by deploying Fonality's PBXtra Call Center solution.
 
The news was announced here, and a case study detailing how SunPorch was able to reap the benefits of using a contact center solution built on open source can be found here.
 
 
]]> Outrageous Interactions: Public Voting Begins Today! tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.37498 2008-09-08T13:17:51Z 2008-09-08T13:18:44Z If you've been following along with the Outrageous Interactions contest, today is an important day. The panel of expert judges has selected the finalists and voting is now open to the public to decide who will win the trip to Hawaii. Voters... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ If you've been following along with the Outrageous Interactions contest, today is an important day.
 
The panel of expert judges has selected the finalists and voting is now open to the public to decide who will win the trip to Hawaii.
 
Voters are eligible to win a Garmin eTrex GPS. To vote for your favorite entry, visit www.outrageousinteractions.com.
 
Public voting closes Monday, Sept. 15 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern daylight time.
 
I must say I've checked out the list of finalists and there are some wonderful entries to choose from.
 
So click on over to Outrageous Interactions to see the finalists and vote for your chance to win!
]]> Outrageous Interactions Contest Nearing Close tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.37267 2008-08-20T18:55:01Z 2008-08-20T18:56:01Z Saw this news item about Interactive Intelligence's "Outrageous Interactions" contest and how it's nearing the deadline for submissions. It's a very entertaining concept that offers a fun look inside the contact center industry by allowing agents to share their most memorable... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Saw this news item about Interactive Intelligence's "Outrageous Interactions" contest and how it's nearing the deadline for submissions.
 
It's a very entertaining concept that offers a fun look inside the contact center industry by allowing agents to share their most memorable customer interactions.
 
"Everyone hears about the consumer side of an interaction gone bad," says Joe Staples, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Interactive Intelligence and the creative brain behind the contest. "We thought it would be appropriate to turn the tables and take a look at what experiences the contact center agents have had. And after seeing some of the entries, the word outrageous is a good descriptor."
 
The contest has been promoted for some time now. In fact, in his Ask the Expert column in Customer Interaction Solutions' July issue, Tim Passios, Interactive Intelligence's Director of Solutions Marketing, offered this example of a unique and memorable agent experience:
 
I'm a manager for a help desk. One day my agent received a call from a customer who had some concerns with her phone. However, he was unable to provide a resolution. So, the agent confirmed the caller's contact details and redirected the issue to me. Not knowing the specific issue she was having with her phone, I called the customer back. I have a feeling I should have waited.
 
When she answered the phone, she was completely bouncing of the walls. I was having some trouble calming her down. I hadn't even given her the reason I was calling or my name, but that didn't matter since she already had several names picked out for me. After about five minutes of listening to her tirade, I was about to lose it. I raised my voice telling her to calm down or I would have to hang up. All of the sudden, she said "who is this?"
 
There was a good minute of silence on her end as I explained that I was the representative calling back about her phone issue. It was so quiet in fact that I had to ask, "Are you still there?" She sheepishly replied "Yes." She proceeded to apologize profusely for her behavior and explained that she had been having the worst day.
 
Her dog was sick, she stubbed her toe, she had locked her keys in the car, and to top things off when she tried to call the locksmith her telephone started acting up. I kind of wanted to laugh, but thought better of it. Seems all she really needed was an outlet and I provided that by just listening.
 
Soon she was calm and I was able to assist her with her telephone issue. In no time flat, I had the problem resolved and she was another satisfied customer sent on her way... or so I thought.
 
A few weeks later an agent transfers a call to me. It was her! Unbeknownst to me, she had saved my number on her caller ID. She called to thank me for my patience and kindness during our call a few weeks back. Of course, I responded with "That's my job and I'm always happy to help." Then she asked me out for coffee!
 
Well, one crazy phone call, a few cups of coffee, and three years later she's my wife.
 
I can't wait to see the best entries!
 
But the deadline is fast approaching.
 
Visit www.OutrageousInteractions.com by August 31st to submit an entry. Or visit the site between September 8th and September 16th to read the short list of finalists and vote for your favorite.
]]> Aspect Strikes Bluenote tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.36745 2008-07-09T15:24:03Z 2008-07-09T15:25:58Z Aspect continues its steady march to be a major player in unified communications, particularly in the contact center space. (TMC's Rich Tehrani covered the Aspect and UC angle in an earlier post.) Today the company announced the acquisition of Tewksbury, Mass-based... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Aspect continues its steady march to be a major player in unified communications, particularly in the contact center space. (TMC's Rich Tehrani covered the Aspect and UC angle in an earlier post.)
 
Today the company announced the acquisition of Tewksbury, Mass-based BlueNote Networks.
 
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
 
Leveraging BlueNote's technology, Aspect customers will now be able to extend SIP-based voice, video and other real-time interactive communication services to enterprise users as an integral part of a service oriented architecture (SOA).
 
According to the release announcing the acquisition:
 
By combining the features of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) with Web services, organizations will be able to drive innovation in the contact center and across the enterprise while radically lowering the cost and complexity of their voice, video and data services. Specifically, Aspect customers and prospects will now be able to:
 
·        Quickly and easily incorporate SIP-based interactive multichannel communications into their contact centers and internal and customer-facing business processes using industry-standard interfaces and technology.
 
·        Leverage existing IT and telephony application investments and development resources to build and deploy communications-enabled business applications and lay the foundation for enabling globally-reachable communication services and integrated workflow applications.
 
Today's acquisition reminds me of another similar situation. Nearly one year ago, NEC acquired Sphere Communications, essentially for their SOA technology.
]]> Interactive Intelligence Posts Record Numbers tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2008:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.35009 2008-01-31T13:08:43Z 2008-05-09T01:41:59Z Interactive Intelligence Inc., has reported record financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2007. Revenues for the 2007 fiscal year totaled $109.9 million, up 32 percent from $83.0 million in 2006. Fourth quarter revenues were... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/ Interactive Intelligence Inc., has reported record financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2007. Revenues for the 2007 fiscal year totaled $109.9 million, up 32 percent from $83.0 million in 2006. Fourth quarter revenues were $29.3 million, a 23 percent increase from $23.9 million in the same quarter last year.
 
“Our growth was largely driven by the significant value proposition offered by our unique all-in-one communications software suite for contact centers and enterprises,” said Interactive Intelligence CEO, Dr. Donald E. Brown.
 
Among the highlights:
* Interactive Intelligence posted:
  • 32 percent annual revenue growth
  • 61 percent increase in operating income
  • Over $20 million of operating cash flow
* Interactive Intelligence added 93 new customers in the fourth quarter
* Interactive Intelligence added 325 new customers for the year.
* The company was positioned in the “Leaders Quadrant” of Gartner’s 2007 Contact Center Infrastructure report.”
 
“We believe migration to VoIP continues to fuel our company’s strong and steady growth,” Brown said.
]]> Noble Systems to Acquire Amcat tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2007:/blog/greg-galitzine//6.34111 2007-11-07T21:30:45Z 2008-05-09T01:41:59Z The consolidation in the tech space is clearly not limited to the VoIP arena. Contact center players are getting in on the fun as well. According to a Marketwire report, Noble Systems Corporatiion is set to announce that it... Greg Galitzine http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/greg-galitzine/
The consolidation in the tech space is clearly not limited to the VoIP arena.
Contact center players are getting in on the fun as well.
The combined entity will serve the whole breadth of the market from large-enterprise (Noble’s expertise) to small and medium-enterprise (Amcat’s target).
 
Check out Noble Systems Web site for more.
]]>