SIP Empowers Contact Centers to Make Better Technology Investments
1 Mar, 2009
By: Michael KropidlowskiSession initiation protocol (SIP) is a standard protocol that provides a common platform that allows computer hardware and software to easily interoperate. Standards, like SIP, are particularly valuable to contact centers because they deliver increased compatibility between components, enabling true interoperability. Because of the flexibility that SIP provides, it empowers businesses and contact centers to make better technology investments that fit into wide-ranging budgets and to avoid being locked into high-cost, inflexible proprietary technologies.
Software that is standards-based can help ensure interoperability with Unified Communication (UC) applications like presence engines, unified messaging, instant messaging, conference calling and contact center capabilities, increasing the likelihood of a more successful UC deployment. And SIP applications can enable contact centers to more easily “mix and match” equipment and applications from multiple vendors, making previous technology investments more cost-effective – important when every budget dollar is hard to come by.
Aspect has been making a number of updates to its product portfolio, including adding unified communication (UC) applications for contact centers. The UC applications utilize the capabilities of the company’s platform products - Aspect® Unified IP™ and PerformanceEdge™. Both product platforms are based on Microsoft .Net Web services and Aspect Unified IP provides session initiation protocol (SIP)-based voice over IP (VoIP) capabilities.
The six new UC applications for the contact center leverage standards-based software to target specific customer service, collections and sales business processes by bringing together a specific set of product capabilities. The UC applications just announced by Aspect include:
• Seamless Customer Service™ delivers the tools needed for comprehensive call response, including coordinated self-service/live service and integrated assistance to improve first call resolution and enhance the overall customer experience.
• Blended Interaction™ provides inbound, outbound, self service and workforce optimization capabilities.
• Streamlined Collections™ automates early-stage collections and enables expert agent engagement for a more effective delinquent account targeting strategy so contact centers can get more promises to pay faster, reduce servicing costs and write-offs, and improve collections results.
• Optimized Collections™ utilizes performance, workforce and campaign management to enhance contact and calling strategies by applying the right resources at the right times to increase right party contacts, lower staffing costs, improve collector effectiveness and collections results.
• Productive Workforce™ delivers the tools and processes to help companies optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture. By motivating agents throughout their workforce lifecycle, contact centers can service more customers with fewer agents, reduce customer interaction costs, and improve customer service, sales and collections results.
• Productive Workforce™ for Aspect® eWorkforce Management™ delivers the tools and processes to help Aspect eWorkforce Management users optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture.
UC applications leverage a software-based UC architecture, designed to help companies reduce communications silos while leveraging presence for specific customer-facing business processes. For example, Seamless Customer Service offers contact center managers comprehensive control and visibility over the customer experience as they traverse from self-service to live agent assistance, and extends the interaction to the enterprise, as necessary, with the Ask an Expert capability powered by Microsoft Unified Communications.
“These new UC applications are a powerful statement from Aspect to the market — the company is clearly committed to bringing specific capabilities for different business processes that will help companies as they adopt a unified communications strategy and bring the contact center into these initiatives,” said Blair Pleasant, president & principal analyst, COMMfusion. “By introducing the UC applications, Aspect is demonstrating its understanding of the importance of integrating UC with business processes and the ability to deliver software and services tailored to a company’s requirements.
“The UC applications were designed with a specific purpose in mind to help organizations improve particular business processes– such as customer service, sales and collections -- while at the same time reducing ongoing expenses,” said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of Strategy and Marketing, Aspect. “Because the UC applications use targeted software capabilities, they empower business users to manage and change the system dynamically and help free up IT for other projects. These offerings, coupled with Aspect’s UC Services practice, deliver a true unified communications solutions portfolio of software and services.”
