Customer Interaction Solutions articles from April 2002

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from April 2002

Inbound teleservices outsourcing enjoys explosive growth: 29.1%. (Publisher's Outlook).
April 1, 2002... Interactive Grows 152.2% Global Top 100 Grows 58% Nadji Tehrani Pre-requisite: Please read the August 2001 Publisher's Outlook, "Go Inbound Young Man..." (www.tmcnet.com/cis/0801/0801po.htm), before reading this editorial. In...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2002... Dear Editors: I wish to respond to the article by Rich Tehrani entitled, "The Brave New World Of Internet Telephony In The Contact Center" (January 2002). In this article, he praises the use of customer service reps in India, the...

Come for an education, stay for a demo, leave with a plan. (High Priority!).(preview of Communications Solutions Expo)
April 1, 2002... The economy is coming out of its slump, and now is the time to prepare for the coming up tick in business activity with the next generation of business communications. We all need to work better, faster, smarter -- and learn more about our...

Products for unfettered communications. (Technology Highlights).(Banter Relationship Modeling Engine 5.0)
April 1, 2002... RME 5.0 From Banter Understanding language is the most difficult task we undertake as humans and also one of the things that differentiates us from other life forms here on Earth (no letters please about whales, dolphins, chimpanzees or...

Blue Pumpkin unveils planner. (New Products).(Blue Pumpkin Planner)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Blue Pumpkin has introduced its new strategic planning solution, Blue Pumpkin Planner. The offering takes a strategic approach to long-term workforce and budget planning, particularly for multiskilled and multichannel contact centers. Planner...

eOn announces comprehensive IP services. (New Products).(eOn Communications' eQueue Multi-Media Contact Center Solution services)
April 1, 2002... eOn Communications Corporation, a provider of unified voice, e-mail and Web-based communications systems and software, recently introduced its Internet Protocol (IP)-based services for its eQueue Multi-Media Contact Center Solution. The eQueue...

ESI launches comprehensive workforce management software. (New Products).(Expert Solutions International's OptiWise)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Expert Solutions International has announced the launch of an enhanced version of its OptiWise workforce management and optimization software. The new version supports both contact centers and field service departments. The enhanced version of...

SYMON offers Web-based workforce management software. (New Products).(SYMON Communications' Contact Center COMMUNITY)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... SYMON Communications, Inc. has announced the release of Contact Center COMMUNITY, its 100 percent Web-based workforce management solution with an enterprisewide communications layer. COMMUNITY was designed to provide companies with the tools to...

Voice Print introduces solution for quality assurance. (New Products).(Activ! Customer Experience Suite)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Voice Print International (VPI), a provider of digital voice and data recording and interactions quality management solutions, recently introduced its Activ! complete customer experience solution. Activ! is a suite of products with flexible...

Unveil Technologies introduces the Unveil Conversation Manager. (New Products).(Unveil Conversation Manager)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Unveil Technologies, Inc. has introduced the Unveil Conversation Manager, its customer self-service and agent-assist application for enterprise and carrier contact centers. The Unveil Conversation Manager is a solution for automating expensive...

Avaya and IBM form global alliance. (Strategic Alliances).
April 1, 2002... Avaya Inc. and IBM have announced a global strategic alliance to integrate Avaya's CRM Solutions with IBM's middleware, eServer technology and c-business solutions. The agreement represents a joint commitment to pursue the worldwide CRM...

Syntellect partners with Motorola for standards-based solutions. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Syntellect Inc. has reached an agreement to license VoiceXML Browser source code version 2.0 from Motorola for incorporation within Syntellect's Vista Interactive Media Response (IMR) solution. Vista IMR is a software-only solution designed to...

Pipkins partners with Iontas Ltd. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Pipkins, Inc., a supplier workforce management solutions, has announced a partnership with Iontas, Ltd., developers of people and enterprise management software solutions. The partnership will allow both companies to provide Iontas' call center...

Qwiz partners with the Computer Pyschologist. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Qwiz, Inc., a provider of online competency assessments solutions, has announced the addition of more than 90 information technology tests to its Qwiz Online platform. These assessments cover topics such as Visual Basic 6.0 Programming, Java2...

Tele-Monitor enters agreement with e^deltacom. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Tele-Monitor, a provider of customer relationship management assessment services, has entered into an agreement to provide customer satisfaction and implication survey services to e^deltacom, a division of ITC^DELTACOM. Established in 1989,...

InfoSpace te integrate VoiceGenie VoiceXML Gateway. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... InfoSpace, Inc., a provider of wireless and Internet software and application services, has forged an agreement with VoiceGenie Technologies Inc., a provider of VoiceXML gateway solutions, to integrate VoiceGenie's VoiceXML Gateway into...

Cliffstone announces AutoSeat; PRISM version 2.7. (New Products).(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Cliffstone Corporation (formerly CallCenter Technology) has recently introduced AutoSeat, the company's solution for automating agent seat assignments based on schedules imported from workforce management systems. Cliffstone also announced the...

Noble Systems releases new module. (New Products).(ATOMS DCM 4.1)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Noble Systems Corporation, a provider of contact automation technology, announced the latest release of its Dynamic Center Manager (ATOMS DCM) module for the ATOMS contact center technology solution suite. ATOMS DCM version 4.1 was designed to...

Interactive Intelligence announces new version of e-FAQ. (New Products).(e-FAQ 2.2)
April 1, 2002... Interactive Intelligence recently released e-FAQ 2.2, the company's latest version of its e-mail and Web auto response product. e-FAQ 2.2 offers a new workflow feature and other enhancements for increased agent productivity, improved customer...

Wheelhouse introduces CRM Director. (New Products).(Wheelhouse CRM Director)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Wheelhouse Corp. has announced the release of Wheelhouse CRM Director, software designed to provide a way for Fortune 1000 companies to unify disparate systems through the intelligent coordination of enterprisewide CRM data. Wheelhouse CRM...

E-Z Data and MarketSoft partner. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... MarkerSoft Corp. and E-Z Data have joined forces to capture sales leads for financial services companies, route them to the right agents/advisors, track and manage them through closure and continuously measure marketing effectiveness....

SafeHarbor joins with IBM. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... SafeHarbor Technology Corporation, a provider of Web-based customer support services, has partnered with IBM to provide Web self-service support for IBM customers. Together. the two companies will provide a total support solution, with...

Knowlagent and SmartForce team. (Strategic Alliances).
April 1, 2002... Knowlagent has announced it will partner with SmartForce to provide a seamless integration of the two companies' product families for contact centers. The partnership was forged to offer clients the breadth and depth of content, technology and...

EasyRun teams with Telrad Tenecs. (Strategic Alliances).
April 1, 2002... In a joint venture, EasyRun Inc. has paired with Telrad Tenecs to establish interoperability between EPICCenter and Telrad's unite operating platforms. The EPICCenter is a comprehensive and robust solution for small to medium-sized contact...

Integrated Voice Resources signs reseller agreement with Interactive Intelligence. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Integrated Voice Resources, LLC, an integrator of contact center services and VoIP, has signed a premier partner reseller agreement with Interactive Intelligence Inc., allowing IVR to market, sell and support Interactive Intelligence's...

PostNexus introduces pMail. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... PostNexus, Inc., a provider of e-to-post business communications solutions, has announced the commercial availability of pMail, a solution designed to enable businesses to use existing applications to send personalized, digital documents as...

Avaya introduces Proactive Contact Management Solutions. (New Products).(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Avaya Inc. has introduced two new solutions in its Avaya Proactive Contact Management Solutions portfolio for customer relationship management (CRM). The solutions were designed to help companies increase sales and improve customer retention...

Oracle expands contract management suite. (New Products).(Oracle E-Business Suite)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Oracle Corp. recently expanded its contract management software suite with new applications for sales contracts and contracts intelligence. Oracle Contracts, a major component of the Oracle E-Business Suite, is a family of applications that...

eGain offers eGain Assistant version 5.0. (New Products).(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... eGain Communications Corporation, a provider of e-service software, has released eGain Assistant 5.0, its advanced conversational agent designed to help Web site visitors solve a problem, find what they're looking for or complete an online...

Interact Commerce and Vineyardsoft partner. (Strategic Alliances).
April 1, 2002... Interact Commerce Corporation, a provider of contact management solutions, and Vineyardsoft Corporation, makers of e-business alert messaging software, have announced an OEM partnership that embeds the KnowledgeSync Alert Messaging solution...

Nextel and IBM announce strategic alliance. (Strategic Alliances).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Nextel Communications, Inc. and IBM have announced a strategic alliance covering the development, marketing and deployment of mobile e-business solutions to enterprise customers in the U.S., as well as an eight-year, $1.2 billion CRM...

Comverse Infosys changes name to Verint Systems Inc. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Comverse Infosys, Inc., a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. and a provider of analytic software solutions for communications interception, digital video security and surveillance, and enterprise business intelligence, has announced it has...

Witness Systems introduces Express. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... www.witness.com/770-754-1900 Witness Systems recently announced the availability of its new mid-market offering, Express, which bundles together software, hardware, training and remote implementation to provide a more targeted,...

Study identities link between employee and customer satisfaction. (New Products).
April 1, 2002... The Radclyffe Group, LLC, a performance improvement consulting firm for the contact center industry, has released an industry study entitled, "The True Pace of Business: How Employee Satisfaction and Contact Center Culture Impact the Bottom...

Rockliffe announces MailSite SP-c version 5. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Rockliffe, Inc., a developer of e-mail and messaging infrastructure software for setvice providers and corporations, has announced the release of MailSite SP-c version 5 for service providers. Rockliffe MailSite SP-c offers new features such as...

Roundarch expands capabilities. (New Products).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Roundarch, a CRM services provider, has announced it has expanded its Enabling Technology Platform (ETP) to embrace emerging integration technologies including J2EE, XML and Web Services. This open framework was engineered to allow Roundarch's...

NICE demonstrates customer idea management. (New Products).(NICE CEM)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... NICE Systems Ltd. has announced its new application for capturing and managing customers ideas throughout the enterprise The new solution was designed to enable users to route recorded calls with comments to relevant people within the...

Centergistic releases AgentView Enterprise DashView. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Cenrergisric Solutions a provider of integrated, real-time information delivery and reporting systems, has announced AgentView Enterprise Dash View and DashView Plus, providing multigraphical outputs of performance metrics for contact centers....

PhoneticOperator awarded RSA SecurID ready certification. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Phonetic Systems has announced it has joined the RSA Secured Partner Program. Phonetic Systems is a developer of large-scale, voice-enabled directories which allow the creation of business applications including directory assistance,...

Envision Telephony launches European expansion. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Envision Telephony, Inc. recently announced the company's international expansion with the opening of its Amsterdam office, The new European headquarters is expected to extend Envision's presence throughout Europe and bring its software...

RAD Data Communications names new president. (Happenings).(Oded Ilan)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... RAD Data Communications, Inc., a provider of access solutions for carriers and enterprise networks, has announced that Oded Ilan has been named president of the company. Ilan previously held the position of president of RADirect, Inc., a wholly...

CAS announces interactive Customer Care division. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... CAS Inc., a direct marketing services provider, has announced the creation of CAS Customer Care, a division that will concentrate on providing full service interactive customer care. CAS Customer Care Services will provide agent-assisted...

Protocall Communications and CTC Teleservices acquired by Call_Solutions. (Happenings).
April 1, 2002... George D. Dalton, chairman and CEO of Call_Solutions.com, Inc., has announced the acquisition of Protocall Communications, a provider of outbound business-to-business telesales for Fortune 1000 companies. Outbound applications include sales and...

Marketlink names CFO. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Steven E. Harvey has been named chief financial officer for Marketlink, Inc., a national teleservices firm. Harvey formerly served as central division controller and manager of acquisitions and mergers for Praxair Distribution.

Fused Solutions upgrades Support Management System. (New Products).(version 3.0 of its Support Management System)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Fused Solutions has announced that version 3.0 of its Support Management System is now available. FS-SMS provides Web-native help desk solutions that are suitable multitenant, multitiered and multilocation CRM applications. Features include...

Survey measures success of at-home agents. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... CallCenterCareers.com recently surveyed 504 call center professionals to determine their call centers' experiences with allowing agents to work from home. Over 30 percent indicated that allowing agents to work from home has been a successful...

Epsilon names chief operating officer. (Happenings).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The Relizon Company recently announced that Bryan Kennedy, Epsilon's chief technology officer, has been named Epsilon's new chief operating officer. Epsilon is a marketing solutions provider that was recently acquired by Relizon. In his new...

Nortel's MPS IVR platforms. (New Products).(Media Processing Server (MPS) 100 and the MPS 1000)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Drawing on its strengths in communications and showing its commitment to research and development, Nortel Networks has released two new interactive voice response (IVR) platforms, the Media Processing Server (MPS) 100 and the MPS 1000. Designed...

Cisco expands IP Contact Center solution. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Cisco Systems, Inc. has announced the expansion of the Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) solution with the introduction of the Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop. These new applications provide contact center agents and supervisors...

ServiceWare releases eService Suite 4.1. (New Products).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... ServiceWare Technologies, Inc., a provider of enterprise knowledge management solutions, recently introduced version 4.1 of its flagship offering, eService Suite, an intelligent knowledge management solution designed specifically for customer...

CRM across the enterprise: Integrating the channels. (Customer Relationship Management).
April 1, 2002... "Integrating the channels" is an infrastructure objective that demands nothing less than the re-definition of "the call" itself to include the many different ways customers can interact with a contact center. This encompasses communications...

Customer Inter@ction Solutions[R] magazine's seventeenth-annual Top 50 inbound Teleservices Agencies Ranking. (Outsourcing).
April 1, 2002... This is the seventeenth year Customer Inter@ction Solutions[R] magazine brings you its "Top 50" Teleservices Agency Ranking. In this issue, we're presenting the "Top 50" inbound portion of the ranking. (The outbound portion of the ranking was...

Help yourself, stay informed and help me. (Staff).(Express Response from Island Data)
April 1, 2002... Improving E-Mail And Web Self-Service Although e-mail has become an accepted if not preferred method of communication, it is not always an effective means of communications. For interpersonal communications, most people have an e-mail...

Guess what? e-mail isn't free. (Feature).
April 1, 2002... The world today takes e-mail for granted as instantaneous, ever available and free. This has resulted in rapidly growing volumes of e-mail communications, which are projected to reach 36 billion email messages a day by 2005, according to IDC....

Sonus unveils new hardware and software functionality. (Breaking News).(Sonus Networks GSX9000 Open Services Switch and Insignus Softwitch)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Sonus Networks, a provider of voice infrastructure solutions for the new public network, has announced enhancements to its hardware and. Software platforms with the latest versions of its GSX9000 Open Services Switch and Insignus Softwitch....

Precise advances application performance management. (Breaking News).(Precise/Pulse 3.0 from Precise Software Solutions)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Precise Software Solutions recently launched Precise/Pulse! Version 3.0, a proactive monitoring and alerting component of Precise i3, the company's solution for application performance management. Precise/Pulse! 3.0's Web-based PulseCenter...

Telera releases Voice Web Application Platform 5.0. (Breaking News).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Telera, a provider of advanced voice applications, has announced the most recent release of its platform, Voice Web Application Platform 5.0. Telera's newest release enables wireline and wireless service providers to rapidly develop innovative...

Themis Computer introduces new 2RU Telco servers. (Breaking News).(T-210 servers)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Themis Computer has announced its new T-210 servers. Two rack units high and 10 inches deep, Thernis' T-210 servers incorporate the new Sun Microsystems UltraSPARC-IIe 500 MHz processor and were designed primarily for service providers and...

Sodalia announces enhancements to NetAgree. (Breaking News).(NetAgree 2.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... Sodalia, an operations support systems (OSS) software subsidiary of Telecom Italia, has announced the release of NetAgree v. 2.0. NetAgree is Sodalia's Service Level Agreement (SLA) management platform for communications service providers...

Unified networks: Creating opportunities in the small and medium business (SMB) market. (Communications Solutions[TM]).
April 1, 2002... A typical workday at Ubizen, an e-security provider, spans 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in several time zones spread over five continents. Even with such extensive demands, Ubizen's 500 employees still enjoy fast, reliable communication between company...

E-commerce products and services roundup. (Product and Services Selection Guide).
April 1, 2002... Product Category Key A = Web callback/callthrough products B = Web-based payment and security products C = Clickstream analysis software D = Chat/instant messaging products E = Collaborative browsing/screen sharing...

The seven key performance indicators for Web-based customer support.
April 1, 2002... Your executive team has set a goal for greater customer satisfaction, and you must provide key self-support elements. But there are countless Web-based customer support choices on the marker. Most will require a significant financial investment...

TMC[TM] labs review. (TMC Labs).(PrairieFyre Contact Center Suite 3.0)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2002... prairieFyre Contact Center Suite version 3 PrairieFyre software Inc. 730-555 Legget Dr. Tower B Kanata, Ontario K2K 2X3 Ph: 613-599-0045; Fx: 613-599-7677 Web site: http://www.prairiefyre.com Price: 6110 Contact...

The Purdue page: Research highlights from Purdue University.
April 1, 2002... Ask Dr. Jon Dr. Jon Anton (also known as "Dr. Jon") is the Director of Benchmark Research at Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality. Have a Question? E-mail him at DrjonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com. Q: I am looking for what...

Small Town strategy. (RE: Locations).
April 1, 2002... Last month I talked about four strategies one could employ in choosing a new location for your call center. To refresh your memories, those were Small Town, Hub and Spoke, Urban/Inner City and Global, This month I will focus on the Small Town...