Customer Interaction Solutions articles from March 2005

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from March 2005

The new paradigm for market dominance: for VoIP technology, teleservices & CRM ...(Publisher's Outlook)(Lisa Slader)(Steve Brubaker)(Interview)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... Introduction As I indicated in my January 2005 editorial, the contact center/CRM industries are positioned for tremendous growth in 2005 and beyond. Barring unforeseen developments, we firmly believe that this will be the case. By the time...

A desperately needed term.(forecast of communications)(Column)
March 1, 2005... With all of the progress we've made in the last two decades with respect to communications, including telecom deregulation, the fax machine, cellular phones, e-mail, chat and WiFi, it's ironic that communications are essentially more...

CEO Spotlight.(Chuck Ciarlo of Left Bank Solutions Inc.)(Interview)
March 1, 2005... This month, the CEO Spotlight is on Chuck Ciarlo, CEO of Left Bank Solutions, Inc. (www.leftbanksolutions.com). Chuck Ciarlo CEO Left Bank Solutions, Inc. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CIS: What is your company's specialty and...

The TMC Seal of Approval.(2005 Recommended Vendor List)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The following Recommended Vendors have distinguished themselves by winning one or more of TMC's coveted awards, earning them the TMC Seal of Approval. Teleservices Outsourcing West Corporation InfoCision Management Corporation ...

NETtime: no use for anachronous time card processes.(new human resource management software from Time America Inc.)
March 1, 2005... Do you remember your first summer job as a teenager, wherein you had to "punch the clock" four times a day by sliding the paper time card into that large machine attached to the wall? When you slid the card in, the machine made that same loud...

MicroStrategy offers new business intelligence technology.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... MicroStrategy Incorporated, a provider of business intelligence software, has announced the release of MicroStrategy 8, a new business intelligence technology that integrates enterprise reporting, analysis and continuous performance monitoring...

Castle CRM offers Executive Dashboard Solution based on SalesLogix Enterprise.(customer relationship management)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Castle CRM, a customer relationship management (CRM) consulting and application development company, has released a new services solution for building executive dashboards via Best Software's SalesLogix Enterprise Suite. [ILLUSTRATION...

Quaero, NetReflector partner, optimize marketing through customer satisfaction measurement.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Quaero--a provider of marketing consulting services, marketing automation, turnkey solutions and CRM outsourcing--and NetReflector--a provider of online survey technology and best practices consulting and methodology--have announced a strategic...

Acxiom announces consumer segmentation solution for marketers.(Personicx International)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Acxiom Corporation, a provider of customer and information management solutions, has announced the introduction of an enhanced consumer segmentation solution that can allow marketers to grow their business through a better understanding of...

Amdocs announces customer Mgt portfolio v6, consulting services, SAS alliance.(new customer relationship management software and Amdocs Consulting Services)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Amdocs a provider of software and services for enabling integrated customer management and the customer experience, has launched Amdocs 6, a pre-integrated portfolio of modular billing, CRM, self-service, order management, mediation and content...

InStranet announces v5.0 of Contact Centers In-Line.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... InStranet, Inc., a provider of multiple-channel knowledge applications, has announced the release of Contact Centers In-Line (CCIL) 5.0. The new release of this application is intended to ensure automated delivery of profile-based sustainable...

RightAnswers offers new add-on multimedia/automated solutions.(Show-IT, Automate-IT)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... RightAnswers, LLC a knowledge solution provider in the technical support knowledge base market, has announced two new solution types to help provide its customers with turnkey knowledge-enabled support and enhanced self-service capabilities....

Dictaphone launches new ContactPoint software release.(ContactPoint Workforce Relationship Management )
March 1, 2005... Dictaphone Corporation's Communications Recording Systems (CRS) group, a provider of recording and monitoring systems for contact centers and workforce relationship management solutions, has announced significant feature enhancements to its...

Symon announces Community v2.8 as advanced scheduling, forecasting solution.(Symon Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Symon Communications, Inc., a provider of contact center and enterprise performance, workforce management, productivity and management solutions, has announced Symon Community 2.8. This, the newest version of the company's browser-based...

FrontRange offers HEAT 8.3 to improve IT, support organizations.(FrontRange Solutions Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... FrontRange Solutions has announced HEAT 8.3, the latest version of the Service Management solution. Version 8.3 is intended to allow customers to provide greater stand-alone service management and to also easily integrate with modules from...

Colligo introduces upgrade to enable instant network creation anywhere.(Colligo Networks Inc., Colligo Workgroup Edition 4.0)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Colligo Networks, Inc. a developer of "instant net-working" software, has launched Colligo Workgroup Edition 4.0 to build on the core feature set of Workgroup Edition 3.3. The flagship product is aimed at solving nomadic workgroup...

Performix introduces Performance Management Portal.(Performix Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Performix Technologies Corporation has introduced Performix PMP (Performance Management Portal). Performix PMP offers secure, centralized access to individual employee performance data and analysis, and provides tools and methodologies to...

Kinetix Wireless unveils v1.8 of MBLink IRM console for mobile workforce.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Kinetix Wireless, an enterprise mobile infrastructure vendor, has unveiled its 1.8 release for MBLink IRM console. Offering new features, release 1.8 is the cornerstone of the upcoming MBLink platform 2.0, a next-generation of integrated...

Synchronica announces push extension to SyncML Gateway.(Web-Based Customer Service)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Synchronica, a provider of SyncML synchronization and device management solutions for mobile operators, has announced it has extended its SyncML Gateway with SyncML PUSH support, instantly delivering new e-mail and changed calendar items to the...

EADS TELECOM offers integrated audio/Web conferencing system.(EADS TELECOM North America Inc., Integrated Conference Manager)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... EADS TELECOM, a provider of enterprise telephony solutions, has introduced Integrated Conference Manager (ICM), a secure, integrated audio and Web conferencing system that can help enterprises improve business processes and communications while...

APEX announces new conferencing module for multiple-services platform.(Apex Voice Communications Inc., OmniVox AES)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... APEX Voice Communications, a supplier of multiple-services platforms for enhanced services and real-time billing solutions, has announced the addition of Business/Multiparty Conferencing to OmniVox AES, its latest multiservices platform for...

Smartner upgrades mobile e-mail solution.(Always-On Mail Enterprise Edition 5.0, Smartner Information Systems Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Smartner Information Systems Ltd., a desktop-mobilization solutions provider, has announced an upgrade of its Always-On Mail Enterprise Edition that enables IT managers to centrally control and maintain global user networks. The new...

GWI Software announces helpdesk support solution for IBM Lotus Notes/Domino.(Web-Based Customer Service)
March 1, 2005... GWI Software has announced the availability of c.Support 2005 for IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, a complete help desk support solution built for the Lotus Notes/Domino platform and the Web. c.Support 2005 allows support organizations to coordinate,...

WebEx launches third generation of MediaTone platform.(WebEx Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... WebEx Communications, Inc., a provider of on-demand Web meeting applications, has launched the third generation of the MediaTone network platform, the underlying Web communications platform that powers all WebEx meeting applications. The...

Spanlink introduces v2.1 of IP communications management products.(Spanlink Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Spanlink Communications, an IP communications and contact center solution provider, has introduced version 2.1 of its CentralControl IP communications management software products. The software products are designed to simplify the...

Unisys launches open platform for generating personalized communications services.(Ensemble OXP)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Unisys, a provider of messaging and value-added services, has launched an open communications platform to help service providers drive value from revenue-generating personalized services. The new platform, Ensemble OXP, is a fully open,...

Angel.com announces Virtual Call Center, combines ACD/speech recognition.(Virtual Call Center)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Angel.com a provider of Web-based, advanced telephony solutions and a division of MicroStrategy Inc., has announced the launch and general availability of Virtual Call Center, a new hosted call center management solution that combines the call...

Proficient solution to achieve large business benefits for smaller business.(new ProficientExpress from Proficient Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Proficient Systems, Inc., a provider of enterprise software for increasing revenue and sales productivity, has announced ProficientExpress, a smaller-scaled and hosted version of the enterprise-class ProficientSales Server 4.0. The new version...

CRM Express equips business Web sites with 24/7 online customer support.(customer relationship management, 24/7 Media Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Help Desk Technology Corporation, a developer and marketer of help desk software, has announced its Web-based subscription service, CRM Express, can now equip small businesses' Web sites with 24/7 online customer service capabilities. The...

Gold Systems announces Vonetix Document Plug-in with SOAP ability for Avaya.(Vonetix Document Plug-in 2.1, simple object access protocol)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Gold Systems, a developer of customer-focused, voice-powered software solutions, has announced Vonetix Document Plug-in 2.1 with SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) capability for the Avaya platform. Vonetix provides companies with a single...

Smart Telecom launches ACD application for small centers.(automatic call distributor)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Smart Telecom, a developer of automation tools for contact centers and help desks, has launched a new automatic call distributor (ACD) performance reporting solution built specifically for smaller contact centers and help desks of between five...

Genesys, Microsoft deliver combined solution to fuse instant messaging, telephony.(Telephone Systems & Software)
March 1, 2005... Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel company, and Microsoft Corp. have introduced a new, combined solution to deliver converged enterprise communication services on existing and next-generation infrastructures. As part of a...

BeVocal unveils new voice solution.(The ARC Approach)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... BeVocal, a provider of managed call automation solutions to enterprises and service providers, has unveiled The ARC Approach, a voice solution delivery model intended to ensure that clients systematically achieve their desired customer care...

Apptera introduces v-Business solutions for the enterprise.(Speech)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Apptera has announced the introduction of its v-Business Solutions for the worldwide enterprise market. A new voice solutions approach for delivering a personalized, tailored caller experience, v-Business combines elements of the Internet with...

LumenVox announces v5.5 of three speech tools.(Speech Driven Information System, LV Speech Tuner, Speech Recognition Engine)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... LumenVox has announced version 5.5 of its Speech Recognition Engine (SRE), LV Speech Tuner and Speech Driven Information System (SDIS). The latest version of the SRE offers improved performance, with the introduction of lattice-based confidence...

Edify announces speech application for consumer electronics centers.(Speech)
March 1, 2005... Edify Corporation has announced a new speech application for the consumer electronics industry that uses natural language speech rather than repetitive touch-tone-based menus. Consumer electronics companies often have high call center costs due...

Verint announces ULTRA analytics to optimize customer-focused operations.(Verint Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Verint Systems Inc., a provider of analytic software-based solutions for communications interception, networked video security and business intelligence, has announced a new analytics suite, ULTRA Analytics, for its ULTRA solution. ULTRA...

Concerto announces availability of two Enterprise Suite components.(Concerto Software Inc., FirstPoint Enterprise 10.0, Conversations 6.0)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Concerto Software, a provider of contact center solutions has announced that FirstPoint Enterprise 10.0 and Conversations 6.0, two key components of the Concerto Enterprise Suite, became generally available in December 2004. Designed for...

Teleservices firm raises money for SE Asia tsunami victims.(Southeast Asia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Synergy Solutions, an inbound and outbound teleservices firm located in Phoenix, within a few days after the disaster launched an aggressive fund raising campaign within the company for victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. The team called...

Witness Systems completes acquisition of blue pumpkin.(Happenings)
March 1, 2005... Witness Systems, a provider of performance optimization software and services, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc., a provider of enterprise workforce management solutions. The total purchase price of...

Quaero, BSCol partner for customer management strategy development and execution.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Quaero, a provider of customer marketing solutions, has announced a joint marketing and service agreement with Balanced Scorecard Collaborative (BSCol), a provider of corporate strategy and development. The two companies' joining is based...

LiveTime Service Desk applications now available for Novell NetWare 6.5.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... LiveTime Software, developer of J2EE Service Desk applications, has announced that LiveTime Support and LiveTime Help Desk have been Novell "YES CERTIFIED" on Novell NetWare 6.5. NetWare users will now be able to deploy and run the scalable...

VenturCom changes name, relocates global headquarters.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... VenturCom, a designer and developer of software solutions that enhance the control dependability and management of Windows operating systems, has announced it has changed the company name to Ardence and will market its flag-ship...

VoiceLog offers seven years' of free recorder storage.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... VoiceLog LLC, a provider of on-demand call recording and monitoring, has announced that all VirtualLogger clients will receive seven years' of free RecordingWarehouse service. RecordingWarehouse from VoiceLog provides secure, extended online,...

EADS adds NexWave, Connect-tek to Certified Partner program.(Nextwave Technologies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... EADS TELECOM, a provider of IP telephony and contact center solutions, has announced that NexWave Technologies, a provider of IP telephony, networking and contact center solutions, is the newest company to join its Certified Partner program....

Cincom, VentureForward form knowledge partnership.(Happenings)(VentureForward LLC)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cincom Systems, Inc., a data access and integration/process automation/manufacturing solutions provider, and VentureForward, LLC, a knowledge management/engineering systems provider, have formed a partnership to combine Cincom's enterprise...

Nuance, Angel.com team to deliver voice automation to SMBs.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Nuance, a provider of voice automation solutions, and Angel.com, a provider of Web-based, advanced telephony solutions, have announced a strategic relationship to bring voice automation solutions to the small to medium-sized business (SMB)...

Oracle, Convergys announce joint solution for Genesis.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Oracle, an enterprise software provider, and Convergys, an integrated billing, employee care and customer care services provider, have announced they are supplying an advanced business support systems solution to Genesis Communications, an...

Loquendo, Oration sign VAR agreement.(Happenings)(Oration SA)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Loquendo, a global speech technology company, has announced it has entered into an agreement with Oration SA, a Greek speech solutions provider, establishing the latter as a value added reseller for Loquendo's telephony and multimedia Text To...

Edify Voice Banking receives Microsoft SALT verification.(Happenings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Edify Corporation, a voice and speech software provider, has announced that its Edify Voice Banking application received formal SALT certification from Microsoft Corporation. The application is a comprehensive, packaged speech solution. A...

Comdial, Tech Data U.S. establish distribution agreement.(Happenings)
March 1, 2005... Comdial Corporation, a provider of communications solutions for small and midsized enterprises, and Tech Data Corporation, a provider of IT products, logistics management and other value-added services, have announced their establishment of a...

CRM for the SMB market: five considerations for making a smart decision; Formerly reserved for the largest of enterprises, CRM has become a practical solution for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to boost sales and optimize performance by really managing--and improving--the entire customer relationship.(CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)
March 1, 2005... Scanning recent trade magazine articles will show that vendors have realized that SMBs represent an under-tapped market and are targeting offerings to meet the specific needs of this segment. To do so, they are lowering prices and, therefore,...

Customer Inter@ction Solutions[R] magazine's twentieth annual Top 50 outbound Teleservices Agencies Ranking.(OUTSOURCING)
March 1, 2005... This is the twentieth year Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine brings you its "Top 50" Teleservices Agencies Ranking. In this issue, we're presenting the "Top 50" outbound portion of the ranking. (The inbound portion of the ranking will be...

Extending in-house call capacity with home agents.(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE TELESERVICES EXPERTS)
March 1, 2005... Companies in different industries experience temporary spikes in call volume at different times and for different lengths of time. For some, these spikes typically come during the holidays, lasting for several days or weeks, while others may...

A wallflower's perks: selling the work-from-home concept to attain higher-quality agents.(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE TELESERVICES EXPERTS)
March 1, 2005... For companies potentially considering home-based call center agents, there are some convenience and lifestyle selling points these companies should think about in order to persuade high-quality agents who are skeptical to become virtual call...

Customers love online interaction.(CONTACT CENTER TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2005... Walk into any retail store or financial institution and you will typically hear, "May I help you?" at some point shortly after you arrive. As consumers, we expect to be approached, even if we know what we want and are only running into the...

Saving speech recognition.(CONTACT CENTER TECHNOLOGY)
March 1, 2005... Consider the following scenario: Jack, a customer of a large financial services organization, forgets to pay his credit card bill on time. He knows he can pay it over the phone and avoid a late fee, so he calls customer service and is routed...

IP contact center technology pioneer award.(information technology services industry)(Internet protocol)
March 1, 2005... As anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past several years knows, Internet protocol (IP) has acted as a "super fertilizer" for the garden that is enterprise business communications. Perhaps one of the hottest growth areas for IP is...

IP contact center technology: what you need to know (Part II); Multisite contact center technology centralization: eliminating the risks.(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE NEXT-GEN CONTACT CENTER EXPERTS)
March 1, 2005... Last month, we focused on how multisite organizations can leverage IP contact center technology to maximize productivity through more efficient routing while dramatically reducing technology operating costs and increasing the overall quality of...

The call center uncentered.(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE NEXT-GEN CONTACT CENTER EXPERTS)(Editorial)
March 1, 2005... In the contact center industry, we're used to old terminology falling by the wayside to make room for new terminology. We're a technology-driven industry, and technology is subject to change at a pace that is only exceeded by that of the...

One in five customers bypass the human touch as poor service drives self-service calls.(SPEECH-WORLD[TM])(market research)
March 1, 2005... Growing customer dissatisfaction with contact center service levels is boosting the use of interactive voice response (IVR) as 20 percent of customers opt for self-service channels over agent-handled calls, reveals a new report from IT...

The Great Gatsby.(SPEECH-WORLD[TM])(quotations of F. Scott Fitzgerald)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
March 1, 2005... Speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again. --F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), from The Great Gatsby

LumenVox and Vocalocity announce solution availability.(SPEECH-WORLD[TM])(marketing agreements)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... LumenVox, a developer of speech recognition technologies, and Vocalocity, a provider of standards-enabling software components and tools, announced a co-marketing initiative and the general availability of their integrated product solution....

Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) version 1.0.(Definition Du Jour)(standards of World Wide Web Consortium)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... PLS is a developing standard of the W3C to cover recognition and synthesis of words with which the system is not familiar and the "default" lexicon cannot cope (for instance, in uncommon names or proper nouns). It helps the text-to-speech...

Half the equation: open standards are a first step toward speech automation.(SPEECH-WORLD[TM])
March 1, 2005... Today, well-engineered speech recognition systems achieve high customer satisfaction and high returns on investment in many customer service areas, including stock trading, flight information, catalog ordering and directory assistance. Although...

IVRs gone wild.(Last Call)(Interactive Voice Response systems)
March 1, 2005... I have nothing against IVRs. Most of the time, they're helpful. I appreciate that companies use them to offload common questions and encourage people to find their own answers. It's the IVRs that seem to acquire a personality of their own,...