Customer Interaction Solutions articles from October 2005

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from October 2005

Online marketing comes of age! Opportunities & pitfalls: how to make the most of it.(Publisher's Outlook)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... A Word To The Wise... Don't Put All Of Your Eggs In The Same Basket--Use Integrated Marketing! Like anything else in life, there is a right way and a wrong way. In this editorial we try to give you some guidelines based on proven...

Oracle buys Siebel: what it means to the customer.(Siebel Systems Inc.)(Column)
October 1, 2005... I was initially against the merger of the two software behemoths Oracle and Siebel, and as soon as I heard about the transaction, I noted how it would be disadvantageous for customers. I even briefly wrote about the circulating acquisition...

FrontRange Solutions leads the pack in total enterprise solutions: 40 to 50 percent growth projected!(THE BOARDROOM REPORT)(Michael McCloskey)(Interview)(Company Profile)
October 1, 2005... "The Boardroom Report" provides the CRM, customer interaction and call center industry's view from the top, featuring the sector's first in-depth, exclusive CEO-to-CEO interviews with leading executives regarding industry news, analysis, trends...

CEO Spotlight.(Interview)
October 1, 2005... David Gould Chairman of the Board and CEO Witness Systems This month, CEO Spotlight speaks with David Gould, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Roswell, Georgia-based Witness Systems (www.witness.com), a provider of performance optimization...

Executive Spotlight.(Ralph Breslauer of Aspect Software Engineering Inc.)(Interview)
October 1, 2005... Ralph Breslauer Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing Aspect Software The Executive Spotlight speaks with Ralph Breslauer, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for Aspect Software. CIS: First of all, congratulations...

Siemens: Xpress yourself.(Siemens Communications Ltd., HiPath Xpressions)
October 1, 2005... Siemens Communications, Inc.'s HiPath Xpressions system supports the needs of small to large enterprise customers, single-site and multisite, offering messaging convergence that further enables a distributed or mobile work-force to better...

3Com expands Convergence Applications Suite, offers new VoIP applications.(IP Contact Center)
October 1, 2005... 3Com Corporation recently made two announcements in the contact center space. First, the company announced the expansion of its Convergence Applications Suite with the introduction of the new 3Com Internet Protocol Contact Center module. The...

Nortel expands Microsoft relationship, debuts IP multimedia solutions.(Northern Telecom Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Nortel has announced the expansion of its relationship with Microsoft through integrated technology solutions designed to help simplify the way businesses communicate worldwide. This latest initiative between the two companies was forged to...

AVTEX, Telstar Communications join forces.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... In a move that merges two providers in the call center and IP telephony realm, AVTEX, Inc. of Minneapolis has announced its acquisition of the contact center business of Telstar Communications, Inc. The combined companies will operate as AVTEX,...

Nuasis integrates with Aspect eWorkforce Management.(Aspect Software Engineering Inc., partnership)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... IP contact center company Nuasis Corporation announced the integration of its software-only, IP-based contact center system with Aspect eWorkforce Management software. This workforce management integration is consistent with Nuasis'...

OnviSource acquires Davacord.(VoiceLogger Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... OnviSource has announced its acquisition of Davacord, Inc. (formerly VoiceLogger, Inc.) in an all-cash transaction. Davacord provides converged contact center recording and quality monitoring solutions for call centers. The company's...

Sonum Technologies announces beta release of two new product lines.(Call Analytics, Machine Translation)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Sonum Technologies, Inc. announced the beta release of two new product lines. Machine Translation gives users the ability to have foreign text automatically translated into English. The product is targeted at both the intelligence community and...

Verint acquires Opus Group for $12 million.(Verint Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Verint Systems Inc., a provider of analytic software-based solutions for communications interception, networked video security and business intelligence, announced the acquisition of privately held Opus Group, which provides performance...

IEX forms partnerships with Keynomics LLC, Symmetrics.(Workforce Optimization)
October 1, 2005... IEX Corporation, a Tekelec company, has recently announced two strategic relationships. First is an alliance with Keynomics LLC in which IEX will offer its customers Talk, Type, Listen, Keynomics' contact center agent productivity training...

NICE to acquire Australian distributor Hannamax Hi-Tech Pty Ltd.(Workforce Optimization)(Hannamax Hi-Tech Pty Ltd., NICE Systems)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... NICE Systems, a provider of advanced solutions that enable organizations to extract insight from interactions, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Hannamax Hi-Tech Pty Ltd, the company's largest distributor...

InVision offering Multi-Activity Scheduling solution.(InVision Software)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... InVision Software is providing what it describes as a new approach to workforce management with its Multi-Activity Scheduling solution. The solution optimizes staffing requirements by using "advanced patent-pending optimization techniques."...

GeoLearning completes rebranding of USALearning.(USALearning.gov)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... GeoLearning, Inc., which provides managed learning services and hosted learning technology, announced the completion and launch of USALearning.gov, the federal government's employee training site. USALearning features an enhanced course...

Sage Software adds to ACT!, forms partnership with Small-Business Development Centers.(Workforce Optimization)
October 1, 2005... Sage Software recently announced more than 40 new ACT! add-on solutions compatible with the new ACT! by Sage 2006 and ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2006 contact and customer management solutions. The new add-on products were created to...

O'Currance Teleservices names new president.(Services)
October 1, 2005... O'Currance Teleservices, a provider of inbound telemarketing products and services, recently named Blake T. Rigby as president of the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company. Despite his new position, Rigby is not new to the company; he has...

Convergys names new president, COO.(Services)
October 1, 2005... Convergys Corporation, a provider of customer care, human resources and billing services, has announced that David F. Dougherty, executive vice president of Convergys' Global Information Management Group, has been named president and Chief...

SalesForce expands customer service platform with Genesys.(Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel company, has announced an expansion of its contract with SalesForce, an Australian outsourced contact center company, to provide contact center software and services to support an additional...

ClientLogic opens Panama site, expands in Mexico.(Services)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... ClientLogic, a business process outsourcing provider in the contact center and fulfillment industry, announced an increase regarding its presence in Latin America with the addition of a new customer care site in Panama and the expansion of an...

Pitney Bowes to acquire Firstlogic.(Data Management)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Pitney Bowes Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all of the remaining outstanding shares of Firstlogic for about $50.3 million, excluding cash and debt on the balance sheet. Pitney Bowes currently has 10 percent equity ownership...

BMC Software acquires KMXperts.(Data Management)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... BMC Software, Inc., which provides enterprise management solutions, has acquired KMXperts, a provider of knowledge management solutions for IT service and customer support centers. KMXperts, a privately held company headquartered in...

QAS offers QuickAddress Names.(new product)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... QAS recently announced the debut of its QuickAddress Names, a solution that was designed to augment the company's suite of address management products by validating consumer names along with addresses at the point of data entry. ...

Sales Performance International, OneSource partner.(Data Management)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... OneSource Information Services, a Donnelley Group company of infoUSA and a provider of business information solutions, has announced a partnership with Sales Performance International. SPI has integrated OneSource's Business Browser with its...

Oracle to buy Siebel.(Siebel Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Oracle Corporation has announced that it has agreed to buy Siebel Systems, Inc. for $10.66 per share. The offer is valued at approximately $5.85 billion, or $3.61 billion net of Siebel's cash on hand of $2.24 billion. Said Oracle CEO Larry...

Surado announces release of Surado CRM 5.0.(CRM)
October 1, 2005... Surado Solutions, a provider of CRM solutions for small to medium-sized enterprises, has announced the release of Surado CRM 5.0. Surado CRM 5.0, according to the company, includes several improvements, from an updated and more simplified user...

Sendia enables wireless salesforce.com.(WorkSpace CRM 3.0)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Sendia Corporation, a wireless business application platform company, recently announced the release of WorkSpace CRM 3.0 for salesforce.com, which, according to Sendia, features a host of new features and upgrades, including support for...

Salesboom.com releases next generation hosted CRM, CLM solutions.(On-Demand CRM)
October 1, 2005... Salesboom.com, a provider of hosted CRM, SFA, ERP and CLM solutions, announced the release of Salesboom.com v6.0. It's the latest release in Salesboom's history of hosted CRM software updates. Salesboom v6.0 offers numerous new features. ...

SugarCRM expands CRM portfolio with Sugar Enterprise Edition.(On-Demand CRM)
October 1, 2005... SugarCRM Inc. announced the availability of Sugar Enterprise Edition, an addition to its suite of commercial open-source CRM products that extend the reach of the SugarCRM platform into a wider range of business environments. Sugar...

IBM offerings selected by Avaya, IBM partners donate RDCs to Apache.(Speech Technologies)(remote desktop connection)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Avaya has selected IBM WebSphere Voice Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server as the initial speech and middleware platforms for Avaya Voice Portal, Avaya's new Web services-based speech self-service platform. The solution, which is...

Fonix Speech Group solutions offered by i-mate, Fonix releases VoiceDial 2.1.(Speech Technologies)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... The Fonix Speech Group, an operating division of Fonix Corporation, has announced an agreement with i-mate, a company specializing in Microsoft Windows Mobile device solutions and supportive applications, wherein i-mate will offer Fonix...

Apropos Technology, Maxxar form strategic relationship.(Speech Technologies)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Apropos Technology has announced that Maxxar, a business unit of Open Solutions Inc. and a provider of IVR solutions, joined the Apropos Technology Alliance Partner program. The relationship combines Maxxar's expertise in speech-enabled...

SPIRIT DSP powers Macromedia flash for multi-point voice conferencing.(contract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... SPIRIT DSP, a provider of embedded voice communication software products and solutions, announced that its voice products are integrated into Macromedia Breeze 5. Macromedia Breeze delivers online conferencing and collaborative Web...

Audium, ClickFox partner to offer IVR solution.(Web-Based Customer Service)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Audium, a provider of VoiceXML application development and management tools, and ClickFox, a software company that delivers patent-pending technology that analyzes human behavior in self-service environments, have announced the availability of...

Mobile CRM blends sales and service roles for greater competitive advantage.(CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)
October 1, 2005... In a world where margins are shrinking and enterprises of every size are streamlining their organizations, the need to build profitability and grow revenue has never been greater. Customer satisfaction, visibility to customers' needs and the...

IP contact center technology: eliminating the risks (part IX).(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE NEXT-GEN CONTACT CENTER EXPERTS)
October 1, 2005... Over the last eight months we've focused on what inbound contact centers need to know before selecting an IP-based contact center solution. This month we'll be focusing on outbound technologies, specifically predictive dialing, in the context...

The benefits of blended agents.(INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE NEXT-GEN CONTACT CENTER EXPERTS)(call centers)
October 1, 2005... In an era when some call centers report annual turnover rates among agents of 100 percent or more, companies are having to think more carefully about retention. The aggregate costs of replacing an agent by scouting, testing, hiring and training...

Applying inbound techniques to outbound in workforce management.(OUTSOURCING)
October 1, 2005... Many outbound call center managers have always had a powerful workforce management tool that inbound managers have never had: control over call volume. Think of that control as a giant knob on a radio. When a person wanted to adjust the volume...

The missing link in customer contact solutions.(OUTSOURCING)(use and forecast of contact center systems)
October 1, 2005... An increasing number of companies are realizing the true value of customer contact. Since you are reading this magazine, you probably already recognize the one fundamental fact that seems to be lost on so many companies: as far as the customer...

The teleservices industry steps up for the Gulf Coast.(OUTSOURCING)
October 1, 2005... The mighty teleservices industry often takes a beating in the mainstream press. What few people in the general public ever realize is the enormity of the contributions this magnanimous industry regularly offers in times of crisis and need. We...

Who's Who in Teleservices.(websites)
October 1, 2005... Once again, the editors of Customer Inter@ction Solutions have compiled what is one of our top five most popular and requested resources: the annual Teleservices Agencies Who's Who listing. To make this a highly valuable tool, we've kept it as...

Does your contact center have a business continuity plan?(CONTACT CENTER TECHNOLOGY)
October 1, 2005... Imagine for a moment that you get a call in the middle of the night. There's been a fire at your building and the entire data center is destroyed. There's no question that this will have a significant impact on the functioning of your business,...

Cultivating data security: what's real, what's tail-chasing.(MANAGEMENT SCOPE)
October 1, 2005... It's been hard not to see evidence of the increasing tide of criminal data thefts lately. This year alone, CitiFinancial's data breach was announced in June, LexisNexis in April, and both Bank of America and ChoicePoint in February. These are...

A discussion with Vin Gupta, chairman and CEO of infoUSA.(MANAGEMENT SCOPE)(Interview)(Company Profile)
October 1, 2005... Customer Inter@ction Solutions recently spoke with infoUSA CEO Vin Gupta. infoUSA is a leading compiler of several proprietary databases that capture detailed information on a majority of businesses and consumer households in the United States...

TMC Labs Innovation Awards 2005: part I.
October 1, 2005... The purpose of the TMC Labs Innovation Awards is not simply to recognize good products, but rather to distinguish certain products that have helped to carve out a new market niche or start a trend. This award is also about products that are a...

ScanSoft, Nuance shareholders approve merger.(Nuance Communications)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... ScanSoft, Inc. and Nuance Communications, Inc. have announced that their respective shareholders have voted in favor of the proposed merger of Nuance with ScanSoft, and all other proposals, at their respective special meetings. Of the...

SpeechSwitch receives patent for Name Dialer.(Automatic Telephone Dialer Name Dialer)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... "Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care." --William Safire (1929 - ), American journalist, speechwriter, historian, novelist, lexicographer SpeechSwitch, Inc., a provider of speech...

You might be a spammer if ...(safety on public service announcements)(Column)
October 1, 2005... It occurs to me that many people don't understand the difference between e-mail marketing and spam. This month's column was created as a tool to help e-mail marketers understand whether their business practices lie in the perfectly legal realm...