If you are like me, there is never enough time or money to attend conferences to learn more about the industry. Lori’s summary of the recent ACCE conference (held in June) will give you a run-down of the biggest topics and the latest trends. I encourage you to read Lori’s article and check out NACC’s newsletter. Here’s some great learning without leaving your desk!

I just returned from the ACCE Conference in New Orleans, one of the biggest and best contact center conferences of the year. While more people seem to be finding budget to attend conferences again, perhaps some of you are wishing you could have been there to attend sessions and talk to peers and vendors (and perhaps drink a “Hurricane” or eat some Gumbo!). So here are some tidbits to share.

Heads are in the Clouds
Call it what you want – hosted solutions, Software as a Service (SaaS), Communications as a Service (CaaS), cloud solutions – but regardless, it has arrived for both buyers and sellers. At least half of the vendor exhibits featured cloud-based solutions. Some offer full blown contact center solutions with routing, reporting, IVR, CTI, and performance tools (e.g., WFM, QM). Others were peddling targeted applications such as CRM, proactive outbound contact, web chat translation services, analytics, or voice of the customer surveys. The chance to get something done quickly, with little upfront cost, really seems to resonate with companies constrained by IT resources and budget dollars. In a knowledge exchange session I facilitated on the topic, attendees testified to implementations that maxed out at three months. No one could recall a premise-based implementation of similar technology that came close to that timeframe. Concerns seem to be security, reliability, and negotiating and managing service level agreements – all topics that can be addressed with the proper due diligence in project processes.

You Can Optimize Your Desktop
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a contact center with an “ideal” desktop, but I know a lot of people who long for an improved desktop and applications. People need to capture interaction information and customer profiles (including the increasingly changing and elusive contact information – like cell phones and email addresses), and they want to make it easier for their reps to help customers. Enter today’s CRM solutions and desktop optimization applications. The former can be had for less pain through hosted applications and improved deployment approaches (configured instead of customized, with “easy” integration). The latter bring the metrics to see what is happening on the desktop, integration between applications to avoid the pain of cut and paste and notepads, and the process optimization to smooth interactions delivering shorter handle times and increased first contact resolution (which EVERYONE wants). Both deliver a desktop “portal” that truly transforms the customer and rep experience.

Performance Tools Cross Barriers and Channels
With the proliferation of analytics tools, customer satisfaction surveys, and eLearning and coaching capabilities, vendors are vying for the attention of call center leaders who want to take their staff and center performance to new heights. As centers mature, they yearn for these tools to meet the high demands corporate leaders place on them to improve customer service, cut costs, and drive revenue. Speech analytics has been the “hot” topic in the past few years, and seems to be settling in to the realities of where and how to use it – including the commitment of appropriate analyst resources to drive value from this powerful technology. And now with text analytics and cross channel analytics, companies can apply similar analysis to their email and web chat. Scorecards and dashboards were of great interest, as was desktop analytics coming from both the performance suite vendors and from those with desktop optimization solutions. The sessions the attendees flocked to (popular topic!) and vendors present (many choices for VoC) reinforce that there is no reason not to do voice of the customer surveys anymore to complement quality monitoring and other internal performance perspectives.

Still Room for Niche Vendors
While some of the big vendors anchored the event, it was also clear there is still plenty of room for niche players that help companies solve the specific challenges. Want to improve your reps’ keyboarding skills? There’s an app for that! Need to add proactive outbound contacts to your customer interaction strategy? Recover idle time to use for knowledge building with your agents? Improve your forecasting ability? You guessed it; there are apps for those too. Whether your needs are wide-ranging or targeted, whether you have a “suite” approach to technology or seek best of breed solutions, there are good options to consider.

Social Media Hype Continues and Takes a Reality Check
We heard and talked about “tweets” and “followers,” social media strategies and the role of marketing and the contact center in responding to these important interactions. From keynotes to sessions to vendor booths, social media hype flowed. But at the same time, the table and hallway conversations were flavored with some healthy skepticism on the fit of social media for various companies and their customers. Perhaps we’ve reached a point in the maturing of these new interactions where people will take a careful look at the role they play today and tomorrow. In a time where companies must make careful choices about priorities for their precious investment of time, money, and resources, the reality check is a healthy thing.

Lori Bocklund, President – Strategic Contact
lori@strategiccontact.com

Without going very deep into the technical details, I wanted to let you know about some of the enhancements that will be coming your way. If you have questions about any specifics, I would be more than happy to help you.

Find Me Follow Me Enhancements:

- Increased capacity and flexibility of Find Me Follow Me (FMFM)

- Ability to use BCM features (park, hold, conference, transfer) on external destinations such as mobile or home phone

- Ability to use FMFM over analog trunks

- Additional configuration options to personalize the FMFM experience

Remote Worker Solution – Unistim VPN Client (UVC)

- Secure Remote Worker solution

- No need for PC based VPN Client or VPN Router for remote workers

Remote Worker Solution – NAT Traversal

- Low Cost remote worker solution that does not require a VPN solution

MeetMe Conferencing Portal

- Web portal for MeetMe Conferencing

- Real-time participant information for chairperson and participants

- Ability to see participants and control meetings

Advanced Paging Productivity Pack

- One button text messaging (helpful where voice paging is not practical due to infrastructure limitations or is not appropriate such as noisy environments)

Multiple Business Names

- Option to configure up to 5 different business names per BCM (helpful for sites with multiple tenants or businesses with several customer facing entities)

Interoperability with other Avaya/Nortel solutions

- BCM 50 3.0, 5.0 & 6.0

- BCM 450 1.0, 5.0, & 6.0

- CS1000 7.0 & 6.0

- CS2100 SE13 & SE12

- IP Office 6.0 – SIP only

- Avaya Aura – SIP only

Public SIP Trunking

- Possible cost savings through SIP trunks

- Broader implementation options

- Enhanced redundancy and failover options

* End of new sales for BCM release 5.0 will be December 6th, 2010. According to Avaya’s lifecycle policy, they will continue to support BCM customers on release 5.0 for 6 years after Dec. 6th.

Under this multi-year contract, Communications Products, Inc. will continued to support over 250 Coast Guard stations from Guam to St. Paul Island, Alaska. The Coast Guard selected Communications Products, Inc. and teaming partner Presidio, Inc. based on our combined history and past performance of delivering mission-focused telephony solutions to the Agency over the past ten years.

Under the contract, Communications Products, Inc. will design, install, manage and maintain the Coast Guard’s IP telephony and Unified Communication infrastructure for the entire West Coast which includes, Guam, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

“CPI is committed to continuing our work with the Coast Guard and supporting the newly formed C4&IT organization that has the overall responsibility to optimize the Coast Guard IT and Telecommunication assets.  On a daily basis, we will be tasked with supporting the mission critical telephone systems that are used throughout the 650 locations and provide essential dial-tone and telephony applications that support over 89,000 military, civilian and auxiliary employees.”

*Important note to Meridian Mail users. If your company is still running the CallPilot predecessor Meridian Mail, it is going to be critically important to upgrade to CallPilot as soon as possible. Not only will that enable all of the added features, functionality, and patches that have been added, it will also make it possible for you to access Avaya support when needed. If you have questions about this, please let me know.

What is Service Update 8 (SU8)?

SU8 is the latest in a series of Service Updates made available for CallPilot 5.0 systems. The update comprises six components: a CallPilot server update with additional features and software patches bundled in; improved versions of CallPilot Manager/Reporter, Application Builder, Desktop Messaging client, My CallPilot web-messaging application, and server security update.

Combined, these components further enhance CallPilot performance by incorporating all content previously released within earlier SUs/PEPs and over 100 additional quality improvements and customer-requested capabilities.

Features and Enhancements included in CallPilot 5.0 SU8

CallPilot Server:

- Simplified Configuration Wizard operation for multimedia allocation table assignments
- AUI-S style TUI now provides prompting to enable Message Forwarding Rules
- Increased Sybase database security
- Increased Voice Forms capacity and improved handling

CallPilot Manager/Reporter:

- Updated online help and NTP documentation for new 1006r server
- New “manageable” alphanumeric address for “Postmaster” account.
- Easier wild-card operation for archiving Voice Forms and Application Builder applications
- New administrator “enforced” read-receipts option for desktop fax
- Ability to identify SU/PEP details from within CallPilot Manager
- Improved CallPilot server and Reporter web-server communications robustness

Application Builder:

- Introduces Windows 7 Operating System (OS) compatibility

Desktop Messaging:

- Improved operation within GroupWise 8.0.1

My CallPilot:

- Introduces Windows 7 Operating System (OS) compatibility
- Introduces Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) browser compatibility
- Increased security within client and online help operation

Serviceability:

- Additional event codes added for improved troubleshooting
- Improved clarity/severity settings for ease of understanding
- Improved guardrails prevent improper DSP configuration

Why is this important?

While most CallPilot web components can run directly on the CallPilot server, you can choose to host some or all web components on a separate server for the following reasons:

Larger enterprise customers, or those with more demanding traffic levels, improve responsiveness and resilience of CallPilot Manager and My CallPilot by hosting these components from the same customer-provided web-server used for Reporter.

CallPilot Reporter, used for reporting on up to 20 CallPilot systems, cannot be hosted by the CallPilot server given both its CPU-intensive anytime/anywhere reporting and large disk-space requirements to store the OM database.

Compatibility Reference

The following outlines product minimum compatibility details:

CallPilot supported Web-Server Operating Systems:

- Windows 2000 Server (Standard version)/Service Pack 1 with IIS 5.0/Service Pack 1
- Windows 2003 Server (Standard version)/Service Pack 2 with IIS 6.0
- Windows Vista (Standard or Enterprise)/Service Pack 1 with IIS 7.0

CallPilot components:

- CallPilot Manager/Reporter 5.00.41.112 (released with Service Update 8) or later
- My CallPilot 5.00.41.111 (released with Service Update 8) or later

VMWare application and version:

- Workstation 6.5.4
- Server 2.0.1

First, if you have a Norstar, don’t worry… “Avaya/Nortel will support the Norstar products for a total of six (6) years after October 4, 2010.” That means that you will have access to  any needed hardware, software support, or service for six years. And, you also have the option to extend the life of your system by upgradng to Avaya/Nortel’s next generation of telephony products… in this case, the Avaya/Nortel BCM. And, it will give you the latest telephony innovations such as IP telephony, presence, and more advanced unified communication features…

So, if you decide to do nothing with your existing Norstar system, you will be fine until 2016.

Avaya/Nortel’s Norstar Migration Path:

If you want to extend the life of your Norstar System investment and take advantage of their latest technology innovations, you can upgrade to the Avaya/Nortel BCM. Both the BCM 50 and BCM 450 provide scalable migration paths from the Norstar system. You can even keep your phones and in many cases retain your fiber trunk and station modules, which can account for up to 70% of the total cost of a new telephony system. Also, the need to re-train end users is also minimized when migrating to BCM as the features, functionality, and use are similar to the Norstar system.

How Your Business will Benefit from the upgrading your Norstar to a BCM:

Improve Productivity & Customer Service:

- Does your business have voice mail today? BCM systems include voice mail so “pink slip” messages are no longer required

- Since messaging is included, calls can be routed quickly and professionally using the built-in automated attendant

- Professional Call Recording can help increase service to your customers by giving supervisors the tools to improve agent skills; available on the BCM50 and BCM 450

- Integrated Voice Response with the BCM 450 can facilitate customer self-service, making transactions easier for everyone

- The BCM InTouch application improves productivity because users can see the presence status of other employees as well as the status of MSN and Skype users – saves time and improves communication and responsiveness

- The FindMe/FollowMe feature ensures that calls are always answered – calls can be routed up to five destinations based on time of day – ensures timely call handling

- The Message forwarding Capability sends an email to any smart phone when a new voice mail message arrives, ensuring timely response to callers

Reduce your Expenses:

- With BCM, all of your locations can be connected together to improve collaboration and to eliminate calling charges between offices

- SIP trunks can save your business money and offers added services like direct inward dialing

- Enjoy the productivity of PIN-protected, Meet-me conferences calls for up to 18 or 120 parties; saves money over network-based services

Protect your Investment:

-  Digital sets can be reused on BCM to protect your investment and allow you to retain a familiar desktop interface; user training provides additional investment-protection benefits

- Trunk and station modules can be reused, further supporting investment protection which reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCP)

- Overall, up to 70% of the investment in Norstar can be reused with BCM providing for an easy and comfortable migration

What you will get if you choose to upgrade your existing Norstar system to a BCM:

Well, the answer is yes.  Avaya is about to announce an alternative to those customers that are not interested in the receiving the benefits of a 1, 2 or 3 year PASS Agreement.

The option that will be available July 1, 2010 for non-PASS customers to receive Avaya OEM emergency technical support is:

Avaya will offer “bridged” support if a customer is in need of emergency support services which requires the customer to pay the following fees:

–    Will include a $3,900 upfront fee

–    $425 per hour T&M rates for the time Avaya applies to the individual support case

–    $10,000 purchase order required (actual will be billed towards the $10,000 customer Purchase Order)

The upfront $3,900 fee may be credited toward the purchase of a new PASS Agreement

–    Will back bill the PASS Agreement contract from June 30^, 2010

–    The T&M charged against the case is not refundable

–    The PO for the maintenance contract must be received within 30 days of initial sales contact

Give us a call to have a discussion about this and other PASS agreement options that may work for your enterprise.

PASS Summary:

Partner Assurance Support Services for All Nortel Products

•         Avaya Emergency Technical Support (Tier3)
•         Software Upgrades to the newest Software Release
•         Avaya Remote technical assistance and emergency recovery

This important investment will increase the reliability  of your organization’s critical voice infrastructure and assure access to important Avaya emergency technical support. In addition, it will keep your telephony systems and applications on the most current software releases.

As more information around this topic is released from Avaya, we will continue to keep you updated.

Nortel’s Contact Center manager 7.1 is available now. The challenge with this release is that when an agent transfers a call outside of the call center itself, all tracking information regarding the call is lost… important information such as first-call-resolution, time-to-resolution etc.

Next month, Avaya will upgrade Call Center Manager to their Next Generation Cotext Center (NGCC) 1.0. The main architecture difference between the two is that all calls will be anchored on the MASS server (multimedia application server). Instead of physically transferring the call, the NGCC will actually anchor the call and then conference in resources such as other agents, applications, integrations etc… The call itself will never move. This architecture will bring Avaya a step closer to being able to provide a more context oriented call experience and will provide more comprehensive reporting capabilities.

Avaya will provide a link to the NGCC through AML or SIP. The AML provides the capability to connect to legacy systems.

The next NGCC release (2.0) is due out in Nov.

Note: Nortel heritage products have adopted the Avaya release schedule of May and November.

Communications Products, Inc. was just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide a monumental Voice over IP telecommunication solution for the Department of Defense (DoD). CPI was chosen over six other solutions as the best overall value weighted by:

Past experience

Technology

Solution

Price

With over 7197 end users this is the largest Department of Defense Nortel + Avaya new, pure IP deployment to date. CPI will be providing complete implementation and integration services, comprehensive project management, end user training, and ongoing maintenance.CPI will also be providing the DoD with a Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) certified communication solution. This JITC certified solution will ensure complete interoperability of the new voice and data network with other DoD communication systems.

For over 26 years CPI has been engineering Nortel enterprise telephony solutions. And, with the recent Avaya acquisition of Nortel, CPI has been welcomed into the Avaya family with the distinction of Gold Partner. This is a great opportunity for CPI as we build our new relationship with Avaya. This large project validates our position as a trusted Avaya Gold partner and accelerates our ability to deliver value to customers using our deep portfolio of IT products, professional services, and enterprise communications systems.

This approach shows that they do not want customers to have to rip and replace their systems.  It shows they did not just “buy the base”.  The model gives their clients the time and ability to progress to more integrated communications enabled business process on their own terms.  They can keep what works and evolve to the sophistication they need.  A customer can upgrade to the latest software and not have to throw away the bulk of their switch hardware and terminals.

We have prepared a presentation for the Indianapolis Nortel users group that includes some of the slides presented in the roadmap.