Call Centers

Avaya on Thursday made two related announcements: the acquisition of enterprise mobility software maker Traverse Networks; and a new product strategy centered around unified communications. Avaya's unified communications solutions give corporate users easy access to all of their communications appli...

In considering whether or how to reorganize customer service and back-office functions offshore, the option to open a captive subsidiary service center may not receive full consideration in comparison to outsourcing options. Here we look at the case for Western companies to establish their own dedi...

Changes are afoot in many enterprises as more and more of them switch from traditional voice connections to Voice over IP services. Market research firm Gartner found that three out of every four PBX lines sold in 2005 were VoIP links; that number is expected to grow to more than four out of every ...

ATG has announced that it will acquire e-commerce best-of-breed vendor eStara in a US$48.3 million cash-and-stock transaction that will increase ATG's market share and bring new niche functionality under its umbrella. eStara specializes in click-to-call technology -- an online e-commerce tool that l...

Most people can visualize the classic customer service environment: hundreds of agents sitting side-by-side in a large contact center, all working off the same script, working the same shifts and being monitored in the same manner. The mass media has reinforced this vision of customer service facili...

A new product from eTalk, Qfiniti Assist, provides contact center agents with knowledge management support while they are on the line with a customer. The tool combines speech recognition and enterprise search technology to identify the information the agent needs in order to answer a client's quest...

CosmoCom has introduced Version 4.6 of its Universe contact center software platform. New enhancements include improved reporting functionality, IP Centrex integration, and new networking functionality -- namely, the introduction of a new, proprietary NAT Traversal capability. Also, this version co...

Shareholders approved last week the merger of Lucent and Alcatel, a deal first announced in March. The pairing is one of a handful that has taken place in the telecommunications equipment market since the year began. The changes underscore the diminishing vitality of the telecom equipment market and...

CTI Group, a provider of online billing, self-care and communication management applications, has released a hosted call recording product. In general, on-demand contact center applications have been proliferating over the last year. CTI Group's new product, called "SmartRecord IP," differentiates i...

Salesforce.com has unveiled its Winter 07 upgrade, which features first-time support for softphone -- that is, computer telephony integration, or CTI -- connectivity. It also includes new interactive calendar design and task management capabilities, as well as additional integration tools. A new AJA...