The Reality of Virtual Contact Centers (Technology Focus)

Contact center virtualization has been part of the customer service landscape for a while, but it is only now that the business rhetoric is starting to be corroborated by an appropriate technology infrastructure.

Report Highlights

Presence enables agents and customers to interact with the rest of the organization is. This is the message which excites end-users. But how does an enterprise monitor and manage presence in a virtual contact center environment? Not many vendors have set their pricing models for the virtual contact center, and whereas this is good for end-users as they have the freedom of negotiating hefty discounts, vendors will find it increasingly difficult to determine a pricing structure if the current framework were to continue. Many end-users do not understand, and do not need to understand, the technical difference between SIP and H.323. However, end-users do need to understand how these differences may play a crucial part on its business processes and overall cost structure. Vendors should not blind potential customers with the science behind the protocol.
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DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
METHODOLOGY 1
ANALYSIS 2
The centralization of IT in the contact center can generate efficiency in the whole organization 2
Unified communications is touted as the solution to achieve homogenous working environments with the contact center at its heart 2
All-in-one solutions may not be best way forward for larger enterprises 3
SIP is becoming the prevalent multi-media server not just because end-users need it, but because sales targets are dependent on it 4
The promise of presence - better customer and agent interaction with the organization - may not be essential for many companies 5
What type of enterprise will take up presence? 5
Silos in the organization breed inconsistent customer information which can be harmful to an organization's brand 6
Consulting practices established by vendors are still in their infancy 7
Platforms that are easy to integrate into the enterprise are needed to break the silo mould 8
The complexities of virtualization, in respect to risks, costs, and agent definitions need to be addressed for successful and sustainable deployments 8
Evangelizing virtualization can not happen without addressing the issues of risk behind the solution 8
Costs associated with virtualization will not go away anytime soon 9
The nature of an agent changes with virtualization and needs to be fully understood by vendors 9
ACTION POINTS 12
Monitoring available resources is a business issue, not a technology one, and vendors need to further strong partnerships with global systems integrators to achieve true success with presence 12
Inconsistent customer data harms brand value; vendors need to invest in switch independent contact center solutions and work closely with middleware vendors 12
Corporate attitudes to the contact center have shifted but vendors need to understand how to price contact center seats which extend into the enterprise 12
APPENDIX 13
Further reading 13
Ask the analyst 13

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Figure 1: Unifying disparate systems into one enterprise wide communications system 3
Figure 2: Customer service silos in the contact center 7
Figure 3: Size and growth of remote workers, 2005 to 2010 10

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