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Can Multi-channel Contact Center ACD include Social Media channels?

Social Media is a powerful tool in disseminating information. It is quick, sensational and unconventional. All major organizations are paying close attention to it to further sales and marketing. Contact center technology solution providers are trying to bring social media channel as a part of the multi-channel Unified communications. This is more so with CRM providers who hope to effectively capture a social media profile of individual customers using various tools.

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Importance of Simplified API for CRM integration to ACD and Dialer

CRM drives sales by providing centralized customer and lead management with instant access to the history of each customer and prospect. Most CRM software offer up to date customer history on demand with access through the Web or desktop application. The power of lead management and CRM can be amplified by integration to a Dialer platform to improve efficiency and productivity. Most Dialers provide for different modes of dialing like Predictive, Preview and Progressive. ACD integration to CRM allows better management of incoming calls. The most important aspect of setting up CRM integration is the ability of Dialer and ACD software to work seamlessly with the CRM.

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Building mission critical contact centers with Asterisk

Asterisk is often referred to by many as the “Swiss Army-knife of Telephony”. It is a Soft-switch, a complete software based PBX switch with a full feature PBX and a VoIP stack supporting SIP, IAX and H323. It is also a hybrid switch with TDM support for ISDN PRI (T1/E1). The last few decades have been the age of software, propelled by the incredible power and flexibility of software driven systems. No wonder, Asterisk within a span of 10 years has overtaken all it peers and is the undisputed leader this field. Continue reading “Building mission critical contact centers with Asterisk”

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Next Generation Contact Center Technology Stack

Making informed decisions on the technology stack required to setup customer contact center is very challenging. The overall costs of the proprietary product stack of well known manufacturers like Avaya, Cisco and Aspect are daunting. After all, their internal costs are going up for everything from salaries to marketing and everyone has to sell more or sell for more to keep up with this.

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Social Networking, Contact Center operations and Customer Satisfaction

You guessed it right. The new buzz in marketing is “Social Networking”. It is interesting to see how technology providers are pursuing this buzz. We recently had Salesforce announcing acquisition of Radian6 to monitor, analyze and engage in social media conversations within its CRM platform. Now Cisco has released a self-commisioned whitepaper on next generation contact centers conducted by Forrester. It mentions customer dissatisfaction as a key finding. We all deal with customer service for services like banking, insurance, phone plans, cable and internet. I have left out many more services. The general perception is that customers are left unsatisfied while dealing with customer service contact centers to resolve outstanding issues.

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Building a Cloud Contact Center using Asterisk

Technological innovations are driving growth and productivity in the contact center industry and  one way to tap into the technology advancement is by building out a cost effective Cloud Contact Center with Asterisk as the PBX. Cloud setup in a reliable data center provides instant scalability and does away with the need for large capital investment and capacity planning. Availability of reliable infrastructure and bandwidth at reasonable cost and the option choosing VoIP and SIP for Telco connectivity are added reasons.

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Convergence of Dialers, Cloud Setup and CRM Integration

Quite an interesting phenomenon is unfolding with the convergence of CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Cloud Setup and Dialer technology. As we all know, CRM is the heartbeat of any sales team. CRM software provides significant edge for sales operation to scale. Similarly Web and IP connectivity form the information superhighway connecting all the major data centers around the globe in this phenomenon called “Cloud”. This is seen in the growth and availability of reliable Data Centers around the world. Phone service is more important than ever because of the proliferation of Web and Online business that has changed the way commerce is carried out. Because of this, Dialers have become the engine for driving for customer contact.

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Setting up next generation contact centers with Asterisk

Before we get into aspects of setting up a contact center, it is important to clarify what I mean by “next generation”? I am referring to the infrastructure and technology associated with a contact center. What is so important about it? Technology evolution is a by-product of the demands placed by users to enhance productivity, offer flexibility and reduce the overall cost of acquisition and operation of contact centers. Continue reading “Setting up next generation contact centers with Asterisk”

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Essential ACD Queue features for Customer Service

Queues are at the heart of any ACD (Automatic Call Distribution). Most of us have experienced waiting in a Queue while trying to access customer service by phone. Call distribution within a Customer Contact Center is driven by an ACD. Efficiency of the ACD is determined by its ability to manage distribution of calls from multiple queues to its customer service representatives. Skills based routing allows distribution of calls to the most appropriate customer service representative. But there are other important features within an ACD that can assist in improving the overall performance of a customer contact center. Let us examine a few:

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