STRATEGY WHITE PAPER. Alcatel Contact Center Solutions. IP Contact Center

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1 STRATEGY WHITE PAPER Alcatel Contact Center Solutions IP Contact Center

2 IP Contact Center... A new approach for Customer Relations Alcatel Contact Center Solutions > 2 ALCATEL

3 Contents Introduction Why should I invest in an IP Contact Center? The role of the ISM is changing The Call Center extends beyond conventional boundaries Maximize the efficiency of Customer Relations All alternatives are possible The IP Contact Center according to Alcatel Optimize resources and investment Virtualize resources and teams Maximize the Customer Relationship Choose a model Recap Conclusion About Alcatel Contact Center solutions ALCATEL 3 >

4 Introduction The Call Center is a driving force for IP Telephony Somewhere in the world, Tuesday May 14, 9.03 a.m... Lucy has just started work at the Customer Interactions Center at the Atomic Music SA company, a leading supplier of musical instruments and accessories. She receives a call from Roger. Roger's contact details are immediately displayed on Lucy's screen, together with the history of his relationship with Atomic Music, including not only his past purchases but also his enquiries. This gives Lucy access to the Roger sent the night before asking for information about a special offer for a guitar he saw on the Atomic Music web site. Without losing a minute, the first thing Lucy does is give Roger the information he needs, and he decides to buy the guitar. What Roger doesn't see is that Lucy is also able to look at the history of his last few visits to the web site, showing that on several occasions he looked at the amplifiers, in particular a lamp amplifier (Lucy also knows that Roger has already bought an amplifier from Atomic, but that was 4 years ago). Lucy naturally also suggests he might like to buy the amplifier and other accessories that caught Roger's eye when he visited the site, and taking into account his previous purchases. Roger has confidence in Lucy because each time he calls Customer Service, it's always Lucy who answers the phone (and she knows what she's talking about, she's a guitarist too), even on a Friday when she works from home. Her employer kept an eye on Lucy and noticed that she was at least as efficient working from home as when she was in the office. What's more, Atomic Music know that by offering Lucy so much flexibility they'll be able to keep a good employee on the team. This example illustrates just some of the many benefits the IP Call Center brings: agent flexibility, increased customer satisfaction, gain in productivity and competitiveness for the company. And it runs without anybody having to worry about it. > 4 ALCATEL

5 Why should I invest in an IP Contact Center? The role of the Information Systems Manager is changing Information Systems Managers (ISMs) used to be restricted to a watchdog role monitoring performance and reduction of infrastructure costs, but increasingly they are now being required to tackle issues to improve the performance of the company and its processes, not just ongoing systems management. According to a recent survey conducted by the Yankee Group (2003), Headquarter operations are facing the following challenges: - The technology must improve productivity - The applications supplied must generate income - Costs must be reduced - Serve an increasingly mobile population - Unify the communication platforms - Align IT with the company's business processes - Maintain performance - Be visionary and open up new development horizons So although IP Telephony can provide solutions in terms of cost reduction, it is not the only factor to justify a move to IP. The implementation of IP contact centres can also demonstrate that new applications may add significant business value in allowing the company to differentiate itself in the market and add new services for valuable customers. ALCATEL 5 >

6 Why should I invest in an IP Contact Center? The Call Center extends beyond conventional boundaries within the company For reasons of performance and productivity, more and more companies are looking at ways to leverage the individual skills available within the business by networking them in a 'Virtual Contact Center' environment where each employee becomes a potential Interaction Center Agent (see the Alcatel White Paper "The CRM Journey"). The priority is to take advantage of each individual's knowledge and expertise to give the Customer the answers he/she needs, eliminating as far as possible the potential barriers associated with availability and localization of the required resource. This leads to the virtual Contact Center, a solution where skilled resource becomes accessible in real time and in a way that is transparent not only for the user but also for the other employees within the organization. The virtualization of resources means that to the outside world, location is not important anymore and any customer interaction can be handled irrespective of whether the 'agent' is located within the HQ or within a small branch office, or even at home. IP Telephony within contact centers therefore helps eliminate the constraints of the physical location of resources. The ability for IP based contact center resources to be location independent leads to the concept of the 'Nomadic worker', with flexibility for them to 'log on' to the contact center wherever they may be situated. Along with a high performance CTI and routing engine. IP creates the ability to target the most appropriate resource competence to answer the call 'right first time' at the lowest communication cost over a wide area network. The specific number dialed by the customer has nothing to do with the agent, everything will happen in real time where the system will find the best available 'agent' at that particular moment in time. Dynamic IP addressing mechanisms make this possible regardless of agent resource location as the system monitors and maps where they are - even when on the move. > 6 ALCATEL

7 Why should I invest in an IP Contact Center? Maximize the efficiency of Customer Relations According to a survey carried out by Datamonitor, customers increasingly tend to use not only the phone but also other media - particularly - to interact with Customer Service. Furthermore, voice access is also increasingly taking place via interactive applications prior to effective dialogue with the agent. In conclusion, it becomes clear that multi-channel/multi media access is becoming increasingly important. This means that voice and data networks are converging to give a single view of customer activities, regardless of whether they use voice or Internet, in self-service mode or with direct agent assistance. Although this transparency of communication has increasingly been made available to the customer, it is still necessary to consolidate the history of customer interaction regardless of the communications media. Convergence within contact centers enabled through IP technologies make this possible. The immediate business benefit is that it gives the agent a unique view of the customer needs. In brief, 360 customer visibility. The objective is to make the most of all past customer interactions, to anticipate needs and maximize sales and revenue for the business. Follow on business is the easiest way to generate new sales, so this approach should also secure their loyalty and/or make it possible to optimize the relationship to mutual benefit on both sides. The example at the beginning of this document illustrates this point perfectly. End 1999 End 2003 Telephone Telephone Web Collaboration Text Chat Other Web Collaboration Text Chat Other VoIP Trends in the use of different means of communication with Customer Service departments ALCATEL 7 >

8 Why should I invest in an IP Contact Center? All alternatives are possible Companies setting up Contact Center operations based on conventional telephony infrastructure, will usually look at two ways of implementation: - Whether to fully manage in house - Or to outsource the operation to a third party. (Various options may be available to them to outsource: eg partial outsource of the technology and infrastructure to a third party - with own employees; or perhaps full third party outsource with operational resources). This decision may be influenced by several factors, including of course the type of business the organization is engaged in, financial considerations (off balance sheet), focus on core business etc. Very often, the final decision may compromise the flexibility of the contact center design which does not allow open access and integration with the rest of the organization. This may be very important for future evolution of the business, to allow them to react to shift/opportunity in their marketplace and respond to demand. Ultimately a bad or compromised solution will mean inability to react fast enough and loss of potential business (maybe even existing customers!) as well as growth for the organization. The ability to react to change is a key element that IP based Contact Centers handle in a much more flexible and effective way than those based on a conventional infrastructure. In this scenario, although out-sourcing or "in-sourcing"' are still separate choices, flexibility is introduced so that the company is able to adapt rapidly to change, whether it is temporary or permanent. This is achieved through improved networking of valuable company resources and skills regardless of location, together with the ability to provide open connectivity to IT systems and enhanced business processes. The IP based contact center can help blend the two solutions instead of separating them. From this point of view, IP's contribution is not just cost reduction, i.e. financial. It is also a long-term differentiator brought about by ability to make communications investment work better for the business. In conclusion, there is a need for a broader vision (beyond simple infrastructure decisions) to be considered when assessing the challenges and advantages for implementing IP contact centers. Let's examine 'four' fundamental elements as part of a strategy to secure excellence in Customer Service. > 8 ALCATEL

9 The IP Contact Center according to Alcatel Cx0s/DSI Agents Optimize Virtualize Clients Opérations Maximize Choose Optimize resources and investment Virtualize competences and teams Maximize Customer Relationships Choose the right deployment model for the business ALCATEL 9 >

10 Optimize resources and investment Information System Managers The first motivation for implementing Voice over IP is to reduce communications costs between sites, and too often the search for benefits has stopped here without continuing to look at the wider impact for the Contact Center and improvement in Customer Relations. Nevertheless, as we saw at the beginning of this document, one of the primary missions of Information Systems Managers is indeed to keep operational costs low, before anything else. This discussion about voice over IP is particularly significant during the period , when the after-effects of the changes put in place for the new millennium will become apparent. Hardware which was replaced or updated will be between 5 and 10 years old. A real alternative can now be examined, between the cost of upgrading hardware that is perhaps obsolete and the jump to more open technologies that are less costly in terms of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) One of the early obstacles in setting up voice over IP networks was related to the Quality of Service which could be achieved over existing networks. In many cases this is no longer the main issue as companies upgrade networks to deliver new IT services and higher bandwidth. The next big issue is how much and how soon does the company move to IP - with all that previous investment in legacy equipment?. It is not always economically justifiable to change over in one step from a TDM (Time Division Multiplexed) solution to a pure 100 % IP architecture. This is a legitimate source of concern which often delays decisions. Certain OEMs have understood this and boast that they can provide open-ended solutions allowing organizations to move forward at their own speed from conventional telephony to IP. But this is only a partial solution to the real problem of gradual migration, since it is still necessary to administrate two separate networks. The resulting convergence is fairly limited, and corresponds more to co-existence of two systems rather than a real strategy for change. This will be the case particularly when Contact Center applications are used. It will be necessary to make sure they are capable of running in this dual mode without having to manage two different environments (in other words it is necessary to avoid having two similar applications that cannot interact with each other). > 10 ALCATEL

11 Optimize resources and investment "A large number of TDM circuits were installed between 1995 and 2000, and so are now close to the end of their operating life. This means the company will have to manage hybrid networks for many years to come" Fred Knight, BCR editor, February 2003 Case study Trouble-free acceptance of change A local authority wanted to improve the quality of service delivered to its constituents by creating a single freephone number enabling people to access different services such as the mayor's office, sports facilities, schools, registry office, etc. They decided to manage voice and data via a single convergent network. The benefits A 46 % cost reduction of the telecom and IT bill, of which 25 % was on the telecom bill alone. Additional gains were made possible by implementing an interactive voice server (IVR). The agents can then concentrate on more interesting tasks, thereby increasing their accountability, productivity and motivation to deliver a better service. ALCATEL 11 >

12 Virtualize resources and teams Customer Service Representatives Do more with less. As shown above, cost reduction is the vital prerequisite for any further discussion, whether it involves infrastructure or affects a functional domain, often in fact linked to Customer Relations. The costs of the Contact Center activity can to a large extent be allocated to the operational budget: office space, salaries, replacement of personnel, training of incoming personnel. The overall skills level and mix of skills also become more important as the levels of tasks/knowledge required increases as Customer Relations becomes more important in the company's overall strategy. For an organization located on several sites in particular, it is difficult and costly to maintain competences on each site, and above all ensure that customers will be able to benefit from these competences when they need them. However this task is made easier if these competence pools can be organized in a virtual manner, i.e. so that they can be reached without having to know whether they are on site A, B or C. To achieve good performance in this area, it is vital to give contact center agents equivalent tools and communication services, regardless of their physical location. This prerequisite must be fulfilled in order to ensure Customer Service is transparent and the virtual IP Contact Center is truly effective. In the same way when someone uses a service via Internet, the physical location of the application server must not be of any importance. When customers call Customer Service, they will not know whether the person on the other end of the phone is across the street or on the other side of the world. Of course this has positive implications not only for the quality of service, but also for the organization of the Service. In particular it will make it easier to keep agents (who are no longer obliged to travel for miles in order to make themselves available), and will enhance their overall effectiveness. So it's easy to demonstrate that the same service can be rendered with less agents located on several sites, compared to an organization centralized on one site. Implementation of IP as a key vehicle within Contact Center applications is the only way to obtain these benefits through the transparency it can provide in a multi-site organization, without incurring any additional communication costs. > 12 ALCATEL

13 Maximize the Customer Relationship Customers Customers increasingly expect to receive personalized service, and most companies have sufficient data of sufficient quality to meet such expectations. But many companies don't know exactly how to use this information effectively. Although it may be regularly used for mailshots, it would be more effective to make use of this information when entering into direct contact with customers via Customer Service. The use of several communication channels has made collection of information at a central point much more complex. Yet from the customer's point of view, s/he is communicating with a single entity, and expects to receive the same service each time. To accomplish the first step in consolidating information to obtain a single customer view - think of it as a 360 view of the customer - it is necessary to have the capacity to process enquiries in a single queue, regardless of the communications media used. This functionality makes it possible to focus on the consider the customer profile and needs rather than the medium of communication. So enquiries from an MVC (Most Valuable Customer) will be processed as a priority, whether s/he has sent an or phoned, which in addition gives the agent a single view of the interaction history. Naturally, the Contact Center doesn't have to function using IP in order to handle multimedia enquiries, but convergence of the architectures will greatly facilitate the management aspects, especially when it is necessary to extend the service beyond normal operating hours. After all, we have seen that thanks to IP the location of the agents or experts is not important anymore. So whether the enquiry is processed by an agent in Paris, London, New York or Bombay, the same application is shared each time, with all the information needed to provide the same quality of service. So for an important enquiry - or one which is considered to be important - the Customer can benefit from an extended service in a completely transparent manner. In parallel, companies are increasingly using interactive voice applications to support the agent for call qualification purposes or alternatively to handle simple enquiries where human involvement would only bring limited added value. Some of these IVRs function on IP, such as the Genesys Voice Platform, and so use open architectures (VoiceXML) which helps deliver web based content via voice channels. This helps in making it possible to adopt a multichannel management approach for internet based information in the same way as voice or . ALCATEL 13 >

14 Choose the right deployment model Which model for my Customer Service? Let's take the example of a mail order company selling home decoration products. It has 3 call centers, two of which are regionally based. In our case, the use of IP technology for the Contact Center helps secure maximum revenues for the opportunity. Twice a year, at the beginning of summer and in December, business activity increases dramatically, with the number of calls occasionally reaching 10,000 on some days. The company couldn't handle this demand properly, because of lack of personnel and space (office space, furniture, equipment). It is exploring two possibilities: acquire more space to handle peaks in demand - assuming it is able to recruit additional temporary personnel twice a year - or assign customer service to a third party by outsourcing. Neither of these solutions is completely satisfactory, since: - the first solution is very expensive (but less costly than the income lost due to the calls it cannot take at present); - the second solution means it would lose control of what it considers to be the cornerstone of its customer relations, and would also slow down personalized service initiatives. Furthermore it reduces the possibilities for upselling - with investment in agent training already made. Rather than imposing a single organizational model, forcing the company to make painful compromises, IP technology makes it possible to mix the two models to achieve the best solution. If we assume the sites are now linked by IP, the locations of the agents no longer matter. To deal with the peaks in demand, several solutions can be envisaged for our company: Make use of additional resources within the company, without having to confine them to one particular site: Make use of external (complementary resources that will have access to the same information as the inhouse Call Center agents). In addition, whichever model is used, it can be adjusted according to the volume of activity. To go a step further, one could also imagine that only "important" customers are managed by in-house staff and that all the other calls are routed to an external company, when it is not possible to provide a very high level of service. In this way both costs and competences are maximized. > 14 ALCATEL

15 Recap 1. Optimize resources - Reduce inter-site communication costs. - Use the data network to avoid having to support two separate networks. - Simplify administration and maintenance by having a central management point. Proposal: implement IP gradually according to real business needs, protect investment. 2. Virtualize competences - Integrate the skills/competences into a common virtual team. - Allow "mobility" of agents, in particular from the central site to local sites and vice-versa. - Allow relocation of resources, to limit travel and increase productivity. Proposal: ensure that agents benefit from the same customer tools wherever they are. 3. Maximize the Customer Relationship - Make multi-channel access transparent by offering the same level of service, from every location. - Extend operating hours by giving the same level of information and the same service. - Adjust resources according to the level of activity to increase customer satisfaction. Proposal: set up an intelligent routing service independent from the media/channel, incorporating the customer data wherever its origin : voice applications, internet or historical interactions with the Customer Service 4. Choose the model - Benefit from the model most appropriate to the business activity at a given time. - Adjust the model according to the company's business: internal or external excess demand. - Use resources wherever they are to respond to customer segmentation needs. Proposal: make choices from business needs, not in terms of an "insourced" or outsourced model. It's the activity that determines the model, not your infrastructure driving your business. ALCATEL 15 >

16 Conclusion Implementation of an IP Contact Center is without a doubt one way of making savings on telephone communications and network maintenance operations. But to consider this aspect alone gives only a partial appreciation of value it can bring to the business. Do not ignore the most important value of all which is the positive impact it can have on the company's Customer Relations strategy. For any customer-oriented organization looking to maximize its efficiency, the IP Contact Center proves to be a formidable tool. To understand this, simply think of the impact of e-commerce applications on Internet: universal accessibility, increased reactivity of companies and personalization of customer relations. All these advantages have a direct impact on quality of service, and are now accessible thanks to Contact Center applications which more than ever are becoming the foundation for excellence in Customer Relations Management. To make the most of these opportunities, the IP Contact Center must be compatible with: a) the company's determination to be Customer oriented by setting up the appropriate structures and processes, not only at the strategic level but also on a practical level, particularly with regard to management of personnel competence and working environment; b) the flexibility offered by the telecommunications equipment and applications to truly make the most of the expected benefits and promises described in detail in this document. This is because as in any "open" technological domain, suppliers will be tempted to add their individual features, which will unfortunately transform a standard system into a proprietary system. So it will be necessary to ensure the Contact Center solutions are interoperable with the underlying IP architecture. Remember to consider critical factors such as the ability to easily manage a mix of TDM and IP technology, the management of existing hardware (which in many cases is destined to remain for some time to come) and finally the delivery of coherent and consistent tools for the Agent work station. All the above issues must be addressed to maximize the benefits from a move to an IP based contact center. Otherwise, there is a risk that the benefits of "networking agent skills" and "virtualization" will simply disappear, and the IP Contact Center investment will remain an empty promise. > 16 ALCATEL

17 About Alcatel Contact Center solutions Alcatel Contact Center Solutions empower organizations to enhance the interaction experience with their customers. The Alcatel contact center solution portfolio addresses every market need from a simple voice call distribution capability for a handful of agents right through to sophisticated networked multimedia interaction centers supporting thousands of agents across the globe. The Genesys software suite is at the very core of these solutions, complemented by Alcatel's leading position in its ability to deliver fully transparent telephony infrastructures. There is no longer a need for customers to choose between classic traditional telephony and VoIP (IP Telephony). Alcatel OmniPCXEnterprise based solutions allow them to co-exist transparently, protecting existing investments in traditional telephony, whilst allowing the new investment in IP telephony where it makes clear business sense. Alcatel has also introduced an optimized intelligent interface (Routing Services Intelligence) between the OmniPCX communications server and the Genesys interaction software suite. In simple terms, this combination delivers many advantages including improved functionality, easier implementation, easier day to day administration and supervision at an overall lower acquisition cost compared to other third party solutions. Substantiating this claim is the fact that more and more customers who originally chose non-alcatel telephony infrastructures are opting for this integrated telephony server and Genesys software solution, replacing or enhancing their existing equipment. Alcatel Contact Center Solutions are sold by an unrivalled business-partner network supported by local regional Alcatel teams to deliver the most suitable solution for each customer organization's distinct requirements. Alcatel Contact Center Solutions are currently used by more than 300,000 users worldwide. ALCATEL 17 >

18 The Evolutionary Framework Alcatel's Evolutionary Framework is much more than a concept. It is a pledge that we will be able to provide an organization with a specific solution whatever their needs today, and that our open software applications/platform will also accommodate their evolving needs tomorrow - no matter how simple or advanced their customer care operations may be. Alcatel's experience with OmniTouch and OmniGenesys solutions also enables it to provide full training solutions, services and product packages through its network of Business Partners, backed by Alcatel's own Professional Services for bespoke customer projects where required. See for more > 18 ALCATEL

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20 GB - 06/ Alcatel Business Systems - 32, avenue Kléber Colombes - France - RCS Paris B This document does not constitute a contract - The functions mentioned are country-specific and availabililty depends on the public network to which systems are connected - Alcatel reserves the right to modify features without prior notice - All trademarks are the property of their respective companies - Photos: GETTY - Printed in EEC on chlorine-free paper.