BroadSoft s Unified Communication Solution Powered by Sytel Explaining the benefits of adding Sytel s outbound, multi-media contact center solution to an existing BroadWorks implementation Version 1.3 Sytel Limited Jul 2012 All rights reserved
Table of Contents: Introduction... 1 Why Sytel?... 1 Integration with the BroadWorks ACD... 2 Details on Call Blending... 3 The Agent Experience... 4 The Supervisor Experience... 6 Media Blending... 8 Improved Inbound Processing... 10 IVR... 10 Enhancing Queue Logic... 10 Call Recording... 11 Reporting... 12
Introduction This paper is intended for Service Providers who use BroadWorks to deliver their SIP infrastructure and hosted inbound contact center functions. It shows how Sytel s Softdial Contact Center (SCC) offering can be used to add enhanced hosted contact center services in a tightly-integrated product offering. The value-added services that you can deliver using SCC deployed together with BroadWorks are: Hosted predictive dialer Call and media blending between the BroadWorks ACD, the dialer and packet media sources Hosted contact center agent scripting Hosted outbound call list and inbound data management. Hosted IVR Hosted media-server based call recording Scripted customizable call routing for BroadWorks ACD In short, SCC extends BroadWorks to become a full-service hosted contact center solution including all of the necessary application elements. The paper goes on to describe the available functionality. An important question for a service provider to ask is: Why use Sytel for this purpose? BroadSoft, with its ecosystem of partner companies has many ways to solve the business problem of delivering enhanced contact center services. Why Sytel? Sytel is not well known in the contact center industry globally. This is because Sytel is largely an OEM provider of core technology for hosted (and large premise-based) contact centers. Through our channel partners Sytel has an installed base approaching 40,000 agent positions, a significant proportion of which are hosted. In respect of hosted predictive dialers, Sytel is one of the largest, if not the largest, global supplier of technology to run hosted predictive dialing. Sytel s SCC is a modular software platform designed for the delivery of hosted contact center services with rich functionality. Jul 2012 Version 1.3 1
Integration with the BroadWorks ACD The SCC platform, amongst other things, comprises an outbound ACD and a host-based telephony stack designed to fulfill the media processing and switching requirements for large-scale outbound dialing. In order to deliver outbound functionality SCC is deployed alongside a BroadWorks installation and uses the facilities of BroadWorks to route SIP calls to the network for predictive dial, and to route calls to agents for station tie-up. SCC employs a B2BUA telephony stack and performs media switching. This differs from BroadWorks which takes a SIP standards-based approach to calls and minimizes the RTP path between endpoints. The B2BUA model delivers fast and deterministic switching required when connecting a live customer to an agent, and is the only model that works well for outbound dialing. In order to marry this with the BroadWorks ACD, Sytel has developed an integration component called BroadSoft Bridge. This mirrors BroadWorks call center queue configurations and agent memberships into SCC, giving a real-time picture of ACD activity in BroadWorks. BroadSoft Bridge sits between Sytel s CallGem (SCC s command and control center) and the BroadWorks platform, and moves agents back and forth based on demand. This bridge is installed on the same platform as CallGem and is then configured to connect to the BroadWorks platform via a web service API. Fig. 1 Integration between BroadWorks and SCC This allows the automated call blend algorithm designed as an integral part of SCC to make demand calculations based on the exact state of the BroadWorks ACD and moves agents between inbound and outbound campaigns seamlessly. Jul 2012 Version 1.3 2
Details on Call Blending An agent logs on to an outbound campaign on Sytel platform. When this happens the integration bridge advises SCC which inbound queues the agent is a member of within BroadWorks. Since the home campaign of the agent will be the outbound campaign, they will be handling outbound calls when there is no inbound demand. During their working hours, if there are incoming calls on the BroadWorks side, the agent will be automatically moved to handle the inbound demand. Once finished with the inbound calls, the agent will be moved back to the outbound campaign. This functionality maximizes agent utilisation. The blend algorithm has been in continuous development at Sytel since 2002, and like Sytel s predictive engine is designed for maximum performance while keeping nuisance calls to a minimum. Blending can take place over many queues, the blend algorithm keeping track of service level and resource allocations for each queue. It is also possible to specify fast service queues where queues subject to tough service levels and/or rapid fluctuations in demand can override the normal dialer agent release process. This provides faster agent release from outbound, at a slight cost to outbound performance. The customer also has the option to use media blending, utilising the strong feature set available within the Sytel platform. The same agent will then be able to handle inbound/outbound emails, SMS, chat and other packet media transactions based on configuration. In the media blending environment, the same UI framework is used for delivering agent experience as for outbound. The user experience remains the same, except for the fact that there is no audio portion when handling email or SMS. Normally, we would not expect any connectivity issues for customers arising out of the new features as most service providers will have a strong IP backbone. However, if required, there are standard settings in order to limit and manage the resource usage (e.g. maximum concurrent calls, maximum calls per second) over IP networks. Fig. 2 A typical BroadSoft Service Provider deployment with Sytel Jul 2012 Version 1.3 3
The Agent Experience Softdial Scripter is Sytel s scripting engine that delivers real-time workflows for: contact center agents IVR generic contact center workflows In order to keep a consistent agent experience, all of the UI elements of Scripter are usercustomisable. This enables a consistent UI to be delivered across SCC outbound dialing and BroadWorks inbound ACD operations The login page on the browser will be displayed using Scripter, and the agent will use this page to log in to an outbound campaign. This interface can be service provider or end-user branded. Once logged in, the BroadSoft Bridge manages the agent state through the available BroadSoft APIs and set the initial state of an agent to be unavailable within BroadWorks. Softdial Scripter provides web-based agent scripting that can either be template-based or built from scratch using the tools Sytel provides. The tools are designed for remote development and secure hosted deployment. When an incoming call is presented, the call will be queued within the BroadWorks platform. As Sytel is monitoring these queues, Sytel will then pick up the agent from the outbound pool and make them available on the inbound side automatically. The call will then be de-queued to this agent and they will see the standard BroadSoft panel for handling inbound calls. As soon as they complete this call, they will be moved back to the outbound pool, unless there are already more inbound calls to manage. If there is no inbound demand, the agent will keep handling calls on the outbound campaign. This means that the customer can always expect excellent agent productivity throughout the day. Fig. 3 Call blending between outbound and inbound voice Jul 2012 Version 1.3 4
Agents must be trained to manage different screen-pops, especially outbound, in this blended scenario. This should be covered during the standard agent induction process of the contact center. The inbound agent desktop experience can also be delivered Scripter instead of hosting a BroadWorks agent login session. This provides the user with a single, consistent agent desktop environment and enables the full functionality of scripter to be used for handling inbound voice calls processed through BroadWorks ACD. There is a script library available for scripter to enable first-party call control on inbound calls delivered through BroadWorks. Jul 2012 Version 1.3 5
The Supervisor Experience The supervisor must understand how to configure these blended agents on the BroadWorks platform. In short, there is no change to the current method. The supervisor will define call profiles, call center instances and users within BroadWorks using the standard procedure. Below are the screenshots of BroadSoft s administration panel that explains these configuration details: Fig. 4 Supervisor configuration screens within BroadWorks Jul 2012 Version 1.3 6
These agents will be provisioned automatically though the monitoring activities of the BroadSoft Bridge. Once configured, agent movement and campaign performance can be tracked through the reporting and campaign management interfaces provided by Sytel. For inbound, the supervisor can choose to use the BroadSoft panels. Outbound must be managed through Sytel s web interfaces: Fig. 5 Sytel and BroadSoft screens for supervisors Jul 2012 Version 1.3 7
Media Blending Media blending is handled through SCC. This means that, while handling inbound calls through BroadWorks, an agent can also take care of inbound/outbound emails, chat sessions and SMS messages based on media blending configurations within SCC. Incoming packet media sources are mediated into SCC in the same way as calls, and are blended in the same way. The SCC automated blend algorithm is media-agnostic, meaning that it has been designed to take account of the vastly differing response times and traffic volumes that have to be dealt with in a multimedia queuing environment. Fig. 6 Media blending between outbound voice and inbound email Jul 2012 Version 1.3 8
A major component of the SCC multi-media solution is the ability to use Scripter to perform workflow processes on packet media sources. This enables automatic sorting, filtering, processing and rerouting of packet media sources. With the high volume of transactions when doing multimedia processing, it pays to automate as much as possible. Since Scripter is an extensible tool, the automation possibilities are almost limitless. Fig. 7 An example script logic flow within Sytel s Scripter Designer Jul 2012 Version 1.3 9
Improved Inbound Processing IVR Most inbound contact center functions require IVR for customer lookup/validation and call routing. The IVR platform within SCC uses the same design tools as for agent desktop scripting, and can easily be deployed to work as part of a BroadWorks ACD implementation. Because Sytel s IVR scripting is based on the same extensible toolset as the agent desktop scripting the range of applications is almost limitless. Here are a few examples of applications Sytel customers use the SCC IVR for today: Servicing for credit management applications Account servicing for subscriber services eg cellular & multi-play carrier services Auto-attendant, voicemail and other PBX functions Pre-screening/validation of customer identity Menu systems Calling card solutions An incoming call to be handled by IVR is routed through BroadWorks to terminate in SCC. The IVR then processes the call, capturing data, performing database lookups and other logic as necessary. When the call is routed to an inbound queue or agent in BroadWorks a script step is invoked to redirect the call within BroadWorks. This means that the call does not need to be tromboned through SCC for its lifetime. Enhancing Queue Logic Available within Scripter is a suite of library functions that make use of published BroadSoft APIs to reroute calls, as above, but also to provide queue statistics to the script. This enables a SCC IVR script to make intelligent routing choices based on call load and provide callback service. This library is being continuously improved as new applications for SCC IVR are developed. Jul 2012 Version 1.3 10
Call Recording Because SCC is based on Sytel s proven host-based media processing stack it provides a costeffective and reliable means of providing a call recording service for BroadWorks. The recording of inbound calls requires media to trombone through the Sytel platform. The BroadSoft Bridge service enables the gathering of call-related data from BroadWorks. This allows for the unification of recording data as Sytel is already responsible for the recording of outbound calls. Using our web-based recording viewer, a supervisor will be able to search for recording files based on standard or custom search criteria. Fig. 8 The web-enabled search facility for Sytel recordings Sytel will also allow compression of these recording files from WAV to MP3 format, which may become an important factor in terms of storage space within the hosted platform. Standalone Offering For BroadSoft Service Providers seeking a low-cost, standalone call recording solution, SCC can be configured as a standalone offering. Please contact Sytel for more details. Jul 2012 Version 1.3 11
Reporting In the initial phase, reporting on inbound and outbound will be managed separately. The supervisor will look at BroadWorks reports for inbound and will use Sytel s web reporter for outbound. Currently the BroadSoft reporting data is written in a backend table separate from Sytel s outbound reporting table. As the Sytel reporting architecture is very flexible, backend data tables can be merged into a single report. Customers should not expect any increased costs for this unified report. Sytel will provide a generic unified reporting system to all its customers in 2012. Fig. 9 A sample set of Sytel s web reports Jul 2012 Version 1.3 12
www.sytelco.com info@sytelco.com +44 (0)1296 381 200 Sytel Limited 1 Cromwell Court New Street Aylesbury Buckinghamshire HP20 2PB UK