Africa Data Holdings, soft call centre take exhibition by storm

Africa Data Holdings, SA`s leading supplier of ISDN technologies and solutions, received an unprecedented response to the value of R16 million for its latest product, hello world!, which was launched at the Customer Contact World Africa 2001 exhibition.

"We decided to use the exhibition as a vehicle to launch our soft call centre product due to the niche market it was targeting. We are extremely pleased with response we received on the product. Although we expected a certain amount of interest, the end result was beyond our initial expectations.

"The enquiries that came through amounted to over 3 000 seats - a phenomenal result considering the number of competitors present and the short space of time the exhibition ran for. Not only did we have sincere interest from large corporates, financial institutions and hoteliers, but other exhibitors were also requesting quotes, information and advice," says Nevil Hill, general manager, Africa Data Holdings.

"Hello world! is exceptionally good value for money. As a soft call centre product, hello world! can accommodate a four-seat call centre as well as facilitate a centre of 350 people. Most companies tend to panic at the thought of installing a call centre because of the cost implications. What is attractive about hello world! is that a four-seat call centre can be installed for less than R28 000 and a 20-seat centre for R66 000," says Hill.

Hello world! is the first soft call centre and PBX to be launched into the local market. Developed in Germany, hello world! can replace the traditional PABX system or work along side it, and is suitable for both the SME and corporate markets. "Hello world! is able to integrate telephones and standard PCs in an office environment. This system not only eliminates clutter in an office, but it also reduces the cost of installing new telephone systems. The product, which requires no proprietary hardware at any part of the communications chain to achieve voice connectivity, can be operated through Windows NT, 2000, 98, 95 and Linux.

"Since the exhibition we have continued to receive calls from interested vendors and value-added resellers (VARs) which we believe is a testimony to the success and value of the product. What is most pleasing to us is that we are in the process of deploying three call centres that are the result of telephonic queries received during the first week after the show. Based on this initial success, we look forward to seeing the continued growth of hello world! in the South African market," concludes Hill.

"Hello world! has been implemented in 160 European companies and installed in a further 80 call centres. These call centres range in size up to and including 240 agents who work off a single Linux server taking between 6 000 and 8 000 calls per day."