Aspect integrates contact centre platform

Aspect is integrating its Aspect Unified IP contact centre platform with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 capabilities, reports Call Centre Helper.

Aspect Unified IP, with Microsoft Lync, will offer key unified communications (UC) capabilities, including enhanced expert search functionality and increased collaboration for agents within the contact centre and knowledge workers across the enterprise.

“For companies that have implemented Microsoft unified communications technologies, deploying Aspect solutions within the contact centre will offer almost the equivalent of out-of-the-box UC capabilities for customer contact,” says Gary Barnett, chief technology officer and executive vice-president.

New research from Connected World reveals that despite 36.7% of contact centres judging themselves to be fully compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the vast majority (89%) admitted to not understanding its requirements and penalties, reveals TCM Net.

Compounding further concern and reflecting a high level of disarray in the market, a third of all contact centre respondents (33%) claimed at best to be years away from full PCI DSS compliance, with a fifth (21%) stating that their processes will never be in full accordance with the standard's stringent requirements.

The survey of more of than 200 contact centre decision makers, spanning a range of industries from retail and leisure to public service and finance, was commissioned to mark the introduction of Connected World's PCI TeleSafe solution, a network-based telephony solution that protects customer accounts data at the point of payment and resolves a host of PCI DSS compliance headaches faced by contact centres.

Xhead = Azzurri secures £5m tender

Azzurri Communications has secured a five-year deal, estimated to be worth £5 million over its lifetime, to install a solution for insurance group LV, based on Avaya's contact centre technology, says Mobile News.

The contract and work rolls out next year. The components of the solution are an Avaya IP Contact Centre for 1 800 concurrent users with capacity for 2 300 users, 2 300 IP telephones, compliance call recording, workforce management and an integrated callback application.

Azzurri Communications says as well as gaining a stable telephony platform, LV expects operational benefits, including increased control over contact centre operations, the ability to report more efficiently on business metrics and improvement in productivity.