VIP24seven, a 24-hour call centre focusing on the media and financial markets, has replaced its analogue private branch exchange (PBX) telephony system with an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solution from Cisco.
Cisco`s CallManager solution, a greenfields implementation, comprises 1 760 IP phones and caters for 60 call centre agents, explains Anish Maharaj, CTO at VIP24seven.
The solution, installed by converged networks provider KSS Technologies, has increased the speed of service and call resolution, while its open standards and interoperability capabilities will cater for future integration with third-party applications, he says.
"In line with our focus on quality and service, we identified the need for a solution that would improve the customer experience by providing intelligent skills-based routing of calls, flexible reporting and manageability. Our move to new premises provided us with the ideal opportunity for a greenfields implementation," says Maharaj, adding that the call centre previously relied on a manual system for customer routing and reporting.
"We established the usage 'peaks and troughs` by observing how many agents were on the phone to customers. Using a PBX system, it was also difficult to transfer calls to the person correctly skilled to handle a particular request or query.
"In addition, we were unable to determine who was in the queuing system and customers would be diverted to voicemail if an agent did not answer the call within a certain time frame, thus heightening frustrations."
Underpinning these challenges, he adds, was the requirement for the business to "fit in" with the limitations of the older telephony system, requiring the creation of inefficient business processes based around the inflexibility of the traditional PBX.
The solution provides a modular platform and will cater for future growth, expanding to include new agents, while meeting the trend of transferring a call from "any device to any device".
Cisco is extending its focus to include the small to medium business market segment, bringing this sector the benefits of IP telephony and ultimately, a converged platform, says Jessica Robinson, territory marketing manager at Cisco.
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