C.a.T.S was approached by a mobile operator in Mid-Africa to integrate an existing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system with a new billing system, running parallel with a current one.
"Being very much involved in system integration, it is of paramount importance for us as a company to utilize the best tools and technology to give our customers affordable, industrial strength and painless system integration," Johan Grobler, Managing Director of C.a.T.S. said.
C.a.T.S. made use of CORBA technology (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) based on IBM`s WebSphere Application Server to enable callers to extract billing information pertaining to them from the IVR via voice. C.a.T.S. earlier integrated the system to an Eppix billing system using IBM`s Informix.
"Fortunately we are the incumbent vendor regarding the IVR; hence we only had to liaise with one party being the billing vendor. Swift and efficient service from them enabled us to execute this project within the parameters we set for ourselves," Johan Grobler continued.
The IVR system determines the billing system the caller is currently assigned to, receives the request from the caller and returns the relevant information to the caller. According to Johan Grobler, it is important for clients to know that the investment they have made regarding their IVR is protected. Clients must know that they capitalize on their IVR expenditure by adding functionality to the IVR menus and also industry standard integration.
"The last thing we want to tell a client is that `it is not possible`. We prefer the luxury of freedom when it comes to integration," Johan added.
It has always been the strategy to have technical people onboard during the sales cycle. Thus C.a.T.S. has been able in many cases to provide clients with proof of concepts before the actual deal is signed.
It was also convenient to use IBM`s application server, which was of the same family of products with regard to the IVR. However, with IBM`s open approach and adherence to industry standards, the choice regarding the platform was not limited.
Once again C.a.T.S. has put in place vital monitoring mechanism to ensure the integrity of the link between the IVR and the billing system.
"Customer service is of increasing importance for mobile operators as they vie for market share. We aim not only to maintain the customer service levels, but push it up," Johan concluded.
C.a.T.S., as an IBM business partner, focuses on IBM`s WebSphere Voice Response IVR solutions, integrated with WebSphere Voice Server and WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal Server. It is available on PC and RS6000 (pSeries) platforms, as well as operating systems like AIX, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows. Johan Grobler, a professional electronics engineer, founded C.a.T.S. in 1996 after spending two years at IBM in the Network Solutions team working on Voice Applications.
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