Converged or cobbled together?

According to Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence's regional sales director for UK and Africa, it is important to check that the call centre solution you are offered is truly converged, rather than just a mishmash of different systems.

The advent of converged communications offers significant opportunities for consumers and businesses. For consumers, the utopia lies in having all communication services available under one contract. Mobile phone companies are buying cable companies and vice versa to make this utopia a reality for consumers - and to ensure they retain a significant portion of the revenue pie.

For businesses, the key benefit of convergence of communications across media types - wireless, wireline or cable - is flexibility. Employees are able to access and deliver voice, video and data regardless of location, meaning that people don't have to be in the office to be part of the business.

For businesses looking to move to an IP-based network that offers converged communications, it is critical that they investigate and evaluate how truly converged and integrated the service provider's offerings are.

In South Africa, many local businesses have acquired companies to fill gaps in their solutions. On the surface the solution offered may appear to be converged and integrated; however, this may not be the case. This may result in multiple management systems, different reporting methods, and a high cost of ownership.

This is particularly relevant in the call centre environment. Building and managing an effective contact centre is complex and, according to a recent research report by BenchmarkPortal, the simplicity of the technology plays a significant role in the success and cost structure of the centre.

Total cost of ownership of an all-in-one converged system is significantly less due to system purchase prices, maintenance costs, establishment of vendor relationships, the time taken to evaluate new technologies and system administration and training needs.

Contact centre managers are increasingly recognising this and adjusting to single vendor solutions. However, in the process they must take care not to take-on a multi-point system which appears to be converged merely because it is bought from a single vendor. All-in-one centres are more easily able to integrate new technologies, and this is becoming increasingly critical with the development of convergence.