South African companies which have made investments in call centre solutions, are reluctant to discard their existing infrastructure in order to implement full multimedia capabilities within their centres.
Today it`s no longer necessary to write off legacy technology, says Rob Browne, Ericsson business development manager at Dimension Data Interactive Communications.
"Ericsson has developed a new version of its Solidus eCare offering which enhances any call centre solution by accommodating a variety of communication channels. Most call centres today support voice as the sole contact channel. The addition of Solidus eCare Internet media features will transform a call centre into a true multimedia contact centre," he explains.
Solidus eCare was recently awarded "best in show" at the Call Center & CRM Solutions 2001 exhibition in Dallas, US after being adjudged one of the few "true multimedia contact centres" and the only one which seamlessly integrates real multimedia self-service capability.
In addition to standard phone calls, Solidus eCare supports IP extended telephones and remote agents for non-voice media, such as chat, web co-browsing, email, fax and voicemail routing. Because it handles all these media in the same manner, a consistent routing scheme can be utilised.
Virtual agents which operate alongside live agents provide self-service capabilities. Both virtual and live agents can utilise Solidus eCare`s integrated Knowledge base Manager module to efficiently resolve customer queries. In the self-service, virtual environment, the interactive knowledge base automatically generates responses to common and repetitive enquiries.
"The innovative self-service technology and the Internet media features of Solidus eCare close the gap between today`s traditional call centre solutions and e-commerce applications. They give a better and faster service for the customer and significantly reduce costs for the contact centre operator," Browne concludes.
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Dimension Data Holdings
Dimension Data Holdings plc is a leading global network services and i-Commerce solutions provider, focused on enabling enterprises, telecommunications service providers and new economy companies to communicate and transact effectively in an e-enabled environment.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Dimension Data is ranked in FTSE 100 and operates in over 30 countries on six continents. The Group has achieved a two year compound annual growth rate in US dollars of 57% in revenue and 36% in basic earnings per share over the past two years. For more information, please go to www.didata.com.