High end business telecommunications functionality is now within reach of small and medium-sized enterprises following the release in South Africa of an easy-to-use, Windows NT-based system.
According to Jim Stockton, product manager at Dimension Data Interactive (DDI), the multiple award winning Enterprise Interaction Centre (EIC) from US-based Interactive Intelligence can handle all the tasks associated with legacy telephony devices - and more.
"Before EIC, setting up telecommunications for a business before EIC meant purchasing multiple proprietary devices such as PABXs, automatic call distributors (ACD)s, interactive voice response systems (IVRs), voice mail systems, fax servers, and computer telephony integration (CTI) gateways.
"This was beyond the budget and technical capabilities of small to medium-sized businesses. Even within large organisations, the integration of these computer-telephony advances has generally been confined to sophisticated call centres," he explains.
EIC has revolutionised the telecommunications world by unifying the processes of telephony, fax, e-mail and Internet interactions on a single Windows NT server, enabling all telephony functions to be utilised across an enterprise LAN, WAN - and even over the Internet.
"It turns every PC running Windows 95, 98, or NT into a graphical interaction centre. Users can perform standard telephone functions including dialling, transferring and conferencing by pointing and clicking on icons on their computer screens.
"And by utilising Microsoft Exchange technology, EIC`s call handling and screen pop capabilities allow users to see who is calling by flashing a message with the caller`s name on their computer monitor. The user can then decide what to do with the call - answer it, transfer it, or redirect it to voicemail simply by clicking on the appropriate icon on the screen.
Because EIC is based on Microsoft Windows, user training as well as maintenance costs and downtime are reduced. The user interface is the same as any other Windows application while the whole telephony system can be maintained by the company`s own IT personnel. Maintenance of conventional systems requires the services of external specialists to deal with each of the proprietary devices making up the system.
It is also easy to install, administer and use right out of the box thanks to its plug-and-play set-up and installation wizard. There`s also a user-friendly customisation process in which users drag items from a tool palette, drop them into a work space and then link them together to make the system fit their precise requirements.
"The scalability and modularity of EIC enables companies to start with a basic system which can quickly and easily be enhanced and expanded to provide a turnkey total telecommunications solution as the company, and its needs, grow," he adds.
"It`s also affordable. Smaller companies with up to 100 telephone extensions can install a basic system including all PABX functions, voice and fax mail, IVR and some call centre functionality for an extremely attractive cost. A total solution for the same company incorporating all EIC`s functionality and features could cost approximately R1,4-million - considerably less than it would cost to purchase, install and integrate all the system devices individually," he adds.
The product has taken the international telecommunications industry by storm, winning numerous industry awards including "Product of the Year" from leading telecommunications publications "Computer Telephony", "Call Center" and "CTI" magazine. It has already been installed in some 60 sites in the US and about 12 in Europe.
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