Mar 17th, 2011

By: Paul Fick, MD of Spescom DataFusion, a strategic Presence Technology partner

Intelligent routing (IR) is not new to contact centres – the benefits of using this technology are proven. It’s now no longer the exclusive domain of larger companies with sizable budgets and access to high level skills.
Today, intelligent routing solutions are modular, easy-to-use and to configure, and are reasonably priced.  Furthermore, IR solutions can easily bolt onto an existing platform.

With IR, the redirection capabilities of the automatic call distributor (ACD) are significantly extended, ensuring all incoming contacts reaching a contact centre via available channels (voice, e-mail, chat/Web callback or SMS) will be directed to the most suitable agent. The benefits are self-evident: if the customer is quickly identified and the query is properly directed to the agent with the appropriate skills, the query is resolved faster and the customer is happier.  The highly skilled agent’s time is properly utilised, the call centre is more productive and, importantly, more cost effective.

Because of the considerable value IR solutions offer and their increasing affordability, more small to medium (<50 agents) contact centres can now deploy them. In fact, those that already do so, consider IR solutions a strategic part of their business management toolkit. IR solutions such as those from Presence Technology, a strategic business partner to Spescom DataFusion, offer ideal examples of the types of solutions being adopted.

They can be purchased as stand-alone modules and offer a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows the user to literally drag and drop the necessary parameters into a call routing strategy design.

Configuration of strategies for each type of incoming contact may depend on the various elements that characterise it – e.g., who is calling, and what type of contact is it (e-mail, chat, SMS, social media, etc). With a powerful visual interface, contact centre managers and administrators can perform multiple queries on incoming contacts contained in numerous databases in order to define optimised ‘routes’ per contact.

Intelligent routing relies on two processes: defining the route of an incoming contact through use of a routing design application, and executing the strategy associated with that contact, a task which is assigned to a routing server. The IR solution ensures that contact-related information is stored in the business database together with customer interaction data – e.g., the information requested from the customer before routing (for example, from an IVR) – so there is sufficient information to base decisions on.

For distribution, this strategic routing information is synchronised with real-time status awareness of each agent and queue. The result: maximum system performance and improved response times in the decision making process.

About Spescom

Spescom (Pty) Ltd operates in the ICT (Information & Communications Technology) sector. Founded in 1977, this South African Company has developed and delivered a number of world first technologies, as well as innovative products and services to both local and global markets.

While the recent merger with Jasco promises to unlock stakeholder value on numerous fronts, Spescom’s core focus is to deliver integrated business communication solutions that enhance the way businesses communicate with their customers,  and leverages voice, video and data technologies through its four companies Spescom DataFusion; Spescom DataVoice; Spescom Media IT and recently created NewTelco South Africa – a carrier-neutral co-location service provider creating a telecoms interconnection hub for sub-Saharan Africa.  The deep technical expertise and considerable industry know-how housed in these four divisions combine to deliver world-class solutions including integrated contact centre platforms and applications, a range of voice application technologies, as well as telecommunications and broadcast solutions.

‘Smart People. Clever Solutions’ reflects who we are and why we are positioned to leverage current and future technology trends and developments to meet the dynamically shifting requirements of our customers and ensure their continued competitiveness.

Spescom has a staff complement of 258 with offices located in Johannesburg,Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Durban and London (UK).

For more information visit Spescom at www.spescom.com and Jasco at www.jasco.co.za

About Presence Technology

Presence Technology is a leading provider of specialized Contact Centre software. Presence’s Solutions allow Contact Centres to optimize their resources and increase productivity between the business-client interfaces.

Manned by highly qualified professionals, Presence works with numerous world class companies and boasts a vast network of partners throughout South Africa, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. who stand behind and provide support for any project around the world.

For more information about Presence Technology visit www.presenceco.com

Follow us:

www.twitter.com/presencetech
www.facebook.com/presencetech
www.linkedin.com/groups