January 2005

2. Moving to an IP Contact Center.. Are you ready? Shelli FeigenbaumNortel Multimedia Applications January 2005

3. IP for Your Contact Center? By the end of 2003, Enterprises were implementing IP Telephony in 9% of their call/contact centers. That will increase by a factor of five over the next five years, when 45% of all call/contact centers are projected to use IP Telephony.

4. “Prime Time” Solutions? “Our research shows the market for IP telephony is picking up pace… Users reported cost savings up to 30%, and more important, the ability to add new, standardized features across entire enterprises.” Joan Huber, InfoTech consultant – survey of 27 users of IP telephony systems “Call centers will purchase 30% of all Voice over IP products in the next two years.” International Data Company (IDC)

5. Typical Customer Business Issues for IP Contact Center • Need to capitalize on the expertise of a distributed workforce • Call hold times and abandoned call rates are increasing • Contact center is experiencing a high amount of agent turnover • The lack of local skilled resources make it extremely difficult to staff adequately • The limited hours of service offered by the contact center are not meeting customer needs • Have mobile workers and/or help desk technicians who are suffering from low productivity. • Lengthy deployment schedules and implementation delays will negatively impact business success • The requirement for a flexible disaster recovery or emergency overflow plan is mounting • Managing a large number of moves, adds, and changes has significantly reduced the productivity of telecom support staff

6. IP in the CC - Why the Excitement? IP Contact Centers Solve Business Issues.. • Extend Contact Center Reach • Overcome geographical boundaries • Expand pool of available talent • Improve productivity • Increase flexibility / mobility • Centralize Management • Manage remote agents easily • Utilize browser-based management interface • Consolidation • Trunks • Contact Center • Deliver Flexible Disaster Recovery and Overflow Options • Reduce Costs • Send calls over IP networks, bypass toll charges • Reduce number of leased lines • Converge network

7. Before Diving in, Ask Yourself…Sample Qualifying Questions for an IP Contact Center • How does your company interact with customers? • Do you use any call centers (contact centers)? What is their purpose? • If so, how many and where are they located? • What types of calls are managed? • What are your service levels? Have you taken steps to improve this rate? • Do you need to extend contact center applications to agents at remote sites or home-based offices without incurring significant costs? • What steps are you taking to control resource costs? Do you need a solution that will enable you to improve service while reducing operating costs? • What type of administrative inefficiencies do you currently experience in terms of reporting, routing, and queues?

8. So, You’re Ready…. Keys To IP Contact Center Success • Understand the business drivers. • IP in the contact center is a business decision, not a technology decision. • Conduct a network assessment, make upgrades so your network is quality rock solid. • Upgrade routers and switches, if needed. • Is a separate virtual LAN for voice needed? • Network assessments are prerequisites for most vendors. • Include testing initially and as an ongoing practice. • Test VoIP quality and monitor as your network changes. • Continually test for network vulnerabilities as you do for your data applications. • Take your time and choose your migration approach, applications, infrastructure platforms and partners wisely. • Involve a cross-functional team in the planning and implementation. • These applications are so important that this can't be a purely technology-driven event. • Keep it (relatively) simple. • Minimize the number of vendors, the complexity of your network and the number of technology platforms, reducing maintenance, management and support.. • Don't be cheap. • Make the necessary investments in redundancy, capacity, network testing, resource training and piloting. • Be involved. • Expect to be an active, hands-on participant. • Choose your vendor carefully - pick one that understands VoIP, but don't just rely on it. • Build an internal team that understands the network and applications well. By Lori Bocklund, Network World, 05/10/04

9. IP Contact Centers: Remember - Create The Right Solution ForYour Business! • One size does not fit all • Do NOT adopt incomplete, unproven solutions • Don’t settle for scaled-down functionality with no advanced features • High-value, mission critical applications require telephony-grade or “bullet proof” reliability • Investment protection – inter-working is critical • Migrate to IP but minimize business disruption • Full IP solution – integration with current network systems Don’t let the hype be the driver towards VoIP, let your business needs be the driver!

10. Comprehensive Contact Center Software Should Provides: Advanced skill-based routing Adaptable call routing and treatment Detailed and meaningful management reports Graphical and customizable real-time displays Easy-to-use intuitive user interface Expanded multimedia contact center functionality and rich business application integration Customize and personalize call handling using flexible, rich scripting to exceed customer expectations Enhance the customer experience and manage calls by caller intelligence or dynamic conditions The Foundation of your IP Contact Center:

11. What else should I look for? • Scalability • Simple Report Creation • Universal Networking - network skills-based routing, reporting and management across a variety of Switch platforms • Resiliency - Local campus & geographic redundancy with automatic or manual fail-over • Total Cost of Ownership • Market Leading CTI Solutions • Unified Agent Desktop - Single agent interface for the management of all contacts regardless of media • Corporate Software Licensing - Reduces cost of ownership by centralizing control of software licensing • Integrated Outbound Campaign Manager • Delivers the same real-time displays and historical reporting management tools as used for inbound calls

12. Differentiating Characteristics Lower Operating Expenses Carrier Grade Reliability Business Continuity Large Scale Convergence Unmatched Scalability Investment Protection Open Platform

13. Protecting Your Interests Business Value • Continuous service for mission critical users and applications • Revenue retention and improved customer satisfaction • Disaster and emergency preparedness • Shared network resources & applications Business Continuity Solution • Geographic separation of Call servers • Emergency standalone media gateways • Applications sharing at the network edge • Dynamic traffic redirection • Phone replication across the network

14. Improving the Bottom Line Business Value • Eliminate reoccurring Centrex charges • Transparent user experience • Investments protection • Simplified / consolidated managements & administration • Reduce Moves, Adds & Changes cost Solution • Port Centrex telephones devices to Media Gateways • Centralized management with Integrated Element Management System • IP Phones supporting DHCP & self labeling keys Lower Operating Expenses

15. Optimizing Resources Business Value Large Scale Convergence • Improved employee productivity • Collaborative services • Virtual office • Reduced network costs & real estate • Converged network for voice & Data • Consolidate nodes Solution • Multimedia Collaboration • Unified Messaging • Flexible Media Gateway Options • Ethernet Routing Switch • VPN Router security solutions

16. Exceeding Expectations Business Value • Maximum up-time assurance • Supports the most demanding requirements • Traffic loading • Meets security and defense requirements • “No sacrifice” converged solution Carrier Grade Reliability Solution • Open architecture • Complete duplication of all critical elements • Port level redundancy • Geographic separation & survivability

17. Supporting Your Business Growth Business Value • Consistent experience across the business • Reduce costs and disparate technologies through network consolidation • Prepared to support unforeseen business requirements • Mergers & acquisitions / expansion Unmatched Scalability Solution • Open architecture • 200,000 ports supported • 125,000 IP Phones* • 200,000 IP trunks* • 30,000 ACD agents

18. Leveraging Your Assets Business Value • Maximized Return on Investment with standards based upgrades • Allows migration at your pace where it makes the most business sense • Retain key assets while developing improved business practices Investment Protection Solution Hybrid or all IP • Investment Retention • XA-Core • Applications • Media Gateways support existing devices

19. Freedom of Choice Business Value Open Platform • Allows ease of interoperability with other applications and services • Supports a heterogeneous environment • Greater flexibility and ability to provide new revenue generating capabilities quicker Solution • SIP Compliant • Open industry standard hardware • Compact PCI processor • Standard protocol support • H.323, H.248, SS7, SIP, MGCP etc • Key contributor to IETF and ITU

20. Implementations of our IP Contact Center Solutions • Customer Examples

21. “Handle Dynamic Changes.” The Challenge • Manage consolidated travel reservations for client with 50,000 employees across the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America • Handle dynamic changes in call volumes from exponential growth to unexpected slow downs • Address these issues quickly - within 90 days - including hiring additional staff and deploying the solution In May 2000, we had approximately 52,000 calls and the answer delay was more than six minutes. The calls exceeded our expectations by about 60%… Reinhard Pees, Telecommunications Manager

22. IP Contact Center Solution Extend contact center to a remote site to cover peak periods and to lengthen open hours: Uses skill based routing on Contact Center solution to half average call duration and reduce number of calls transferred Increases capacity seamlessly and cost efficiently by routing calls to other locations over the IP network using the Remote Office 9150 Allows quick and easy expansion or scale back without significant costs “Speed and Scalability are Key Highlights” …after the implementation, we had 69,000 calls and the average answer delay was 52 seconds. For us, speed and scalability are the major highlights of the IP Contact Center solution…that translates to premium service for our customers and profitability for Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Reinhard Pees, Telecommunications Manager

23. The Challenge Deliver real-time contact center statistics to 300 desktops to help increase productivity and motivate agents Provide supervisors with a powerful client solution, while reducing maintenance costs and speeding installation time Deploy a flexible solution that is easy to manage and support, reducing the total cost of ownership Centralize ManagementSimplify Infrastructure “ One of the key advantages with the Call Center Web Client is the ability to manage the application centrally… Frank Miali Senior Network Engineer Pacific Life Insurance “

24. Utilize a browser based thin client management tool, Contact Center Web Client to deliver: Agent Desktop Displays offering real-time statistics to 300 agents located in 3 sites New reporting capabilities that enable report sharing across the network, reducing the amount of paper copies printed Centralized management and support which improves productivity and reduces operating costs Lower Cost of Ownership The Solution “ . . .we were able to set-up all of our supervisors’ agents, historical reports and real-time display options without visiting their desktop computer. In addition, the amount of client maintenance is significantly reduced enabling our technical staff to concentrate on more complex, mission-critical activities. “

25. “ “ The Challenge • Leading designer of open-architecture, standard bus embedded components and systems • Acquired new sites through mergers resulting in significant growth over a short period of time • Distributed contact center agents across multiple sites • Required a flexible, cost effective solution that would accommodate fast growth, moves, and expansion across multiple locations Our goal with was to link offices, effectively track customer interactions and accelerate services . . .

26. “ “ The Solution • IP Contact Center • Contact Center Server • Internet Telephones • Converged network environment utilizing: • Internet enabled Switches • line cards supporting Internet Telephones • trunk cards for VoIP between sites . . . since we’ve had significant growth in the past year, we needed more flexibility, and the Contact Center Server and internet phones give us the ability to move agents quickly and seamlessly. Having voice and data on one network is easier to manage and that makes us more efficient.

27. “ “ The Challenge • Provide improved service to callers seeking healthcare advice and referrals • Establish new contact center and fully integrate with existing contact center • Centralize contact center management • Deliver operational simplicity and cost savings by consolidating voice with data over one network We wanted to open a center where we could route calls based on calling location, time of day, and language. We wanted to start with a limited staff on limited hours and expand as the demand grew . . .

28. “ “ The IP Contact Center Solution • Contact Center Server • Skill-based routing across two call centers ensures callers speak to the most qualified healthcare agent on the first try • Calls can be routed by location, time of day and language preference • Remote Office 9150 • Extends all contact center features to the remote site, joining the two locations into one logical group • Managed centrally, eliminating the need for high priced technical support • Combines voice, data and video over IP …it wasn’t easy finding a solution that would fill all our needs. Without the Remote Office 9150, we would not have been able to expand as flexibly and as cost-effectively. It has simplified the whole process for us and has made management a breeze. It is rare that one can get the most elegant and highest value solution for the lowest cost, but we have achieved this with Remote Office.

29. The Challenge Cost effectively manage the varying incoming call traffic volumes Absorb growth of between 20% - 30% easily Deliver the highest quality outsourced customer relationship management Create a seamless virtual contact center integrating a variety of information technology systems. “ It is a highly competitive business and our margins are really tight… We needed to make sure that we utilised our assets – our people in the most flexible and efficient manner possible. David Clarke General Manager Vertex “ Lead the Outsourcing Revolution

30. Create a virtual contact center to deliver: Improved customer service and enhanced productivity using skill-based routing to make the most of multi-skilled employees, reducing attrition New management and reporting capabilities that enable better business decisions quicker to meet clients’ business needs Full range of capabilities to home-based workers in a very cost efficient manner to meet client and employee needs Gaining a Strong Competitive Edge The Solution “ “ I believe that with our network and the virtualisation of our call handling that we have a very strong competitive edge. And our vision is paying off. David Clarke General Manager Vertex

31. Thank you For more information Contact: Shelli Feigenbaum Nortel Multimedia Applications Marketing Leader sfeige@nortel.com