Call Center Industry News

June 2010

Professional Teledata Releases Midnight Freedom

Professional Teledata released a new feature for PInnacle Freedom customers called Midnight Freedom.  Using Freedom's hosted platform, it provides users with the option to outsource some calls, such as the midnight shift.  "I can relate to the various headaches and hassles that come with operating the business, and the anxiety that exists in hoping that you've got quality staff covering the overnight shift," stated Allen Kalik, president of Professional Teledata and former call center owner.

Using PInnacle Freedom, call centers can share agents by consolidating calls during a specified period, with calls seamlessly answered by a partner center.  The result is that a single agent can handle calls for multiple call centers using just one headset and one PC. 

Additionally, Professional Teledata will set up partnerships with several top call centers to handle the Midnight outsourcing needs.  These receiving centers will be selected for their professional reputation and their knowledge and experience as PInnacle users.  While the outsourcing center contracts directly with the PInnacle authorized call center of their choice, all data resides safely and securely only on the hosted system at Professional Teledata.

For more information, contact Karen Black at 800-344-9944 x112.

Abby Leibowitz Named to Forty Under 40 List

Abby Leibowitz, executive vice president of Call Experts in Charleston, South Carolina, was named to the 2010 class of "Forty under 40" by the Charleston Regional Business Journal.  The twenty-six-year-old executive oversees all of the call center's finances, legal framework, and organizational structure, as well as the operation of each department.  She also ensures that the company remains on track for growth.

When asked why she selected this as her profession, she quipped that it selected her!  "I became even more intrigued when I realized that our company facilitates most of the behind-the-scenes communication throughout the Lowcountry," Leibowitz stated.

Call Experts, which provides call center services in South Carolina and beyond, was founded in 1982.  Since its inception, one of the company's goals has been to help local charities.  As such, Call Experts provides free 24/7 phone service to several local nonprofits, including the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, Lowcountry Children's Center, People Against Rape, and the Ronald McDonald House.

Call Experts was also named a winner of the 2009 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility and was ranked #4088 on the 2009 Inc. 5000.

Razolv Virtual Call Center Expands

Call center outsourcing has proven to be a successful option for numerous companies, enabling them to improve the working conditions of their staff while enhancing the product and services they deliver.  Razolv Virtual Call Center will be expanding its call center operations in the Caribbean.  The Caribbean location provides the advantage of lower "overhead expenditures," allowing Razolv to provide call center services at a lower cost.

In the near future, Razolv is expected to be one of the largest virtual call centers operating out of the Caribbean.  Director for marketing and sales Marvin Gayle expressed satisfaction about the progress of Razolv, indicating that Razolv's staff is motivated and well-trained; the new staff members to be hired will be from the English-speaking Caribbean.

According to Gayle, most of Razolv's clients operate small enterprises, such as doctors, merchants, and small hoteliers.  Due to the advances made in information technology and the proximity of the Caribbean to the United States and Canada, Gayle is confident that Razolv will be a viable option for North American companies that are trying to reduce their overhead costs. 

Amtelco's New IS Web Scripting

Amtelco's Infinity Intelligent Series (IS) now offers next-generation call scripting.  With the IS Web Scripting, Amtelco continues to create innovative tools for call centers to develop new services and add new sources of revenue.  IS Web Scripting provides call centers with a simple and easy-to-use one-click method to provide Web-based demonstrations of new scripts for clients; it also can be used to provide clients' customers with script-driven data collection applications using only a Web browser.

IS Web Scripting provides opportunities to increase revenues and enhance profits for a call center while reducing agent workloads in the following ways:

• Serving funeral home, property management, and apartment community accounts -- these are a sample of the types of accounts that have discovered IS Web Scripting's ease of use
• Providing clients with a role in script development to foster closer relationships
• Allowing client's receptionists to process data using the same script as the call center
• Giving clients access to update call center data via the Web
• Building and managing client websites, including scripting

For more information, contact Amtelco at 800-356-9148 or info@amtelco.com.

OnviSource Offers Operations Continuity Software Products

OnviSource announced the availability of new OnviCenter products offering operations continuity capabilities for various other products in the suite of OnviCenter workforce optimization and automation.  OnviCenter operations continuity products include Ensura and Informa, which reduce recoveries and customer support efforts in maintaining OnviCenter products. 

Ensura offers system redundancy, backup, and recovery.  Informa interworks with Ensura and other OnviCenter products and provides monitoring of various functionalities, analysis of critical operational indicators, automatic notifications when indicators reach user-defined thresholds, and management reports.  As an example, Informa can automatically monitor, analyze, and perform reconciliations related to recorded calls between contact centers' PBX or other telecom devices and OnviCenter internal products (both primary and secondary platforms, if needed) to assure the integrity and consistency of the entire operation.  Ensura and Informa can be purchased together or independently.

Additionally, OnviSource offers an operations control center, to which Informa's notifications can be automatically routed to for use by OnviSource service engineers.

Ryla Named Atlanta's Fastest Growing Privately Held Company

The Atlanta Business Chronicle named Ryla, domestic provider of outsourced call center and customer contact solutions, as the fastest growing privately held company in Atlanta.  The publication's annual Pacesetter Award recognizes top revenue growth companies based in Atlanta.  In order to qualify, the company must have been established in the first quarter of 2007 or earlier, be privately owned, based in the twenty-county metro Atlanta area, not be a subsidiary of another company, and have annual revenue between $1 million and $300 million. 

"This award is a testament to the hard work of our employees and our vision of building customer relationships through excellent service," said Mark Wilson, cofounder and CEO of Ryla.  "The state of the economy has put pressure on a lot of businesses and required that Ryla increase our level of customer service and remain focused on building quality jobs for our employees."

In 2009, Ryla hired 1,000 agents at its Kennesaw facility and 400 agents at its regional headquarters that opened in Saraland, Alabama, last June.  Additionally, Ryla hired more than 1,000 temporary agents for its work as a subcontractor to IBM and TeleTech on the 2010 decennial census.

Newfound Launches Free Forty-Eight-Port Version of Call Recorder Solution

Newfound Communications, Inc., a provider of call recording, interactive voice response (IVR), and dialing solutions announced the immediate availability of a free, forty-eight-port version of IP Call Recorder 2.0.  The free version of IP Call Recorder is configurable and can support an unlimited number of users via forty-eight concurrent ports.  For advanced call recording operations requiring additional ports and expanded functionality, Newfound offers a full-featured commercial version of IP Call Recorder 2.0, which is now priced at a 50 percent discount compared to previous versions.

The IP Call Recorder is a scalable solution that reliably records any phone conversation, at any time, for any duration, in a carrier, enterprise, or call center environment.  Whether calls are automated or agent-driven, IP Call Recorder is the premier VoIP recording solution to verify transactions, improve performance, optimize business processes, and accurately evaluate contact center operations.  It is typically utilized for compliance-related call recording operations in banking, financial services, insurance, and related markets.

MedCom Helps Vision Impaired

The staff at MedCom Professional Services, Inc., with offices in Levittown, Allentown, and New Holland, Pennsylvania, took their spring-cleaning to a new level.  They swept their offices for used computer equipment and donated them to the Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired in Lancaster, Pa.

"It's a win-win-win situation all around," MedCom's executive vice president Tom Sheridan said about the donation.  "I had just said, ‘We've got a lot of stuff in the storeroom we need to get rid of,' and they called looking for donations."

"The program appealed to me because it not only helped the SABVI, but it also recycles computer equipment in a responsible way," Sheridan said, adding the office equipment MedCom donated was about four or five years old and still in working condition.  Some only needed new operating systems.

"SABVI is excited to offer this new service to businesses throughout our service area," said Dennis Steiner, president/CEO of SABVI.  "Not only are we able to increase employment opportunities for people who are blind, but we will be providing a much-needed service to our community."

New Oaisys Talkument and Tracer Call Recording Software Available

Oaisys, a provider of call recording and contact center management solutions, announced version 6.1 of Talkument and Tracer software solutions, which delivers new deployment enhancements, improved functionality, and cost savings.  Compatible with leading IP business communications systems, including those from Avaya, Mitel, Toshiba, and ShoreTel, the Talkument and Tracer solutions help companies improve customer service, reduce costs, increase revenue, and drive overall profitability.

"This latest release of our Talkument and Tracer solutions reflects a combination of feature improvements, integrations, and expanded deployment options that enable Oaisys to better address evolving market needs and unique customer requirements," said Brian Spencer, president of Oaisys.  "We continue to rapidly identify, develop, and implement enhancements to our products that enable us to deliver the most practical, easy-to-use, and cost-effective call recording and interaction management solutions on the market."

New features, functionality, and options include:

• SIP Trunk Recording

• Speech Analytics

• On-Demand Licensing

• Multi-Language Support

OnviSource Offers "Ecosystem of Solutions"

OnviSource announced the formation of an "ecosystem of solutions" for contact centers and enterprises consisting of a suite of workforce optimization and automation software products, customer lifecycle assistance services beyond conventional customer support, and justifiable, compliant, and results-oriented business process outsourcing (BPO) services. 

OnviSource strongly believes that, in today's economy, the needs of contact centers go beyond workforce optimization and automation technologies.  They require integrated products and services solutions that can support the lifecycle of their endeavor in assessing, acquiring, funding, deploying, and operating contact center workforce optimization and automation applications. 

Starting with a suite of workforce optimization products and applications, OnviSource's progressive strategy includes free trials, financing, free telecom consulting, and operations continuity services to assure the best use of the contact center products, IT services, free training, and webinars.  OnviSource's ecosystem of solutions was completed through offering outsourcing options in sales lead generation, telesales, and entire inbound-outbound call center services, including back-office management.  In order to offer a broad range of quality services, OnviSource has formed partnerships with service providers in financing, telecom consulting, and IT services. 

Amtelco's New Transformer Script and Directory Tools

The new Amtelco IS transformer tools make it easy to update message scripts and directories for use in the Infinity Intelligent Series, resulting in significant labor savings.  The IS transformer scripts tool creates Intelligent Series message scripts using exported data from Infinity and other messaging platforms.  It can be used to automatically create basic messaging scripts when upgrading an Infinity system to the Infinity Intelligent Series.

The IS transformer is a component of the Intelligent Series supervisor application that makes it possible to convert forms and directories developed in prior versions of the Infinity software into Intelligent Series message scripts and Intelligent Series directories, complete with detailed contact methods.  The tool is also is capable of importing from comma- and tab-delimited text files and spreadsheets; this makes it possible to convert listings that were developed on other platforms into Intelligent Series directories.

For more information, contact Amtelco at 800-356-9148 or email info@amtelco.com.