Cisco - Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition Datasheet

Cisco IP Communications is a comprehensive system of powerful, enterprise-class solutions—including IP telephony, unified communications, IP video and audio conferencing, and contact center—that is enabled by Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data). Cisco IP Communications can increase your organization's competitive advantage and deliver measurable return on investment (ROI) by improving efficiency, boosting productivity, and enhancing customer loyalty. Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) Hosted Edition—an integral component of the Cisco IP Communications system—delivers a comprehensive solution that enables customer contact and service.

The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition is a strategic platform that enables customers to move into the next phase of customer contact—beyond today's Contact Center to a Customer Interaction Network. The Customer Interaction Network is a distributed, IP-based customer service infrastructure that comprises a continuously evolving suite of innovative, multi-channel services and customer relationship management applications. These services and applications provide enhanced responsiveness and streamlined customer exchanges to help your organization deliver superior customer service. A Customer Interaction Network extends customer service capabilities across the entire organization, giving your business a more integrated and collaborative approach to customer satisfaction.

The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition is suitable for both enterprise customers and service providers. For service providers, the IPCC Hosted Edition creates a new, high-margin service revenue stream for incumbent providers as well as new service carriers. The service provider hosts the contact center infrastructure software—which is shared by multiple business customers—in its central office or data center. Subscribing business customers can have IP infrastructures, TDM infrastructures, or a combination of the two. For the enterprise customer with multiple branch offices or divisions the value is a centralized contact center infrastructure with the ability to offer services to its various divisions or satellite offices. The solution includes a suite of integrated services that can be introduced all at once or incrementally, depending on ROI goals. These include:

Virtual call center—Calls are routed to contact center agents independent of their location, a service especially appealing to businesses with branch offices or home agents
Network routing with computer telephony integration—Network-based ACD is combined with computer telephony integration (CTI) services
Network IVR—IVR functionality is located in the network to provide information to callers or to collect information from callers before they speak with a live agent
Intelligent call routing—Calls are routed between contact centers based on call context information (dialed number and caller ID), agent availability, and customer information from databases

Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition Components and Features

The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition is comprised of the following components (Figure 1). All reside at the service provider location or the central enterprise location depending on the customer, except for Cisco IP phones, call center agent PCs, and a QoS-enabled network.

Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition software delivers an integrated suite of capabilities that enable a company to interact with its customers via various means. At its core is an intelligent contact routing engine that is dedicated to an individual company. The contact engine allows companies to interact with their customers consistently, via user-defined rules, regardless of the resource or caller. Though the IPCC software resides at the central office or data center, the individual business customer or branch office has the ability to control it by modifying business rules or adding new skill groups.

To determine customer value—which might factor into how the call is treated—the software profiles each customer using contact-related data such as dialed number and calling line ID, caller-entered digits, and information obtained from a customer-profile-database search. At the same time, the system determines the best resources to meet the customer's needs, based on real-time conditions such as agent skills and availability, IVR status, queue lengths, and so on. Thus, through a combination of customer and contact center data and user-defined business rules, the Cisco IPCC software routes each contact to the best available resource anywhere in the enterprise. Throughout the process, carrier-class, distributed fault tolerance built into all the Cisco components ensures uninterrupted operations from the network center to the desktop.

Wherever an agent is based, the system delivers context—call event and customer profile data—as a contact arrives. This enables the agent or application to personalize service and maximize efficiency. Call center managers can make more informed decisions because the Cisco ICM software offers consolidated Web-based reporting across the enterprise, providing up-to-the-moment statistics on the number of customers in queue, agents handling calls or Web interactions, and more.

Cisco ICM software integrates easily with other contact center applications through its open, published interfaces. It is pre-integrated with leading third-party contact center applications for IVR, CRM, workforce management, voice recorders, legacy ACDs, outbound dialers, message boards, and others, through the Cisco AVVID Partner Program.

Cisco ICM Hosted Edition

The Cisco ICM Hosted Edition is a high-capacity, high-reliability network service platform that offers a wide range of services for IP and TDM networks. Its services include, traditional intelligent-network routing, IVR, and network queuing services to business customers' Cisco ICM platforms. Therefore, the Cisco ICM Hosted Edition functions much like a Service Control Point (SCP) to a full set of hosted contact center features. The Cisco ICM Hosted Edition can be integrated with a customer's own legacy TDM, ACD, and IVR equipment in addition to the Cisco CallManager and the Cisco Internet Service Node, described below.

Cisco ICM Hosted Edition has been deployed in high-capacity carrier environments since 1997 and has proven its ability to handle millions of calls every day. It delivers excellent service value today as part of a Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition solution and facilitates a smooth transition to other IP-based voice services.

Cisco Internet Service Node (ISN)

The Cisco Internet Service Node (ISN) provides Web-based, carrier-class IVR, queuing, and IP switching services for both IP and TDM networks. Deploying Cisco ISN at the edge of the IP network allows customers to provide IVR and queuing services without consuming expensive bandwidth on its own core IP backbone. When ISN services are completed for a call, the call may be taken back by a traditional telephony network under Cisco ICM Hosted Edition or Cisco ICM Enterprise Edition control for further routing across the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Alternatively, the Cisco ISN can route and transfer the call through the IP network, in effect turning the IP network into a giant user-controlled switch.

After a call has received IVR or queuing treatment on the Cisco ISN, it can be routed to its destination (a contact center agent) without having to be bridged inside the Cisco ISN. Therefore, the Cisco ISN requires fewer ports than IVR systems that must bridge the call internally before transferring. The Cisco ISN maintains control of the call for its entire life and can transfer each call to an unlimited number of destinations in this manner.

The Cisco ISN receives its instructions from the business logic inside the Cisco IPCC. The resulting intelligence confers two key benefits. First, the enterprise customer acquires switching control of network services and resources, a capability never before possible. Second, the Cisco ISN can serve as a network IVR, reducing capital expenditures and providing call treatment while the call is still in the "cloud" to route calls to the best available resource, regardless of their physical location. This overcomes a costly problem that can occur without a network IVR—that is, when the best agent for a particular customer is not available, the call is routed to a contact center location that might not be the optimum location to handle the call. When the best agent becomes available, the contact center must move the call either by a network transfer or dedicated tie lines, both costly alternatives. IPCC Hosted Edition, using the Cisco ISN with IVR scripting, reduces subscribers' operational expenditure.

Because the Cisco ISN is based on standard Voice XML (VXML) technology, service providers can develop new customized Cisco ISN services to voice-enable their customers' Web applications. This further improves the value of the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service by lowering agent costs, offering personalized menu options, and more effectively responding to customer needs.

Cisco CallManager Software

Cisco CallManager is the software-based call-processing component of the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition. Enabled by Cisco AVVID, Cisco CallManager software extends enterprise telephony features and capabilities to the business customer's and branch office IP phones and other telephony endpoints.

In the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition, Cisco CallManager is typically deployed at the central office or data center. The software can be installed on the Cisco Media Convergence Server (MCS) 7800 Series platform or selected third-party servers. It ships with a suite of integrated voice applications and utilities, including the Cisco Web Attendant, a software-only manual attendant console; a software-only conferencing application; the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT); the CDR Analysis and Reporting (CAR) tool; and the Admin Serviceability Tool (AST).

For the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service, key advantages of Cisco CallManager software are unmatched scalability, high availability, and voice QoS—essential attributes for attracting and retaining business customers.

Scalability—Scalability is unsurpassed because each cluster of Cisco CallManager servers can accommodate as many as 1,000 contact center agents or more, depending on call volume. By combining a network of Cisco CallManager clusters, service providers can support thousands of agents.
High availability—For high availability, the service provider installs one or two additional Cisco CallManager platforms in a redundant configuration, configuring the Cisco IP Phones to automatically seek out and register with these backup servers. Another availability feature is a function of Cisco IOS® Software called Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST), which provides backup phone connectivity. Installed on remote-site voice-enabled routers, the software ensures the availability of basic phone service even in the event of a WAN failure.
Voice quality—For deployments in which IP is the main transport, a software feature called Cisco Call Admission Control (CAC) helps ensure voice quality. Cisco CAC helps maintain voice Quality of Service (QoS) across constricted WAN links and automatically diverts calls from the IP network to alternative PSTN routes if WAN bandwidth is not available.

Once Cisco CallManager is in place for Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition services, the service provider can sell additional data, voice, and video services such as unified messaging, multimedia videoconferencing, collaborative contact centers, and interactive multimedia response systems. Likewise, the large enterprise customer with this solution in place can offer these same services and options in any combination to each of its branch locations.

Cisco IP Phones

Cisco IP Phones are fully programmable, next-generation intelligent-communication devices. The service provider or business customer can customize the phone feature set easily as business needs change. A two-port 10/100BASE-T switch interface ensures QoS. In-line power is accepted from an integrated Cisco Catalyst® switch card or the Catalyst in-line power patch panel.

Cisco IPCC Hosted addition can take advantage of several Cisco IP Phones, depending on the price and feature requirements of the contact center. For example, the Cisco IP Phone 7940 is a full-featured phone for light to medium traffic volume, and the Cisco IP Phone 7960 is suited for any call volume.

Cisco IP Phones can interoperate with IP telephony systems based on Cisco CallManager technology, H.323, and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). This multi-protocol capability is an industry first, protecting the investment and facilitating the business customer's migration to different protocols.

IPCC Hosted Edition Provider and Enterprise Benefits

The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition provides measurable economic benefits and business advantages for the service provider and its customers as well as large enterprise contact centers.

Provider Benefits

Delivers a rapid return on investment—For early profitability, the service provider or enterprise can offer one or two services initially—for example, intelligent call routing and network IVR—and then, over time, offer additional services such as virtual call center, call treatment services, etc. For maximum market impact, service providers and enterprise customers can offer a complete suite of networked contact center services.
Reduces customer churn—Contact center operations are business critical to many companies. Once companies successfully outsource their contact center infrastructure to a service provider, they are likely to remain loyal to that service provider.
Creates an entry for new services—Many of the companies that take advantage of the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service offering are smaller organizations that would also benefit from data warehousing, storage networking, and CRM but are unable to afford it. Service providers can use the infrastructure they build for Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition services to offer other high-value services, such as storage networking and hosted CRM, to the same customer base.
Reduces resource requirements—The service provider or enterprise customer has the option to shift control of network-based resources to the customer or branch office, to control attributes such as call treatment and assigning agents to skill groups. The control of certain aspects of the networked contact center reduces costs.
Reduces network bandwidth—The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition treats the entire IP network as an intelligent switch, capable of trapping calls at the edge of the network near the caller. While this capability has existed for years for data traffic, it is a new capability for voice traffic and gives the service provider or enterprise customer a competitive advantage by reducing bandwidth needs.
Avoids tolls—By sending calls via IP, the service provider and enterprise customer avoid paying local exchange carriers for the last mile. They can simply establish an IP connection to the customer contact center or branch office.
Reduces integration costs—Until now, businesses or branch offices with independent contact centers had to integrate numerous products from different vendors—an expensive task that postponed service introduction. The Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition provides ACD, PBX, IVR, and Web interaction functionality and is pre-integrated to support popular call center applications, such as workforce management, recording and monitoring, and wallboards. It is also pre-integrated with leading CRM products, including Siebel, E.piphany, Oracle, and PeopleSoft. By consolidating all contact center functions in a single platform, the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition reduces capital expenditure and integration expenses and speeds time to market for the service offering.
Offers a migration path to IP—The industry is encouraging customers to migrate from TDM to IP so that they can take advantage of converged voice and data services, such as IP Centrex, managed IP PBX, and multi-service VPNs. Because the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition integrates with both IP and TDM networks, it facilitates the transition. The service provider's customers and large enterprise contact center can continue to take advantage of their investments in legacy systems while migrating to an IP architecture. For service providers, as they offer a Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service, their customers can adopt VoIP one step at a time: for example, first moving to a single contact center or subscribing to a network-based service such as intelligent-contact routing, network IVR, or CTI. At each step they strengthen their relationship with the service provider.

Enterprise Benefits

Reduces capital expenditure and risk—Businesses that subscribe to Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition services trade high capital expenditures for predictable monthly operational expenditures. They also avoid technology obsolescence and the risk of purchasing and operating expensive and complicated equipment. And because the software is maintained at the service provider location, business users gain advantage of feature upgrades immediately without having to purchase or install them.

For the large enterprise customer the value is one centralized contact center operation where the software and administration is maintained centrally. This helps the branch offices avoid purchasing and maintaining the software, installing there own upgrades, and making staffing decisions independent of the rest of the company.

Differentiates service—By retaining "call context" as the customer is transferred among agents—even between different locations, companies or branch offices—the company can differentiate itself through superior customer service. For example, the information a customer has already supplied by phone or Web interface to purchase one product or service can be transferred to another part of the contact center or company when the customer initiates another purchase or interaction.
Eliminates integration burden—Like service providers, large enterprise customers with multi-site contact centers that take advantage of the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition to eliminate the need to buy components from multiple vendors and integrate equipment and services for PBX, ACD, IVR, CTI, CRM, and the phone company.
Allows control of network resources—A unique benefit of the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition is that the enterprise can control certain network resources—for example, assigning agents to skill groups and defining routing based on a number called or caller-entered digits such as account numbers. What's more, all functions can be controlled from a single operating interface, reducing training and support requirements.
Simplifies support—The service provider or the enterprise contact center provides support for all contact center applications, eliminating the hassle of working with multiple vendors.
Reduces network management costs—By subscribing to the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service, it eliminates for the subscriber the need to support and operate separate TDM and IP networks, each requiring specialized resources. It also reduces the costs of hiring and training specialized contact center technology workers to manage complex call center products such as IVR systems.

For the large enterprise customer with Cisco Hosted IPCC Edition, the benefit is similar in that each of the branch offices do not need to support disparate networks, or complex system. They can focus solely on the task at hand —customer service.

Reduces long-distance and toll charges—With intelligent IP networking, the Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition service can trap toll-free calls local to the caller, convert the call to IP, and provide voice treatment—all without incurring typical toll charges. The reason: The call is never actually sent across the PSTN.

Why Cisco Systems?

Cisco offers a number of tangible benefits to both service providers and large enterprise customers that are looking to employ Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition. These include comprehensive technology and implementation support as well as, for the service provider, marketing support to sell services to the end user. Cisco is also a dependable partner with a long-term commitment to IP telephony and a comprehensive contact center and voice services product portfolio.

IPCC Hosted Edition exploits the value of IP by taking advantage of Cisco's experience and expertise with the Internet and IP telephony —once a customer deploys the Cisco Powered Network for IPCC Hosted Edition, it can more easily add complementary services, such as hosted IVR, CRM, data warehousing, voice VPN, etc. This enables the service provider to leverage existing and new complementary services. Finally, IPCC Hosted edition support both IP and TDM to preserve investments in legacy TDM ACDs and it is deployed on a carrier-class network platform that delivers unsurpassed reliability and fault tolerance, facilitates routine upgrades, and scales to support thousands of transactions per second.

Conclusion

Contact center technology can be complex, costly, and, with few exceptions, it is not the core competency of most businesses. Companies are receptive to outsourcing contact center management to cut costs and free resources to focus on their core business. Companies subscribing to Cisco IPCC Hosted Edition with a service provider can expect to reduce their contact center costs significantly, depending on their size, present network configuration, and other factors. And by choosing a hosted contact center solution, customers leave the management of technology to the service provider or in the case of a large enterprise customer, a centralized skilled contact center management organization. This enables businesses to focus the improving contact center efficiency and customer service capabilities, while improving customer service and enhancing customer satisfaction—continuing the evolution towards a true Customer Interaction Network.

Data Sheet

Cisco IP Contact Center Hosted Edition