Introduction

The Cisco ICM 5.0 multichannel software provides a flexible, integrated architecture to support a variety of agent and customer interactions for a contact center. The contact center manager can configure agents to handle voice, Web collaboration, text chat, and e-mail requests and have the agents switch between those media types on a task-by-task basis. The manager can also configure agents to support only one media type. Customers can choose the medium that is most comfortable and convenient for them.

 

The multichannel software supports both IP network and time division multiplexing (TDM) network configurations, providing a seamless migration path from a traditional call center infrastructure to an IP-enabled, multichannel contact center. Contact center managers can choose the efficiency of the Cisco Internet Protocol Contact Center (IPCC), which is sometimes referred to as a virtual ACD, or they can choose from a number of legacy ACDs.

 

The major components of the multichannel software are represented in the following figure.  Note that all connections are bidirectional; arrows indicate the direction of link initiation.  The boxes on the figure do not represent individual machines.  Some boxes are included to provide clarity of concept.