The multichannel software includes the following Cisco products:
These products are delivered on separate CDs, and each product must be installed and configured. Before installing and configuring the products, see the Cisco ICM 5.0 Multichannel Software Implementation Map for some helpful tips on setting things up.
Note: Some of these applications can function in a stand-alone mode as well as in the multichannel software integration. Only the multichannel software integration is discussed in this document. See the documentation that comes with each application for information about stand-alone configurations.
ICM software forms the basis for the multichannel software. It provides routing, queuing, monitoring, and fault tolerance. ICM software includes the following elements, as well as a number of supporting products for contact center agent desktops, supervisors, reporting, and administration:
Media Routing Peripheral Gateway (MR-PG)—The MR-PG is an ICM Peripheral Gateway that is capable of routing media requests of different kinds, such as e-mail and Web callback. The MR-PG accommodates multiple, independent Peripheral Interface Managers (PIMs) on a PG platform.
Agent Reporting and Management (ARM)—ARM services allow an application to report agent and task state information that is used to provide unified reporting and information for routing. This service is accessed through the CTI Server.
Central Controller—The ICM Central Controller is a computer which accumulates data about the requests it has routed. The ICM CallRouter and the ICM Logger run on the Central Controller.
CallRouter—The ICM CallRouter receives routing requests and determines the best destination for each request. It also collects information about the entire system. The CallRouter is responsible for providing real-time data to one or more Distributor Admin Workstations (AWs) at each admin site. Client AWs at the site receive their real-time data through a connection to a distributor AW.
Logger—The ICM Logger is the interface between the CallRouter and the database manager (SQL Server). As the CallRouter collects information about the system, it passes the information to the Logger for storage in a central relational database. The database manager on the Logger maintains statistics and data for use in monitoring and reporting.
Admin Workstation (AW)—The AW is a personal computer used to monitor and report on the handling of requests in the ICM system. The AW can also be used to modify the system configuration or ICM scripts. The AW connects to the Logger for historical reporting and configuration data; it connects to the CallRouter for real-time data, such as reporting data and real-time script-monitoring data. The Collaboration Server and E-Mail Manager applications communicate with the distributor AW for configuration purposes.
CTI Server—The Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Server is an ICM process that acts as a server for CTI clients to communicate with ICM. Each CTI Server typically runs on a Peripheral Gateway (PG) and provides call control and event notification from IPCC or a legacy ACD. Cisco Media Blender interfaces with the CTI Server to set up and control the Web callbacks. The Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD) communicates with the CTI Server.
CTI Object Server (CTI OS)—CTI OS is used to drive Softphone and third-party integration applications. It permits agents to handle call and agent state events. Typically, Softphone and third-party applications integrate ICM with customer applications such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) desktop, order entry, and contact center processing. The Cisco Desktop Toolkit communicates with CTI OS.
Voice Gateway—The Voice Gateway provides a connection path between the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) IP telephony network by converting analog and digital voice into IP packets.
Blended Agent—Blended Agent (BA) is an application that provides outbound dialing functionality along with the existing inbound capabilities of ICM software. With BA, contact centers can be configured for automated outbound activities. BA allows agents who are not busy with inbound calls to perform outbound calls, thereby maintaining high agent productivity.
Legacy ACDs—An ACD is a programmable device that can route incoming requests to a target within a contact center. The suite supports a number of legacy ACDs. See the Traditional Call Center section.
See the ICM and ACD product documentation for complete details about these components.
IPCC functions as a virtual ACD. Some of the capabilities of IPCC include intelligent multichannel request routing, ACD functionality, network-to-desktop CTI, interactive voice response (IVR) integration, call queuing, and consolidated reporting. Cisco combines the following products to form the IPCC system:
Cisco CallManager is a computer platform that provides traditional PBX telephony features and functions to packet telephony devices such as Cisco IP phones and Voice over IP (VoIP) gateways. CallManager also supports supplementary and enhanced services such as hold, transfer, forward, conference, automatic route selection, speed dial, and the last number redial. CallManager software takes care of the switching requirements of IPCC.
See the CallManager product documentation for additional information.
Internet Protocol Interactive Voice Response (IP-IVR) provides queuing, voice response, and auto-attendant functions for IPCC. It is an IP-powered IVR solution that provides an open, extensible, and feature-rich foundation for the creation and delivery of IVR solutions. An IVR is a telecommunication computer, also called a Voice Response Unit (VRU), that responds to caller-entered touch-tone digits. IP-IVR is a Customer Response Solution (CRS).
See the CRS documentation for additional information about IP-IVR.
Cisco Collaboration Server provides Web collaboration between a caller and a contact center agent. Collaboration Server allows agents to share information with customers over the Web, such as Web pages, forms, and applications, while at the same time conducting a voice conversation or a text chat.
A routing Collaboration Server handles queuing and routing of Web requests, such as text chat or blended collaboration, in conjunction with ICM. ICM software provides for advanced queuing and routing across multiple contact center sites; Collaboration Server allows you to use the richness of a Web user interface to obtain customer information before making routing decisions, ensuring that the most appropriate agents are selected. Collaboration Server sends route requests to ICM CallRouter by way of Media Blender and the ICM MR-PG. Requests are held in an ICM queue on Collaboration Server while they are queued using ICM software.
The Collaboration Server ACD queue talks to Media Blender and is used to queue Web requests on a legacy ACD.
The Collaboration Server Administration desktop makes it simple to configure agents, and each agent created on Collaboration Server is simultaneously created in ICM software. Collaboration Server provides a variety of media classes for handling different types of requests, such as blended collaboration, multi-session chat, single-session chat, and voice.
See the documentation on the Cisco Collaboration Server CD for complete details about this product.
Cisco E-Mail Manager manages high volumes of customer inquiries submitted to company e-mail boxes or a Web site. E-Mail Manager accelerates the e-mail response process by automatically directing messages to the correct agent or support team, categorizing and prioritizing messages, suggesting relevant response templates, and if desired, sending automated replies. E-Mail Manager also provides contact center agents with queue management and reporting tools.
When a customer sends an e-mail message asking for help, the message is read from the POP3 server into the E-Mail Manager rules engine and then is placed in the appropriate skill group queue. E-Mail Manager sends a route request to the ICM Router by way of the MR-PG, and ICM software routes the request to an available agent.
See the documentation on the Cisco E-Mail Manager CD for complete details about this product.
Cisco Media Blender works with Collaboration Server to provide Web callback and blended collaboration. It also provides a firewall gateway service to allow communication between the Collaboration Server, which resides outside the firewall, and the ICM PGs inside the firewall.
When used with a legacy ACD, Media Blender allows queuing and routing of Web requests using the ACD.
See the documentation on the Cisco Media Blender CD for complete details about this product.
Dynamic Content Adapter (DCA) works with Collaboration Server to assist in the sharing of SPLIT content pages. SPLIT is an acronym for Secure, Personalized, Live, Interactive, and Transactional Web content. Collaboration Server provides Web page collaboration by sharing URLs. While this methodology can be sufficient for sites that can reproduce pages using a URL, most Web sites now include at least some SPLIT content.
DCA allows collaboration on SPLIT content by intelligently caching and managing content from a Web content server during a Collaboration Server session. This allows all participants in a DCA session to receive the same content.
DCA needs to be deployed in the same area as Collaboration Server, whether that is inside a firewall for corporate help desk usage, or in the DMZ to serve public links.
See the documentation on the Dynamic Content Adapter CD for complete details about this product.