iMessaging Delivers a Manager's View into Call Center Activity

Published: August 29, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Call centers can be very hectic places. Because of their high visibility to customers, it's important that call centers--and most importantly, the customer service representatives (CSRs) that staff them--be monitored to ensure they're run in a professional manner. To that end, iMessaging Systems last week unveiled a new product called myView that gives call center managers up-to-the-minute statistics about call center activity, such as the number of calls on hold and inbound calls abandoned by the customer.

iMessaging Systems is a Merrimack, New Hampshire, company that develops and sells solutions for helping OS/400 shops create voice-enabled applications for their iSeries servers. Several types of applications can be developed with the company's software and hardware, including interactive voice response (IVR) applications, the familiar and automated "phone tree" systems that guide callers through a series of menus when they dial companies on the telephone. OS/400-based IVR applications can be developed with the tried-and-true iVoice Call Management Server component of the iNspire suite, which handles the back-end connectivity via APIs for RPG and COBOL applications, and also includes a PC-based "telephony controller" for answering incoming calls and recording the messages callers will hear.

More recently, iMessaging has concentrated on building its repertoire of outbound and call center solutions, which was the impetus behind the decision to unveil the iNspire Call Center Suite about a year and a half ago. The iNspire suite builds on the iVoice IVR foundation and describes the full suite of options available for streamlining call center operations, such as ACD (automatic call distribution), support for integrated outbound calling, and better overall integration between business applications and the telephones, which often takes the form of "screen pops" that appear on the desktops of CSRs when a call is routed to them. The Windows-based iAgent is the key ingredient in the iNspire suite linking CSRs' desktops and the iSeries server, including the ACD features and screen pops.

iMessaging's full-service approach to call center operations software was bolstered with last week's delivery of myView version 1.0. The new software is designed to provide call center managers with an array of information and statistics--all delivered graphically--about call center CSR activities. The information is pulled directly out of the iSeries database, ensuring that it reflects the latest transactions to hit the server.

With a glance at myView's color-coded screen, managers can gauge the current state of their call center, and even monitor the status and effectiveness of individual CSRs. The software summarizes the call center's current state, including the number of CSRs who are busy on a call (shown in green), the number who are wrapping up their calls (shown in yellow), and the CSRs who are "AWOL" or otherwise unavailable (shown in red). Blue indicates an agent on break.

Large color-coded read-outs near the top of the myView screen show the number of calls on hold and their average wait time, and the call center's overall service level. Managers can also see the total number of inbound calls received for the day, and the average inbound call time for that day. Pie charts created by the software show managers how they're spending their time, while managers can jump among different campaigns via drop-down boxes and view the calling statistics for each of them.

myView is based on Microsoft technology and is served via the IIS Web server. Integration with the iSeries database is handled through IBM's Client Access software. iMessaging recommends that customers use Internet Explorer version 6.

iMessaging previously offered some reporting and monitoring capabilities through its iAgent software, and developed myView in response to customers who wanted more detailed information--most importantly, graphics--out of their iSeries-based telephony systems.

"We've had the reporting and monitoring via green screen, for System i, but that's not functional enough, quite frankly, for call center mangers," says Rich Ollari, iMessaging's product manager. "They wanted a graphical view to monitor their call center activity. This was a customer-driven enhancement, and we worked with them to design the product."

Karen Sedlar, president of iMessaging Systems, says the delivery of myView showcases the advancements the company has made in the ongoing development of the iNspire Call Center Suite. "Most importantly, myView provides a rich content and a graphical view to call center activity while maintaining iNspire's commitment to our System i-centered design," she says.

myView 1.0 is in the middle of beta testing and is slated to be generally available in September, at a cost of $4,950 for an unlimited number of seats. For those attending the Fall COMMON conference next month, iMessaging Systems will be demonstrating the new product during a session on integrating iSeries data with telephony. For more information, see www.imessagingsystems.com.

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