Aspect Upgrades UC for Contact Center

Aspect Software Inc. announced Tuesday the general availability of enhancements to its UC applications for the contact center, including new instant messaging capabilities, expanded presence functionality, and increased integration with the Tellme on-demand voice portal.

The new features, available with the Aspect Unified IP 6.6.1 platform, augment the company’s UC applications for the contact center, such as Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, and Blended Interaction.

Using the new IM feature, customers will be able to interact with contact center agents through various methods like Microsoft Office Communicator and over the Web with click-to-IM. Customers can incorporate the IM address for the companies that they do business with as part of their “buddy lists” and can interact with the contact center via IM. Using Microsoft OCS and Aspect UC, customers can view the presence of the customer service queues and their estimated wait time within the IM client. IM routing also offers an auto attendant capability, or interactive messaging response (IMR), enabling the contact center to fully automate and script a response to an incoming instant message and/or intelligently route the customer to an IM-based agent. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service and Blended Interaction.

In addition, agents can IM other agents and supervisors for escalations, coaching tips and to receive assistance with customer inquiries. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections and Blended Interaction.

The Aspect On-Demand Voice Portal, powered by Tellme, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., helps companies leverage a number of network-based services, such as proactive customer contact, post-call surveys, automated appointment reminders, notifications, and business continuity with on-demand self service. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, and Blended Interaction.