Outbound Dialing Market Research Report 3.2.2010… · 2. Outbound Market Overview The outbound...

Outbound Dialing Market Research Report

About DMG Consulting LLC

DMG Consulting LLC is an independent research, advisory and consulting firm that provides strategic and tactical advice to contact center managers, vendors and the financial community about the contact center and analytics markets. Our mission is to help clients build world-class contact centers by leveraging technology, processes and people. We provide insight and guidance to assist management in optimizing the performance of their contact centers by increasing operational efficiency, providing an outstanding customer experience, enhancing loyalty and increasing sales and profits. DMG Consulting analyzes all aspects of the contact center market and publishes research on Quality Management/Liability Recording (WFO), Speech Analytics, Performance Management, Surveying/Feedback, Workforce Management, Contact Center Outsourcing, Hosted Contact Center Infrastructure and Interactive Voice Response Systems. DMG’s consulting experience spans more than 2,000 end-user organizations and vendors. Our hands-on operational, technology and financial expertise gives us deep insight into what customers need and want from enterprises and vendors. For more information, visit www.dmgconsult.com. All rights reserved. This report is protected by United States copyright law and may not be copied, reproduced, displayed, published, transmitted or distributed in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of DMG Consulting LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from this report. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of DMG Consulting LLC is prohibited. Substantial effort went into verifying and validating the accuracy of the information contained within this Report, however, DMG Consulting LLC makes no warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. DMG Consulting LLC is not liable for any damages, consequential or otherwise, arising from use of this information. Copyright © 2010 DMG Consulting LLC DMGODMR1001 Q1 2010

2010 Outbound Dialing Market Research Report

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http://www.dmgconsult.com/


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Table of Contents 1. A New Era for Dialing................................................................................1 2. Outbound Market Overview.......................................................................3 3. Outbound Solutions...................................................................................4 4. The Value and Contributions of Dialing.....................................................6 5. Competitive Landscape.............................................................................8 6. Market Projections ..................................................................................10 7. Outbound Best Practices.........................................................................12 8. The Future...............................................................................................14 9. Detailed Functional and Technical Vendor Comparison .........................15

9.1 High-Level Product Information...............................................................16 9.2. Campaign Management Software and Capabilities ................................17 9.3 Call Management Functionality ...............................................................20 9.4 Call Routing Capabilities .........................................................................22 9.5 Call Blending Features............................................................................23 9.6 Regulatory and Compliance Features.....................................................24 9.7 Call Pacing Options.................................................................................27 9.8 Agent Productivity Tools..........................................................................29 9.9 Supervisory Features ..............................................................................32 9.10 Multi-Channel Capabilities.......................................................................34 9.11 Recording................................................................................................37 9.12 Reporting.................................................................................................38 9.13 Security ...................................................................................................42 9.14 System Administration ............................................................................44 9.15 High-Level Technology and Architecture ................................................46 9.16 System Scalability ...................................................................................49 9.17 Miscellaneous .........................................................................................50

10. Final Thoughts ........................................................................................51

Table of Figures

Figure 1: The Evolution of Outbound Dialing ......................................................3 Figure 2: Dialing Solution Functional Diagram....................................................5 Figure 3: Proactive Customer Care.....................................................................7 Figure 4: Outbound Vendor Competitive Landscape ..........................................8 Figure 5: Outbound Dialing and IVR Market Projections, 2010 – 2012.............11 Figure 6: High-Level Product Information .........................................................16 Figure 7: Campaign Management Software and Capabilities ...........................17 Figure 8: Call Management Functionality..........................................................20 Figure 9: Call Routing Capabilities....................................................................22 Figure 10: Call Blending Features.......................................................................23 Figure 11: Regulatory and Compliance Features ...............................................24 Figure 12: Call Pacing Options ...........................................................................27 Figure 13: Agent Productivity Tools ....................................................................29 Figure 14: Supervisory Features.........................................................................32 Figure 15: Multi-Channel Capabilities .................................................................34 Figure 16: Recording ..........................................................................................37 Figure 17: Reporting ...........................................................................................38 Figure 18: Security..............................................................................................42 Figure 19: System Administration .......................................................................44 Figure 20: High-Level Technology and Architecture ...........................................46 Figure 21: System Scalability..............................................................................49 Figure 22: Miscellaneous ....................................................................................50


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1. A New Era for Dialing

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) introduced legislation in 2003 to severely limit uninvited calls to unwelcoming prospects. What the FTC’s legislation did was to end “blind dialing,” a low-value, highly disruptive activity that annoyed the majority of recipients. Following the FTC’s legislation, many countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, India and the UK, issued similar regulations to protect their citizens. Many outsourcers, telemarketing firms and industry pundits believed that dialing was dead. DMG Consulting disagreed, as we believe that outreach, be it from enterprises or governments, can be a high-value and well-received interaction when done right. Many travelers welcome alerts that notify them of schedule changes and cancellations. Consumers waiting for a service person or package delivery see the value in being notified of a delivery time or date. Patients appreciate reminders about their medical appointments. People who take medicine save time and energy when their pharmacies proactively reach out and invite them to request a refill. And citizens greatly appreciate being notified by their local police department of street closings that impede their travel. These are just a few of the highly beneficial uses of the fast-growing outbound customer care segment (also known as outbound notification). Proactive customer care is here to stay, as it’s an activity that is typically welcomed by recipients, and increases the profitability of enterprises that have invested in these solutions. It’s also a great way to improve satisfaction for local governments that previously interacted with constituents mostly when issuing tax/water bills or speeding/parking tickets. In the world of proactive customer care, consumers often explicitly or implicitly authorize the interaction. Recently, outbound notification services have extended far beyond the traditional phone call to include the issuance of emails, SMS and faxes. Recipients of outbound alerts are increasingly invited to select the frequency of contact and their channel(s) of choice. Also, a growing number of automated outbound services are now interactive, offering call recipients the option to request live agents. Few people welcome calls from bill collectors, who are implicitly authorized to call consumers who owe them money (but are limited in the tactics that they can use); but a growing number of people are inviting organizations to proactively reach out to them. In many cases, proactive customer care generates a great deal of good will, gives companies a strategic advantage, and is instrumental in retaining customers and increasing revenue. DMG expects to see continued growth in both human-assisted and automated outbound activities during the next three years, because of the recognized value to consumers and enterprises.


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Of course, all organizations must respect and adhere to the Do Not Call (DNC) legislation in all impacted jurisdictions. DMG also strongly encourages the application of DNC rules to political and fundraising calls. Give people as much of an opportunity to avoid non-profit calls as they have with business activities.



2. Outbound Market Overview

The outbound contact center sector was a high-performing market until October 2003, when the FTC introduced legislation to limit the number of unsolicited outbound calls. Many in the industry saw this as the death of the outbound market. DMG saw it as the end of “blind dialing,” but the beginning of a new and higher value activity that we called “relationship dialing.” See Figure 1.e 1: The Evolution of Outbound Figure 1: The Evolution of Outbound Dialing

Multi-ChannelEngagement

The FutureThe Past

RelationshipDialingBlind Dialing

Analytics-Empowered

Dialing

The Present

Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010 The purpose of the FTC legislation was not to destroy the outbound dialing market, but to limit unsolicited nuisance calls to large numbers of consumers. Consumers are not opposed to calls, emails, SMS, etc. that add value to their busy lives; but they are against interactions that disrupt their dinner with no apparent benefit. Enterprises of all sizes were not prepared, and responded to this legislation by stopping the majority of their outbound activities, as the financial and public relations penalties for non-adherence were high. The result was that the outbound solutions technology market went into a major decline and many of the competitors, including the two leaders, Davox and Melita, were not able to recover. (Davox and Melita were purchased by Aspect.)



3. Outbound Solutions

For many years, innovation in the traditional outbound market has been slow. (Innovation has been very rapid, however, in the area of outbound self-service solutions.) While there are many competitors, the two leaders, Aspect and Avaya, both have large technology portfolios and need to invest their R&D dollars where they anticipate the largest return. Since traditional outbound was not seen as a growth market, their investments have been sized to the perceived opportunity. (Of note, due to the recession, the collections market has been growing rapidly during the past two years and is expected to continue to do so into 2011.) While change has been slow to arrive in the traditional outbound dialing market, end users are maturing in their use of dialers, and have built many effective best practices to help them optimize their results. Figure 2 shows DMG’s functional diagram for an ideal dialing solution. This diagram depicts an outbound solution that is multi-channel and delivers human-assisted and self-service capabilities. This solution comes with a functionally rich campaign management solution, as well as servicing applications for common outbound activities: collections, telesales, inside sales and proactive customer care. The solution addresses inbound and blended calls, emails, SMS and faxes as efficiently as it handles outbound. The ideal outbound solution also comes with tools to optimize departmental performance, such as modules to identify the right time to call, and workforce management (WFM) to forecast and schedule agent staffing needs for both outbound and blended environments. As outbound solutions should be integrated into a company’s network and system backbone, it’s also important for them to come with application programming interfaces (APIs) and adapters to facilitate this integration. Lastly, outbound solutions need to generate actionable reports and analytics that make it easy for managers to rapidly measure their department’s performance and identify areas where improvement is needed. This includes delivery of both operational (historical) and real-time reports and dashboards to both managers and agents.





Figure 2: Dialing Solution Functional Diagram Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010 All of the companies reviewed in this Report have some or most of the capabilities depicted in Figure 2, but no one has them all. There is good reason for this. While end users are quick to identify their needs, they have been reluctant to pay for solutions that address them. Users of outbound solutions have hesitated to spend money for the same reason that vendors have limited their R&D investments – concern that all dialing activities will soon be shut down. They fear that they will not have enough time to realize a return on new investments in dialing solutions. Dialing has changed for the better during the past ten years. Dialing is not going away, even if legislators all over the world continue to issue regulations to limit its impact on unwelcoming prospects. As long as consumers continue to invite companies to reach out to them, outbound dialing will continue. It’s time for enterprises to aggressively build dialing strategies that empower them to use dialing to achieve a strategic advantage.

Method

Tools

Speech Recognition DTMF

Right-Time-To-Call Answer Machine Detect WFMRight-Time-To-Call Answer Machine Detect WFM

Col

lect

ions

T

eles

ales

I

nsid

e Sa

les

C

usto

mer

Car

e

Oth

erC

olle

ctio

ns

Tel

esal

es

Ins

ide

Sale

s

Cus

tom

er C

are

O

ther R

eporting AnalyticsR

eporting Analytics

Human Assisted IVR

APIs Adapters

OptimizationSer

Sevirv

ciici n

g A

ng A

ppl

ppl ii c

atcat ii o

nsons M

anagement System

sM

anagement System

s

Campaign Management SoftwareList Mgmt Scripting Reg Compliance Fulfillment

Dialing CapabilitiesOutbound Blended Inbound

Predictive Progressive Preview

ChannelsCalls SMS Email Fax

4. The Value and Contributions of Dialing

Proactive customer care – outreach to customers who have authorized the contact – is a highly profitable activity that improves the customer experience while reducing operating costs. An automated outbound transaction – a call, email, SMS or chat – costs approximately $0.01 to $0.25 per transaction. An inbound customer service call typically runs between $5.00 and $25.00, depending on the vertical and call length. For years, there was concern that placing outbound calls or sending alerts to notify customers of operational problems would generate a large inbound call surge. Experience has shown that notifying customers when, for example, their cable was out of service, or when their billing statement contained a systemic error, would stimulate contact center calls and emails. However, even if there is a small increase in inbound interactions, the savings from avoided calls far exceed the cost of the incremental calls. Figure 3 displays 22 different types of outbound activities that are already well accepted in the United States and, increasingly, in other countries. (Acceptance and adoption rates vary by country.) The vast majority of these outbound activities are considered “high value” by the organizations that place the interactions, and the recipients, as well. All of these transaction types either generate incremental revenue and good will, or reduce operating expenses for the businesses or government agencies that initiate the interactions. And the recipients find the information they receive helpful.



Figure 3: Proactive Customer Care

Poor

Out

stan

ding

Low High

Product RecallsSurveying

Welcome callsLoyalty Calls

Special Occasion CallsSubscription Services

Travel AlertsAppt. Reminders

Early-Stage CollectionsWarranty/Service Contracts

Sales Announcements

Broadcast Messages

Late-Stage Collections

Telemarketing

Fraud Prevention

Political Campaign Calls

Reorder RemindersShipment Notification

Installation Scheduling

Product RecallsPublic Service Notifications

Prescription Refills

Cus

tom

er E

xper

ienc

eC

usto

mer

Exp

erie

nce

ProfitabilityProfitability

Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010 All 22 of these interaction types can be initiated by a dialer that uses people to deliver the message, or a self-service application. Each organization needs to decide which approach is optimal for their customer base; increasingly, it comes down to a decision based on the needs of each individual customer. Keep in mind that when agents are included in the process, the cost increases substantially over the cost of self-service. But these decisions should not be made based on cost alone. For example, some high-net-worth customers may find an automated outreach from an IVR an insult, while people who travel a great deal find automated advisories very valuable.



5. Competitive Landscape

This Report analyzes the landscape of the traditional outbound vendor market. These are solutions that partially automate dialing activities that were previously done manually. Some of these vendors already offer an outbound self-service server as part of their solution set. (As reflected in Figure 2, DMG believes that in the future all leading dialing solutions will include a multi-channel and interactive self-service notification server.) The outbound competitive landscape is complex and involves vendors from a number of technology categories, including: voice switch manufacturers, contact center vendors, stand-alone outbound providers, hosting/software-as-as-service providers, outsourcers and open source-based telephony solutions. ce-based telephony solutions. This Report provides a detailed analysis for five high-profile outbound vendors, but DMG has identified 40 vendors, most of whom are very small. Figure 4 shows some of the vendors by category.

This Report provides a detailed analysis for five high-profile outbound vendors, but DMG has identified 40 vendors, most of whom are very small. Figure 4 shows some of the vendors by category. Figure 4: Outbound Vendor Competitive Landscape Figure 4: Outbound Vendor Competitive Landscape

Switch Manufacturers

Open Source

Cont

act C

ente

r Ven

dors

Hosted

Stand-Alone/Best -of-Breed

3Com Aastra

Alcatel-Lucent AvayaCiscoMitel

Nortel Siemens Enterprise Communications

NEC Corporation of AmericaShoreTelZeacom

Altitude SoftwareAspect

CosmoComComputer-Talk

EasyRunGenesys

Interactive IntelligenceSyntellectVocalcom

Call Center Development ServicesEagleIP, LLC

Five9LiveOps

Jade Technologies, Inc.Solus One

TelStar Hosted Solutions (A TouchStar Company)

Turbulin CorporationUSANOracle

CallFireDigium

IndoSoft Venture VoIPVicidial Group

Castel Magnetic North

MarketTelNoble Systems (acquired TDI,

TouchStar and Amcat)OPC Marketing

Switch Manufacturers

Open Source

Cont

act C

ente

r Ven

dors

Hosted

Stand-Alone/Best -of-Breed

3Com Aastra

Alcatel-Lucent AvayaCiscoMitel

Nortel Siemens Enterprise Communications

NEC Corporation of AmericaShoreTelZeacom

Altitude SoftwareAspect

CosmoComComputer-Talk

EasyRunGenesys

Interactive IntelligenceSyntellectVocalcom

Call Center Development ServicesEagleIP, LLC

Five9LiveOps

Jade Technologies, Inc.Solus One

TelStar Hosted Solutions (A TouchStar Company)

Turbulin CorporationUSANOracle

CallFireDigium

IndoSoft Venture VoIPVicidial Group

Castel Magnetic North

MarketTelNoble Systems (acquired TDI,

TouchStar and Amcat)OPC Marketing

Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010 Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010



Outbound Market Share DMG has not formally sized the traditional outbound market, but our research has indicated that the top five vendors, in approximate revenue order, are:

1. Avaya 2. Aspect 3. Noble Systems 4. Genesys 5. Cisco

These are the vendors who are covered at an in-depth level in this analysis. Avaya and Aspect are in first and second place, but DMG does not have numbers to confirm in which order. Nor can we say definitely that Cisco is in fifth place instead of Interactive Intelligence. With one or two exceptions, the top vendors (and many others) have not been willing (or able) to provide revenue data for their outbound activities and therefore, it is challenging to identify each vendor’s exact market share and relative positioning. DMG suggests that prospects who are in the process of purchasing an outbound system concentrate less and market share and more on each vendor’s functionality, annual R&D expenditures on their outbound solution (another number that is hard to obtain but may be made available to prospects), customer references, outbound best practice expertise, implementation methodology, willingness to partner with them, and price. Additionally, it’s very important to review each vendor’s product roadmap to see if the preferred vendor(s) are making investments in areas that are important to for a particular company.



6. Market Projections

DMG Consulting estimates that the worldwide outbound dialing market generated $440 million in revenue during 2008. This number includes product and installation, maintenance, and professional services. (DMG’s numbers do not include the revenue from the stand-alone outbound IVR competitors). While it’s hard to obtain the exact revenue numbers for each of the competitors, DMG did modeling to estimate the 2008 outbound revenue for the leading vendors and the market in general. (The 2009 numbers are not yet available.) DMG used these estimates to project revenue for the competitors in the market. Outbound is not a high-growth market, but DMG expects to see some significant opportunities for vendors. It’s been quite a few years since many enterprises purchased or replaced their outbound solutions, so there is a great deal of pent-up demand. (The recession has slowed purchases of dialers for sales or proactive customer care, but had a positive impact on sales of dialers for collections.) Figure 5 shows DMG’s 3-year projections for the traditional dialing market and for outbound IVRs, for 2010 to 2012. The traditional dialing market is expected to grow by 6%, 7% and 8%, respectively, between 2010 and 2012. The outbound IVR notification market is expected to grow by 20%, 18% and 16%, respectively, over the same 3-year period.





Figure 5: Outbound Dialing and IVR Market Projections, 2010 – 2012 Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010

Years

Proj

ecte

d G

row

th R

ate

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

2010 2011 2012

20%

6%

20%

7%

18%

8%

16%

Outbound IVR Dialing

7. Outbound Best Practices

Technology is an essential enabler for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of any outbound call campaign, but it’s the combination of call automation and dialing best practices that generate the best results. As a result, DMG strongly recommends selecting a vendor whose technology meets the client’s needs and who offers operational expertise and experience in the form of dialing best practices for the activity being automated – early or late stage collections, telemarketing/telesales, inside sales, welcome calls, proactive customer care, etc. Without operational best practices, few organizations can realize the full benefits of any dialer. For this reason, we’ve included a few general dialing best practices that apply to all dialing activities. These practices are high-level and need to be customized to each operating environment. General Dialing Best Practices

1. Test scripts: To select the best script, run a test using two or three different versions for three to four hours to determine which delivers the best results. Track KPIs to identify the version of the script that delivers the best results.

2. Use professional script writers: While it will cost a bit to hire a professional scriptwriter or use an external scriptwriting consultant, it is generally worth the investment. (Many direct marketing agencies have professional script/copy writers, and will create or edit scripts for a fee. Some also offer script writing classes.)

3. Record and monitor agents: Record 100% of calls. In many countries, this is a legal requirement for all enterprises that sell or do collections and it can protect against frivolous lawsuits. The call recordings should also be used to evaluate the performance of agents in order to identify training opportunities.

4. Coach, encourage, and remediate: Provide agents with frequent and constructive performance feedback. Feedback should be delivered privately, addressing areas where agents are performing well and where they have opportunities to improve. Coaching is one of the critical success factors in agent satisfaction and retention, in addition to driving revenue and customer satisfaction.



5. Know the rules: Know the laws and regulations for all applicable states and countries before you beginning to dial out. Keep in mind that in the US there are both federal and state rules and regulations. Be sure that all prospect files are scrubbed against a high-quality Do Not Call list before dialing. Also, ensure that the outbound dialer’s caller ID information displays correctly to the recipient.

6. Vary the time of day that calls are placed: If a company elects not to leave messages on answering machines and voice mail systems, then all calls picked up by an answering machine should be scheduled for a callback. Schedule the callback for a different time than the original call was made. This will remove the possibility of repeatedly calling during a regularly scheduled “bad time” (such as working hours or lunch time).

7. Use a blended operating environment: If the company’s policy is to leave a message on answering machines and invite call backs, it’s essential to use a blended inbound/outbound operating environment. Customers who return the original call are often ready to transact business, so their calls should be prioritized over outbound calls.

8. Reward agents: Recognizing and rewarding top performers is essential for keeping agent satisfaction high and turnover low. While all agents should strive to deliver outstanding performance because it’s their job, recognizing excellence encourages them to keep up the good work and motivates others. Rewards do not have to be large; they can include a plaque, a parking spot, lunch with the CEO, a gift card, movie tickets, etc. Rewards should be relevant to the agent. A good practice is to have a “grab bag” of possible rewards from which agents can choose. Finally, ask agents’ permission to announce their reward to the center; many agents prefer to work quietly and are uncomfortable with public recognition.



8. The Future

The primary goal for outbound organizations is to reach their intended prospects, customers or constituents 100% of the time. The industry today is far from achieving this objective and requires significant changes before even coming close. Enhanced right-time-to-call optimization programs have helped, but no one has yet identified an ideal algorithm to solve this problem. DMG expects to see vendors and end users make investments to improve their right-party connect rates and to increase the positive outcomes from each interaction. We also expect to see improvements in the dialers’ ability to recognize answering machines and to handle blended calls. It’s surprising how few predominantly outbound organizations are optimizing their use of blending. Outbound and blended workforce management is another area where the market is finally making investments. Dialers optimize the delivery of calls to available agents. The “catch” is the difficulty in defining and identifying the right “available agents” for each interaction. Workforce management solutions with effective algorithms or simulation techniques can make major contributions to the success – measured in revenue earned or dollars collected – of outbound contact centers. The challenge is that while there are a few WFM solutions with capabilities designed for outbound contact centers, there is still a great deal of work to be done in this area. With the increased level of interest in outbound and blended WFM, DMG hopes to see significant innovation in this area during the next few years. Many of the changes that are expected to be delivered in the near future to the outbound and blended market will be impacted or influenced by a variety of analytics solutions. Whether the challenge is right time to call, right-party connects or workforce management, analytics is going to play an important role.



9. Detailed Functional and Technical Vendor Comparison

This section of the Report provides a detailed functional and technical comparison of the top five outbound dialing solutions. It addresses the following system areas:

• High-level product information • Campaign management software and capabilities • Call management functionality • Call routing capabilities

• Call blending features

• Regulatory and compliance features

• Call pacing options

• Agent productivity tools

• Supervisory features

• Multi-channel capabilities

• Recording

• Reporting • Security

• System administration

• High-level technology and architecture

• System scalability

• Miscellaneous Prospects selecting a new system or looking to upgrade an existing one should use this information to help identify the best solution for their organization, or to determine if an upgrade will meet their needs.



9.1 High-Level Product Information

Figure 6 shows the product names and current release information for the dialers from the five leading outbound vendors analyzed in-depth for this Report. Figure 6: High-Level Product Information

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Product name Aspect Unified IP (UIP)

Avaya Proactive Contact

Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Outbound Option

Genesys outbound contact

Noble Outbound Solution

GA date June 30, 2009 January 2009 August 2008 February 2008 Q2 2009

Release number 6.6.1 4.1 7.5 7.6.1 2008.3.2.2

Date of next release Q2 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 Q4 2009

Source: DMG Consulting LLC, February 2010



9.2. Campaign Management Software and Capabilities

Campaign management software (CMS) is an important capability that should be a standard feature in any dialing solution. As Figure 7 shows, all of the vendors analyzed in-depth for this Report provide CMS software as part of their dialing solution. While all five vendors have CMS capabilities, it’s clear that they are not the same. List management is a basic feature of all campaign management solutions and is very important for dialers. Figure 7 shows that some of the solutions can re-sort lists while a campaign is running, while others cannot. If a business requires the ability to re-sort and filter files “on the fly” mid-campaign, then this differentiation can help a company narrow the list of prospects. Another functional differentiator is in how the various systems handle the removal of phone numbers from an active campaign. If a company needs to remove phone numbers from a list while a program is running, this feature is required. It is also important to note in this Figure and all of the other comparison figures that even when vendors all claim to have a given feature, the way in which they deliver the capability is often different. For this reason, DMG recommends that prospects carefully review functionality they consider essential, and also discuss the solutions’ abilities with prospective vendors. Be sure that features meet the specific needs of the organization and if they do not, ask the vendors to make any necessary changes. (All vendor system enhancement commitments should be listed in detail, including time frames in the purchase contract, to avoid potential misunderstandings.) Figure 7: Campaign Management Software and Capabilities

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Does your solution come with a campaign management solution?

Yes Yes Yes Yes, ability to define, manage and operate a campaign

Yes

Can your solution import campaign/call lists? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Are there limitations to the size of lists that can be imported? Limits have never been hit

Yes Not for calling lists, but the Do Not Call list is limited to 60 million records

No No

- If yes, what are the limitations?





Figure 7: Campaign Management Software and Capabilities Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

20 million records

2GB or 900,000 records, whichever comes first

60 million records for Do Not Call list

N/A N/A

Can call lists be re-sorted while a campaign is running? Yes No Yes, via a third-

party application called OnQ from ALI Solutions; Cisco resells OnQ

No Yes

Can call lists be filtered while a campaign is running? Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Can phone numbers be added to a list while a campaign is running? Yes, via the Dynamic List Management functionality, which is an add-on module

Yes, but it’s not a dynamic list, so the new phone numbers are not reflected until the system is restarted

Yes Yes Yes

Can a phone number be removed from a list while a campaign is running? Yes, via the Dynamic List Management functionality, which is an add-on module

Yes, but it’s not a dynamic list, so the phone number is not removed until the system is restarted

No Yes Yes

Can your solution recognize multiple phone numbers for a single account/lead or prospect?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - If yes, what is the number of phone numbers that can be handled for each account?

Ten 14 10 Unlimited 20 - If yes, can each phone number be dispositioned separately?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Can your solution build a new call list based on the call disposition status from a prior campaign?

Yes Yes Yes, via a third-party application

Yes Yes



Figure 7: Campaign Management Software and Capabilities Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

called OnQ from ALI Solutions; Cisco resells OnQ

For each pass, can the list be built to only dial specific disposition codes, such as those that were busy in the last pass?

Yes Yes Yes, via a third-party application called OnQ from ALI

Yes Yes

What is the number of call lists allowed per campaign? 1,000 One call list per

active campaign

No limit No limit 2,048 concurrent call lists per campaign

Can your dialer run different campaigns in different modes, i.e. having preview campaigns running at the same time as predictive campaigns?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes


9.3 Call Management Functionality

Figure 3 evaluates the call management capabilities of the dialers evaluated in this Report. It looks at the number of simultaneous outbound campaigns supported, the maximum number of lines allowed per agent, how agents can be set up, and if the solution supports the use of different “canned” responses per skill group; it also reviews scripting features and whether each solution provides a right-time-to-call algorithm. While it’s unlikely that any organization would currently hit even the lowest number of simultaneous campaigns supported, 70, it is interesting to see the wide variation among the offerings. None of these solutions limits the number of lines that can be used per agent, which is important when the hit ratios are expected to be low for a given campaign. Scripting is an essential component of any dialing solution. All of the vendors provide a scripting tool. Three of the vendors, Aspect, Genesys and Noble, offer their own scripting tool, while Avaya and Cisco offer a partner’s solution. Another important productivity feature is the ability for agents to participate in multiple campaigns at one time. Four of the vendors analyzed for this Report enable agents to participate simultaneously in multiple campaigns, while one vendor does not currently provide this feature. Figure 8: Call Management Functionality Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble How many outbound campaigns can be run simultaneously?

1,000 70 Hardware and licensing-dependent; can run up to 3,000 simultaneous campaigns

No limit, but hardware dependent

256

What is the maximum number of lines (trunks) allowed per agent? No limit No maximum

per agent No limit Based on

available trunks Can be configured by user or left to the algorithm to determine

Can agents be defined by work group and skill set? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Does the solution support “canned” responses by agent skill set? No, but can provide canned

Yes Yes, available through a

Yes Yes





Figure 8: Call Management Functionality Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble responses by campaign

partnership

Does your solution have a scripting tool? Yes, it’s called Lyrical

Yes, the scripting tools are provided by business partner synTelate.

Yes, available through a partnership

Yes, called Agent Scripting

Yes

How many scripts are supported per campaign? 1,000 One script per

campaign, but the script can have multiple branches

N/A; provided by Cisco partners

Technically, there is no limit

2,048 concurrent scripts per campaign

Can a novice agent have a different script than an expert, for the same campaign? Yes Yes Addressed by

Cisco partners Yes Yes

Can call scripts support HTML? Yes Yes Addressed by

Cisco partners Yes Yes

Can agents participate in multiple campaigns at one time? Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Do you offer a best-time-to-call algorithm? Yes, via an optional add-on module

Yes Yes, available through a partnership with ALI at an additional charge

Yes, available through a partnership with ALI at an additional charge

Not currently; expected in Q1 2010


9.4 Call Routing Capabilities

Figure 9 looks at the different ways the dialers can route calls to agents. Four of the vendors claim to support adaptive real-time routing, although the way each vendor does this is different. All of the dialers can route calls to agents based on either a preferred volume mix that supports a blended environment, or blending rules. Check carefully to ensure that a preferred dialing solution can meet the company’s call routing needs. Answering machine detection is another critical dialing feature. All of the vendors analyzed for this Report, and most other dialing vendors, support answering machine detection, but the accuracy of this feature varies by solution. Figure 9: Call Routing Capabilities

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Does your solution support adaptive real-time routing?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Can your solution automatically prioritize calls based on campaign, origin (such as click-to-call), etc?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Can management manually re-direct resources to adjust workload?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Can your solution route transactions to agents based on: - Preferred volume mix (i.e. 80% calls, 10% email and 10% chat)?

Yes No No Yes Not currently - Blending rules

Yes Yes, inbound, outbound and blended percentages

Yes Yes Yes

If your dialer is picked up by an answering machine, will the call be automatically put back in queue without manual intervention? Yes, if configured this way

Yes Yes, configurable; can leave message or put back in queue

Yes, if configured that way

Yes, it’s user configurable

Can rescheduled calls be directed to a specific agent? Yes Yes Yes Yes, to a team

or agent Yes




9.5 Call Blending Features

Blending, the handling of inbound and outbound calls, is an essential activity for all outbound organizations that leave messages and invite people to return the call. All of the vendors analyzed for this Report support call blending. Whether doing sales, collections or outbound customer care, it’s essential to be able to configure the dialer to route inbound calls based the needs of the organization. For example, there are a number of outbound organizations that want a caller to be able to reach the individual who originally called them, if they are at work. This is not the most efficient way to process calls, but it works for organizations that use it. Prospects should carefully review the blending and inbound capabilities of their preferred dialer to make sure that it meets their needs. If the dialer cannot effectively handle inbound calls, the department may need to purchase a separate inbound automatic call distributor. Figure 10: Call Blending Features

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble How does your outbound capability know when an inbound agent is busy? Since UIP is a unified platform, the solution looks at the agent state and incoming call volume, and either knows that an agent is available or can predict when that agent will become available

By monitoring agent states and availability

Inbound and outbound capabilities are part of the same platform

Integrated system; Genesys router is integral for inbound, outbound and multi-media. Agent activity is delivered to real-time metrics engine (Stat Server) that tracks agent status.

In the Noble solution there is one agent command–and-control process regardless of agents’ activity. The centralized command and control function monitors agent status at all times.

For blended agents – do supervisors need to move agents between inbound and outbound groups?

No No; it’s all automatic

No No; automatic decision made by universal router

No




9.6 Regulatory and Compliance Features

Outbound calls and emails are highly regulated in a growing number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, India and the US. Any organization involved in outbound activities should make sure that they know the regulations for the countries, states and regions into which they are placing calls and sending emails, or they are at risk of getting fined. While it’s financially prudent to avoid fines, it’s just as important to avoid the bad press that accompanies the fines. In the US it’s essential to be in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call regulations. This includes the ability to validate all files against a current Do Not Call list, and to respect the calling curfews of each state. Some of the solutions come with curfew information (and allow for updates), while others do not.

Figure 11 analyzes the regulatory and compliance features of the leading outbound solutions. Figure 11 addresses the US guidelines; prospects calling outside of the US need to check with their preferred vendor to find out how they comply with the regulations in each region. Figure 11: Regulatory and Compliance Features

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Does your solution allow all files to perform a DNC certification? Yes, but Aspect recommends checking against the state and federal DNC lists prior to importing the call list. Aspect also has an internal exclusion table to capture real-time DNC requests or temporary exclusions for collections.

No Yes, it is done on a record-by-record basis

Yes Yes

Does your solution allow multiple DNC file checks, for external and internal validation? Yes No No, not-out-of-

the-box, but Yes Yes





Figure 11: Regulatory and Compliance Features Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

provided by partners

Does your solution have a process to ensure that all individual records are put through a DNC validation before being called? Yes, the system checks against the internal exclusion list before each dial

No Yes Yes Yes

Does your solution allow users to set up call curfew parameters to handle Federal, State and Local jurisdictions?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - Do curfew guidelines come standard with the solution? Yes, UIP comes with the North American Number Plan (NAAP) and the curfews for each time zone. (Aspect makes an updated version of NAAP available to its customers on a quarterly basis.) Users can also make changes manually.

Yes It’s not pre-configured but the information is provided to customers for North America

No Noble provides a standard file that is customized based on the state and function performed. Additionally, users can modify the file.

Does your dialer comply with all US-based Federal, State and Local telemarketing restrictions?

Yes Yes It’s not pre-configured but it can be set up this way

Yes Yes, if desired by user. Users can also override this feature.

For what other countries does your dialer meet regulatory telemarketing requirements? Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, Greece, China and India. Aspect stays in touch with

Many countries around the world. The outbound solution is installed in over 40 countries.

Can be configured

Yes, for U.S, UK, EU Australia, and Canada. Genesys continues to test and

US, UK, Australia, France, Brazil, and Germany



Figure 11: Regulatory and Compliance Features Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

organizations in many countries to keep abreast of regulations.

respond to changing requirements in various countries as needed.


9.7 Call Pacing Options

Figure 12 compares the call pacing options that are available in the top dialing solutions. Call pacing technology manages the rate at which calls are placed. To be in compliance with federal guidelines, all dialers must be able to limit the number of calls that are abandoned by the solution. One of the “bad” dialing practices the FTC wants to control is the number of “ghost” calls placed by dialers. This is where the dialer connects to a person but cannot connect the call to an agent because everyone is busy. Some organizations view pacing as an important advantage. Prospects should ensure that their preferred dialers give them the flexibility to manage call pacing to meet their needs. If a vendor does not deliver the pacing methodology that they need, but has the majority of other features that they want, the prospect should ask the vendor to add the new pacing approach to their switch. Figure 12: Call Pacing Options

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble What pacing methods does your solution support? Target abandonment percentage; wait for available agent seconds; predictive transient factor (a dampening throttle)

Avaya Proactive Contact has multiple pacing methods based on agent talk time, work time and updates. It also has pacing methods specifically designed for regulatory adherence to manage abandonment rates, Cruise Control.

Proprietary pacing method

Overdial optimization, agent busy factor and average wait time

Predictive, target agent wait time, target abandonment rate, target hold time, fixed line per agent, automatic preview (with time out), pure preview, dial-on-demand, and manual (click-to-dial)

What pacing parameters can users adjust when setting up the pacing algorithms? Abandonment rate, acceptable idle time, customer hold time (from time customer picks up call), and line-to-

All of the pacing methods are user-adjustable.

Users can modify the abandonment rate

Overdial – set percent maximum overdial rate Agent busy factor – set % agent busy factor

Can adjust the target for each pacing method: number of rings, wait time, abandonment rate, hold time, # of lines per





Figure 12: Call Pacing Options Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

agent ratio Average wait time

agent, seconds of delay before dial

Are pacing algorithms set globally or for each campaign? For each campaign

Each campaign Per campaign Set for each campaign and can be modified

By campaign


9.8 Agent Productivity Tools

Figure 13 addresses the agent productivity features of the solutions analyzed in this Report. DMG asked each of the vendors to share the top five agent productivity features of their solutions. We thought we’d receive a great deal of marketing messages in this section but instead, found ourselves helping some of the vendors present their value proposition beyond the obvious benefits of dialers. Since leading outbound organizations use a combination of technology with proven best practices to help their agents achieve optimal results, it’s very telling to see how each of the vendors expects their customers to realize benefits. DMG recommends that prospects carefully review the answers to the first question in Figure 13 when making their selection. Outbound and blended workforce management functionality is an area that still needs a great deal of investment. The vast majority of outbound organizations do not use WFM because the current solutions do not meet their needs. DMG is seeing a significant amount of investment by some of the vendors to enhance their outbound and blended WFM capabilities. Figure 13 shows that two of the vendors, Aspect and Noble, offer outbound and blended WFM functionality, and Genesys has seen their inbound WFM solution used to address these needs. Figure 13: Agent Productivity Tools

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble What are the top 5 agent productivity tools in your solution? 1. Real-time

reporting

2. Workforce management

3. Dialing/pacing parameters

4. Blending rules

5. Scripting

1. Cut-and-paste via Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) – the solution comes with an out-of-the-box ability to retrieve customer records from a host system, minimizing the integration effort.

1. Agents work on the highest priority tasks – inbound and outbound calls. Email and chat are naturally blended and prioritized on a task-by-task basis.

2. Predictive dialing and call progress analysis ensure that

1. Data attached with every call to give agent more complete information

2. Scripting

3. Intelligent Workload Distribution (IWD) – allows tasks to be prioritized by value

4. Push Preview

1. Desktop unification capabilities of Composer, Noble’s agent servicing/ sales desktop tool

2. Real-time alerts that provide agents with real-time performance updates

3. Personal script feature that allows





Figure 13: Agent Productivity Tools Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

2. synTelate scripting – conditional branch-based scripting tool used to guide agent conversations and for training.

3. Real-time messaging – ability for supervisors to communicate with agents via chat or broadcast messages.

4. Point-and-click disposition codes – tool bar with call resolution codes; allows agents to select predefined disposition codes.

5. Quick Key capability – ability to bypass point-and-click features for agents who prefer this method.

agents are utilized efficiently, whether the contact center is outbound-focused or blended.

3. Campaign management tools, including ALI OnQ, maximize right-party connects.

4. Team messages, whisper chat and other tools allow agents to collaborate with supervisors and peers.

5. Open interfaces and developer network provide additional tools, including agent scripting and advanced campaign management.

Dialing – allows automated rechecks prior to presenting call to agents

5. Advisor – gives agents real-time performance statistics relative to team

agents to record a script and play it upon connection or on-demand

4. Integrated IVR message system that automates functions that do not require live agent support

5. Right-party contacts

Does your outbound solution have a WFM solution to manage outbound agents? Yes No, offered

through partnership with

No Inbound WFM solution has been used for

Has an integrated blended



Figure 13: Agent Productivity Tools Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

NICE and Verint

outbound inbound/ outbound capability

Does your solution have a WFM solution to manage blended agents? Yes No – Avaya

does not believe WFM is needed for blended agents

No – Cisco partners with leading WFM vendors

Can be used that way

Yes

Does your solution have a desktop application development tool that allows non-IT staff to build servicing screens? Yes, Lyrical has an interface called Designer

Yes No Yes, called Genesys Agent Scripting tool; has both a programming and non-programming view

Yes


9.9 Supervisory Features

Figure 14 analyzes whether end users are able to customize their supervisory screens, and the types of coaching capabilities that come standard with each of the five dialing solutions. Companies interested in customizing their supervisory screen to better meet their needs should be very careful about the solution they select. Only two of the vendors, Avaya and Cisco, responded with an unqualified “yes” to the question of whether end users could customize the supervisory screen. Aspect and Noble indicated that end users could customize their own dashboards. And Genesys explained that users were not able to customize their supervisory screens for call control, but could for analytics purposes. From a coaching perspective, all five vendors support chat as a way for supervisors to interact with their agents. Three of the vendors allow supervisors to break into a conversation that an agent is having with a customer. This is referred to as “barge-in.” And three of the vendors support the use of whisper coaching, where a supervisor can talk to an agent who is engaged in a customer call without the customer hearing. Figure 14: Supervisory Features

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Can end users customize the supervisory screens? Not the supervisory administrative screens, but users can customize real-time reports/dashboards

Yes Yes No, for call control; yes, for analytics

Users can customize their own dashboards

What coaching capabilities come with your solution: - Whisper?

Yes No Yes No, but will be supported through the end-user’s switch or the Genesys media server

Yes

- Barge-in? Yes No Yes No, but will be Yes





Figure 14: Supervisory Features Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

supported through the end-user’s switch or the Genesys media server

- Chat-based Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes


9.10 Multi-Channel Capabilities

Figure 15 assesses the multi-media capabilities of the leading outbound solutions. DMG believes that full-featured outbound dialing solutions should include an IVR that handles both inbound and outbound interactions. While we use the term IVR, these communications services increasingly handle email, SMS, chat and fax, as well. Two of the vendors, Aspect and Noble, provide IVR as a standard component of their dialing solution. Avaya, Cisco and Genesys offer IVR functionality as an add-on module for an incremental fee. (While these three vendors break out the price for IVR, it does not mean that they will be more expensive, even if IVR is added. When comparing the cost, ask the vendors to price out all aspects of the offering to facilitate a fair comparison.) Outbound is currently the fastest growing segment of the contact center market on a percentage basis, due to its strong value proposition. There is a great deal of innovation being delivered to the market in the area of outbound IVR, including many packaged outbound applications. Figure 15 shows that all five outbound vendors offer some packaged IVR functionality, Genesys through partners. Another important outbound-related feature is a Web-based “call me now or later” capability. This is a button on a website that allows visitors to request an immediate or future call (generally at a time specified by the customer). Three of the vendors, Aspect, Genesys and Noble, offer both “call me now” and “call me later” functionality. Cisco offers this feature though a separate product called Web Interaction Manager. Very importantly, Aspect, Genesys and Noble can all scrub the numbers received via the Web Call Me feature to ensure that they are not on the DNC list. (Although it may not be necessary to “scrub” numbers where customers invite the call, it’s a good feature to have.)

Figure 15: Multi-Channel Capabilities Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

Does your solution include outbound IVR as a standard component of your solution? Yes No, it’s an

option that can be added for an incremental cost

IVR is not included as a feature of the dialer, but it is a separate module that is available for purchase

Fully integrated, but have to purchase it

Yes. System comes with one IVR port for every two agent seats purchased. The IVR ports can be used for






inbound or outbound.

- If yes, what channels does your outbound IVR support? (Calls, email, SMS, fax, video, etc.)

Calls, emails, and fax

N/A Cisco offers voice-based outbound IVR. Cisco partners provide outbound SMS and email.

Calls, email, SMS, fax, video

Calls, SMS and emails

Do you offer any packaged outbound IVR applications? Yes Yes Yes No; would be

available through partners

Yes

- If yes, what are the packages? Post call survey Proactive

Outreach, which enables the IVR to interact with customers

Appointment reminders/ notification

N/A Automated payment processing, outbound messaging, and IVR concierge (automated call back)

Does your solution do IVR-based call blasts? Yes Yes, with

Proactive Outreach

Yes Yes Yes

- If yes, how many simultaneous outbound calls can you place? 350,000 busy hour attempts, but have never hit a limit

130,000 per hour per server

Depends on the infrastructure; can go up to 200 new calls per second

Configuration is hardware-dependent; starts at 100 calls per second and can scale with additional hardware

22,080 calls

Does your solution support click-to-call from web sites? Yes No Not part of

dialer product; part of a product called Web Interaction

Yes Yes




Manager (chat/ collaboration)

Does your solution support proactive chat initiation where a web site will ask viewers if they want to “chat” with an agent after a predefined amount of time?

No No No; can be set up via professional services

Yes, called proactive engagement; call can then be routed to an agent based on skills

No

Does your solution have a “call me now” capability for web sites? Yes No Not part of

dialer product; part of a product called Web Interaction Manager (chat/ collaboration)

Yes Yes

Does your solution have a “call me later” capability for web sites? Yes No Not part of

dialer product; part of a product called Web Interaction Manager (chat/ collaboration)

Yes Yes

For “call me now” and “call me later” can a phone number be automatically “scrubbed” to ensure that it is not on a DNC list?

Yes No No Yes Yes


9.11 Recording

Figure 16 reviews the recording capabilities of the dialers analyzed in this Report. Dialing is either required or a good business practice for many outbound environments. If an organization is using their dialer to sell, legislation inside and outside of the US may require all calls to be recorded in certain situations. If a department is using their dialer to do collections, DMG strongly recommends that they record 100% of their calls, as it is the only way to protect against frivolous claims and lawsuits. Two of the vendors, Aspect and Noble, have their own recording capabilities. The other three vendors use a partner’s solution. All of the vendors analyzed for this Report indicated that supervisors were able to perform live monitoring of agent calls, which is an important management feature. And all of the vendors said that agents could trigger a recording session, although the approach used and ease of setting up this feature varied greatly among the solutions. Since not all departments record 100% of calls, allowing agents to trigger a recording when they think it’s necessary to protect the company or themselves is a good business practice.

Figure 16: Recording Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

Can supervisors live monitor calls? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Does your dialer record 100% of calls? Yes Yes, can be

done through an integration with a recording vendor such as NICE, Verint and others

Can be done on a partner’s solution

Dialer does not have recording capabilities; it’s part of the telephony platform in the SIP environment

Yes, it’s configurable

Can agents trigger recording? Yes Yes, if Avaya

Proactive Contact is integrated with a third-party recording solution, such as NICE or Verint

Can be done on a partner’s solution

Not out-of-the-box; could be set up to be triggered through a script

Yes




9.12 Reporting

Figure 17 analyzes the reporting features of the leading outbound vendors assessed in this Report. End users have told DMG that they would like to see improvements in the reporting capabilities provided by both inbound and outbound contact center solutions. Some of the vendors are making investments to improve their reports and general reporting environment, but there is still a great deal of room for improvement. Figure 17 shows that four of the vendors currently deliver real-time dashboards reflecting agent utilization; Genesys is planning to deliver this functionality in Q2 2010. Three of the vendors, Aspect, Avaya and Noble, provide reports that track the sales close or promise-to-pay rate. Genesys is able to deliver this data through their CCPulse+ reporting package. Agent schedule adherence is a different story. Schedule adherence is traditionally a feature used by inbound contact centers, but it’s just as important for outbound organizations. Avaya and Noble currently deliver an adherence capability. Aspect provides agent adherence information as part of their workforce management solution. And Genesys is expecting to deliver agent adherence functionality in Q2 2010. DMG recommends that prospects use Figure 17 as a starting point to determine if their preferred vendor has the reporting features and functionality that they require to effectively run their operation. If a feature is missing, DMG suggests that discussing this with the preferred vendor and asking them to build it into their next release. Of course, the vendor is likely going to try to get the client to pay extra to build functionality that should already be part of their standard offering.

Figure 17: Reporting Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

Does your solution provide real-time dashboards reflecting agent performance statistics:

- Utilization?

Yes Yes Yes Not currently; expected to be delivered in Q2 2010

Yes

- Close or promise-to-pay rate? Yes Yes No Yes, via the Yes






standard CCPulse+ reporting package

- Schedule adherence? Yes, with the WFM adherence module

Yes No Not currently; expected to be delivered in Q2 2010

Yes (does not require WFM)

Is data presented in graphical displays? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Can each end user organization customize the display of reports? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Can each manager within an organization customize their reporting displays? Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Does your solution deliver real-time reports? Yes Yes Yes Yes, via the

standard CCPulse+ reporting package

Yes

- If yes, what is the latency in real-time data? 3 seconds Less than 10

seconds 15 seconds 2 to 3 seconds 5 to 10 seconds

Do you have standard reports that provide: - Campaign results by department, team and agent?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - Agent reports that address close rates, call volume, average talk time, average work

time and average handle time Yes Yes Yes, for

everything except close rates

Yes Yes

- Department, site, team and agent level reports that reflect transactions handled by calls, emails, chat, SMS, etc.

Yes Yes Yes, for voice; reports for other media provided by partners

Yes Yes, for everything but chat

- Shift reports Yes, with WFM Yes Yes Yes Yes, but need




module to designate the time frame and KPIs

- Activity reports in 15 minute interval by campaign by transaction type Yes Yes Not currently. In

February 2010, will provide reports for campaigns. Do not do transaction-level reporting.

Yes Yes

- Abandonment reports for the department and campaigns Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

- IVR reports Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

What performance information is made available to agents at their desktop? Agent and team contact volumes, agent talk, idle, work, break and occupancy rates. Also get call dispositions – sales and promise to pay data. This data is also customizable.

None out-of-the-box. Agent dashboards can be built by the customer using an Avaya API/SDK, or can be built by an Avaya partner.

Skill group/queue statistics, call handling statistics and history, and agent state history

The following KPIs are available at the agent desktop: Queue Measures: Number of calls handled, average speed of answer, time to abandon (total and average), calls in dialing, calls in ringing, expected wait time, expected time to complete, and campaign status. Agent Measures: Average wrap time, total average call waiting, average handle time, average

Agents can see their own results for total number of calls, conversion rates, average talk time, average wrap time, average handle time, and average pause/unavailable time. Agents can also see alerts sent by their managers.




talk time, # of cross-sells/up-sells attempted, average speed of answer, # of calls transferred, number of consults, consult time (total, average), time spent in outbound versus other call types (total and average), number of outbound calls versus other call types, talk time (total, average), hold time (total, average), and calls put on hold.

- How is the information made available? Dashboard on agent desktop application

Using Avaya PC Agent and system APIs; must be customized by the customer, Avaya professional services or an Avaya partner

Via the Cisco Agent Desktop (CAD)

At the desktop Agents automatically see statistics between calls and on-demand; additionally, alerts can scroll on the agent’s desktop

Do you have an ad hoc/custom reporting environment? Yes Yes Yes.

Environment is being enhanced.

Yes, but it’s not standard. Interactive Insights Web-based reporting tool can be purchased.

Yes


9.13 Security

Figure 18 analyzes the security features of the top dialing solutions covered in this Report. This Figure evaluates common security capabilities, such as whether the solutions support secure shell (SSH), which is a file transfer protocol, or secure sockets Layer (SSL), which is used to secure transport via the Internet. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard is intended to protect credit card users by limiting access to their private information. Four of the vendors said that they work with recording vendors to comply with PCI regulations. PCI has been an area of significant investment among the recording vendors during the past 18 months. Noble indicated that they were able to configure their solution to be PCI compliant. The last two questions in Figure 18 ask about encryption and managing keys; these are both related to PCI. The answers to these questions indicate that some of the vendors are not as tuned into the PCI regulations as they may want to be in order to help their clients. However, as most of the outbound vendors indicated, PCI is an issue that is being addressed by the contact center recording vendors.

Figure 18: Security Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

Does your solution support SSH? Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Does your solution support SSL? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Is your solution payment card industry (PCI) compliant? Yes Yes, through

recording partners

Can be configured to be PCI compliant. PCI compliance for recording is handled by recording partners.

No, but partner recording solutions are

Yes, it is configurable

Does your solution encrypt recorded conversations? Not on a standard basis, but can be done via professional

Encryption of recorded calls is handled by voice recording vendors such

No, handled by recording partners

No, but partner solutions do

Yes, it’s configurable





Figure 18: Security Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

services as NICE, Verint and others

What mechanism do you use for managing keys? Depends on encryption methodology selected

NICE and Verint have different approaches for managing the encryption keys

N/A N/A Noble Encryption At Rest (NEAR)


9.14 System Administration

Figure 19 analyzes a few of the administration features of the leading dialing solutions. It evaluates whether all system administration can be done via a Web browser, if the solutions support SNMP, and whether they support single sign-on. The dialing solutions are lagging behind the industry in the area of system administration. Only Aspect allows their customers to address all administrative capabilities via the Web, although Cisco offers Web-based administration for simplified deployments. Four of the five leading dialers support simple network management protocol (SNMP) monitoring of their environment. Three of the five vendors, Aspect, Avaya and Genesys, support single sign-on/Active Directory to simplify the sign-on process for agents. Figure 19: System Administration

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Can all system administration be done via a web browser?

Yes No, but can monitor via Web browser

Cisco offers a number of administrative options. All administration for the System Contact Center option is done via Web browser. This is a simplified deployment model. With other deployment models, tasks such as re-skilling and routing scripts are handled through a Web browser, but the rest is set up through a Windows client.

Not currently; will be available in release 8, planned for December 2009

Not currently; supervisory capabilities, including agent monitoring and reporting, are expected to be Web-based by Q1 2010. System set-up is done in a Windows-based environment.

Do you support SNMP monitoring? Yes No Yes Yes Yes





Figure 19: System Administration Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

Does your solution support single sign-on/Active Directory/LDAP? Yes Yes No Yes No


9.15 High-Level Technology and Architecture

Figure 20 analyzes the technology and architecture of the top dialing solutions. As can be seen, Windows and Linux are the two primary operating systems, although Genesys also supports a number of major UNIX versions. All of the vendors claim to support open and standard application programming interfaces (APIs). All of the vendors in this analysis offer many standard out-of-the-box interfaces with other contact center solutions to facilitate integration. The handling of CTI varies greatly by vendor. Aspect, Genesys and Noble work with a number of CTI solutions. Avaya and Cisco depend upon their own CTI solutions to enable screen-pop and other more advanced features. Two of the vendors, Cisco and Genesys, offer software-only dialers, while the other three vendors’ solutions include hardware components. Aspect and Genesys claim to support multi-tenancy; Avaya plans to deliver this functionality in April 2010, Cisco in February 2010, and Noble in Q1 2010. The investments in multi-tenancy reflect the growing importance of hosted/software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based solutions. Prospects are encouraged to carefully assess the information in Figure 20 to determine if their preferred solution meets their organization’s technology and architectural requirements. Figure 20: High-Level Technology and Architecture

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble What operating system do you run on? (Windows/Linux/other)? Primarily Windows and Linux for the telephony server

Redhat Linux Windows Windows, HP-UX, Linux, AIX. Solaris, and Unix

Windows and Linux

Is your solution ODBC-compliant? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Do you provide support for: - Open and standard APIs?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes - XML/Soap?

Yes Yes, through integration to the voice portal

No Yes Noble provides standard support for





Figure 20: High-Level Technology and Architecture Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

solution, Proactive Outreach

XML. SOAP is addressed on a custom basis

Which CTI solutions do you integrate with out-of-the-box? Aspect, Avaya, Nortel and Siemens

Avaya Application Enabled Services (AES)

Cisco Genesys and Avaya; many other switches with integration

Avaya, Nortel, Cisco, Siemens, Alcatel, Asterisk and Mitel

Which UC/presence solutions does your dialer support out-of-the-box? Microsoft Avaya Aura Cisco Unified

Presence Microsoft, Genesys, and Alcatel-Lucent

None

Is your dialer a software-only solution? No, but have own dialing telephony that does answer detect

One version is – the CTI dialer

Yes Yes No, Noble provides the telephony server

Is your solution multi-tenant based? Yes Not currently;

scheduled for April 2010

Not currently; planned for February 2010

Yes Not currently; expected to be released in Q1 2010

Do you support SIP? Yes Yes, if the dialer

is integrated with Avaya Communication Manager

Yes Yes Yes

Can your dialer be deployed in a VM-ware type environment? Yes No Not currently;

expected in February 2010

Yes Not 100%

Can your dialer be deployed in a distributed environment where processing is in one location and trunks elsewhere?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes What is the standard storage/archival capacity of your solution? Have own database, Sybase; storage is

Local back-up on DVD media of DDS tape

3 years of reporting data by default; no limit if

Customer is required to provide database and

Archival voice and reporting storage is optional and



Figure 20: High-Level Technology and Architecture Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble

configurable appropriate storage and hardware are configured

storage must be purchased; Report Archive Server (RAS) ranges from 150GB to 300GB, and Voice/Video Archive Server (VAS) ranges from 300GB to 4TB

Do you support:

- NAS Yes No Yes Yes Yes

- SAN Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Is your agent interface 100% web-based? Yes No Yes, Web

browser desktop option available

Yes Yes


9.16 System Scalability

Figure 21 reviews the largest and smallest number of seats supported by the leading dialers. It also identifies the maximum number of calls that each dialer can generate at one time. Prospects should use this chart to ensure that the solution they are considering can meet their needs. Figure 21: System Scalability

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble What is the scalability of your dialer platform:

- Smallest number of seats supported?

20 1 No limits 1 4 - Largest number of seats supported? 2,000 on a single system; 1,400 largest site in production today. Aspect can put multiple systems together and scale to 32,000 agents.

432 per server 3,000+ agents 100,000 3,500 concurrent agents per system. Noble currently has clients exceeding 1,500 licensed agents.

- Maximum number of calls that can be generated at one time? 350,000 130,000 200 new calls

per second Depends on hardware and trunks

22,080 calls




9.17 Miscellaneous

Figure 22 assesses a few capabilities that do not fit in any of the categories described in other figures. These include the ability to process credit card payments, the inclusion of appointment scheduling software, and the availability of a hosted solution. None of the vendors offers credit card processing capabilities on a standard basis, but Noble provides this feature through a partner. For many companies that accept credit card phone payments, it’s important to work with vendors that can help you achieve compliance with PCI requirements. Scheduling and changing appointments is an activity that is common in certain types of organizations. For companies where this is relevant, it is important either to select a dialer with this feature or find a partner that can integrate this capability with the existing dialing solution. Lastly, a growing number of organizations are interested in using hosted solutions, including dialers. Small and mid-sized organizations with less than 25 agents find the hosted business model very compelling, as it allows them to purchase the functionality and capacity they need without the overhead. DMG expects the demand for hosted dialing solutions to increase substantially during the next few years. Figure 22: Miscellaneous

Aspect Avaya Cisco Genesys Noble Does your solution come standard with the ability to process credit card payments?

No No No No Not standard, but it’s an option

Does your solution include appointment scheduling software? No No No No Standard

Do you offer a hosted (SaaS-based) outbound dialing solution? Yes, through partners

No Yes, through partners

Yes, through partners

No






10. Final Thoughts

Dialing is entering a new and highly beneficial era, one which will bring substantial benefits to enterprises or governments that invest in an outbound interaction strategy that empowers them to use dialing in a manner that is mutually satisfying to the organization and its customers. Companies or government agencies that make these investments will find their customers or constituents highly receptive. The companies that succeed with outbound calling will combine the power of dialing technology with best practices to optimize their results.

Outbound Dialing Market Research Report 3.2.2010… · 2. Outbound Market Overview The outbound...

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