For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Premise-Based IVR/Voice Portals, Q2 2009

Genesys Leads, With Avaya And Cisco Systems Closely Following

by Elizabeth Herrell, June 17, 2009

In Forrester's 52-criteria evaluation of IVR/voice portal premise-based offerings, we found that Genesys, Avaya, Cisco Systems, and Nortel Networks lead the pack. These vendors deliver innovative solutions with advanced capabilities on their end-to-end . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Network-Based IVR/Voice Portals, Q2 2009

Tellme And Nuance Are Leaders, With Verizon And Voxeo Close Behind As Strong Performers

by Elizabeth Herrell, June 15, 2009

In Forrester's 53-criteria evaluation of network services providers for IVR/voice portal (VP) vendors, we found that Tellme and Nuance lead the pack with their all-inclusive platform support for advanced capabilities and innovative solutions. Verizon . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Evaluating UC Vendors On Key Applications

How Vendors Stack Up On Voice/Desktop Call Control, Mobility, And Conferencing

by Elizabeth Herrell, December 22, 2008

Organizations considering unified communications (UC) solutions often find the vendor landscape overwhelming. During an economic slowdown it's more important than ever to invest in solutions that mirror the short-term and long-term goals of your company. . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

2008 Contact Center Technology Trends

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 13, 2008

In 2008, contact centers are leaning toward an increased emphasis on self-service and applications that provide greater insight into customer experience. Organizations are also considering how to support their customers more proactively and reach beyond . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

CTI Contact Center Applications Migrate To SIP

SIP Offers Superior Multimodal Support, But Most Prefer A Hybrid Approach

by Elizabeth Herrell, March 20, 2008

Easing and improving customer communication across a variety of channels should be on any organization's list of IT priorities. Customer support organizations that plan to support real-time multimodal customer communications are evaluating new channels . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

European Telcos Must Look Beyond Simple One-Phone Solutions

by Lars Godell, March 12, 2007

As many as 50% of European online consumers claim to know what integrated fixed and mobile phones are, reflecting a combination of consumer confusion and technology and market realities. The one-phone service comes in two flavors: the one the industry . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Unified Communications Merges With IP Telephony In 2007

by Elizabeth Herrell, February 2, 2007

IP communications has evolved from a replacement technology for business telephone systems into unified communication (UC) applications that improve worker productivity and reduce business delays in reaching key decision-makers. With renewed emphasis . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Unified Communications: What You Need To Know

Evaluating Providers And Products For SIP-Based Business Solutions

by Elizabeth Herrell, November 9, 2006

Unified communications (UC) has become the inclusive name for a converging set of voice, data, and video infrastructure services that integrate with common business applications to reduce typical communication bottlenecks. UC link communication technologies . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Virtual Contact Centers: What Are The Benefits?

by Elizabeth Herrell, October 31, 2006

Virtualized contact centers extend customer support to a wider group of employees who are not located within a physical contact center. Using IP technology and applications based on session initiation protocol (SIP), companies can connect to employees . . .

IMS Will Transform Telecom

Carriers Must Alter Market Approach To Profit

by Ellen Daley, Lisa Pierce, Michelle de Lussanet, Lars Godell, November 15, 2005

Vendors and carriers herald the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network architecture as the trigger for the next telecom boom. They promote its ability to deliver new applications that combine voice and data, enable fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), and reduce . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

SIP: The Next Frontier For Converged Applications

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 1, 2005

Thanks to session initiation protocol (SIP), business communications applications can now deliver new functionality that was not previously available. Rather than managing a world of separate applications for communications, SIP enables companies to tie . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Resolving Security Risks For IP Telephony

What Companies Need To Consider When Deploying Voice On Data Networks

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 23, 2004

Security represents an ongoing risk for businesses deploying IP telephony (IPT). Most companies fail to consider the unique vulnerabilities caused by integrating voice into a converged network prior to deployment. Although most companies take major steps . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Avaya And Spectel Join Forces

Plan New Conferencing Capabilities For SIP Platform

by Elizabeth Herrell, August 4, 2004

Avaya announced its intent to purchase Spectel, a leading audio conferencing vendor to broaden its portfolio of SIP-based applications. This purchase adds conferencing capabilities to Avaya's SIP-based Converged Communications Server, which provides a . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Unified Synchronized Communications Arrives

Technology Convergence Will Change The Way You Work

by Elizabeth Herrell, Erica Driver, February 24, 2004

Convergence between communications and collaboration technologies will radically change the way people communicate in the next decade. Unified synchronized communications (USC) combines myriad technologies and devices in a single platform, streamlining . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Next Generation IP Telephony Applications Deliver Strategic Business Value

by Elizabeth Herrell, October 20, 2003

IP telephony is moving into a new era with the introduction of enhanced applications that provide a simplified user interface for managing complex communication requirements across the enterprise.

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Second-Generation VoIP

by Vijay K. Bhagavath, Ph.D., Maribel D. Lopez, Angela Tseng, Robert Whiteley, September 26, 2003

Second-generation VoIP based on Internet standards -SIP, SOAP, and SIMPLE - will significantly reduce business communications costs and boost productivity through a new genre of live communications apps.

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Redefining Voice Communications: Session Initiation Protocol Still Under Construction

by Elizabeth Herrell, July 25, 2003

Organizations with large mobile populations and remote users will gain the most functionality from SIP-based IPT collaboration applications today.