SAN MATEO, Calif.--May 15, 2006--Contactual today announced a major upgrade to its Contactual OnDemand Contact Center that more than triples its previous agents-per- customer capacity. The new Version 5.0 can support more than 500 simultaneous agents per customer, enabling growing contact centers as well as larger organizations to reduce costs by outsourcing the contact center infrastructure.
Upgrades to Contactual OnDemand Contact Center allow the service to scale to the bandwidth needs of larger customers, accommodate larger VoIP environments, and deliver enhanced skills-based call routing capabilities to maintain and improve service levels across a larger number of queues.
In addition, new features added to support larger and more flexible deployments include:
-- Setup by agent profile, permitting system administrators to create templates including queues, assignments and access rights for each user group and then quickly configure entire groups and/or new agents without redundant data entry.
-- Increased SIP phone support, giving call centers with converged voice and data networks a variety of device options including Cisco 7940/7960 and Grandstream BudgeTone 100 desk phones as well as CounterPath (formerly XTen) X-PRO, X-Lite and eyeBeam and Microsoft IM softphones.
-- Enhanced email management, enabling emails to be automatically forwarded to the system administrator for manual handling if they cannot be automatically routed to the appropriate destination based on factors such as keywords.
-- Self-service deletion of unneeded schedules, CRM records and call monitoring files, allowing larger call centers with in-house administrators to perform these tasks without submitting requests to Contactual personnel.
-- Automatic transfer of system updates to Contactual's backup system, eliminating the need for system administrators to manually replicate system changes in the Contactual Backup Tenant used for disaster recovery.
Contactual also remains the only hosted contact center provider that can provision a complete system in as little as four hours, operate with any kind of phone infrastructure from PBX to VoIP, and provide integrated email and chat functionality.
"The hosted model began as a cost-effective alternative for smaller contact centers that cannot afford automatic call distributors, interactive voice response systems and all the other components required in a traditional on-premise installation, but it is an equally valid option for larger centers," said Ashwin Iyer, Program Leader, Contact Center/CRM with Frost & Sullivan. "The ability to scale to support these larger deployments will be an important factor in bringing on-demand contact centers into the mainstream."
"We have been using Contactual successfully for five years, and we will soon reach their original seat capacity," said Pete Newell, CEO of WebConverse, a provider of call center outsourcing services. "This upgrade will enable us to continue using their OnDemand Contact Center as we add agents to accommodate ongoing growth in our business."
Contactual OnDemand Contact Center 5.0 is available immediately.
About Contactual
Contactual pioneered the use of hosted contact centers that dramatically reduce the costs of outfitting customer service, help desk, technical support and inside sales team operations by eliminating the need for premise-based infrastructure. The Contactual OnDemand Contact Center eliminates all upfront hardware and software costs; enables organizations to operate virtual contact centers with agents working from home and/or multiple sites; and unifies customer communications from phone, VoIP, voicemail, email and Web channels into one routing, queuing and tracking system for maximum efficiency. Contactual has earned the Frost & Sullivan 2005 Global Excellence in Technology Award as well as TMC Labs' Customer Interaction Magazine 2005 Innovation Award. For more information, visit www.contactual.com.
