Today at the VoiceCon Orlando 2008 conference, Microsoft and contact center company Aspect Software announced a multiyear strategic alliance to help deliver unified communications (UC) to contact centers around the world.
As per the partnership, Aspect will design its Aspect Unified IP contact center solution to interoperate with Microsoft’s platform for software-powered voice and unified communications and will offer it as the leading option to new and existing customers.
“Our alliance and the resulting joint solutions are designed to enhance sales, service and support capabilities for organizations of all types and sizes, across many industries. We strongly believe that the combination of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Aspect Unified IP will redefine the way companies interact with their customers,” said Jim Foy, president and CEO of Aspect.
Aspect said it will begin development of the optimized solutions immediately and plans to release a new version of its NET-based Aspect Unified IP product by this year.
The new solution will deliver interoperability with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, and include an ask-an-expert capability using instant messaging and presence technology in Office Communications Server 2007. Such an integrated approach will enable contact center agents to find and consult with experts anywhere in a company to resolve inquiries in a single interaction.
Aspect plans to extend the interoperability of its Unified IP with Office Communications Server to include software-powered voice in subsequent releases. This solution is being designed to enable contact centers to seamlessly escalate customer interactions to different channels — phone, instant messaging, e-mail or conferencing — while addressing reliability, scalability and reporting needs.
“A key pillar of Microsoft’s unified communications vision is improving access to the people and information you need to do your job better and more quickly, and, with Aspect, we aim to make this vision a reality for contact centers,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president, Unified Communications Group at Microsoft.
“The connection between contact center technology and unified communications has not, to date, been at the center of the conversation,” said Sheila McGee-Smith, president and principal analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics.
“The decision of Microsoft and Aspect to create this strategic alliance clearly demonstrates that the contact center plays an integral role in the evolution of software in the enterprise. Companies may now choose to make a choice to easily bring Microsoft UC into both their contact center and their enterprise, realizing the benefits of first call resolution and other metrics that a uniform UC strategy can deliver.”
As part of the agreement, Aspect will also build a professional services and systems integration practice for Microsoft’s unified communications software. Aspect will help customers deploy, customize and manage Office Communications Server in its contact centers and throughout its organizations for software-powered voice, instant messaging, presence and conferencing. |
