Sytel’s Softdial Contact Center™ (SCC) a buying into a ......dialers may be used to optimise...

The Sytel Advantage

Sytel’s Softdial Contact Center™ (SCC) architecture is uniquely

optimised for the contact center business because it has been

designed from the beginning with a holistic view of the industry

and with its current and future requirements in mind.

This architecture did not happen by accident – it is the result of

Sytel’s history as a successful vendor of an integrated

communications engine with a highly modular, scalable and

adaptable architecture. The features that made Sytel the vendor

of choice for contact center integrators also fuel Sytel’s rapid

growth and expansion as a supplier of the world’s most versatile

contact center platform.

The Sytel advantage following from this is that anyone building

their business on the Sytel platform is assured that they are

buying into a highly scalable and constantly

evolving solution that will still be driving their

business forward long after their competitor’s

solutions have reached the end of their useful

life.

At the heart of SCC is CallGem™. CallGem™ is

the command and control center of the

architecture and is aware of, if not directly

controlling, every tenant, campaign, queue,

agent and inbound or outbound call transaction

that takes place throughout the contact center.

No activities are allowed to take place without

notifying CallGem™ or, when appropriate,

getting its permission.

Figure 1.

CallGem™ also knows the configuration of all peripheral

components and their capacity or throughput limitations. With

this information it dynamically manages changes in resource

availability, e.g. changes in trunk availability, changes in the

number of available agents on a campaign or campaigns

launched by a tenant, enforcing tenant resource quotas or

adjusting them to cope with unplanned resource shortages.

This dynamically extensible architecture is ideally suited to the

hosted model due not only to the scalability and configurability

it provides, but also the resilience that can be achieved through

its ability to dynamically manage changes in resources.

SCC is also fully web-enabled with browser-based client

applications and tenant resource configuration.

Hosted users can manage their ‘dialer in the cloud’ as if it was

their own local dialer and data security is assured through

tenant side server instances for components such as campaign

and reporting databases and scripting applications.

Powerful telephony and media servers support

any mix of IP, TDM and multi-media sessions

for audio, email, SMS and chat and the

modular media plug-in architecture makes it

easy to add additional media modules such as

video or web services as required.

Figure 2 illustrates the cloud-based hosting

model with multiple CallGem™ instances

sharing application, media and data resources.

The outer ring of ellipses represents tenant

specific resources such as sound files, call

recordings, scripts, and campaign data.

At a time when the threat of identity theft is

increasing alarmingly and PCI compliance is no

longer optional for many call centers, Softdial’s

centralised security management, data

encryption and data segregation features

ensure compliance with the most demanding

regulatory requirements.

Since 1997, Sytel Limited has supplied best-of-breed software components and full-service contact center solutions to

systems integrators, VARs, ASP providers and resellers in over 50 countries across the world.

For more information please contact Sytel at:-

6929 John F. Kennedy Blvd.,

Suite 20-201,

North Little Rock,

AR 72116-5339

T: (877) NA-SYTEL / (877) 627-9835

E: [email protected]

W: www.sytelco.com Copyright © 2013 Sytel Limited. All rights reserved. | Version 1.4 - Feb 2013

Figure 2 – Cloud-based hosting with Softdial Contact Center™

matters, then this kind of detection may be best

turned off.

The pacing engineAnd this is the really difficult bit. The real key to

good predictive dialing lies in the quality of the

dialing algorithms. Despite the onset of

compliance, most dialer design has hardly moved

out of the Model T era! But excellence in dialer

design requires huge effort. Sytel has put many

man-years of development into its dialing engine,

known as the Virtual Event machine (VEM)® It

is a specialist simulator engine that was designed

specifically for the outbound market.

All the user does is to specify a maximum target

for abandoned calls and leave the rest to VEM®.

It then achieves, continuously, the maximum

dialing efficiency for that rate of abandoned calls.

No calls left in hold queues, no other bad habits

such as hanging up quickly on unanswered

numbers. The supervisor then gets on with

managing the campaign itself and just

ignores the dialer which manages its own

pacing, with no outside interference!

VEM continuously monitors all events that

are part of the dialing process. And it

continuously reruns its calculations to

update the dialing rate. Because of the

power of VEM, simulating at up to 40

million calls a second (yes, a second) this

happens in milliseconds only. See Figure

1 for an example of how it responds

immediately to changes in campaign

conditions.

outbound voiceSytel solutions

Types of dialingSytel’s dialer, Softdial Plugin®, offers preview, progressive and

predictive dialing. Depending upon the requirement, these

modes of dialing can be easily switched between.

There’s nothing difficult about preview and progressive dialing,

but predictive dialing is another story!

Call progress detectionThis is the easy bit. A predictive dialer will try and screen out

all calls other than live calls. Sytel provides software and

functions to allow this to happen. But despite many industry

claims, this is not an exact process. Some calls such as faxes,

modems and many voicemail systems can be easily detected

with minimal delay for the call. Some other calls, especially

answering machine detection require some seconds to try and

work out whether a call is a person or a machine. This

software is available with Softdial Plugin®, and its rated

performance is as good as any in the industry. But all users

should proceed with caution since the time taken on detection

is the time that you are expecting a person to stay on the line,

wondering who is trying to call them. If call quality really

ou

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Dialing Rate

Figure 1. Instant pacing response to changing conditions

Available Agents

ComplianceSytel has led the world for many years on compliance. It has

worked with the regulators in many countries to help bring in

responsible controls for dialers and even today is the only

vendor to actually enforce compliance in its product.

This means for example that if you are dialing under rules set

by either the FTC in the USA or Ofcom in the UK, then Sytel

enforces compliance and you don’t have to worry about

non-compliance.

Choosing the right dialerThere are two things to be aware of. If you are paying good

money for a predictive dialer, then remember that what you

are really paying for is the extra talk time per hour that

predictive can produce over progressive dialing. It is entirely

reasonable to ask any vendor to give you a free trial or take

you to a site where you can measure this.

Any dialer worth its salt can easily switch between progressive

and predictive modes so that you can measure

the difference. By all means go on a reference

visit, but until you can see this test carried our

properly, there is a good chance that you don’t

really know what you are buying.

Take a look in Figure 2 at the kind of ‘predictive

gain’ that the Sytel Dialer produces on a typical

telemarketing campaign with 20 agents. But the

catch is that if the design is anything less than

excellent, then only a small part of this gain will

be achieved, because the dialer will quickly use

up its small quota of allowed nuisance calls and

then have to revert to dialing progressively.

Compliance conformance.As well as understanding the ‘predictive gain’,

you need to be sure how it was achieved. Were

compliance rules followed? Make sure you know

your local rules, or what best practice rules are

and then ask some searching questions.

Look for clear evidence that rules are

actually followed. For example are

abandoned calls measured in the right

way? If you are not sure how to check

compliance or what your rules are, then

always feel free to ask Sytel. Just

remember that unless you can be quite

sure that compliance rules are being

adhered to, you will have no way of

doing a proper evaluation.

Further informationIf you want to explore this subject in

depth and understand better what

singles Sytel out from the crowd, contact

your Sytel representative and ask for

access to their specialist web site on

predictive dialing.





Suite 20-201,

North Little Rock,

AR 72116-5339

T: (877) NA-SYTEL / (877) 627-9835


W: www.sytelco.com ou

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Figure 2. The ‘predictive gain’

Copyright © 2011 Sytel Limited. All rights reserved. | Version 1.3 - Aug 2011

Inbound Routing

Routing of inbound calls is determined by Softdial

Contact Center™ according to:

• the source of the call as indicated by the

Caller Line Identity (CLI) information

• the destination of the call as indicated by

the Dialed Number Identification Service

(DNIS)

Agents (live or virtual for IVR) may be members

of any number of queues with a defined priority

within each queue.

Changes to Queue Membership and ranking can

be made dynamically, by supervisor intervention

or automatically according to pre-configured

schedules.

Skills-Based Routing

Membership of a queue or group of queues may

be based on agent skill levels (absolute or

relative), success rates or any other user defined

measure.

This gives the supervisor the flexibility to define

how agents are utilised according to their

individual or group skills and performance levels

without the software imposing rigid rules which

limit their options.

Agents may be dynamically subscribed or unsub-

scribed to queues at any time, and entire queues

may be brought into or taken out of service with

a simple instruction. So if the operational priority

changes suddenly, re-assigning resources can be

as easy as switching queues.

inbound voiceSytel solutions

Unlike outbound voice campaigns where intelligent predictive

dialers may be used to optimise agent productivity, managing

inbound efficiency requires that the inbound routing be

precisely and dynamically tailored to the changing operational

requirements at any given time.

In addition to its highly configurable routing capabilities,

Sytel’s inbound software takes advantage of the full Softdial

Contact Center™ feature set to provide a uniquely versatile

and integrated solution to the inbound business.

This includes support for IP and TDM communications, flexible

call monitoring, recording and retrieval services, campaign

data handling, multimedia campaign management with

efficient blending between inbound and outbound audio, email,

SMS and chat.

Softdial Contact Center™ also includes one of the most

powerful and easy-to-use scripting solutions available today.

With Softdial Scripter™ a user with no programming experience

can assemble an IVR routing script in minutes with a just few

mouse clicks, using built-in pre-configured script steps.

inbou

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Figure 1 - Inbound Routing

Advanced Overflow

Queues may be subsets of other queues providing a simple

means of implementing ‘Cumulative Overflow’.

Cumulative overflow is greatly superior to the conventional

notion of queue overflow since it does not discard the ‘first

choice’ agents but simply adds additional agents while

retaining the opportunity to select a first choice agent if they

become available.

For example, the secondary queue may include IVR agents,

but if a blended live agent becomes available before an IVR

agent handles the call, the call will be passed to the live agent.

Figure 2 shows an example of a skill based routing scenario

implemented using the hierarchical queues.

Each agent is ranked according to their (language) skill to a

skill set queue and the skill set queues are

ranked according to their suitability to the

various campaigns.

IVR agent queues have also been configured for

each of the campaigns as a lowest priority

option.

The IVR scripts may be configured to request

information and re-queue the call, play hold

music and wait for an agent to become free or

schedule a callback.

All queue management parameters are defined

in a single Queue Configuration window where all

queue timing, priority, overflow, agent selection

order, in-queue messaging, campaign blending

and service level parameters are defined.





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AR 72116-5339

T: (877) NA-SYTEL / (877) 627-9835


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Figure 2 - An Example of Skills Based Routing in Softdial Contact Center™

Copyright © 2011 Sytel Limited. All rights reserved. | Version 1.2 - Oct 2011

media servicesSytel solutions

One of the areas of most rapid change in the contact center

environment is the growth of diversified media services

ranging from IP based telephony through email, SMS, instant

messaging (chat) to video and the latest integrated web

services for fast reaction to customer and prospect online

activity.

Softdial’s Media Services architecture is designed to take

advantage of emerging new media and messaging technologies,

creating new client interaction opportunities with flexible

plugin features.

This modular plugin architecture provides an easy,

non-disruptive way of enhancing existing services as well as

adding new services as they become available.

Media Blending

Combining the power of this architecture with CallGem®,

Softdial Campaign Manager™ and Softdial Scripter™, agent

productivity and customer service can be significantly enhanced

by blending activities across all media types.

Uniquely, the Sytel solution enables users to meet inbound

service levels without causing problems in other areas (e.g.

nuisance calls on the outbound side). Figure 1 shows agents

active on a range of media queues, available to be blended to

Inbound Voice if its service level is exceeded.

med

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Figure 1 - Active agents on Softdial’s media queues

Features

• Future proof plugin architecture

• Fully integrated with Softdial Contact

Center™

• Supports any mix of audio, video, and

messaging media

• Supports all common messaging formats

• Used with Softdial Scripter™ and Softdial

Campaign Manager™ to deliver a powerful

IVR solution

Whether you are a small organization with multi-

skilled staff, or a large oursourcer with mainly

specialized teams, SCC blending will make best

possible use of all available resources.

With the web services plugin it is possible to

provide a near instant response to prospects when

they visit a web page (such as an insurance

comparator site) using the visitor’s preferred

medium whether it is by phone, email, text or

instant messaging.



For more information, please contact Sytel at:-


Suite 20-201,

North Little Rock,

AR 72116-5339

T: (877) NA-SYTEL / (877) 627-9835


W: www.sytelco.commed

ia s

ervic

esArchitecture

Softdial Contact Center™ Media Services are delivered via

one or more dedicated media servers. These servers may be

supplied by Sytel pre-configured, or built locally to Sytel’s

specification.

For IP only deployments, all switching, recording and media

processing is performed in software using Sytel’s proprietary

Media Services applications.

For full or partial PSTN/TDM deployments, Sytel Media Servers

can support 700 agents per server at a typical 2 channels per

agent ratio.

Load balancing and N+1 redundancy are provided by a

controller service which connects Sytel Media Servers to the

CallGem® Command and Control service.

The Sytel Media Server presents an aggregated media and

signalling resource to CallGem® and manages the resource

quota allocations that may be required in a hosted deployment.

It also manages interactions that combine a variety of

communication methods e.g. an outbound call which is

responded to by email, SMS or instant messaging (chat).

Every communication, regardless of the original format is

converted into a standard ‘call’ format which is then processed

by CallGem® as if it was a normal ‘voice’ call. This provides

a uniform and highly flexible way of handling any form of

communication and means, for example, that an incoming

email can be be processed through existing campaign queues

alongside voice calls and other non-voice interactions.

The shaded panel on the right illustrates how the Softdial

Contact Center™ Media Services architecture facilitates typical

mixed media sales communication in an outbound telesales

environment.

Here is a typical example of how Softdial’s

Media Services can add value in an outbound

telesales environment:

• An agent is logged into an outbound

campaign and also made a member of one

or more inbound queues

• The agent connects to a prospect on the

outbound campaign and agrees to follow up

the call with an email.

• During wrap on the call the agent prepares

and sends an email to the prospect

• The agent continues on the outbound

campaign

• The prospect replies to the agent’s email

• The incoming email session is passed to the

inbound mail Virtual Agent queue

• The VA script performs a data lookup to

determine to which agent the email should

be passed

• The inbound email session is sent to the

correct agent’s queue. If the original

agent is no longer logged in the session

may overflow to a general pool or an

acknowledgement email may be sent and a

return call scheduled for a later time.

• At the end of his current call the agent is

blended to receive the inbound email session

• The prospect’s account details are screen

popped to the agent along with body of the

incoming email. The agent is now able to

either respond to the email or make a follow

up call to the prospect

With this workflow sales conversions can be

maximized by providing a fast personalized

response to prospects using their preferred

messaging medium.


Features

Inbuilt auto attendant

Voicemail with shortcode access and

external retrieval

Outgoing and incoming calls

Call transfer

Group ring

Call/ group pick-up

Dial-by-name

Hunt group provisioning

Call hold

Inbuilt Operator queue – single user

or group of users

The IP PBX functionality incorporated within Softdial Contact

Center™ (SCC), provides intelligent call handling, voicemail and

IVR features for any number of phone extensions within the

contact center environment.

Unlike many contact center solutions, SCC provides a fully

integrated IP PBX. The PBX is a ready to use solution, so there is

no need to buy add-ons or spend money on a stand-alone PBX.

With our PBX, you won’t need to hire specialist experience in PBX

configuration to maintain it. All PBX functions can be configured

with our easy to use, browser-based user interface, so changes

can be made by your regular staff wherever and whenever they

need to.

The PBX features, like all other SCC functions, are ready for

integration into your legacy environment, including your preferred

soft phone or IP handset. Setup is a streamlined process with no

hidden costs in hardware, software or IT expertise.

The PBX can be used in both a hosted and premise based

environment. Multi-tenancy throughout SCC means that tenants

have complete control over all user features of the PBX.

Integrated IVR

No PBX would be complete without an IVR-based auto attendant

system. SCC comes with this feature inbuilt, fully integrated with

the PBX as a single system, and including configurable Text-to-

Speech (TTS) utilising the engine of your choice. Using the simple

user interface, a full departmental directory can be added within

minutes to the IVR Menu (e.g. Press 1 for Support, 2 for

Reception, etc).





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Routing by DDI

Your agents/ groups can be given their own external direct dial

numbers (DDI), so inbound calls can be routed straight to their

extension.

Scheduling

Extensions and departmental queues can be automatically logged in

and out according to individual schedules, configured within the UI.

Voicemail

Voicemail is also fully configurable and integrated within SCC. Message

retrieval can be configured via a secure PIN number and can be

accessed internally via a shortcode, or externally via a DDI. And to

ensure you never miss an important message, voicemail recordings

are automatically sent by email to the recipient.

Shortcodes

Shortcodes provide instant access to a range of functionality via a

phone keypad; for example, the ability to log in and out of any

available workstation (‘hot desking’), to request ‘Do Not Disturb’, or to

set queues as in and out of service. Customized shortcodes may be

added as necessary using the Scripter tool.

Queues

Queues can be created for particular functions (e.g. support,

reception, sales), or for a particular user (including all extensions

associated with that user). These queues can then be serviced using

the standard PBX hunt group settings of Round Robin and Ring Group.

Queues can easily be configured to overflow to voicemail.

Customization

Like many of the user interfaces within SCC, the PBX UI is built and

delivered using SCC’s own Scripter tool. Those already familiar with

this tool will find advanced customization of the UI and IVR script

quick and easy.

Features

• Efficient,powerfulscriptgeneration

• Noprogrammingknowledgerequired

• Extensivelibraryofscript‘steps’

• Createre-usablecustomsteps

• Visual‘draganddrop’steplogicdesign

• Singleclickaccesstocampaigndatabase

• IntegratedwithMSExpressionBlend

• CreateinboundoroutboundIVRscripts

• Mixemail,SMS,chat,audioscripting

• Easilyintegratedwith3rdpartyapps

• Dynamicscriptupdatefeature

• Webdeployedforhostedapplications

More than 50 standard script components are

availablefor:

• Campaigndatabasequeries

• IVRfunctionssuchasDTMF,TTSandASR

• Callhandlingincludingtransfers,monitoring,

recording

• Creditcardprocessingandvalidation

• Email,SMS,IM,Faxsessionhandling

• Script flow – decision branch, compare

values,pauseresume

scriptingSytel solutions

Asanycontactcentermanagerknows,agenttimeisoneofthe

most expensive contact center resources, not just from an

employmentcostperspective,butalsointermsoflostoppor-

tunity when it is not optimally utilised.Well designed agent

scripts can boost agent performance, just as badly scripted

workflow will hinder an agent in closing a sale or providing

excellentcustomerservice.

Similarly,thetimetakentogenerateanewscriptorupdatean

existing script can limit the window of opportunity for the

client’scampaign.

SoftdialScripter™addressesbothofthesecriticalissueswith

a fully featured script andworkflow design suite that allows

relativelyinexperienceduserstocreateefficient,complexand

reliable agent script applications in a fraction of the time

normallyrequired.

BuiltusingtheverylatestMicrosoft.NETtechnologies,Softdial

Scripter™comprisesthefollowingusercomponents:

• ScriptDesigner-Apowerfulyeteasytousevisualscript

logicdesigntool

• ScreenDesigner-Fastscreenlayouttoolwithintegrated

MicrosoftExpressionBlendoption

• WebScripter-Thisisthewebapplicationthatrunson

theagentdesktop

scri

pti

ng Figure1-Simple‘DragandDrop’

scriptdesignwithSoftdialScripter

Since1997,SytelLimitedhassuppliedbest-of-breedsoftwarecomponentsandfull-servicecontactcentersolutionsto

systemsintegrators,VARs,ASPprovidersandresellersinover50countriesacrosstheworld.

Formoreinformation,pleasecontactSytelat:-

6929JohnF.KennedyBlvd.,

Suite20-201,

NorthLittleRock,

AR72116-5339

T:(877)NA-SYTEL/(877)627-9835

E:[email protected]

W:www.sytelco.comscri

pti

ng

Script Designer combines an extensivelibrary of commonly used script compo-

nentswithanintuitive‘draganddrop’user

interface. Creating a script is simply a

matter of dragging script components

(steps)ontothedesignwindowandlinking

themtogetherbydragginganarrowfrom

between the steps (Figure1). Outcome

logicisdefinedwhenthestepsarelinked.

When script logic changes are required,

Softdial Scripter™’s dynamic update

featuremeans that agent script changes

can be quickly applied and the updated

scriptpoppedtotheagentonthenextcall.

Figure2-Partofahotelbookingscriptexample

Screen Designer comes in two flavours; thebuilt-inscreendesigner is ideal for generating medium complexity layouts

while for very complex designs, scripter designer supports

direct linking to Microsoft® Expression Blend®, one of the

mostpowerfulwebdesigntoolsavailabletoday.

Figure3-

Screendesignwith

MicrosoftExpression

Blend

Web Scripter runs the screens and scriptsgeneratedbythedesignertoolsinabrowseron

the agent desktop. Figure 3 shows a typical

agent screen displayed in the Microsoft®

ExpressionBlend®editingsuite.

Copyright©2011SytelLimited.Allrightsreserved.|Version1.1-Aug2011

Features

• Efficient,powerfulscriptgeneration

• Easilyintegratedwith3rdpartyapps

• Noprogrammingknowledgerequired

• Extensivelibraryofscript‘steps’

• Createre-usablecustomsteps

• Visual‘draganddrop’steplogicdesign

• Single-clickaccesstocampaigndatabase

• IntegratedwithMSExpressionBlend®

• CreateinboundoroutboundIVRscripts

• Mixemail,SMS,chat,audioscripting

• Dynamicscriptupdatefeature

• Webdeployedforhostedapplications

Morethan50standardscriptcomponentsare

availablefor:

• Campaigndatabasequeries

• IVRfunctionssuchasDTMF,TTSandASR

• Callhandlingincludingtransfers,

monitoring,recording

• Creditcardprocessingandvalidation

• Email,SMS,IM,Faxsessionhandling

• Scriptflow–decisionbranch,compare

values,pause,resume

• Webserviceintegration

• XMLprocessing

scriptingfor 3rd party integration

Sytel solutions

Sytel’s Softdial Scripter™ provides easy-to-use tools for the

fastcreationofbothlogicflowsandagentscreens.Whetherfor

inbound or outbound campaigns, for live agents or IVR, the

highlyintuitivevisualdesigntoolssimplifythecreationofeven

themostcomplexscripts.

Scripter also offers a simple yet powerful application

development environment with which non-programmers can

quicklyprovideunifiedfront-endaccesstoback-endprocesses,

whetherfromSytelora3rdparty.

Andifyouareconcernedaboutgettingmaximumvaluefrom

your existing investment, Scripter was designed from the

grounduptobeflexibleinordertoaccommodateintegration

withexistingoperations.

Using 3rd party components within Scripter

Scripts may require either the integration of existing

componentsorthedevelopmentofnewcomponentsusingthe

user’s familiar tools. Either way, the Scripter environment

allowsquickandeasyintegration.

Custom logic stepsIfyouhavewrittenanyspecialisedfunctionality(e.g.database

scri

pti

ng

access,creditcardpayment,calendarintegration,

etc), you can use these steps directly within

Scripter without the need for any re-coding.

Logicstepswritteninany.NETlanguagecanbe

easilyimportedintotheScripterframeworkand

are then available via drag-and-drop to any

script. Logic steps written in other languages

(e.g.Java)canalsobeusedviaawebservices

API.AsScripterdoesnotneedtounderstandthe

internalstructureof3rdpartycode, integration

isquickandeasy.

Fig.1-‘DragandDrop’ofacustomstepinthescriptdesigner

Using Scripter within legacy environments

Sytel’seasy-to-useScripterfunctionalityisnowavailablewithinlegacy

environments,reducingboththeneedforspecialistin-houseITscript

writingskillsandthetimerequiredtodevelopscripts.

Server sideScripterisavailabletocontactcenterenvironmentsthatdonotusethe

Sytelcoredialerandtelephonyservices,asaplug-inwithastandard

HTTPinterface.(SeeinFig.3)

Client sideScreensdesignedusingScriptercanbedeliveredintwoways:

1. toastandaloneInternetExplorer®browser.(See)

2. toanInternetExplorer®browserembeddedwithina3rdparty

application.(See)

Web deliverymakes Scripter ideal for even the largest cloud-based

deployments,servinghundredsofagentspertenant.





Suite20-201,

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T:(877)NA-SYTEL/(877)627-9835

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Custom on-screen controlsCustomcontrolscanbeimportedeasilyto

provide specific UI behaviour. It is also

possibletowrapupcustomcontrolUIinto

librariesforre-use.

High-volume, high-availabilityThe Scripter run engine is designed for

efficient and fail-safe operation. This

enablesSytelcustomerstorunlarge-scale

contactcenteroperationswitharelatively

small resource footprint. Scripter lends

itself naturally to cloud-based hosted

serviceprovision.

Fig.3-Scripterinlegacyenvironments

Copyright©2011SytelLimited.Allrightsreserved.|Version1.2-Aug2011

Fig.2-‘DragandDrop’ofacustomgridcontrolinthescreendesigner

1

2

3

Up-to-the-second performance information is a vital component of

efficient call center management, providing the detailed intelligence

upon which crucial decisions are based. Storage and delivery of all

data on agent, dialer and ACD performance within Softdial Contact

Center™ is handled by Softdial Reporter Web™, Sytel’s next

generation reporting suite.

Both real-time and historical

In a single tool, Reporter Web delivers data on current activity, past

activity, or a seamless mix of both, updating in real-time. In order to

provide high-speed access, including real-time filtering, Reporter Web

utilises a noSQL database.

The noSQL model excels in the high-volume, high-speed environment

of a distributed/ cloud call center operation, and provides many built-

in tools to aid the fast delivery of accurate real-time data.

Reporter Web also puts historical data at your fingertips; no more

waiting for large SQL databases to process queries in order to provide

historical reports. Reporter Web aggregates KPIs (e.g. average talk

time) into 1 hour chunks, enabling highly agile data retrieval.

And if you need to drill down to individual events, all performance

data is written to an SQL database for retrieval on demand.

Data delivery to suit you

Whether you prefer to use your favourite report building tool (e.g.

Microsoft® Reporting Services, SAP® Crystal Reports, etc), a custom

Figure 1 - Softdial Reporter Web ™ architecture

web page, or Sytel’s own web front-end, the

data delivery options can provide just the

performance data you need, in the format

you choose.

Features

Seamless mix of real-time and

historical data

Built for hosting in the cloud

Data delivery options to suit you

Tight integration with 3rd party

products

Reports anytime, anywhere,

securely in a web browser

Inbound, outbound and blended

reports

Extensive filtering and drill-down

Flexible, customisable views

Print and download to HTML, PDF or

Excel format

Support for custom agent outcomes

Full localisation support

Summary and detail views for

agent, queue and campaign

Web-based reports

can be displayed

securely on any

device with an

Internet connection -

at work, at home or

anywhere in

between - enabling

supervisors,

managers and

tenant clients to

keep their finger on

the call center pulse.





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North Little Rock,

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High scalability

Capacity can easily be increased by adding

separate machines running Reporter Web

services. Load is automatically balanced

across all available services (known as

sharding), providing for both trouble-free

scaling, and high resilience, with no single

point of potential failure.

Recovery and failover

Reporter Web safeguards performance data

against loss, caused for example by hardware

or network failure.

For historical data, Reporter Web

facilitates database repair by on-demand

recovery/ replay of data from log files,

even months later, and even while agents

are still working.

For real-time data, Reporter Web provides

for automatic back-up in replica sets, so

that in the event of failure, service can be

redirected to the back-up (replica) without

interruption.

1) Sytel’s web UI

Reporter Web provides a fast, intuitive, web-based

reporting front end, offering a wide range of standard

reports. A single browser window contains separate views,

or ‘panes’, for campaigns, queues and agents, plus an

hourly breakdown. These reports are easy to customise

and filter to display exactly the data you need. Each user’s

favourite report layout, colours and configuration are

preserved.

2) HTTPS request & response

For users needing to integrate performance data into

custom web pages or 3rd party web reporting packages,

perhaps combined with line of business data, Reporter

Web can return data in HTML, PDF, Excel, JSON or XML

format, via a standard, secure HTTPS query (REST)

interface.

3) SQL query & response

For users needing a standard SQL interface, all

performance data is written to an SQL database, ready for

querying on demand. For users of previous versions of

Sytel reporting, Reporter Web provides an easy-to-use

migration tool from SQL to noSQL.

Built for hosted deployment

As with all Sytel products, Reporter Web is designed from the

ground up for hosted deployment in the cloud, with brick-wall

segregation by tenant.

Figure 2 - Example reports using the Reporter Web user interface

Features

• Predictive,Progressive,Preview,Inbound,

IVRcampaigns

• Multiplelistspercampaign

• Multiplenumberspercontact

• AutomaticInbound/Outboundblending

• Outboundskillsbasedrouting

• Dataselectionfilterswithpreview

• Retryandcallbackmanagement

• Timezonemanagement

• Donotcalllists

• Campaignscheduling

• Endoflistmanagement

• Automateddialerperformancetuning

• Callrecordingmanagement

• Databasemanagement

• BlendedAudio,Email,SMS,IM

• Regulatorycompliancemanagement

campaignmanagement

Sytel solutions

Campaignmanagementisattheheartofanycontactcenter.

Here the critical decisions that affect the productivity and

profitability of the business are made and with clients

demandingevermoreprecisionandgranularity incontrolling

how effectively their line of business data is managed, the

complexity of the contact center manager’s job can be

comparedtothatofanairtrafficcontroller.

Just liketheairtrafficcontroller,thecontactcentermanager

dependson reliableand competentmanagement tools todo

his jobwell. Softdial CampaignManager provides a logically

arrangedcontrolandmonitoringsuitethatsimplifiesthetask

ofkeepingthecontactcenter‘flying’underthemostdemanding

conditions.

IncommonwiththeotherworldleadingSoftdialcomponents,

SoftdialCampaignManager™automatesfunctionsthatshould

be automated while providing intuitive control interfaces

wherevermanualinterventionisrequired.

Highlights

Linked Campaigns

Multipleoutboundlistsmaybeeasilycombinedintoa

singlecampaign,maximisingdialerandagentproduc-

tivityandallowingcontrolledblendingofrecordsfrom

each list. Records may be apportioned based on the

individuallistsizesorratiosmaybeset,forexampleto

give time or access frequency limited lists higher

priorityandseparateretryrules.

Multiple Numbers per Record

Softdial Campaign Manager™ offers comprehensive

supportforupto10numbersperrecord,eachofwhich

maybeassigneddifferentcallprogressoptions,time-

to-calllimitsandprioritisationforretrypurposes.

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Figure1-LinkingcampaignsinSoftdialCampaignManager

Figure2-Multiplenumbersetup





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NorthLittleRock,

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T:(877)NA-SYTEL/(877)627-9835

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W:www.sytelco.com

Retry Schemas

Aversatilesetofretryschemasisalsoprovidedwith

theabilitytoadjustretryorderandretrycountlimits

based on individual numbers or all numbers in the

record.

Differentretrycountlimitscanalsobesetdepending

on the outcomes returned, for example, machine

detectionoutcomescanbesetwithalowernumberof

retries and higher retry limits can be set for busies

and no answers. It is also possible to set the retry

intervalbasedonthelastoutcome.

Filter Selection and Preview

Softdial Campaign manager provides flexible filter

selection options using either the built in ‘Condition

Editor’ which does not require any SQL Query

knowledge,oraSQLfreeformquerytoolthatallows

theusertoconstructmorecomplexselectionqueries.

cam

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Figure3-RetrySchemasforMultipleNumbers

Figure4-SettingupafilterwiththeFilterconditionEditor

Figure5-Previewingselectionfilterresultswiththesnapshotpreviewfeature

Filtering can be based on any

campaign database field to select

onlyaparticular typeof record, for

example with a campaign running

duringworkinghours,filteringcould

be used to target people over

pensionableage.

Beforeapplyingafilteritisessential

tocheckthatthefilterwillselectonly

theintendedrecords.

Campaign Manager includes a

snapshotpreviewtoolthatallowsthe

usertotestandpreviewanewfilter

before applying it to the campaign

list, eliminating the risk of costly

errors.

Copyright©2011SytelLimited.Allrightsreserved.|Version1.0-Oct2009

IVRSytel solutions

Softdial IVR™ is much more than the simple ‘detect, capture

and route’ application found in other IVR products. Built on the

versatile Softdial Contact Center™ architecture, Softdial IVR™

leverages the powerful features of CallGem®, Softdial

Scripter™, Softdial Campaign Manager™ and Softdial Telephony

and Media Services™ to deliver an Inbound and Outbound IVR

solution unparalleled in its feature set and performance.

For example, Softdial IVR™ agents have identical call handling,

transfer, routing and media access capabilities as live agents.

This means that IVR agents may be used to

• handle an inbound or outbound call in its entirety (where

local regulations permit)

• validate and route an incoming call to a queue or a

blended live agent

• accept transfers from live agents to handle parts of an

inbound or outbound call

• handle other media sessions such as email and IM using

Softdial TTS/SR features

inte

ract

ive

voic

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spon

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Features

• Inbound and Outbound IVR

• integrated with Softdial Contact Center

• Efficient, Powerful Script Generation with

Softdial Scripter

• Fast Agent Screen Pop with Campaign

Manager Data Lookup

• IVR (virtual) agents have the same call

handling features as live agents

• Calls may be freely transferred between

live and IVR agents

• SAPI Plugin for Text to Speech and

Speech Recognition

• Easy integration with 3rd party applica-

tions and databases in real time

• Highly scalable, to 1000+ channels

Scripting IVR Agent Sessions

Softdial Scripter™ Designer is a fully featured script and workflow design application that allows novice users to create

efficient, complex and reliable agent script applications in a fraction of the time normally required.

Figure 1 shows a typical IVR script that has been designed in Softdial Scripter™. The rectangular icons represent a few

standard script ‘steps’ from over 50 provided with the software. To create a script the user simply drags the appropriate

steps onto the design area. The steps are linked together by dragging an arrow link between them. Step outcomes are

set during the one click linking process.

Figure 1 - Sample IVR Script designed in Softdial Scripter™

The example script performs the following commonly required

function:

1. Play an introductory greeting to the caller, requesting

them to enter an account number.

2. Capture the account number and save it to a script

variable field, exit on fail (6).

3. Perform a database lookup based on the account number

captured

4. If lookup fails, play a prompt requesting the user to

re-enter the account number

5. If successful, re-queue the call to a live agent, attaching

the account data to the session

6. End the call transaction for the IVR agent

When the live agent receives the transferred call they will also

receive a screen pop of the record data.

This script can be assembled and tested in 15 to 20 mins by a

relatively inexperienced user.

IVR for Outbound Campaigns

The ability to transfer a call to an IVR agent on

an outbound campaign can significantly improve

live agent productivity. For example, on some

financial services campaigns there may be a

regulatory requirement to advise the customer of

certain terms of business. At the appropriate

stage of the call the agent can transfer the call to

an IVR agent which will play a message and

capture an ‘accept’ response from the client

before passing the call back to a live agent.

Transfer to IVR may also be required on certain

campaigns for PCI compliance where sensitive

customer information must not be revealed to

the agent handling the call e.g. account

passwords.





Suite 20-201,

North Little Rock,

AR 72116-5339

T: (877) NA-SYTEL / (877) 627-9835


W: www.sytelco.cominte

ract

ive

voic

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spon

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Figure 2 - Simple ‘Drag and Drop’

script design with Softdial Scripter™


Sytel’s Softdial Contact Center™ supports audio recording of agent/ caller conversations as standard. SCC can be

configured to record all calls in a campaign, all calls by a particular agent, or pass control to the agent to record particular

calls, or portions of a call. The recording format can be either uncompressed (.wav) or compressed (.mp3).

Here are answers to some common questions on Sytel call recording.

For PCI compliance, can SCC avoid recording sensitive information, e.g. credit card data?

Yes. The SCC API offers the facility to record silence (mute record) for a specified section of the conversation.

Can the recordings be exported?

Yes, Sytel can provide a batch process, or an automated job can be run to export the recordings to a specified location.

Also, individual recordings can also be exported or emailed as needed.

Can SCC handle dual stream recording?

Yes, multiple recordings can be made of a single call session. For example, by recording the whole call and also separately

recording responses to individual questions.

Can recordings be retrieved using search criteria?

Yes, by using Record Monitor, SCC’s recording search tool.

Record Monitor has 4 tabs, described below.

i. Recent recordings (see Fig 1): shows the last 200 recordings processed by Record Monitor.

Figure. 1

ii. Today’s recordings: shows only recordings made today

iii. Yesterday's recordings: shows only recordings made yesterday

iv. Search (see Fig 2):

Figure 2.

The Search tab allows the user to search for single or multiple recordings by using the following search criteria:

• Campaign Name

• Agent Identifier

• Session ID

• Telephone Number

Exact Match

If checked: any records exactly matching the search text will be retrieved.

If unchecked: any records containing the search text will be retrieved.

Custom tags

When setting up a campaign, up to six custom tags can be specified from the list of available data for each call in order

to aid the search process, e.g. mobile number, postcode.

Using the Search tab,

single recordings may be downloaded and played directly

multiple recordings may be zipped and downloaded





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• Agent Outcome

• Switch Outcome

• Call duration

• Call start time

Softdial Phone™Sytel solutions

Softdial Phone™ is an integrated software telephone user

interface for use by call center agents, supervisors and admin-

istration staff.

In addition to standard outbound and inbound calling functions

Softdial Phone™ provides access to advanced dialer features

including call transfer, call conferencing and call recording. It is

fully integrated with the Softdial CallGem™ management

functions such as agent logon, agent logoff and supports

predictive campaigns with ‘Go Available’ and ‘Go on Break’.

Softdial Phone™ works with CallGem’s presence management

to keeps track of agent availability and maintains call and

contact history for easy and fast location of previous callers by

name or number.

The layout of Softdial Phone™ user interface is shown below.

Soft

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Features

• Multi-Tenant Aware

• Automatic Connection and Logon

• Call History

• Contact List

• Hold / Mute

• Recall Last Incoming Call

• Recall Last O utgoing Call

• Speed Dial

• Call Transfer (Blind/Screened)

• Conference Call

• Coaching

• Record Call / Record All Calls

• Start Wrap

• Go Available / Unavailable

• Request Break / Return from Break

• Show / Hide Keypad

While a call is in progress, the yellow display area

shows essential information about the call:

• whether the call is inbound or outbound

• campaign name (if logged into a campaign)

• whether the phone is logged in to a campaign

• whether the phone is available to take

predictive or preview calls

• whether the call is being recorded

• whether the call is on hold or muted

• whether the logged in and available agent is

on break

• whether the call is being transferred or

conferencing

• the current state (idle, talking, ringing, etc)

and the length of time it has been in that

state

Softdial Phone™ has a highly intuitive user interface with

tooltips on each control indicating its function. The user

interface has been carefully designed for fast efficient workflow.

All connection, logon and optional parameters can be

pre-configured and automatically activated on startup:

• extension nailup

• recording of all calls

• SIP address support, allowing SIP addresses to be

entered for calling as well as phone numbers

Full integration with the CallGem multi-tenant model means

that multi-tenancy and tenant security is supported. Users

must specify the tenant name, user id and password at logon.

Once logged on, the agent or supervisor has all the features

they require easily accessible on the circumference of the

phone interface avoiding the need to search through multiple

menu lists.

Softdial Phone™

provides a full

range of essential

supervisor

features for

maintaining call

quality:

• call monitoring (overt or covert)

• agent coaching (supervisor heard by agent

only)

• barge-in (supervisor heard by agent and 3rd

party)

All calls may be recorded by selecting the Record

All Calls option at logon or individual calls may be

selectively recorded by the agent.

The keypad also features a ‘speed dial’ mode for

frequently used numbers and a range of user

configurable options (see left) that are designed

to improve agent efficiency and make the Softdial

Phone™ user interface straightforward and easy

to learn.

Softdial Phone™ is

also fully

compatible with

Sytel’s IP

telephony

solutions and

includes full SIP

user agent

support.





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W: www.sytelco.comSoft

dia

l Ph

on

e™


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