Voice meets data - closer and faster

Communications News, Feb, 1998 by John Silling

Computer telephony integration (CTI) -- the integration of computer data communication systems with voice telephone communications systems -- is gaining recognition as one of the most important methods of achieving and maintaining competitive advantage.

In a well-integrated network support system, the voice call and the data about it arrive at the desktop simultaneously, telling the operator about the caller as the call is answered. This is made possible partly by automatic number identification (ANI), in which a CTI server routes the call to its correct extension and polls the database host to relay the caller's information to that extension's desktop.

There are two things to keep in mind concerning CTI:

* The telco usually charges on a per-call/per-duration basis for ANI service. It should be possible to negotiate a billing cycle of 15 seconds rather than the standard one-minute increments.

* Not all automatic call distributors (ACDs) require a CTI server: For instance, Aspect Telecommunications' ACD can support CTI-like functionality by acting like a transaction link server. Check with your ACD/PBX vendor for availability and specifications of the interface card needed to support the transport protocol of your CTI server.

CTI servers can be either third party or supplied by the ACD/PBX vendor. Typically, these servers are Unix-based, but many existing and even more new CTI server applications are being developed and ported to Microsoft NT.

When selecting a CTI server, make sure it supports several physical interfaces such as Ethernet, token ring and fiber. as well as several of the current CTI application program interfaces (APIs) such as CSTA, TSAPI, and TAPI.

The CTI server's routing tables are configured by the user and contain the TCP/IP address of all PCs and the phone extensions used in the CTI application. It is important that a very detailed and precise routing table be programmed into the CTI database. Casual data input can lead to disaster. A simple typing mistake will take down two CTI positions at a time.

One advantage of an external CTI server, as opposed to an internal CTI transaction link, is the ability to program front-end information that can rectify shortcomings in the host system's database configuration. This ability is especially helpful in situations where information such as the calling-from number may not have been programmed into the host system's database, or when the customer calls from another number such as a cellular phone, or if the host system's response time is questionable.

The CTI server is the controller and possibly the front end of all data moving between a company's systems. Because it is installed on the data network, between the host system and ACD or PBX system, the selected CTI server must support all necessary transport and API protocols.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE TOOLS

Before developing the graphic user interface (GUI). have someone sit with the operators to get a detailed understanding of just how incoming calls. flow and how the operators interface with a customer.

For those with unlimited IS resources and a very talented coding team, applications such as Visual Basic, Delphi, PowerBuilder, C, and C are GUI development tool options. For everyone else, canned GUI-development tools are available. Some tools, such as Vitesse, by Logica, enable the average person to develop and deploy powerful CTI applications.

CTI should offer considerable savings, but you should determine if, in fact, it will live up to expectations -- and by how much. For example, one company with a call center of about 400 operators had its host system in another state. We estimated that the set-up time of each call would be reduced by 16 seconds by capturing the caller's ANI and prompting the host system for information during the time the operator was greeting the caller. This added up to savings of about $2,408 a month. The customer could take about 164 more calls per day before adding more staff. The total estimated savings were $7,800 per month, or annual estimated savings of $93,600.

THE NEXT GENERATION

A hybrid CTI application called CIVR (computer and interactive voice response) prompts the customer for specific information before the operator receives the call. Like the CTI application, a CIVR server routes the information to the host system with instructions to relay the information to the proper desktop when., and if, a caller wants to talk to an operator.

The CIVR application provides greater security by allowing the caller to input a secure identification number, along with the caller's number in the form of ANI. This can result in even greater cost savings than the traditional CTI application by allowing the caller to select from a list of automated services. A caller who needs an operator simply presses a designated digit that routes the call to an operator. The connection is made at the same time that caller ID information from the host arrives onscreen in front of the operator.

What the future holds is faster and tighter integration between the voice call and data transfer, resulting in true integration of voice and data -- not just a merging of the two. The power of CTI is the ability to tailor communication systems so that each customer believes that he is being serviced by his own personal assistant.