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March 2, 1998

Call-Center Web Links

Corporate culture can inhibit adoption

By Gregory Dalton and Mary E. Thyfault

host of products that link customer call centers to the Web are being introduced, but analysts say organizational barriers are impeding widespread adoption of the technology.

Startup eFusion Inc. in Beaverton, Ore., plans to unveil a product for medium-sized call centers at this week's Computer Telephony Integration trade show in Los Angeles. The 10-port gateway will link a company's Web site with its call center. Customers with a s ingle telephone line and a properly equipped PC will be able to click on a call button on the company's Web page to speak to a customer representative via Internet telephony while still navigating among Web pages. The PC needs a sound card, a microphone, and a speaker.

Aspect Telecommunications Corp. in San Jose, Calif., expects to ship in the second quarter Aspect Web Agent, which integrates tightly into existing call-center platforms from Lucent, Nortel, and other vendors. MCI just rolled out a service that offers the same kind of linkage on a transaction basis. Nortel says several companies are testing its add-on product that connects Web users to a call center via a second phone line. Companies bringing out similar products include Balisoft Technologies, InnoMedia, and Transaction Information Systems. Some products let consumers communicate with company agents via text-based chat or E-mail.

Strong Capital Management Group in Milwaukee is about to start testing Aspect Web Agent to communi cate with its mutual-fund customers. "The phone is effective, the Web site is effective, and together they are more effective," says Peter Schwab, Strong's director of shareholder communications.

Web Agent lets a service representative access a customer's account information while also looking at the same Web page the customer is seeing. The software also lets the agent send pages to the customer and even mark up pages for customers. The product will probe the user's PC to see if IP telephony software is installed. Users can also receive calls over a separate phone line by typing in their phone number. Web Agent is priced at $62,000 plus $1,000 per customer service representative.

Before such products catch on, the sound quality of Internet telephony may need to improve. There is also often an organizational obstacle. "Web sites usually are managed by a Webmaster who has nothing to do with the call-center people," says Hilary Mine, an analyst at Probe Research in Cedar Knolls, N.J. Companies that have tried to merge their call centers with the Web, she says, have found it "a slow, painful, non-revenue-generating experience."

The Internet unit of telecom carrier SBC Communications uses the same staff to handle inquiries via both phone and the Web, and is considering using Net-based voice calls. "I anticipate that would be a part of the future," says Judith Meskill, director of switched service delivery and support.

Mine of Probe Research says integrated call centers have greater potential in certain niches, such as submitting classified ads to newspapers via the Web and then discussing the wording with a sales representative.