In todays competitive business environment, companies need to expand their

traditional channels of customer interaction to cement customer loyalty and maintain

competitive advantage. The Internet provides heightened business opportunities
by enabling a whole new realm of interaction channels above and beyond traditional
telephone calls and face-to-face interactionsand increased pressure, because today
customers are demanding the freedom and flexibility to contact and interact with
businesses using the communications medium of their choice.
Integration of PSTN and Web-based communication channels is key to optimizing customer service
and improving customer retention rates. However, many companies are finding this difficult to
implement within the confines of proprietary voice switching equipment, which can be difficult to
integrate with newer Web-based interaction channels. These time division multiplexing (TDM)-based
platforms cannot seamlessly interface with new multimedia channels such as Web collaboration,
text chat, e-mail, and videoall of which are requirements for a 21
st
century customer contact
center. As a result, meeting customer service objectives in a call center based on legacy TDM
platforms alone can be both cumbersome and expensivebut this is not the case with open telephony
platforms that leverage standards-based IP data networks.
This white paper presents an overview of the business benefits of an IP-based contact center
infrastructure, discusses options for migrating from TDM to IP, and introduces and summarizes
the primary benefits of the Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) Solution.
Business Benets of an IP-based
Contact Center Infrastructure
W
h
i
t
e

P
a
p
e
r
BUSINESS BENEFITS OF AN IP-BASED CONTACT CENTER INFRASTRUCURE
Location Independence
Location independence is a key benefit of an IP-based contact center infrastructure. No matter
where agents are physically located, as long as they have access to the corporate WAN they can still
function as if on-site, receiving and responding to contact center inquiries as appropriate. With an
IP-based virtual call center, companies can better utilize contact center staff located in branch
ofces, or allow them to work from their homes, functioning as remote knowledge workers. With
this exible model, companies can bring additional agents on-line as neededmaking it easy and
cost-effective to implement follow-the-sun customer support programs, with live operators around
the world providing 24x7 assistance.
Deploy And Maintain A Single Network
The cost benefits of converging voice and data have been well documented; use a single network
and cut overhead costs in half. But less well known are the distinct operational advantages of an
IP-based contact center to the customer service side of the company. These benets are so great; in
fact, companies may well want to consider convergence from this perspective alone.
By supporting IP voice, companies can converge their voice and data networks onto a single
infrastructure. A single network is not only less expensive to purchase and operate, but business
rules can be congured and managed in a single place to ensure a consistent experience for the customer.
In addition, with a converged network that supports IP voice, new applications from multiple vendors
can be implemented and leveraged across the network and organizations can leverage new service
offerings from IP-based carriers.
Introduce Multimedia Channels Into The Contact Center
Of equal importance is the ability of IP-based contact centers to support multiple contact channels.
Competitive forces have rendered simple telephone support inadequate; customers now expect to be
able to choose from Web collaboration, text chat, e-mail, or video communications as well. Since
almost all of these capabilities are developed using open standards, adding them to an openly architected,
IP-based contact center is seamless and can be managed in an integrated fashion to support a unied
customer experience across all interaction channels. To remain competitive in todays business
environment companies are learning that it makes sense to manage all customer interactions through
a centralized corporate resourcei.e., the contact centerin an ongoing effort to personalize
customer interactions and increase overall customer satisfaction.
CISCOS STRATEGY OPEN TELEPHONY AVVID
Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) provides a standards-based, open
systems architecture for building converged networks. AVVID was designed to enable server and
agent-level IP telephony to coexist with traditional time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks that
support Automatic Call Distributors (ACDs), private branch exchanges (PBXs) and Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) systems and desktop applications. The AVVID architecture is supported by
an Internet ecosystem that thrives on open standards, encouraging the development and interoperability of
multi-vendor and multi-product solutions. As a result, AVVID enables a seamless migration path
from the legacy call center to the IP-powered, multimedia contact center, enabling an organization
to incrementally add IP telephony, IP-based services, new media channels and IP-based applications
at its own pace while taking advantage of its existing IP data infrastructure and preserving legacy
system investments.
As a result of Cisco AVVID, Ciscos contact center strategy supports unied user interactions that
bridge the worlds of IP and telephony. This strategy enables multimedia customer contacts originating
from different contact channels to be intelligently distributed to agents or resources over traditional
circuit-switched and IP networksproviding a seamless migration path from a legacy call center
infrastructure to an IP-enabled, multimedia contact center.
CISCOS SOLUTION: IPCC
An integral part of Cisco AVVID, the Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) delivers intelligent call routing,
network-to-desktop CTI, and multimedia contact management to contact center agents over an IP
network. By combining software ACD functionality with IP telephony in a unied solution, IPCC
enables companies to rapidly deploy a distributed contact center infrastructure to support their
global e-sales and e-service initiatives.
The Cisco IPCC delivers an integrated suite of proven productsincluding Cisco ICM, Cisco
CallManager, Cisco IP-IVR, Cisco VoIP gateways and Cisco IP phonesthat combine Cisco IP
telephony and contact center solutions. Specific capabilities include intelligent call routing, ACD
and IVR functionality, call queuing, and consolidated reporting. IPCC integrates easily with legacy
call center platforms and networks, enabling your organization to continue to leverage its investment
in legacy systems while providing a smooth migration path to an IP infrastructure.
The Cisco IPCC is designed for implementation in both single-site and multi-site contact centers as
well as service provider hosting environments. It utilizes a companys existing IP network, allowing
organizations to leverage their wide-area network (WAN) infrastructure, lower administrative
expenses and extend the boundaries of their contact center enterprise to include branch offices,
home agents, and knowledge workers. In the case of a pure IP-based environment, calls may be
routed over the WAN, thus reducing PSTN transport costs. Whether a company is expanding an
existing operation or establishing its rst contact center, the Cisco IPCC can help it realize the cost
and performance benets of converged networking. And as new technologies emerge, IPCCs open,
standards based architecture allows organizations to reap the benets of technological advancements
as they occur.
The Cisco IPCC solution enables an organization to take advantage of new IP-based applications at
its own pace while preserving legacy investments and leveraging existing IP data infrastructure.
Thus IPCC deployment can be incremental; IP telephony, new media channels, and new IP-based
services can be added at the desired rate necessary to meets business demands and budget challenges.
The implementation exibility of the Cisco IPCC solution reects Ciscos understanding of the high-
speed development of Internet-based technology, the pressure to provide more and better customer
services, and the complexity of maintaining protability and competitive position in the process.
TDM-TO-IP MIGRATION STRATEGY
Any introduction of new technology to a mature market must be compatible with the incumbent
technology. This is especially true in the call center market, where over the years companies have
made tremendous investments in telephony hardware and software which cannot be simply written-
off and replaced. New technology solutions must integrate with legacy infrastructure investments,
allowing a smooth, painless migration to occur at the customer's own pace. This strategy not only
minimizes downtime, but also allows the new technology to be fully integrated before a complete
transition is made and for users to grow accustomed to the similarities and differences compared to
the old technology.
Cisco IPCC supports a migration strategy whereby state-of-the-art IP technology can co-exist with
TDM-based telephony systems. Cisco IPCC links these disparate technologies into a unied solution
that allows IPand TDM-based agents to share skill groups, real-time displays and statistical reports.
IP-based agents can receive customer inquiries and be managed and reported on in the same way as
agents connected to the TDM ACD, giving the IPCC a migration strategy that is unmatched by other
IP contact center products.
As either a migration and/or an implementation strategy, IPCC can enable large-scale movement
from TDM-based to IP-based operations or implementation of new, IP-based features that can coexist
in a telephony environment. While the ultimate goal of full migration is clear, the path each contact
center must take to achieve it requires maximum exibility and powerful capabilities. Cisco IPCC
was developed to meet this challenge (Figure 1).
IP
IP
PSTN Internet
ICM
IP-Enabled Site
WAN
IP
IP
Branch Office Site Legacy Site
MULTI-SITE IPCC Figure 1
BUSINESS BENEFITS OF IPCC
Cisco IPCC delivers on each of the core IP infrastructure benets summarized previouslyincluding
location independence, the ability to deploy and maintain a single network, and the opportunity to
introduce multimedia channels into the contact centerand provides several additional benets:
Intelligent Contact Routing And Reporting
To ensure optimum routing, IPCC agents are grouped according to skills. The system receives real-
time skill group and status information directly from each agents desktop and can even reserve an
IPCC agent to ensure availability. The scripting environment provides a set of standard route selection
criteria as well as tools to easily customize call distribution to meet business requirements. For
multi-site operations, the ability to include IPCC agents in enterprise resource selections improves
both contact center performance and customer service.
The open architecture of Cisco IPCC allows for the consolidation of timely and accurate information
from the Internet, carrier networks, Cisco CallManager, ACDs, IVRs, agent desktops, and other
resources. This information is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server (Structured Query Language) data-
base for use in real-time and historical call-center reporting. The IPCC reporting package enables
users to generate reports using provided templates; add specic, monitored thresholds to particular
data elements; drill down to more granular reports; and schedule reports to run at specied intervals.
Users can also build customized reports using the report writer provided with Cisco IPCC, use any
number of third-party database access tools to manipulate and display information, or export data
to industry-standard le formats for use in other applications. Reports can be viewed from an admin
workstation, any authorized browser-enabled desktop, or any other Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC)-compliant desktop application.
In addition, the IPCC delivers agent-level reporting functionality, including both real-time and
historical agent data, allowing contact center managers to view consistent information from the
enterprise level down to a specic agent. (Figure 2)
Customer
Database
IP
PSTN
IP-IVR
VoIP Gateway
Internet
ICM
CallManager
Agent Agent
IP
IP CONTACT CENTER ARCHITECTURE
Admin
Workstation
Figure 2
Support For Multiple Interaction Channels Over The Same Infrastructure
Cisco IPCC does away with the separate, incompatible technologies of the past by providing a
converged IP network infrastructure that accommodates multiple interaction channels such as voice,
Web collaboration, text chat and e-mail. Not only is this converged network infrastructure less
expensive to purchase and operate, but business rules can be congured and managed in a single
place to ensure a consistent customer experience.
Rapid Deployment Of New Applications
Another key benet of Cisco IPCC is its ability to enable innovative applications to be developed
and quickly deployed more rapidly than their Old World counterparts. Because applications run
over a converged network based on IP, applications can be written independent of operating systems
and connectivity and compatibility with other IP-based applications is assured.
Multi-site Support
If your enterprise has multiple locations serving your contacts, the IPCC can intelligently route customer
inquiries to the best available resource regardless of location. Just as the Web relies on multiple
servers and resources in disparate locations to provide redundancy and peak coverage, the Cisco
IPCC uses a similar architecture to create a distributed multi-nodal contact center. This powerful
functionality allows your enterprise to receive the most value out of its locations and resources and
provide optimal customer service while maximizing efciencies of scale. The Cisco IPCCs skills-
based pre-routing function makes a routing decision for each call while it is still in the IP network
or PSTN and before it is sent to an agent or other targetenabling the system to segment customers
and deliver each contact to the best available resource the rst time. Moreover, IPCCs centralized
administration functionality enables you to manage and support all your content center locations
from a single, centralized location.
Preserve Legacy Equipment Investments And Prepare For The Future
The Cisco IPCC solution enables an organization to take advantage of new IP-based applications
at its own pace while preserving legacy investments and leveraging existing IP data infrastructure.
Because IPCC deployment can be incremental, organizations can add IP telephony, new media
channels, and new IP-based services at a rate that meets business demands and budget challenges.
SUMMARY
The Cisco IPCC solution provides organizations with a powerful edge in their quest to provide better
customer service, cement customer loyalty and maintain competitive advantage. By allowing companies
to seamlessly and painlessly migrate their existing TDM-based contact center operations to an IP
network, IPCC delivers the exible architecture businesses need to deploy a distributed contact center
infrastructure that supports their global e-sales and e-service initiativesat their own pace.
Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China PRC Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic
Denmark Dubai, UAE Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong SAR Hungary India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan
Korea Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico
Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Scotland Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand
Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Venezuela Vietnam Zimbabwe
Copyright 2001, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. AccessPath, AtmDirector, Browse with Me, CCDA, CCDE, CCDP, CCIE, CCNA, CCNP,
CCSI, CD-PAC, CiscoLink, the Cisco NetWorks logo, the Cisco Powered Network logo, Cisco Systems Networking Academy, Fast Step, Follow Me
Browsing, FormShare, FrameShare, GigaStack, IGX, Internet Quotient, IP/VC, iQ Breakthrough, iQ Expertise, iQ FastTrack, the iQ logo, iQ Net
Readiness Scorecard, MGX, the Networkers logo, Packet, RateMUX, ScriptBuilder, ScriptShare, SlideCast, SMARTnet, TransPath, Unity, Voice LAN,
Wavelength Router, and WebViewer are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc.; Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn, Discover All Thats
Possible, and Empowering the Internet Generation, are service marks of Cisco Systems, Inc.; and Aironet, ASIST, BPX, Catalyst, Cisco, the Cisco
Certified Internetwork Expert Logo, Cisco IOS, the Cisco IOS logo, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems Capital, the Cisco Systems logo, Enterprise/Solver,
EtherChannel, EtherSwitch, FastHub, FastSwitch, IOS, IP/TV, LightStream, MICA, Network Registrar, PIX, Post-Routing, Pre-Routing, Registrar,
StrataView Plus, Stratm, SwitchProbe, TeleRouter, and VCO are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain
other countries.
All other brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document or Web site are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner
does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0104R)
Corporate Headquarters
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1706
USA
www.cisco.com
Tel: 408 526-4000
800 553-NETS (6387)
Fax: 408 526-4100 European
Headquarters
Cisco Systems Europe
11 Rue Camille Desmoulins
92782 Issy-Les-Moulineaux Cedex 9
France
www-europe.cisco.com
Tel: 33 1 58 04 60 00
Fax: 33 1 58 04 61 00
Americas Headquarters
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1706
USA
www.cisco.com
Tel: 408 526-7660
Fax: 408 527-0883
Asia Pacic Headquarters
Cisco Systems Australia, Pty., Ltd
Level 9, 80 Pacic Highway
P.O. Box 469
North Sydney
NSW 2060 Australia
www.cisco.com
Tel: +61 2 8448 7100
Fax: +61 2 9957 4350
Cisco Systems has more than 200 ofces in the following countries and regions. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the
C i s c o We b s i t e a t www. c i s c o . c o m/ g o / o f f i c e s .