Aspect Offers More Localization and Capabilities for '08

As businesses worldwide are becoming more and more interconnected, contact center software providers continue to feel the heat to expand their selection to provide support for multiple countries. Contact center software provider Aspect Software is looking to answer this global call with its newest version of Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1, which offers German, Japanese, Colombian Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean language capabilities. Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 will be generally available beginning on December 27. The latest version is available to customers using Aspect Unified IP 6.5 at no additional charge as part of the maintenance package. The newest version of Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 will help manage multiple contact center sites and deliver high-quality results, according to the company. "Aspect Software uses Aspect Unified IP in all of our worldwide contact centers to manage interactions with our customers and partners," says Serge Hyppolite, Aspect Software's director of product management. "We implemented Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 in our European contact center, and the results were excellent. It continues to reduce complexity in managing our multiple contact center sites around the world and we're already seeing higher productivity and reduced costs." Michael Barbagallo, senior analyst of contact centers at Current Analysis, says multilingual support is a critical weapon companies must include in their arsenal if they want to expand into growing markets such as China and Latin America. "Many other countries are becoming bilingual and multilingual," he explains. "The world is getting smaller and contact centers are being created in all corners of our globe. For these reasons and more, multiple language support is an essential feature for any contact center solution provider that wishes to be an international presence." Beyond the expanded language capabilities, Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 uses VMware to leverage server virtualization and offers a new manual answer feature, which allows agents to take a call at their discretion. Having the option to manually answer is already mandatory in the German contact center industry and is gaining popularity worldwide. In the first quarter of 2008, Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 users will also be able to use the real-time reporting capabilities of Unified Command and Control and use a graphical display to consolidate reporting across multiple sites and applications. Along with the new localization, virtualization and manual answer features, Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1 features Agent-on-Demand and a Web services interface with a complete Simple Object Access Protocol Software Developer's Kit. Barbagallo believes Aspect Unified IP's new features will benefit all Aspect customers. "VMware provides cost saving by letting applications that require an individual server to be housed on a single server through virtual machines," he says. Hardware costs do not rise in direct proportion to server capacity, so a large server using VMware to house three applications is less expensive than three smaller servers. In addition, housing multiple applications on a single piece of hardware can reduce overhead costs. "Although a benefit for large customers, this addition provides greater benefit to SMB customers where costs control is a daily struggle," Barbagallo adds. Hyppolite says the updated Aspect Unified IP 6.5.1, coming in time for the beginning of 2008, marks a fresh initiative for Aspect as well as its users. "As 2007 draws to a close, we are very excited about the new capabilities and direction for Aspect Unified IP," he says. "This release will benefit our worldwide customer base and any organization that is looking to take advantage of a unified approach." Related articles: Verint Makes a Speedy Impact The company's acquired Witness arm launches its latest workforce optimization suite, Impact 360, stressing analytics prowess and integration. Speak Up! Eleven strategies to ensure that you're hearing your customers loud and clear. Tech Solution: Workforce Management Solutions Business Problem: Managers cannot staff and manage their contact centers effectively. Gartner Restores a Leader to Its Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure Interactive Intelligence moves back into the top quadrant, joining Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, and Nortel. Doubling Down on Quality Management A new report says the market for quality management/liability recording suites--essentially workforce optimization--more than doubled in 2006.

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