Aspect's Workforce Optimization Puzzle: The Final Piece

Aspect Software has announced its acquisition of all the assets of quality management provider SophistiCom Technologies. That firm's management application provides contact centers with quality assurance capabilities and full-time logging of all customer interactions to meet recording requirements in contact centers. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The newly acquired application will be known as Aspect Quality Management and will allow companies to better address regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, and contact center employee development concerns, according to Aspect. The acquisition rounds out its performance optimization offering to include quality management, performance management, workforce management, and interaction optimization products. Industry pundits suggest this will also let Aspect compete in the growing workforce optimization industry. "With the addition of quality management, Aspect has, essentially, added the last piece of the workforce optimization puzzle to its product set," says Paul Stockford, chief analyst at Saddletree Research. However, Stockford says the company must address product-line integration problems stemming from the company's merger with Concerto Software last year: "They face issues regarding product line rationalization over the next year, but that should not dampen their marketing spirit or trust among their customers." Mike Sheridan, vice president of strategy and marketing, thinks the timing and choice of SophistiCom is ideal, thanks to the company's advanced quality management technology. It will integrate with Aspect CallCenter ACD and the NEC CCDesign product line using .Net and Web-service platforms. "Quality management was the last leg of the four-legged stool we were lacking. SophistiCom has modern technology based on a great platform," Sheridan says. "Their customer base and team size is perfect. We selected them because we could absorb their staff and integrate their products quickly and readily." The acquisition also bodes well for SophistiCom and its employees, according to Brian Derr, president and CEO of SophistiCom, who will join Aspect Software as vice president of quality management sales. "This increases our ability to go to market immeasurably and makes us part of the largest contact center company in the industry." Aspect will now be able to compete more directly with companies like IEX and Witness Systems, Stockford says. "This technology acquisition and integration gives Aspect Software a highly competitive position in the emerging [workforce] optimization market. Whether inbound, outbound or blended, Aspect is in a position to now offer a [workforce] optimization product designed to meet the unique requirements of each of these the contact center market segments." Related articles: Aspect's Facelift Aspect Answers the On-Demand Call