CTI Report, Occidental Communications

Computer Telephony Integration: from the Internet to the Desktop
Specific to Australia and New Zealand, Computer Telephony Integration: from the Internet to the Desktop was published in March 2003 by Occidental Communications.

Computer Telephony Integration:
from the Internet to the Desktop

This new report gives users an:
l overview of computer telephony integration;
l the applications for which it can be used;
l details of how they work;
l the systems that use it;
l and the benefits that, from it, can be derived.

Complete with a directory of 64 vendors present in the Australian and/or New Zealand markets.

Computer Telephony:
Integration Is a Key Element
It is widely known that computer telephony integration (CTI) is the integration between an organisation's telephone system and computing systems. But more significantly, it isla so an integration between the organisation's telephony functions and computer applications. Integrating the systems is relatively straightforward and almost out of the box - integrating the applications is not.

This technology is being adopted so widely and rapidly that some commentators are replacing the term computer telephony integration with the term computer telephony, or simply CT. Without integration, CT implies an architecture in which integration is inherent, but is this implication valid? The report explains much of the terminology and jargon that pervades the field and addresses some widely-touted misinformation.

What Applications Comprise Computer Telephony Integration?
The most widely used application of CTI is screen population (screen pop) - populating an agent's screen with information about a caller before the two speak to each other. The report analyses this CTI application and many others, including:
l Screen transfer with call transfer
l (Ad hoc) keyboard and screen dialling
l Predictive dialling and call blending
l Application control of call routing
l Callback
l Off-switch queue control and multi-media contact queue management
l Semi-automatic of collection of line-of-business codes

Benefits to Enterprise Users, and Costs
The report looks at four core sets of applications:
l Inbound call management
l Outbound call management
l Internet integration
l Background processing

Under these headings, the report examines telephone systems, applications such as screen population (screen pop), CTI software, why the term "skill-based routing" is a misnomer, e-mail management, collaborative browsing, ad-hoc and predictive dialling, contact blending, audio call recording and the use of CTI by CRM and help desk software. A significant inclusion is a discussion of the difference between ersatz CTI, which costs a lot and delivers little, and real CTI which costs more, but delivers much more.

Benefits are discussed, but so are costs. Just how much must be paid for CTI licences and how much does application development cost? Vendor-provided costs are included. And what are the costs per contact via different media? Again, costs, and a costed example, are presented.

Six case studies, all in Australia and New Zealand, are included.

Topics Covered Include:
Introduction
l Architecture and applications overview
l CTI or CT?
l History of CTI
l Current trends

Elements of CTI
l First-party and third-party CTI
l Logical architecture
l Physical architecture
l CTI protocols and applications program interfaces: CSTA, SCAI, TAPI, TSAPI, JTAPI and CallPath as well as switch-specific CTI protocols.

CTI Applications in the Call Centre
l Screen population
l Screen data transfer with call transfer
l Keyboard and screen dialling
l Predictive dialling
l Semi-automatic collection of wrap-up codes
l Audio call recording
l Call routing
l Blending of e-mail distribution
l Collaborative browsing
l Off-switch queue control

Incorporation of CTI and other Applications into Telephone Systems
l PABXs and ACDs
l LAN-based telephone systems
l PC-based telephone systems
l Integrated applications - advantages and disadvantages

Implementing CTI in the Corporate Sector
l CTI implementation
l CTI application management
l Organisational integration
l Obstacles to CTI implementation: technological barriers, cost, organisational issues and misinformation

The Future of CTI
l Technology directions
l Market directions

Computer Telephony Integration: from the Internet to the Desktop is 220 pages in length and is published in PDF format.

Price $A750. Australian purchasers must add 10% GST.

How to Order
Send a cheque or purchase order, and full contact details, to:
Occidental Communications Pty Ltd
97 Undercliffe Road, Undercliffe NSW 2206

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