Aspect Announces Aspect Unified IP 6.6 with Expert Agent Capability

Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced that the upcoming release of Aspect® Unified IP™ 6.6, scheduled for general availability on 12 December 2008, will include a number of significant new features, including an ask-an-expert capability using the instant messaging and presence technology available in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. This ask-an-expert feature enables Aspect Unified IP to seamlessly integrate to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to specifically request real-time presence information on experts located across the enterprise to assist with customer interactions and improve first-call resolution. Aspect Unified IP 6.6 unites inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (including voice, email, Web, workflow and fax) in a single, scalable session initiation protocol (SIP)-based voice over IP (VoIP) software platform.

Aspect customer and partner, Datapoint, a systems integrator for enterprise and call center communications based in the United Kingdom, is currently using Aspect Unified IP 6.6 to successfully identify the availability of knowledge workers, route calls to them, and record and monitor the interactions.

“This version of Aspect Unified IP is really changing the way that we can communicate, internally and externally,” said David du Toit, chief technology officer, Datapoint. “Through streamlined communications processes, we now have the ability to find the expert with the right knowledge in the enterprise quickly, and that is an indispensible tool in getting our customers’ inquiries resolved efficiently. We’ve had a great experience with Aspect Unified IP 6.6 thus far and have seen positive results almost immediately. These new capabilities help us engage knowledge workers in the customer care process, and training agents on using these tools has been a breeze. We really feel that Aspect Unified IP will help give us a competitive advantage and we expect to benefit from lower operating costs and increased customer satisfaction in the future.”

In support of the ask-an-expert feature, Aspect Unified IP 6.6 has added a new user classification, Knowledge Worker (expert), so that companies can add data on experts, such as names and phone numbers, to the Aspect Unified IP database, and assign a skill or set of skills, to define their profile as an expert. This enables agents to search for experts with unique skills who can assist with specific types of customer inquiries and then engage them via instant message (IM) or phone.

These new unified communications (UC) capabilities within Aspect Unified IP support the company’s strategy to provide solutions and services that enable organizations to take advantage of all of the potential benefits that UC can provide, including improved enterprise productivity through enhanced customer-facing business processes.

“Unified communications offers a very exciting opportunity to significantly change the way companies interact with both their customers and, now within the organization too,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect Software. “With this version of Aspect Unified IP, you won’t find a tighter integration to Microsoft Office Communications Server available anywhere else, which is making it possible for contact centers to seamlessly leverage experts throughout the enterprise to provide the best customer experience and the most productive business results.”

“Leading companies, such as Datapoint, recognize that Aspect Unified IP can provide all of the capabilities necessary to streamline communications business processes, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction,” added Hyppolite. “Ultimately, these companies are able to reap all of the benefits that a logical unified communications strategy, combined with a leading unified solution, can deliver.”

Other new capabilities that will be available in the upcoming release of Aspect Unified IP 6.6 include:

• Expanded Localization with support for Traditional Chinese, French, Thai, and Greek (data only) in addition to the already available localizations in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese.
• Inbound Queue Optimization to provide customers in queue the flexibility to schedule a callback based on their position in queue, or at an alternative time and phone number.
• Reactive Blending with Nortel and Siemens ACDs to protect existing investments in these platforms and enable blending of inbound and outbound interactions to agents (reactive blending currently exists with Aspect Signature ACDs and Avaya ACDs).
• High Availability enhancements with virtualization and telephony redundancy.
• Increased Security and Compliance with support for multiple active directory and domain environments; security of customer sensitive information in system logs; and the ability to force users to log off for fraud protection or emergency handling. 
• Licensing Flexibility for Hosted Environments to enable Application Service Providers (ASPs) to manage and allocate licenses to each of their customers or tenants. 
• Improved Supportability with streamlined installation and upgrade tools, as well as a site survey application. 
• Migration for Aspect EnsemblePro 5.2 Customers offers a straightforward upgrade from Aspect® EnsemblePro™ 5.2 with data transfer in English.

About Aspect
Aspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.