Making PBXs Play Well Together

To make everything work together more smoothly in the transition to Internet Protocol, IQ NetSolutions Inc. Monday is upgrading its call management software and unveiling companion desktop applications.

In the midst of what many in the IT industry see as an inevitable move to IP-based telephony, many enterprises are grappling with a mishmash of technologies from different vendors. To make everything work together more smoothly in the transition to Internet Protocol, IQ NetSolutions Inc. Monday is upgrading its call management software and unveiling companion desktop applications.

Integrating disparate phone technologies—for example, a TDM-based private branch exchange with an IP-PBX—is challenging enough, but integrating disparate technologies from different vendors compounds the difficulty. The latest version of IQ NetSolutions VistaPoint Integrated Call Manager and its new VistaPoint Companion Series desktop applications integrate systems from Nortel Networks Inc. and Mitel Networks Inc.

OfficeScape Inc., a realty firm that manages incoming calls for about 200 companies around the country, deployed the VistaPoint system to improve the efficiency of its business. It is vital that OfficeScapes agents can resolve calls seamlessly so that they appear professional on behalf of their clients, said Steve Ames, director of engineering at OfficeScape in Indianapolis.

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Ames said that the companys previous call management system was too slow. "There was a noticeable gap between when the phone would ring and when we could transfer it," he said. "The information created gaps as far as how quickly we could answer calls and how knowledgeable we looked."

The previous system displayed a greeting and a list of people with corresponding numbers for transferring, but agents had to transfer calls using the keypad, requiring up to 30 seconds to resolve a call.

VistaPoint generates a company-specific pop-up screen and a group of corresponding icons displaying transfer destinations for each call. The new system cut resolution time approximately in half, helping Ames to increase call volume without increasing staff, he said.

"Its just a matter of dragging the call onto the right icon and letting go," Ames said. "Its night and day. It is so much easier to use."

VistaPoint incorporates "presence" functions, letting users see which colleagues are logged into the system and whether theyre on the phone or on hold.

The product is well suited to enterprises loyal to a TDM-based switch vendor but interested in migrating to a Voice-over-IP system, said Greg Pisano, director of product management at iQ NetSolutions in Westborough, Mass.

iQ NetSolutions plans to support additional PBX vendors over the coming months, and integrate the VistaPoint products with other office automation products, particularly CRM applications, Pisano said.

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