Computer Telephony
Integration (CTI):
Small Business & Enterprise
Solutions:
1)
Introduction:
Through
computer-telephone integration applications, organizations
are providing more efficient, personalized service to
their customers. Such value-added services have become
potentially decisive differentiators in today's crowded,
complex marketplace. High quality service, moreover, inevitably
results in highly satisfied customers and high levels
of repeat and referral business. At the same time, these
organizations are increasing productivity and reducing
costs.
According
to AT&T, 27 percent of customers who can't get through
to a company's 800 number buy elsewhere or skip the transaction
entirely. Companies using CTI in conjunction with their
800 number service make sure customers get through.
Computer-telephone
integration (CTI) provides for the exchange of information
between telephones and computers. More specifically, CTI
links telephone switches with computers to coordinate
computer information and intelligence with telephone call
handling to automatically add relevant data, fax, graphics,
and/or video to voice communications. Calls are enhanced
according to the availability to selected services or
equipment that passes identifying information with a telephone
call.
Com21net
offers custom CTI applications written specifically to
meet your company's needs. From screen pops to routing
your fax, email, web and phone information to satisfy
your organization's communication needs, we can create
the right solution for you. Just let us know your computer-telephony
needs and our professional staff of engineers and programmers
will make a custom CTI application for your business.
2)
Faster, more personalized service:
In
today's business environment, the telephone is often the
primary means of communication in many different situations:
placing catalog orders, checking airline schedules, querying
prices, reviewing account balances, and recording and
retrieving messages. Usually, each telephone call involves
a service representative talking to a caller, asking questions,
entering responses into a computer, and reading information
to the caller from a terminal screen.
When
organizations automate this process by linking their computer
and telephone systems, they can lower costs, provide better
customer service, increase the number of services available,
and extend hours of operation. CTI lets customers, for
example, use their Touchtone phone to check their bank
balance 24 hours a day rather than walk to a cash machine
or wait on hold for a customer service representative.
And the marriage of phone and computer systems can identify
incoming calls, route them to the appropriate person,
and deliver the caller's file on a computer screen (Screen
Pop) to the person answering the call -- before the call
is answered.
3)
New Technologies:
Today's
computer-telephone integration offerings enhance a range
of emerging technologies such as:
- -Interactive
voice response: the ability to input and retrieve information
from a computer database via a Touchtone phone
- -Fax
Publishing: the ability to request that fax information
be automatically forwarded to the caller via Touchtone
phone
- -Unified
message notification: the ability to link voice mail,
electronic mail (e-mail), Fax and Web information so
that users can collect all these type of messages via
a single source. For example: your PDA or your computer
email program.
4)
How Consumers Benefit from CTI:
- -Less
time on hold
- -Improved
response time for callers once they get through to the
company
- -Instant
access to database information, often on a 24-hour basis
- -Callback
options for callers who don't want to stay on hold
- -Better-informed
customer service representatives who are able to understand
the caller's past relationship with the company
- -Access
to service reps who, when freed from routine functions,
have more time to research and answer complicated questions
- -No
need to repeat identification information and reason
for calling when transferred to another agent or department
5)
How Businesses Benefit from CTI:
- -Prompter
and more accurate response to inquiries, orders, and
service requests
- -Personalized
attention and efficient problem resolution
- -Improved
customer and prospects access to information about new
products and services
- -Increased
number of services available and extended hours of operation
- -Increased
telesales revenue
- -Higher
levels of referral and repeat business
- -Fewer
data entry keystroke errors
- -Shorter
transaction time, increased employee productivity
- -Improved
employee morale
- -Cost
savings from operational efficiency
- -Lower
toll-free telephone line charges and trunk requirements
