Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

No Missing Links with Interactive Intelligence Lync Integration

October 24, 2014

There can be little denying that the Holy Grail for enhancing customer experiences  is to absolutely ensure that the right people have the right tools at the right time to efficiently and effectively respond to customers in real-time. This is the reason so much attention and investment by vendors and their customers alike is being placed on omni-channel capabilities.


In fact, if you are not familiar with what the term “omni-channel” means, my recent interview with Karina Howell, solutions marketing manager at Interactive Intelligence on the subject summed it up quite nicely when she explained that omni-channel is multi-channel done right.  And, if you are not certain about what multi-channel refers to, it is the ability of an organization to be able to engage internal as well as external people via any media by which they wish to engage.

What omni-channel adds literally and figuratively to the conversation is the visibility and flexibility to remove channel silos so the best possible interactions can be achieved regardless of channel or how many may be needed, a resource or customer’s location, and that the interactions can be monitored and recorded so meaning insights can be gained and compliance achieved.

All of this is context for the fact that the increased use of the popular Microsoft Lync unified communications (UC) solution by enterprises of all sizes around can and should be included in the search for the Grail. As the title suggests, it should not be a missing link. Indeed, as part of the transformations now taking place with contact centers the seamless integration of Microsoft Lync into these transformations is becoming essential.

Customer experience solutions provider and market leading innovator, Interactive Intelligence does just what the doctor ordered. I recently had the opportunity to discuss this with David Bolefski, strategic overlay systems engineer at Interactive Intelligence to find out why the company has been so successful in upgrading customers via Lync integrations, including displacing legacy environments from competitors.

ContactCenterSolutions:  How about a little background on Lync integration.

David Bolefski:   There are two important aspects.

First, is extending UC to the contact center and vice versa. We live in an increasingly complex world where the expectations can no longer be that a single person, particularly a contact center agent, can provide all of the answers to customer inquiries.  Available for Lync 2010 or Lync 2013, our Customer Interaction Center (CIC) software together with Lync leverage presence and other SIP-enabled UC capabilities to give contact center agents rapid access to knowledge experts throughout the enterprise.  And, it is not just about access but the ability to do real-time collaboration employing multiple channels and tools.

Second is telephony enablement.  We are a certified SIP provider and can support Lync phones and licenses so Lync can be used as the enterprise voice path.

We like to think of this as a “best of breed total package” for UC and contact center functionality. 

ContactCenterSolutions:   So a modern contact center really needs both UC and sophisticated contact center functionality to really move the goal posts on customer experience?

Bolefski:  The short answer is a definitive yes.  To be responsive in a world where customer expectations are high, their willingness to be patient is low and the competition is always a click away, driving customer satisfaction rates higher by improving the experience and the critical metric of first-call-resolution you must have both. And, they must be easy to use, i.e. seamlessly work together so they do not become an obstacle as well.

This is why our solutions provide things like IM and video capabilities for contact center agents. We also provide synchronized presence so everyone sees everything during a session which eliminates things like blind transfers and those long hold times we all hate.  Plus, there is a common directory across the environments with a Lync tab in our Interaction Client. There is also single click capability for multiple collaboration channels. And, we have as mentioned direct SIP integration which means click-to-call capabilities, easy plug and play deployments and no need for third-party gateways.  It really is a complete solution.

ContactCenterSolutions:  What other drivers are you seeing in the marketplace?

Bolefski:   What we have experienced is that customers have multiple platforms as they transition to next generation communications capabilities of all types, especially when moving to the cloud. Lync is the common platform present. With the growing recognition of the need for contact center functionality regardless of your company’s size having that functionality and linking it with Lync is immensely valuable and creates opportunities for us and our channel partners as well.

The nice thing is this extends to CRM integrations as well.  Interactive Intelligence has a long history of success in the CRM space and numerous packaged integrations. And, there are built-in connectors in solutions supported by us. In fact to be a bit boastful we do well when integrating to other best in breeds solutions.

ContactCenterSolutions:  Can you give me the three hit songs from this show I should be singing?

Bolefski:  The value proposition is compelling.

 First, any company of any size can and should have sophisticated contact center capabilities whether delivered on-premises, via the cloud such as through our CaaS and PureCloud offerings or through a hybrid solution. These capabilities cannot be siloed from other enterprise business process and collaboration capabilities such as CRM and UC solutions

Second, integration extends ACD capabilities with the presence management system synched to Lync. In fact, it allows for dozens of specific contact center states. This gives status that the rest of the enterprise can see which drives things like workforce management scheduling and forecasting.

Third, the phones are always registered to the Lync side of things which makes integrations smoother.

Finally, and this is critical for customers to understand, is that the Interactive Intelligence integration with Lync is not a forklift. It is an easy to implement, cost effective way to leverage of existing contact center and Lync investments.

ContactCenterSolutions:  Thanks David.  This is an instance where seeing really is believing.


Edited by Alisen Downey



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