The Essential Guide to VoIP and the Contact Center

One of the hottest communications trends today is deploying VoIP with contact-center solutions. Promising to increase savings and reduce operating costs, an IP-enabled contact center can extend a contact center to locations anywhere around the world — at record speed and without costly infrastructure investments. An IP infrastructure also allows for remote, at-home agents, which can enhance customer service while slashing overhead costs. And by converging voice and data traffic, a company can reduce its operating costs and simplify its call-center management processes.

An IP-enabled contact center leverages VoIP technology to extend contact-center functionality to branch offices, satellite locations and agents anywhere, anytime. This real-time communications system converts voice traffic into digital packets that travel over networks via Internet protocol.

One of the greatest benefits of an IP-enabled contact center is the opportunity to use at-home contact-center agents. At-home agents can be located anywhere in the world and only require a browser, access to the Internet and a phone — landline, mobile or VoIP — to field calls from customers. Acting as a logical extension of the contact center, remote agents enjoy access to the same telephony and data resources as if they were located in office headquarters.

Unfortunately, sharing IP contact-center technology resources across multiple locations can give rise to security concerns. Whether issues revolve around communication between business units or the ubiquitous threat of network intruders, securing an IP-enabled contact center calls for important security measures. Companies need to safeguard against DoS (denial-of-service) attacks, unauthorized access to the VoIP network, computer viruses, identity theft and eavesdropping.

The use of at-home agents also presents its own set of obstacles. For example, ensuring quality of service can be an issue if agents depend on an unreliable Internet connection to reach the contact center. Providing at-home agents with the proper technical support can be a battle, putting a strain on internal IT support teams. And some contact-center managers aren’t comfortable working with agents from an arm’s length and without any formal supervision.