IP Telephony

Clarus Systems (News - Alert), a provider of integrated testing and management solutions for IP communication environments, and communication testing company IQ Services (News - Alert), highlighted Wednesday their continued collaboration. The two companies are working together to improve their reach into the contact center market.

 

IQ Services and Clarus first teamed up in October, 2007 and since that time have been achieving success in their goal of delivering management solutions designed to enhance end-to-end voice process lifecycle management in the contact center environment.

 

Brendan Reidy, president and CEO for Clarus Systems, noted that it is critical for the integrated testing solution used in a contact center be fully functionally and properly configured to make sure high-quality interactive customer service is being delivered.

 

“Customer loyalty should never be sacrificed as a result of incorrect call routing, scripting, screen pops or recording; therefore the need to incorporate automated performance and load testing management capabilities into your voice solution strategy becomes paramount,” Reidy stressed in a statement. “Furthermore, proactively load testing a contact center communication system, end-to-end before a peak period, provides organizations a clear view of system performance under high load.”

 

With those points in mind, IQ Services leveraged technology from Clarus to create a solution called Automated Load Testing. This solution tests a contact center’s communication system performance using real-world conditions before that system is used with actual customers. Assessments are made of incoming calls, timed callback, e-mail, Web-based chat, Web services and faxback. This multi-channel approach to validation is made possible by the ClarusIPC Plus+ solution.

 

Jim Jenkins, CEO for IQ Services, explained that the test facility used is configured to receive and interact with incoming traffic from agents or self-service processes, and is connected using an outbound dialer.

 

“In addition, our automated load-testing service tells customers if an environment will work, as well as if it will perform up to the requirements needed to ensure a positive customer experience – somewhat like insurance for the contact center,” Jenkins added.

 

Already, IQ Services is getting rave reviews from clients who are using the Automated Load Testing solution in their contact centers. Rich Rhoads, senior vice president of e-services at State Employees’ Credit Union, North Carolina, for example, praised the solution’s robustness. Tests performed using the solution, Rhoads said in a statement, not only determined how much traffic the system could handle but also uncovered some random issues that could then be solved before going live.

 

At INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2008, going on this week in Maiami, Florida, a session titled Intro to Unified Communications will include discussion about how a solution like Automated Load Testing can help contact centers improve their customer service quality.

 

The session, scheduled for Thursday, January 24, 2007 at 8:00 a.m., will be presented by Richard Whitehead (News - Alert), chief technology officer for Clarus Systems, and a panel of other unified communications experts. The presenters will explain how contact centers and other companies can best evaluate, select, implement and use unified communications.