Call Center options with a UC520 or Cisco Communications Manager Express (CME)

To start what is a Call Center?  Here is my definition.

A call center is a centralized system where customer or other telephone calls are handled by an organization, usually with some amount of  automation. Typically, a call center has the ability to handle a considerable volume of calls at the same time, to screen calls by customer self direction or prompt and collection and forward them to someone qualified to handle them, and to report on call activity.

In this article I'm going to focus on the tools available with the UC520 as well as Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CME) running on an router with Cisco Unity Express.  CME happens to be the call processing software on the UC520 so when refer to CME I am including the UC520 unless specifically noted otherwise. I'm focusing on four specific Call Center solutions starting with the easy to install and included in the purchase price to the more complex and finally the even more complex that need additional components to be purchased.

The Hunt Group

The first of our solutions also happens to be the easiest to setup.  On the UC520 there is even a GUI to make very simple.  But what is it?

Quite simply a hunt group is a methodology of distributing phone calls from a single directory number (called a pilot number) number to a group of several directory numbers.

Communications Manager Express (CME), which is the Cisco IOS based Call Control software on the UC520 and also available on the ISR series of routers, has a robust hunt group feature set. 

Hunting call distribution from the pilot number can be:

One of the interesting features available with hunt groups is the ability to dynamically log in and out hunt group users with a softkey on the phone. CME can support up to ten hunt groups per box.  CME based huntgroups also support a final forward option such as a General Delivery Voicemail box on Unity Express should no agents be available or if the maximum hunt-timer setting has expired.  DNs can also be members of multiple hunt groups.

Huntgroups are a key component of some of following solutions in this article.

The Auto Attendant with Hunt Groups

In some cases a hunt group alone is not enough.  If we want our customers to self direct to an appropriate hunt group we need to give them menu options.  For Example: "Press 1 for the Sales Department and 2 for the parts department"  Customer self direction helps customers reach the agent most qualified to service their need.s An Auto Attendant could be defined as:

An automated system designed to guide a caller through the options of a voice menu.  Typically set to answer and route incoming calls.  Auto Attendants can have features such as "dial by name" and provide message only recordings or prompts such as driving direction, business hours as well.

Cisco Unity Express,included in the UC520 as well as in different form factors for ISR routers, can provide this type of functionality when working in conjunction with hunt groups on CME.

The B-ACD Application

So what if all directory numbers in a hunt group are busy?  Do you want the call to go to voicemail or would you rather place the caller in Que, have them listen to some recorded message and then deliver them to the next available line?

If you the caller to wait in Que then the B-ACD (think Basic Automatic Call Distribution) may be for you.  It is a free set of TCL scripts that can run on the UC520 or an ISR router. 

The Cisco Unified CME B-ACD application is specified by two Tool Command Language (Tcl) scripts: an AA script that handles the welcome prompt and menu choices, and a call-queue script that manages call routing and queuing behavior.  It does not need Unity Express to operate and works in conjuction with hunt groups defined on CME.

Big advantage to using the B-ACD is the ability to Que Calls and you can also get some call reporting on the hunt group and agent activity.  To configure the B-ACD you must be familiar with the Cisco IOS commandline. There is no additional cost if you already own a UC520 or CME on a router.  Cisco has a pretty good guide available at this link.

Cisco Unified Contact Center Express( UCCX)

Cisco's full blown Contact Center server based application does now work with the UC520 and CME on the ISR Router platform.  It can support up to fifteen agents on a UC520 and up to 50 agents on a Router running CME. (300 agents on full blown Call Manager)

If you have need of a seriously full featured Call Center but have relatively few agents handling calls this might be of consideration for you.  When licensed with the premium version, Customers can be provided with dynamic self service prompts, the system can perform database dips and return info or transactions to agents or customers. (think bank by phone) UCCX can work in conjunction with Text to Speech and Speech recognition servers and provide web contact services such as web chat and click to speak too an agent. Configuration can become quite complex and there are actually two Cisco Authorized classes for this product.  UCCXD and UCCXA.  The desktop based scripting tool used to create call center scripts can be a bit of a learning curve for the uninitiated, but it is very powerful.  It's less powerful cousin is actually the Unity Express desktop script editing program.  If you are comfortable with the Unity Express Editor, this product is very similar but with many more advanced script steps available.

IVR Option for Unity Express

Not available for the Uc500 series.  IVR is available for the Unity Express Network Modules as an additional licensed feature set.  The adds the following capabilities to Unity Express.

Enterprise and SMB Database Integration

Cisco Unity Express IVR option supports the following enterprise and SMB databases:

•Oracle 10g
•IBM DB2 8.2/9.0/9.1
•Microsoft SQL 2000
•Microsoft MSDE 2000
•Sybase Active Server 1.2

Callers can run queries to gather information from a database, or manipulate the data stored in the database.

IVR Web Application Deployment

Enables users to deploy VoiceXML scripts, which represent the static content of the IVR application, and JSP and Java files, which generate the dynamic content of the IVR application.

Outbound E-Mail Notification Support

Cisco Unity Express IVR supports Outbound E-mail Notification, which allows customers to send an e-mail to users to confirm receipt of their IVR order.

The outbound e-mail notification steps in the script allow you to:

•Create e-mail messages

•Attach files to an outbound e-mail message

•Send e-mail messages from Cisco Unity Express scripts

Outbound Fax Notification Support

IVR enables customers to integrate outbound fax notifications using Cisco Unity Express. Outbound faxes are generated using a specially formatted e-mail address. The fax subsystem generates an e-mail notification to describe the disposition of the fax message.