VOIP: The Voice and Data Breakthrough in Contact Centers

Back in the day, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) was the standard way to transmit calls over the “old telephone network”. No big change was seen until the 1800s, only improvements of the same old model.

Today, video, voice and data communication are being delivered via a unified IP network that enables companies to control costs, manage bandwidth, and plan for future technology integrations. Through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), organizations can consolidate traffic and eliminate the need for managing two separate networks.

Today’s corporate client expects quality transmissions and significant cost savings when they upgrade and enhance their network. If you are a contact center business, you specifically need to look at applications without the fear of being locked into a given voice and data infrastructure. We believe that Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) enabled networks offer the best solution to contact centers. Careful planning and the use of an optical IP-based core network provide companies with the kind of interoperability needed for handling a variety of contact center applications, both old and new.

We recommend that you look for a network design that has flexibility in LAN and WAN components for your contact center environment. A good feature of VoIP is that it provides a set of building block elements that you can manage yourself or have a company like GCOM Worldwide manage from end-to-end.

It’s important to have a wide variety of carriers to choose from to build out your network design as well. A network infrastructure or support system is only as good as the last mile, and a disaster recovery plan works better when there is carrier diversity.

Some tips to keep in mind:

• It is highly recommended to avail of MPLS-based networks, as they use class of service (CoS) traffic management.
• Circuits should be secure and reliable, and must offer proactive management and monitoring.
• Intelligent nodes support multiple protocols, technologies, apps & services session initiation protocol (SIP) incorporated into global infrastructure.
• Make sure that there are redundancy options to ensure non-stop performance.
• Ask yourself: Do you have access to a team with networking integration and expertise to both plan your migration, convergence, manage billing and reporting?
• Moving to a new architecture will enable you to take advantage of new applications, while keeping your existing platforms.

The Benefit of Data for Voice:

• You can run voice, video, and data over a single, easy-to-manage infrastructure.
• You can consolidate call center traffic with corporate traffic on the network.
• You can access all your e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages from a single mailbox.
• You can easily accommodate new IP-based applications and innovative network-based services.
• You can increase departmental productivity and improve performance.
• You can effectively improve interactions between your agency and its publics.

This was originally written for the GCOM Worldwide blog. Learn more about how we can help you cut costs through voice and data solutions and visualize your actual future savings by using our Savings Calculator today.