Alcatel pushes contact centre credentials

Partnership with Microsoft will see it offering more comprehensive contact centre and CRM solutions

Alcatel is partnering Microsoft to build contact centre solutions based on a combination of its OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition IP telephony platform, tied with Windows Server System, SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) 3.0 application.

Alcatel is on the brink of a $13bn merger with US telecommunications equipment maker Lucent, and is keen to emphasise a ‘business as usual’ approach. Last week also saw Genesys, an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Alcatel which specialises in contact centre applications, agree to acquire voice recognition specialist VoiceGenie for an undisclosed sum.

The new contact centre and CRM solutions will be aimed at small to medium enterprises (SMEs) employing anything from 25 to 150 agents, with the Genesys Gplus Adapter adding both IP and analogue voice interaction management to the Microsoft CRM software.

“Customers are looking to implement more sophisticated contact centre solutions but the big problem is how to integrate them into existing systems; it takes too long and costs too much.” said Alcatel business development manager, Nigel Jones.

IP telephony rivals Avaya and Nortel have recently brokered deals with Microsoft that will see them integrate their contact centre solutions with its Office Communicator telephony client, something that Alcatel will also offer according to individual customers’ wishes.

“Working with Microsoft provides a choice for users that don’t want to be bamboozled with another [telephony] client, though Alcatel can offer that as well – we’re just trying to broaden the options for the customer.” Jones added.