Operators No Longer Standing By

January 05, 2012 by Dave Michels

This week Aastra launched InAttend – an attendant solution with advanced collaboration options.

Ever call an agent and totally confuse them with a request that’s off the script? It creates all kinds of havoc invariably resulting with an incessant recording about how important this call is. I sometimes have doubts about that recording. I also think some call centers use me as an excuse to for a coffee break.

The idea behind InAttend is to help agents solve problems while still on the call using IM, presence, and email. The InAttend attendant console is call handling + collaboration with search, calendar, presence, line state, and SMS text messaging. It integrates with Exchange and Sametime as well as third party SIP based systems. The application is standalone system that uses LDAP to interface with other directories. Or it can be integrated with the Aastra CMG server.

InAttend Offers:

Up-to-date information on availability and activity status for all employees
Support in a multi call manager environment
Presence information from Microsoft OCS/Lync and IBM Lotus Sametime
Calendar integration (Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise)
Possibility to integrate with the Aastra CMG suite

Aastra InAttend1.0 has been verified with the Aastra MX-ONE V.4.1 (SP2), Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.1 and is to be available on the Aastra 5000 and Aastra 400.

REVISED 1/7/12

If you are looking for the press release, see it here: http://www.aastrausa.com/2012-press-releases_2482.htm

By Dave Michels

Dave is an independent analyst and founder of TalkingPointz which is focused on enterprise communications. In addition to this (free and paid) content on TalkingPointz, he contributes to industry sites, can be found at major industry events, and provides advisory services to vendors and financial analysts.

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Discussion

Randy Sailer January 6, 2012

Regarding your last sentence, http://www.aastrausa.com/inattend.htm is the address on the Aastra site….

Reply
1. Dave Michels January 6, 2012
  
  Thanks Randy – that URL goes to the AastraUSA InAttend product page – I was looking for the PR link. It is on the AastraUSA page here http://www.aastrausa.com/2012-press-releases_2482.htm, but it hasn’t made its way to Aastra.com page yet which is what I attempted to link to above.
  
  Reply
Art Rosenberg January 6, 2012

Dave,

I think you may have jumped to the conclusion that this announcement concerns call center agents, when, in fact, it is the old PBX Attendant handling calls to the “main no.” or when a caller presses “0” in voice mail. The PBX Attendant doesn’t solve customer issues, just transfers the call to an appropriate person. With this feature, they exploit presence information about availability and accessibility, rather than transfer the call blindly to an extension followed by voice mail if there is no pickup.

The value of the Call Attendant as being “the first contact a customer makes with a company” is changing rapidly, as communication contacts become more contextual and multi-modal .

Reply