As businesses plan to meet the challenges presented by 2010, one of the items on many Christmas lists is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol technology), in the contact centre.

Ken Reid of Rostrvm Solutions says, “With the ultimate vision of Unified Communications in mind and seamless use of multiple channels, it is no surprise that every single system that Rostrvm has installed for contact centres in 2009 has included Voice over IP. Advances in technology have meant that VoIP now offers a stable infrastructure, enabling many businesses – and not just the largest – to save on equipment, software, network maintenance and administration, management and operational costs.”

Call Centres like the fact that IP-based systems can work alongside existing PBXs and data systems, for cost-effectiveness. Rostrvm can mix and match traditional (TDM) telephony and Voice over IP in a single call centre technology solution, providing companies with the best of both worlds. rostrvm Switchless Call Centre uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as the mechanism for controlling and managing calls and contacts.

Voice over IP opens up a host of call centre possibilities.

For example, as long as they have high-speed internet/broadband installed, agents can work from anywhere in the world (for example, at home or on the move) and yet be part of their company’s virtual network. They can operate as they would if they were sitting in the main contact centre – they can even be part of a skills-based routing system. This provides significant advantages to both employer and employee as it provides businesses with much greater flexibility in who they recruit and opening hours, and reduces overhead costs.

Looking ahead, companies such as Rostrvm continue to roll out the technology to extend the possibilities for call centres. For example, the rostrvm ScreenPhone - a SIP softphone that converts a multimedia PC and headset into a full-function telephone, supports call centre activities such as ACD call queuing and interfaces to a predictive dialler system, rostrvm OutBound.

Furthermore, this Christmas, despite the recession, some businesses are looking at advanced IP contact centre products which support customer communications via a wider range of channels from phone to email, Instant Messaging, SMS, video conferencing and so forth. If Santa gets it right, it won’t just be the businesses, but the customers who will be very happy, too.