'Managed-services model can help to minimize capital expenditure'

Sanjay Goyal, managing director for India, Genesys Telecommunications

Laboratories, observes that in a country like India where small business has

always functioned on a cash-in cash-out model, the managed service model

demonstrates great cultural affinity and the most sensible mode of operations

for these enterprises. In a tête-à-tête with Ravi Shekhar Pandey of

CyberMedia, he elaborates on the technology path being treaded by the BPO

sector. Excerpts:

Technology and functionwise, how are call center solutions moving?



In the face of competition from other low-cost countries like Philippines,

China, Eastern Europe, we are witnessing the maturing of business models where

the Indian (outsourced) operations can become more integrated into the overall

and virtual contact center fabric of a worldwide enterprise. This is where

Genesys comes in with standards-based contact center solutions that give

outsourcers more options for organizational integration. This will give Indian

outsourcers a critical competitive advantage.

Sanjay Goyal

We see a significant growth in natural-language speech recognition for voice

self-service interaction with customers. Not just for replacing existing IVR

applications, but also to create a gateway or voice portal for all incoming

calls to the organization. In the future, we'll witness more pervasive uses of

speech recognition technology, from authentication to mood detection and richer

semantic interaction. However, enterprises will continue to rely on agents for

more complex transactions and a seamless link between self-service and

agent-assisted service is a requirement.

Do you think that managed services (call center solution) are going to

pick up? What advantages do they offer for small and medium centres?



For a long time, implementing an effective customer service strategy has

been a daunting task for small and medium contact centers. The advent of managed

services business models coupled with Internet technology, enables these

organizations to have small, geographically dispersed locations. With these they

can service the local needs and yet implement customer service functions

nationally allowing them to, in many cases, provide greater service efficiency

and the 'corner-store' touch, unlike some of the bigger corporations.

By adopting the managed services model, the enterprises can minimize their

capital expenditure, make better use of this capital into their business, and

run their customer service functions in line with their cash flow. It allows for

the rapid scaling and de-scaling of these functions, in line with the marketing

and sales campaigns.

In India, where small business have always functioned on a cash-in cash-out

model, the managed service model demonstrates great cultural affinity and the

most sensible mode of operations for these enterprises.

What new technologies and concepts Genesys is working on?



We are working with Microsoft on a collaboration solution that provides new

desktop-telephony control capabilities for Microsoft users, allowing them to

collaborate, access availability information, and seamlessly control phone

functionality via the computer. Microsoft deployed it across 40,000 desktops at

its Redmond campus in early May this year and reports that there are 20,000

active users. In addition, Genesys is strongly working with an ecosystem of

partners in providing capability for managing video interactions across

broadband-wired and wireless-networks, both for self-service and customer

interaction.