Interaction Management Technology

Changing the Face of Billing and Customer Care

Recognizing this trend, vendors are developing new web-based packaged applications that include both billing and converged communication components. This packaged solution approach is fast gaining momentum as indicated in an October 1999 report from the Gartner Group Inc.'s Dataquest Inc. (gartner4.gartnerweb.com/dq), stating, "In the communications e-business marketplace, customized applications addressing billing, provisioning and call centers with the need for web functionality will be driving the packaged solution marketplace in the next few years." The report goes on to forecast that communications spending on software in the United States will increase at 22.5 percent annually through 2003, and much of this spending will be concentrated in the e-business billing and provisioning areas.

Communication architectures were originally fashioned after hardware-based, proprietary telecommunications models. They first consisted of standalone telephony devices such as PBXs, automatic call distributors (ACDs), interactive voice response (IVR) and voice mail systems. Computer telephony integration (CTI) merged these telecommunication devices with computer systems, heralding impressive new features for enhanced customer care such as the screen pop and the soft phone. This integration, however, also foreshadowed difficulties to come. As new media types such as fax, e-mail, and the Internet proliferated, the complexity of CTI architecture grew exponentially. Middleware was required to link devices, and each device demanded its own set of resources. "Forklift" upgrades were often required even when organizations only wanted a feature or two added.

Then came interaction management technology, which is based on a unified architecture that consolidates interaction processing. This open, software-based platform processes voice calls, faxes, e-mails, web interactions, digital pages and virtually any type of communication. Examples of service offerings based on this technology include "all-in-one" DSL service (which gives access to long distance and local toll bypass, and Internet access), caller ID, unified messaging, "follow me" services, voice mail, conferencing, VoIP, fax and web-based provisioning. This technology also provides GUI-based application development tools so service providers can modify and create new services quickly and easily. These tools can also be used across media types, as can built-in reporting facilities for true end-to-end reporting.

An integrated billing and interaction management solution offers many advantages over solutions based on disparate, proprietary architectures. Due to the platform's unified architecture, interaction management technology can assimilate new communication channels without adding complexity to an organization's existing system. It provides simplified administration and reduces training time because of its single, GUI-based interface. Its open, software-based architecture provides fast customization of services and allows for easy integration with billing applications. And in the competitive world of converged communications, interaction management technology enables organizations to get up and running faster and more economically by requiring the deployment of fewer devices.

A final benefit of interaction management technology is its ability to support both circuit and IP-switched interactions. This is where interaction management technology differs from network-based communication solutions. Vendors of network-based solutions have elected to focus on the communication switching fabric itself--specifically, IP-based systems. Interaction management technology, however, was designed as a multiapplication platform supporting both circuit and IP-switched interactions.

For billing purposes, the main advantage of an interaction management platform is its flexibility. Its open architecture and built-in application tools enable service providers to query a database, then populate a call log and send it to a third party billing application. Unlike proprietary switches, interaction management technology can provide data in a variety of ways. This eliminates the need for service providers to adapt existing billing applications to work with a particular switching device. "Accurate billing for services is critical to quality customer care. The time to market for new products and services with an existing back-end infrastructure can be greatly reduced by utilizing interaction management technology. This technology optimizes the billing process through increased accounts receivable accuracy, faster service adjustments, and decreased training time, giving us an important competitive edge," says Rodney Poling, business development manager for telephony at Internet and network solutions provider OneNet Communications (www.one.net).

Interaction management technology also consolidates interaction processing, which enables service providers to track information across communication channels. This results in a cohesive customer record from which service providers can pull virtually any piece of customer information. This information might include the duration and origination of a call, automatic callback, wrong number credits, directory assistance and pay-per-call information services. As an event-driven platform, interaction management technology takes these inputs (and inputs from virtually any other communication medium) and offers them up as a single output. For CLECs, this means drastically reduced billing integration costs and the opportunity to more easily incorporate web-based services.

Chart: CLEC Interaction Management Architecture

As promising as interaction management technology is, however, it's not for all service providers. Companies that choose to limit their offerings to local access service, for instance, have fewer opportunities to gain competitive customer intelligence. Also, those service providers that don't target organizations using multiple service offerings such as voice, data, content and Internet products would not realize the same benefits as service providers targeting multimedia businesses.

But for any service provider that wants to take advantage of new revenue opportunities by incorporating transactional services, interaction management technology can offer significant competitive advantages. From billing applications to new products and services like wireless messaging and personal digital assistants (PDAs), service providers can use interaction management platforms to protect their current investments and position themselves to succeed no matter what the world of converged communications brings.

Christine J. Holley is the market communications manager for Interactive Intelligence Inc. (www.inin.com). She can be reached at christineh@inin.com or (317) 715-8220.

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