MCI launches Web-based call center with Tellme

MCI today unveiled Internet-based contact center services, based on an agreement with Tellme Networks, developer of a voice application network built on its advanced speech user interface.

The agreement, which isn't exclusive, allows MCI and Tellme to jointly sell contact center services that run on Tellme's network and are integrated with MCI's routing platform. Contact centers--the current terminology for what used to be known as call centers--make use of interactive voice response systems to automate the process of handling customer service, product ordering and other high-volume calls. Using Tellme's network, MCI can produce a more intelligent and refined service, attracting contact center users eager to improve on what they offer their customers, said Barry Zipp, senior director of enhanced voice services at MCI.

In addition to the attraction of an Internet-based solution with instant ubiquity, MCI is working with Tellme because of that company's advanced speech recognition technology, he added. Instead of basing an IVR system on robotic-sounding text-to-speech options, Tellme has designed a system that records actors' voices in a wide variety of phrases and then concatenates them in a manner that not only captures words but context, he said.

"We do a lot of business with banks, with transportation companies and with brokerage companies who are accepting hundreds of calls a year," Zipp explained. "Just a modest improvement in the quality of the system can increase customer satisfaction, and when you are talking about that volume of calls, it translates into a financial benefit."

Tellme "has brand equity in the text-to-speech business," he added. "They are not a big company but they have a great reputation. We have a large base of customers looking to get into this, and a large experienced, tenured sales force, including folks with technical expertise in the speech recognition space. The combination will be strong."

Zipp admits MCI has been chasing AT&T in the contact center business for the last decade, but believes the competitive picture is now shifting. The company now competes primarily with Nortel Networks, Avaya and others who sell premises-based products.

The next big wave of opportunity for contact centers is the integration of voice over IP into the mix, he said.

"Besides the obvious cost savings, using VoIP will let companies more efficiently support a more geographically distributed workforce," Zipp said. "Companies in a variety of industries want to disperse their agents to smaller locations that may not have ACD [automatic call distribution] and even to home-based agents."