NTA launches True Mobile VoIP Sim Card

NTA launched its first True Mobile VoIP solution scheduled for May 28th 2010. Using an NTA SIM, customers will get all the flexibility and functionality of their VoIP Business System, on their mobile phone, and at a fraction of the cost of the current mobile providers.

NTA's network is interconnected with one of the largest UMTS mobile network operators using voice over the Internet protocol (VoIP) technology. This means you are not required to install VoIP software or a SIP client on your mobile phone. Also you are not dependant on an unreliable WiFi connection. Paul White, NTA MD commented 'We will be able to take our customer's existing mobile and make it an extension of our network. This means their mobile phones can now access the same huge range of functionality as their office based VoIP system.' He continued 'NTA is the first VoIP provider who is offering pure-play VoIP for mobile customers as well as offering "MOVEX" (Mobile VoIP Extensions) without costly mobile forwarding charges and limitations to an area. You can choose from a range of mobile numbers, geographic numbers and office extension numbers to be assigned to a NTA Mobile SIM Card. Or have multiple numbers assigned to the NTA Mobile SIM Card as well.'

Functions include call recording, hold, call transfer, voicemail, hunt group, IVR, call pickup, DND, Time & Date routes, music on hold, Call announcements, Fax to Email, Alerts, Conference Calls, Call Screening, Whisper announcement, Pattern Menu, Queues, Remote Access, Instant Number Allocation and many more. Users of NTA's Mobile VoIP will be able to make calls at exactly the same rate as their desk phone (with a small charge of 2.5ppm on top of the normal tariff). This means they can ring a UK landline for 3.7ppm (peak time) or call the US for the same rate.

NYC 311 Customer Service Center Receives 100 Millionth Call With Support from Accenture

New York City’s 311 Customer Service Center officially received its 100 millionth call today since its inception, according to City officials and Accenture. The Bloomberg administration launched the 311 Customer Service Center in March of 2003 to provide easier access to non-emergency services in a cost-effective manner. The 311 service consolidated more than 40 separate call centers and hotlines, encompassing 11 pages of government listings in the City phone book, into one easy-to-remember number. The 311 Customer Service Center handles approximately 50,000 calls daily and has become a model for non-emergency call centers around the world. The City worked with Accenture to launch the Center and has continued to work with the firm to operate and further develop the 311 system.“The City has achieved an almost unimaginable milestone and we want to congratulate Mayor Bloomberg, City officials and 311 staff who made it possible for the nation’s largest 311 service to field its 100 millionth call,” said Stephen J. Rohleder, group chief executive of Accenture’s Health & Public Service operating group. “Accenture is proud to support NYC 311, which has become a cornerstone of the ongoing transformation of New York City into a more open, efficient, and customer-friendly government under Mayor Bloomberg.”

In addition to the 311 hotline, Accenture also helped New York City launch 311 Online in 2009 to provide Internet access to more than 3,000 City services. In January 2010, additional 311 Online enhancements were developed to further ease customer access to City services and to generate performance data to help the City analyze and respond to residents’ top concerns.

OnState Virtual Call Center & PBX Are Available Through the Google Apps Marketplace

OnState Communications announced that its solutions have been added to the Google Apps Marketplace™, Google's recently launched online storefront for Google Apps™ products and services. OnState's virtual call center and virtual PBX applications let businesses leverage the rich communications and collaboration capabilities of Google Apps for use within the company and with customers. Using OnState allows businesses to employ a common set of cloud-based solutions for both internal and external collaboration. As a result, employees can use the full set of Google Apps capabilities to chat, speak, and share with customers in the same manner they communicate with colleagues, while using Google Docs™ to collaborate on everything from customer documents to call recordings and scripting.

With OnState's virtual call center and virtual PBX solutions for Google, businesses can use Google Apps to supplement or supplant existing telephony and collaboration infrastructure, or add Google voice, text, or video chat to customer-facing Web sites and other applications. OnState’s proprietary business presence™ capabilities connect customers and colleagues to the employee who can serve them best based on worker availability, role or business rules -- independent of employee location or phone system. OnState improves customer satisfaction and enhances worker productivity by directing customers to the right person on the first attempt. With OnState, businesses can use Google Apps to measure, monitor, and manage people and customer collaborations while improving customer service."Like Google, OnState is committed to bringing the power and convenience of cloud computing to business customers," said Pat Kelly, CEO of OnState. "By adding our virtual call center and virtual PBX solutions to the Google Apps Marketplace, we enable a business of any size and in any industry to enjoy enterprise-class collaboration capabilities without the expense or hassles of a conventional premise-based solution."

"We are very excited to have OnState in the Google Apps Marketplace," adds Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead for Google Enterprise. "Through the Google Apps Marketplace, software vendors like OnState are helping us build a rich ecosystem of integrated apps that work seamlessly with Google Apps, allowing IT administrators to leverage the benefits of cloud computing for more of their business needs. We are happy to offer OnState to our rapidly growing Google Apps customer base." Go to OnState's product portal for feature details. Visit the Google Apps Marketplace to access this solution online

Telax Hosted Call Center Announces Partner-Certified Call Center Solution for Metaswtich Networks

Telax announced today that Metaswitch Networks, a leading global provider of carrier systems and software solutions, has certified Telax Hosted Call Center as interoperable with the Metaswitch solution. The certification was issued following Telax’s successful completion of a series of intensive interoperability tests with Metaswitch version 7.0 and Telax Hosted Call Center’s ACD 10.3.0.0 SIP protocol.

“This was a priority for our team,” explained Taras Kapanaiko, Vice President of Operations for Telax. “We believe that both of our companies share a commitment to innovation and market leadership. It made sense to drive the interoperability between our two technologies.” Kapanaiko added that a number of existing Telax customers in Canada and the United States rely on Metaswitch solutions.

Incumbent service providers and CLECs can now deploy the integrated Metaswitch and Telax solution to offer their customers an incredible breadth of new functionality like universal ACD, enhanced queuing, real-time agent and queue displays, full call recordings, in-depth reports and even workforce management. “We are pleased to add Telax Hosted Call Center to our business solution suite,” said Stefan Knight, Vice President of Strategic Alliances. “The Telax carrier-grade hosted call center technology is a great match for today’s IP networks.”

SoundBite Communications Announces the Availability of SoundBite Engage Platform

SoundBite Communications announced the availability of a new release of SoundBite Engage, its intelligent, multi-channel communications platform. Organizations worldwide rely on SoundBite Engage, and SoundBite's professional services team, to design, execute and continually measure and optimize their communications strategies to generate revenue, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce operating costs. The Q4 2009 release adds unique features that enable automated and agent-assisted interactive customer communications over the text messaging channel.

"SoundBite's multi-channel communications platform is representative of the next evolutionary step in how organizations will communicate with their customers," said Daniel Hong, Lead Analyst of Customer Interaction at Ovum. "For the first time, organizations can provide an intelligent, interactive customer experience via text messaging on various levels from tailored automation and agent interaction. The compounded benefits of these technologies in conjunction with other multi-channel communications are very compelling."

"The Q4 2009 release of SoundBite Engage represents the vanguard for proactive customer communications," said Jim Milton, President and Chief Executive Officer of SoundBite Communications. "Our on-demand, multi-channel communications platform ushers in a new frontier in customer communications and enables organizations to create more meaningful customer conversations using any combination of voice, text and email."