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To: John F Beule who wrote (1421)	11/30/1998 8:30:00 AM
From: John F Beule	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1682

Telephone, Web Sales Converge (11/29/98, 11:54 a.m. ET) By John Evan Frook, InternetWeek As Web transactions continue to grow as a percentage of the business, call centers are poised to become the work-flow engine that routes and manages the bulk of customer interactions. At least that is the message from call-center vendors that have stepped up efforts to deliver software packages that push Internet transactions through the same infrastructure used to provide customer service over the telephone. Hewlett-Packard this month released a beefed-up version of its Customer Contact Manager (CCM) software. For the first time, CCM will run on Windows NT, a critical move for companies that don't want to get locked into proprietary platforms. Separately, Aspect Telecommunications has added e-mail response systems and other new features to its call-center package, and Rockwell Electronic Commerce is on the partnership and acquisition warpath, looking for ways to increase the functionality of its NT-based software. Advocates of the convergence said integrating traditional call centers with the Web can provide a single profile of an enterprise's successes and failures in customer retention, but some question whether the more entrenched call-center suppliers are limber enough to fend off newcomers such as eFusion and WebLine Communications. "Call centers are in their infancy in terms of self-service transactions on the Internet," said analyst Joe Outlaw at the Gartner Group, a consultancy. "What companies want is consistent management. If you don't bring Internet transactions into your overall customer contact strategy, it will cause disconnects. There's going to be a scuffle over the next couple of years over who is going to control these systems, and it is not necessarily the call-center vendors who will end up standing." Michael Bardwell, call-center manager at telemarketer Dial America, said he's not ready to integrate his telephone systems with the Web. Strategically, he's going to use his telecenter infrastructure to serve Web customers, rather than the other way around. "We know we need to get to a total service solution for the reporting side of the house to meet growing demand in our Web business," Bardwell said. "But we haven't gone down the road yet." Bob Kunath, director of operations at SPS Payment Systems, said, "Our more technically astute customers are coming to prefer the Internet to make inquiries, as opposed to struggling through a telephone call. But we haven't decided whether to buy from a vendor or develop our own system yet." For its part, Rockwell Electronic Commerce plans to acquire technology to build a multimedia call center that will be able to manage transactions and video and audio sales presentations. "I have my crystal ball right here in front of me," said vice president Michael Caglarcan. "We're observing situations where commerce on the Web is actually triggering additional traffic for call centers. There's a tremendous amount of emphasis on the part of key clients to put an infrastructure in place so they can manage, monitor, and administer contacts through one central means." <Picture: TW>