MetaSwitch enhances automated call distribution application capabilities as part of hosted VOIP solution

December 6, 2007

3 Min Read

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- MetaSwitch, a leading vendor of softswitch and application solutions, has enhanced its Automated Call Distribution (ACD) features to help small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) handle inbound telephony traffic more productively. Part of the MetaSwitch Hosted VoIP Solution, ACD provides carriers with advanced "call center"-like features that their business customers can manage themselves over the Web via CommPortal, MetaSwitch's new web portal for self-service.

CommuniGroup, a Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, has been building out its telephony program throughout the Southeast U.S. for more than two years. Based on MetaSwitch's core switching and application platforms, CommuniGroup's solutions are designed for business customers looking for reliable telephone service with call center functionality. The stability and service agility provided by MetaSwitch's core technology enables CommuniGroup to respond quickly and effectively to its customers' needs.

"Our business customers rely on CommuniGroup for products and services that enhance their efficiency and ease of operations," said Rob McKnight, Vice President of Operations for CommuniGroup. "The ease and functionality of Metaswitch's advanced telephony features provide our users with the industry's most advanced tools to ensure a consistent and professional customer experience."

The ACD features in MetaSwitch's hosted VoIP solution enable businesses to direct inbound calls to groups of users based on the nature of the call. With this service installed, a caller can be prompted to identify the purpose of their call via the MetaSphere Auto-Attendant application, that would then re-direct the call to the appropriate group -- for example, "sales" or "support." If all users in that group are busy, calls are held in a queue, and callers are played music or commercial messages using the MetaSphere Media-On-Hold application, which allows customers to upload files from the Web or record them on-site. When an agent becomes free, the next call from the queue is presented to that phone. Users can login to and logout from ACD groups by dialing codes on their phones.

Service providers can also easily provide regular usage statistics to the customer's network administrators, providing detail on the activity of each ACD group and each of the agents that belongs to the group. Statistics include number of calls handled, average duration of calls, total time spent on the phone, average queuing time for calls as well as other data. The range of statistics available has been significantly increased in MetaSwitch's latest software release, providing business customers with much greater visibility into their agents' activity.

The ACD features complement MetaSwitch's advanced telephony functionality for SMBs, including support for SIP attendant consoles, shared line appearance for key system emulation, one-touch call park and retrieve, and group features such as call pickup and multiple appearance directory numbers. This powerful combination of MetaSwitch's ACD features, together with MetaSphere Auto-Attendant and Media-On-Hold applications, enables SMBs to provide a slick and professional customer experience to callers, while making the most efficient use of their own resources.

"In today's continuously evolving communications market, service providers need reliable and customizable technologies designed to streamline business processes," explained Andrew Randall, vice president of marketing for MetaSwitch. "The combination of advanced calling features and the MetaSphere application suite provides carriers with a compelling and cost effective service to offer SMBs. Adding in the customer profiling capabilities of the MarketVisions program, MetaSwitch is helping service providers market these features to make hosted VoIP solutions even more attractive to SMBs."

Metaswitch Networks

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