Get ready to overcome the diverse challenges ofrunning a modern contact center with NortelNetworks Symposium Call Center Server. Thisindustry-leading solution helps you respondquickly and effectively to callers' constantlychanging priorities by delivering superior callmanagement capabilities and utilizing the latestin communications technologies. It providesthe solid foundation you need to help buildprofitable, long-term customer relationships.

In a world where every customer seems tohave endless choice and every competitor has global reach, your company's customerexperience must engage customers and keepthem coming back again and again. Customerloyalty is the Competitive Advantage in businesstoday. Every customer need must be fullyembraced. Communication must be seamlessacross all channels. Systems must be stable andreliable. Loyalty must be built one interactionat a time, and profitability must be achievedthrough Return on Relationship.

Symposium Call Center Server delivers the solution your business needs to build customer loyalty and meet expectations intoday's highly competitive marketplace, setting a solid foundation for an extraordinarycustomer experience.

Callers Get the Right Help, Right AwayWith its advanced skill-based routing and customizable call handling features, SymposiumCall Center Server ensures that your customercalls are promptly answered by the agents bestequipped to handle them. Long hold times andendlessly transferred calls become problems ofthe past. And your contact center’s dramaticallyimproved service can pay tangible dividendsin the form of increased customer satisfactionand loyalty.

How does Symposium Call Center Serverdeliver this remarkable new standard of customer service? One half of the equation is the system’s powerful skill-based routingcapability. Managers can define agent skillsets so that customer calls are speedily routed to themost appropriate support person. A softwarecompany, for example, can have calls directedaccording to agents’ expertise in particularprograms. Or a travel company might routecalls to agents who specialize in differentgeographic regions. Skills can be defined byany contact center activity, from product, service or skill categories to loyalty indicatorssuch as bronze, silver or gold.

Nortel Networks Symposium* Call Center ServerSet your foundation for profitable customer relationships

Key Benefits• Builds profitable customer relation-

ships by helping you personalize service with superior flexibility.

• Quickly routes calls to the agents bestequipped to answer them, helping toincrease customer loyalty.

• Improves agents’ effectiveness andproductivity—helping to make them happier in their jobs.

• Gives managers the decision-makingtools they need, from up-to-the-secondreal-time displays to comprehensivereporting capabilities.

• Speeds up answering, lengthens hoursof service, and connects agents andcustomers across wide geographicalareas by extending your contact centerusing advanced networking andVoice-over-IP (VoIP).

• Grows and adapts to your company’sevolving needs, employing open archi-tecture, flexible design and built-inscalability to protect your investment.

Product Brief

As agents gain more knowledge and experiencehandling calls, you can assign one of 48 prioritiesin Symposium Call Center Server to reflectthe agent's proficiency level. The flexibility ofSymposium Call Center Server also enables youto use backup skillsets if the desired agentsare not available, giving you outstanding callcoverage and customer satisfaction.

The other half of the equation, as your teamworks to match callers with appropriate agentsquickly and seamlessly, is Symposium CallCenter Server’s highly flexible scripting capa-bility. Managers can easily create customizedscripts that consider all the key factors in a calltreatment scenario: who callers are, why theyare calling and the dynamic conditions of the contact center, including the number of calls in queue, the average service level ofthe center or of a particular skillset, etc. Yourcustom script will then determine how eachunique case should be treated—i.e., whatskillset(s) a call should be routed to, what priority it should have, what messages a callershould hear, and so on.

Inbound calls can be routed to the appropriateagents using a variety of information, includinga caller’s own number (calling line identification,or CLID), or the number called (dialed numberidentification service, or DNIS), or by moni-toring touchtone responses to voice menus oran interactive voice response (IVR) system.Symposium Call Center Server ensures thatthe call is always answered promptly, whether by an agent or automated service. Using thesystem’s multiple call treatment capabilities,you can offer varying service hours, voicemenu decision options, timely announcementsand other treatments designed to cover allcontact center situations.

While calls are in queue, you can play prerecorded messages relevant to your customer’s needs and current contact centerconditions. These could include audio adshighlighting current promotions, informationabout your company or updates on how busythe contact center is, including expected waittime. A greeting might notify help desk callersthat staff are aware of a current problem andprovide resolution details. Other optionsinclude music and self-service voice menusthat invite callers to direct themselves toappropriate services or departments.

The superior performance and features ofSymposium Call Center Server streamline theentire interaction process. By meeting and sur-passing expectations, you create more satisfiedcustomers—which can mean increased profitability and improved business growth.

Agents Are More Productive and Happier in Their JobsSymposium Call Center Server helps agentsbecome productive and increases job satisfactionin a number of ways. First and foremost, agentsare acknowledged as individuals with uniqueabilities, which leads to greater recognitionwithin the team and boosts overall morale.Because agents only receive calls that matchtheir skillsets, they find that most transactionswith customers are effective and to the point.Moreover, with the optional Agent DesktopDisplays offered by Symposium Call CenterWeb Client, agents can continuously monitortheir own performance, seeing exactly howthey are doing and where they could do better.

If the system is equipped with SymposiumAgent Greeting software, an agent can recordand play a standard greeting (or varied greetingsfor different types of calls) to begin each customer interaction sparing your agents oftedious repetition.

Symposium Call Center Server is also an ideal platform for computer-telephony integration (CTI). Symposium Agent soft-ware can automatically retrieve informationfrom your organization’s databases, assembling a customer history or populating fields in aform, then delivering a simultaneous screenpop of pertinent information to the answeringagent’s workstation. Using CTI, SymposiumCall Center Server also integrates with othercontact center applications—whether self-serviceor comprehensive customer relationshipmanagement (CRM)—to help agents providemore personalized service, avoid redundantquestions, work more quickly to process ordersor requests and generally deliver a higherstandard of caller care. By using their time as productively as possible, agents are happier in their jobs, which can in turn reduce staff turnover.

Managers Have Current, AccurateInformation at Their FingertipsThe comprehensive management and reportingtools of Symposium Call Center Server helpyou run your contact center more effectivelyand efficiently than ever. Managers andsupervisors can accurately track contact center performance and the level of supportprovided by an individual as well as a group of agents. The system’s real-time and historicalreporting makes it easy to adjust staffing levelsin peak periods and to forecast business needsand human resources requirements over thelong term.

Symposium Call Center Server delivers up-to-the-second information to supervisor PCs, aswell as to wallboards and other applications.Real-time data can be presented in whateverformat works best—graphical, tabular or acombination of the two—to help your managers react immediately to changing circumstances. They have the informationthey need to adjust skillsets and staffing levels,or reroute calls to deploy other networkedresources—all with the goal of maintainingthe highest levels of customer service.

Your contact center team can access thiscomplete set of management tools eitherthrough desktop clients with a MicrosoftWindows interface or via a widely used Webbrowser, Microsoft Internet Explorer. Usingthe browser-based Symposium Call CenterWeb Client, your contact center can becomeeven more efficient. The “thin” client solutionis faster and easier to implement and maintain,because the client software is housed central-ly on a single server, eliminating the need toinstall, patch and upgrade individual desktopclients. This yields significant savings in time,effort and money. Moreover, your managerscan take advantage of Symposium CallCenter Server’s superb management toolsfrom almost anywhere to help make betterbusiness decisions and respond more quickly.

Equally important alongside these real-timecapabilities are Symposium Call Center Server’scomprehensive historical reports, which allowmanagers to analyze trends and performancelevels over varying periods of time. The systemoffers an extensive range of standard reportformats that you can fine-tune to be as broador as specific as required. You can, for example,obtain complete data on a single call, fullydocumenting the customer’s experience in oneinteraction. Or you can get current data onthe performance of the contact center as awhole, gaining the intelligence you need tomake crucial business decisions.

You can also create custom managementreports—using SQL (Structured QueryLanguage) report writers such as CrystalReports or Excel—to assess agent performance,identify trends and understand the utilizationof contact center resources. The intelligencethese reports provide helps you control operating costs, generate additional revenuesand, most important, enhance service tocallers. Using industry-standard report writersand open database connectivity, your valuablecontact center information can be mergedwith other corporate data for a complete view of customer relationships. Custom reports canbe published in any form, including via theWeb for easy access.

Extend Your Reach Quickly and Cost-EffectivelySymposium Call Center Server enables yourorganization to seamlessly network call centersin multiple locations, providing enormousflexibility as customer calls are sent to thesite best able to handle them. If one contactcenter is too busy, or closed down because ofan emergency, calls can be automaticallyforwarded to another site. Or to extend thehours of an operation, calls can be routed to appropriate agents at contact centers in different time zones.

Your company can also easily extend its reachusing Nortel Networks IP Contact Centersolutions which leverage VoIP to distributecalls to agents in remote areas, branch officesand even home-based offices. VoIP solutionsfrom Nortel Networks deliver a reliable,cost-effective way to quickly expand contactcenter operations and reach geographically dispersed agents.

Invest in Technology that Grows and Adapts as You DoSymposium Call Center Server grows andadapts as your business evolves. The systemcan integrate with Nortel Networks Meridian 1*,Succession Communication Server forEnterprise 1000, Meridian SL-100* or DMS*Centrex. The scalable platform’s open architec-ture, with a server component that runs on theWindows 2000 operating system, is compliantwith widely accepted industry standards,allowing third-party and custom applicationsto take advantage of its powerful features and extensive call information.

Symposium Call Center Server also integrateswith a variety of other Symposium solutionsto put powerful new capabilities at your fingertips. By implementing Symposium Web Center Portal, for example, you have theflexibility to turn your traditional call centerinto a multimedia customer contact center.You can simultaneously manage telephonecalls, e-mail, Web interactions and faxes with a single solution. E-mail can be routed andmonitored with the same effectiveness astelephone calls, reducing response time andagent workloads. The system can also automatee-mail responses, filtering incoming messagesto determine the most appropriate replies andthen sending these automatically or presentingsuggestions for agent review.

With Symposium Web Center Portal, thereare many possible ways for agents to interactwith customers visiting your company’s web-site. A customer who has a query can click aWeb-page button requesting an agent to callback by telephone, either immediately or at ascheduled later time. A website visitor can also“chat” online with an appropriately skilledagent, exchanging text messages in real time.The agent can direct the caller to self-serviceareas of the site, inviting further inquiries oncethe customer has had a chance to browse. Orcustomer and agent can collaborate throughsimultaneous voice and Web browser connec-tions; if a customer is interested in, say, aparticular type of cell phone, the agent cantake the opportunity to “push” a Web pageshowing that model in different colors—andthe customer in turn can push selected pagesfrom his or her self-service browsing.

Symposium Web Center Portal adds a newdimension to collaborations between agentsand customers—and sets a new standard in effective, round-the clock service. Thisinnovative, multimedia solution includes allthe real-time and historical reporting toolsyou’ll need to monitor contact center activity,boost productivity and maximize customersatisfaction. And its modular configurationmeans you can keep on adding functionalityas your Web-based business grows and yourcustomers demand increasingly sophisticatedlevels of service.

...analyze trendsand performance

levels over varying periods of time

Our Professional Services Team Is Ready To HelpFor assistance in implementing Symposium CallCenter Server—and creating custom featuresto fit your company’s unique needs—you cancall on our highly skilled Professional Servicesteam. Around the globe, we can complementyour in-house experts with Nortel Networksexperts who have the in-depth technical knowl-edge and practical experience to turn yourbroad strategies into specific implementations.

We are ready to assist you with every facet ofcustomization, planning and project manage-ment. Our business consulting services includeneeds analysis; assessment of current processesand technologies; identification of managementgoals; step-by-step implementation plans; andcalculation of your investment payback. Wecan also help with application developmentand system integration, as well as managingimplementation through various milestones,including quality control, final testing andadministrative training.

Whatever the scope of your requirement—telephone or on-site assistance; a traditionalmaintenance program; a customized testplan; or comprehensive system design andintegration services—our Professional Servicesteam has the resources to provide a complete,highly customized solution.

Nortel Networks Customer Contactand Voice Portal Solutions Symposium Call Center Server is one of theextensive Customer Contact and Voice PortalSolutions that Nortel Networks has designedto help your business increase customer loyaltyand improve profitability. These innovativesolutions reflect a broader-based, fully inte-grated approach aimed at helping customersdo business—anywhere, anyway and anytime.

Having established more than 30,000 contactcenters worldwide, Nortel Networks has thebusiness and technological expertise withinour Customer Contact and Voice PortalSolutions team to create a scalable, flexibleand resilient solution that will grow andchange with your organization. By offering acomplete portfolio, we can help you achieveyour business objectives quickly and effectively.We can also help you better integrate contactcenter strategies into your company’s overalloperations by giving you the tools to manageand understand customer relationships moreeffectively, and to maximize your return on those relationships. And backed by ourCustomer Contact and Voice Portal Solutionsteam’s global reputation for quality and reliability,we offer a single, responsive point of contactfor all of your sales and service needs.

About Us Nortel Networks Customer Contact and Voice Portal Solutions reflect the deep andwide-ranging experience gained during manydecades as a global leader in business communi-cations, multimedia contact centers, VoIP,wireless, and high-performance Internetsolutions. You can count on Nortel Networkssolutions to deliver superior service across alltouch points in your business, helping you setnew benchmarks for productive and rewardingcustomer relationships. For more informationin the United States and Canada, please call 1 800 4NORTEL. In other countries, contactthe sales office nearest you, or visit us on theWeb at www.nortelnetworks.com.

For more information on Customer Contactand Voice Portal Solutions, contact yourlocal reseller or sales representative, call 1 800 4NORTEL, or visit our website atwww.nortelnetworks.com. For more informationon our Professional Services, please call 1 800 4NORTEL (Express Routing Code: 1146)or e-mail rpqadmin@nortelnetworks.com.

...multimedia capabilities

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For more information on Customer Contact and Voice Portal Solutions, contact your local reseller or sales representative, call 1 800 4 NORTEL (1 800 466 7835).

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*Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark, Meridian 1, SL-100, DMS and Symposium are trademarks of Nortel Networks.All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.Nortel Networks assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions that may appear in this document. Nortel Networks reservesthe right to make changes, without notice, in equipment design as engineering or manufacturing methods may warrant. Productcapabilities and availability dates described in this document pertain solely to Nortel Networks marketing activities in the UnitedStates and Canada.

©2002 Nortel Networks. All Rights Reserved. Published by Nortel Networks. Printed in the U.S.A.

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