Vodacom Group

Vodacom Business, together with Presence Technology, a global software provider of a modular based, all-in-one Call Centre Solution Suite, and INOVO, a call centre service provider, has developed a unique Hosted Call Centre product suite that will enable customers to focus on their core business while hosting call centre applications in the state-of-the-art Vodacom Business Data Centre.

Ermano Quartero, Managing Executive of Vodacom Business says, "IT operations are a crucial aspect of any company's operations. One of the main concerns is business continuity; companies rely on their information systems to run their operations. If a system becomes unavailable, company operations may be impaired or stopped completely. Our Hosted Call Centre product suite ensures that a company can continue to run without having to worry about their IT infrastructure and call centre operations."

Up to now, call centre suppliers only offered traditional premises-based call centre solutions; this solution from Vodacom Business now offers a centrally hosted call centre platform in the world-class Vodacom Business Data Centre as an on-demand, OPEX based, modular call centre solution. The Presence Suite includes various modules including:  Inbound, Outbound, Recording, Scripting, Messaging, Reporting, IVR and Intelligent Routing.

The Hosted Call Centre services have been expressly designed to simplify management of call centre activities, maximising the productivity of call centre agents allocated to inbound and outbound campaigns, whether voice or multimedia.

Skills-based routing to the appropriately experienced agent is integrated into the product thus enhancing both the agent and customer experience. In addition, during business peak periods, call centre supervisors can add extra agents and modules ‘on the fly' and scale them down when required. In order to leverage the reliable Hosted Call Centre technology, call centres can be accessed through any means whether it be telephone, fax, SMS or email.

Quartero says that according to research the number of contact centre agent seats in South Africa will grow by 74% over the next five years. Currently 90% of call centres deployed in South Africa are below 250 seats, of which a large majority would consider hosted call centre solutions.

Quartero emphasises that the cost of setting up and running your own call centre infrastructure is prohibitive: "By making use of the Vodacom Business Hosted Call Centre service, our customers get increased customer satisfaction, product flexibility and scalability, as the product provides superior customer service at a price that is competitive for local and global organisations." 

"The drive towards offering an OPEX costing model ensures that Vodacom Business and our business partner INOVO gives us and our customers a competitive edge in the market where a large majority of call centres are sold as an CAPEX model, requiring large capital outlay."

The benefits of using the Hosted Call Centre solution make a clear business case for enterprises of all sizes - no CAPEX outlay; reduction in operational costs; no expensive technical resources for maintenance and management required; improved service levels through state-of-the-art software and hardware; enforceable SLAs; trained staff; available immediately; reduced implementation time.

For more information existing Vodacom customers can dial 1930 free from a Vodacom cell phone or 082 1930 from any other phone; new customers dial 082 1940 or visit the website at http://www.vodacombusiness.co.za/.