SECA 2001
C3T
Stand M 34, Aisle M
Hall Pierre et Marie Curie
Thanks to C3T, call centers at the SECA 2001 exhibition will at last have the opportunity
of embarking on a radically new strategy in a market that has until now been dominated
by proprietary systems and architectures.
Thanks to its unique and patented C-RAIM (Cooperative Redundant Architecture of
Inexpensive Machines) technological concept, C3T has broken with traditional thinking
on the subject and created a fundamentally new generation of open multimedia
communications solutions.
Based entirely on information technologies (IT), software and IP communications, C3T's
integrated solutions, using strictly standard hardware and software components offer
native assurance of cooperative multisite deployment, high availability, performance and
large hosting capacity.
Press liaison officers:
Manuela Lurel
Amine BRAI
Albert Brakha
C3T
Note: In preparing its radically new approach, C3T carried out an in-depth survey and study of the
economics of the call center and ITC (Internet/Telephony Convergence) market sectors. C3T thus has
considerable market data available for the press.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Press Release
Summary
. ITC: a rapidly evolving market – the inexorable revolution! …................ p 3
. Call centers: key issues, technical developments and prospects............ p 5
. C3T's expertise and market position ....................................................... p 9
. The C-RAIM concept
Presentation............................................................................................... p 11
Advantages of call centers ........................................................................ p 12
. The i-Reflet software platform
Description.................................................................................................. p 13
Advantages................................................................ ................................ p 14
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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ITC: the inexorable revolution a rapidly evolving market
The current state of customer relations
With the advent of the web and associated technologies, companies are now operating
in an environment that has changed fundamentally from a competitive, cultural,
economic and technological point of view. Having undergone a revolution in their
traditional commercial practices, it is now their private telecoms infrastructures that are
facing premature obsolescence, added to which this is only the beginning of a profound
transformation that will be affecting companies over the next few years.
IP (Internet Protocol) telephony is now taking its place in private corporate phone
networks. This is expected to lead to new services and substantially lower telecom
costs. In due course all platforms will operate using IP, at which time, voice-datamultimedia convergence will lead to a yet another major evolution: multi-platform
convergence.
Today, at the start of the 21st C, companies are increasingly aware of the need to offer
immediate, personalised and efficient customer services, and this, over all platforms in
what are fast becoming international markets.
Companies' key strategic priority is now customer service.
To achieve this objective, companies will have to be equipped with ever more complex,
sophisticated and costly telecoms infrastructures.
Problem areas
Given the context, a company's telecoms infrastructure will have to be capable of
evolving at the same rate as technological developments without calling the
fundamental viability of existing investments into question.
To provide a satisfactory base for a company in this new environment, its telecoms
infrastructure will have to satisfy new imperatives: openness, interoperability, and above
all lower acquisition, maintenance and development costs. At the moment, however, it
consists almost exclusively of closed and extremely costly proprietary hardware and
software solutions.
Given the growing convergence of voice/data communications, the way is now open for
a radically new generation of technology based solely on information technologies (IT),
software and IP communications.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Facts and figures on the ITC market
ITC, whose worldwide sales in 1998 totalled roughly $2 billion, including $760 million in
Europe, grew to $6 billion in 2000. The most significant increase took place in Europe,
where the market grew almost four-fold, reaching current sales of $2.7 billion (source:
Ovum).
As concerns the French ITC market, 1998 sales of FRF 660 million had increased to
FRF 2.6 billion by 2000, and are expected to reach FRF 4 billion in 2002 (source: IDC),
representing annual growth of around 200%.
Some 39,000 French call center sites will be equipped with ITC solutions by 2004
(source: IDC), in other words an annual increase of more than 59%, with a majority of
companies planning on centers of around twenty tele-operator positions.
1998 ............ 425 ITC equipped call centers
1999 ............ 1,917
2000 ........... 5,789
2001 ............ 12,677
2002 ............ 22,600
2004………..39,000
Small platforms (up to 20 work stations) will account for 80% of sites, while only 15%
will consist of platforms with 20 to 50 stations.
At the same time, the total number of work stations has increased from 16,721 in 1998,
to 50,992 in 1999, 121,045 in 2000, and 228,040 in 2001, and is expected to reach a
total of 370,460 by 2002.
We have also recently seen a sharp rise in virtual call centers (deployed over several
sites). According to a Datamonitor study published last July, there were approximately
570 virtual call centers in the US in 1998, and 50 in Europe. By 1999, this had risen to
slightly over 900 in the States and close to 100 in Europe. By 2003, the figures are
expected to increase to 3,200 and 450 respectively, representing an average annual
increase of 54% for Europe where the number of sites integrated into these virtual call
centers is forecast to grow from 180 in 1998 to 1,230 by 2003. Thus technologies
enabling the creation of these virtual centers are in a high growth situation.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Call centers: key issues,
technical developments and prospects
As competition increases, call centers have to deal with an increasing number of issues.
Strategic elements that they must take into account include decentralisation, regrouping, delocalisation, the transformation of a cost centre into a profit centre,
outsourcing, back-up plans and programme quality. The key is to make the right choices
and plan ahead.
Key issues...
. Security and operational continuity
Companies operating single call centers have to protect themselves not only against all
possible equipment and human risks but also against natural disasters. They must
therefore be equipped with a back-up solution.
While the need to guarantee a call center's security and operational continuity is now
widely acknowledged as a key strategic priority, this does not appear to be reflected the
functionalities currently deployed in call centers.
This can be explained primarily by the absence of operational, open technical solutions
for virtual call centers produced by independent designers, and by the prohibitive
acquisition, implementation and operating costs of those rare existing solutions, which
are both proprietary and monolithic, and are marketed for the most part by particular
PABX manufacturers.
. Increase in the number of multisite call centers
A veritable boom is about to take place in the realm of virtual call centers (deployed
over several sites) given the fact that networking increases a call center's availability
and security, smoothes peak loads, avoids saturation by routing calls to other platforms,
thereby ensuring a presence24 hours a day on all continents and in all languages.
In addition to this, the average size of ITC implemented call centers will decrease. IDC
estimates that in 2002 this will have decreased to 16 agents against the current 39.
Linked in part to the "democratisation" of the ITC phenomenon, this evolution will, at
that point in time, generate a significant increase in cooperative multisite call center
architectures.
According to a Datamonitor study published last July there were approximately 570
virtual call centers in the US in 1998, and 50 in Europe. By 1999, this figure had risen to
slightly over 900 in the States and close to 100 in Europe. By 2003, the figures are
expected to increase to 3,200 and 450 respectively, representing an average annual
increase of 54% for Europe where the number of sites integrated into these virtual call
centers is forecast to grow from 180 in 1998 to 1,230 by 2003.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Thus technologies that enable the creation of these virtual centers are in a fast growing
market.
At the present time, no virtual call center solution exists that is tailored to SMEs.
Only a handful of extremely costly proprietary systems are currently available which are,
in addition, only partly capable of satisfying the complex and specific needs of virtual
multimedia call centers.
. Growth and decentralisation:
For SMEs, the evolution of their single site call center to a multisite architecture is a
natural part of their growth: growth which is both strongly and increasingly encouraged
by the packages offered by a number of regions that have understood that telephony
clearly represents a new vector of economic development.
. Optimisation of costs and resources
This concerns in particular those SMEs that operate several small independent call
centers as a result of external growth, and which are often equipped with different
technologies requiring the implementation of a unified platform as exists on cooperative
multisite call centers.
. Increase in international calls
With the ratification of free trade agreements and world-wide access now possible via
the internet, business is being conducted more and more on a global scale. This
naturally requires call centers to be capable of supporting an increasing volume of
international traffic. The rapid continuous drop in long distance calling costs, the very
low cost of voice transport over the web, in addition to an increase in the choice of
facilities such as international toll-free numbers, will only serve to consolidate this trend.
Technological developments
Intranet-Extranet
The current development of web technologies tend to impose intranets (or extranets for
remote multisite architectures) as the mandatory routing point for a company's
groupware. Even if a number of mechanisms and technologies are deployed, this
concept uses its web server equipped with a single customer interface with the web
browser as key element. Call centers will also have to migrate their existing networks
toward intranets or extranets.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Voice and video over IP
At the moment internet is without a doubt the technology exerting the greatest influence
on call center development, particularly since the advent of voice-over IP (VoIP)
technology which includes an integral audio duplex as part of a single web session.
Multimedia communication platform
Faced with customers' (particularly professional customers) growing demands for
multimedia, call centers are now tending to become veritable multimedia communication
platforms, capable of processing, voice, video and data with equal ease. In order to
manage all of these streams, call centers must be equipped with a technical solution
continuously providing efficient management of all the communications modes available
to users and customers (this means phone calls, file transfers, webcalls, etc.)
Integrated call centers on PC (PCBX)
This is a global approach that integrates the central functions on a server and the work
applications on a station, the two being linked via LAN. The server is a standard
computer on the market (usually operating under Windows NT or Unix) which replaces
the PABX simply by adding communication cards.
In this type of technical approach, referred to as PCBX, all functions are integrated into
the computer, thereby offering a compact, programmable and flexible solution which
keeps up with equipment developments and is easily integrated into existing computer
technology.
However, the major drawback to this type of solution comes from the fact that a PCBX
offers a lower capacity and, in particular, less security than a PABX. The technical
situation reflects this as there are at present no PCBX-based solutions for call centers
offering guarantees on operational continuity, fault tolerance, hosting capacity, capacity
to evolve and multisite development.
Calls distribution management on computer-based ACD
Most current PABX on the market are equipped with a more or less sophisticated ACD
system which makes it possible to route incoming calls to the extension called. The
procedure is automatic thanks to the "direct selection on arrival" (DSA) function.
Nonetheless, in the absence of a link with the information system, routing criteria are
poor and remain limited. They are often limited to the number called or by operator
availability which it goes without saying is clearly insufficient for new generation call
centers.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Prospects: toward a multimedia virtual call center
Given call centers' now ineluctable transformation, resulting directly from their obligatory
strategic shift, coupled with recent technological developments, it would appear that the
virtual multimedia call center concept will best satisfy most current and future
needs, in particular in terms of adaptability, hosting capacity, operational continuity and
multisite deployment.
At present, in the field of ITC-equipped call centers, cooperative multisite deployment,
operational continuity, fault tolerance and high hosting capacity are all examples of
functionalities that are still inaccessible to the vast majority of companies, and this in
spite of their critical importance. This current state of affairs can be explained largely by
the technical complexity inherent in the implementation of these functionalities which,
even when they are more or less available, are systematically based on fully
proprietary, and thus extremely costly, systems and technologies.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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C3T's expertise and market position
What do they do?
C3T is a software editor and "manufacturer" of multimedia communications solutions for
multisite companies with broad and complex new communication requirements.
From intelligent, autonomous call distribution systems to virtual multimedia call centers,
by way of ITC (Internet Telephony Convergence), multi-platform and databases, C3T
offers multisite (or geographically dispersed) companies a full range of technological
solutions for building a new open telecommunication infrastructure. C3T's technology is
highly innovative, offering significant potential for national and international
development, as well as being capable of having a real impact on the vast emerging
market in ITC products.
C3T has created a fundamentally new generation of communications systems that mark
a true technological and economic turning point for the private corporate telecoms
infrastructure market. The communications systems that C3T has designed and
developed are based entirely on information technologies (IT), software and IP
communications. They operate independently of the customer's chosen operating
system, software and hardware, and regardless of whether the system is equipped with
auto-switching.
Above all, C3T's communications systems provide native guarantees based on strictly
standard hardware and software, thus offering lower cost operational continuity,
cooperative multisite deployment and ultra-large hosting capacity.
C3T products are aimed primarily at SMEs which account for 70% to 80% of the
targeted markets where they are at the top end of the products available. Nonetheless,
the distinctive nature of C3T products also make them viable solutions for large
corporations. In fact C3T will be entering the large enterprise market once its key base
of SME customers is operational.
Who are they?
Founded by a team of computer technology and telecoms experts who designed, built
and marketed one of the first ITC platforms, C3T was set up in early 2000 with the aim
of designing a new generation of fully information technologies (IT), software and IP
communications based systems.
C3T's management team's main asset is the complementary expertise and experience
of its three founder members, all technical and financial experts in their own right with
considerable successful commercial experience. The heart of the company is a close
knit technical team boasting a solid background in ITC, and who have been working
together since C3T's inception.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Where are they going?
Over the next three years, based on market growth which is clearly less spectacular
than experts' have forecast, C3T has set itself a target of FRF 35 million in sales.
With whom?
Since its creation, C3T has enjoyed the ongoing support of several investment
corporations.
The highly innovative nature of C3T's technology has won the support and approval of
ANVAR, IDATE (institut de l’audiovisuel et des télécommunications en europe) and the
Ministry of National Education, Research and Technology in the context of the second
national competition awarding state grants for the creation of innovative technology
enterprises.
A partnership protocol has been signed with RTS, a telephony installer in Montpellier,
France.
C3T is supported by the Centre Européen d’Entreprise et d’Innovation Cap Alpha of
Montpellier.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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C3T presents the C-RAIM concept
(Cooperative Redundant Architecture of Inexpensive Machines)
The C-RAIM concept refers to the method developed by C3T for creating cooperative
multi-platform computer architecture (in other words distributed over several platforms
and/or sites). A unique and patented concept, C-RAIM is the key element in all C3T's
technological solutions.
A fully open and independent architecture
C-RAIM is a fully open architecture enabling support for multi-platform and ITC
(Internet telephony convergence) functionalities:
. independent of all operating systems,
. independent of all hardware (computers, communication devices, telephony devices),
. independent of all third party software (such as DB management systems…).
The entire architecture can be simultaneously monitored from one or more platforms (or
sites).
By its very essence, the C-RAIM concept voluntarily eliminates any form of centralised
approach (hardware, software and operational), thereby enabling each platform to
function as an autonomous unit and/or in isolation, or be integrated into a group of
cooperative platforms, thus creating a mono/multisite virtual multimedia system.
The group of co-operating machines constitutes a single, homogeneous and unified
virtual system whose power and capacity derive directly from the sum total of each of
the group's platforms intrinsic power and capacity.
The C-RAIM concept also voluntarily eliminates all software and/or hardware
constraints directly at the platform level. This implies that each of the machines
comprising the cooperative group can be heterogeneous in terms of both software and
hardware.
C-RAIM relies on hardware and software technologies that are entirely affordable as
they are strictly and exclusively standard. The hardware and software used in designing
C3T solutions can easily be substituted as they are available on a highly competitive
market, a fact which, quite naturally, has a positive effect on the cost of the solution
itself.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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Advantages
The innovative C-RAIM concept offers, for the first time and at a far lower cost:
· multi-platform and/or multisite cooperative operations, with dynamic load and resource
sharing (information technologies (IT), computer, phone and human);
· the system's operational continuity via optimised fault protection in order to attain an
overall higher level of availability (computer, phone and management of the various
platforms);
· easy and simplified increase of system hosting capacity (computer, phone and human
resources) through the simple addition of platforms;
· dynamic and automatic adaptation to the ensuing intentional and/or accidental
evolution of the architecture;
· a system which is guaranteed open, flexible and viable in the medium term.
Exclusively C3T
The C-RAIM concept is the first integrated technological solution fully satisfying all the
above functionalities. Above all, it is the first real alternative to proprietary architectures
(hardware and software) which are extremely costly and which can only satisfy part of
these functionalities.
This concept opens the way to adaptations that will most probably be capable of solving
other existing problems but for the moment C3T has chosen to concentrate on call
centers to demonstrate its system's efficiency and potential.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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i-Reflet: cooperative multisite deployment
plus guarantees for multimedia call centers
The i-Reflet software platform (a patented solution) is the first integrated PCBX-IP
solution for virtual multimedia call centers offering standard guarantees covering:
. cooperative multisite deployment (cooperative network deployment),
. operational continuity,
. ultra-high hosting capacity (from several to several thousand agents),
. operations in both PCBX-IP and PABX modes.
An integrated, powerful and modular solution, the i-Reflet software platform is
completely open, and operates on strictly standard components.
i-Reflet can therefore be used by any size company (SMEs to large corporations).
i-Reflet marks a true technological break from existing solutions. Based on the
innovative C-RAIM (Cooperative Redundant Architecture of Inexpensive Machines)
concept developed by C3T, the i-Reflet solution offers call centers all the major
advantages of PABX and PCBX solutions, but does not have their disadvantages. This
single solution now provides call centers with reliability, performance, openness and
flexibility.
Operational continuity:
Thanks to cooperation between several platforms, call centers are protected in event of
hardware and software failure. Continuity of operations is guaranteed.
Hosting capacity:
Whether a call center is single or multisite, by using i-Reflet its hosting capacity
becomes unlimited (up to 128 platforms and 6,500 agents in cooperation).
Multisite cooperation:
i-Reflet provides native access to cooperative multisite deployment. i-Reflet has been
designed to transform inter-site communication into genuine cooperation, enabling the
various sites to be monitored and managed as a unified whole.
Operation
. Multi-channel contact
At the heart of multi-platform, i-Reflet offers a single interface for efficient customer
relations management via multi-channel contact: phone, VoIP, mail, chat, webcall, cobrowsing, fax, WAP, videoconferencing, cooperative multimedia ACD, …
The i-Reflet cooperative multimedia ACD functions in a distributed network architecture
environment. It supports all media, and processes all types of calls and messages as
need be (e-mail, fax, chat request, callback, co-browsing ). It manages queues and
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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automatic, intelligent, skills-based routing. Call routing is based on criteria such as
expertise, availability, geographic location, load, type of customer… Whether single or
multisite, a call center is managed as a single unit.
. Openness
Based on web technologies and developed entirely in Java, i-Reflet is fully
independent of operating systems, third party software and hardware, and functions
with or without telephone auto-switching.
Intrinsic advantages
i-Reflet is the first integrated PCBX solution for virtual call centers whose
standard guarantees cover:
. co-operative multisite deployment (co-operative network deployment),
. global operational continuity (telephony and information technologies (IT)),
. ultra-high hosting capacity (from several to several thousand agents),
. operations in both PCBX-IP and PABX mode.
. An integrated solution providing a comprehensive response to the requirements of all
virtual multimedia call centers using phone, computer, VoIP, web and multi-platform
(voice, fax, video, videoconferencing…) technologies, i-Reflet has been designed to
adapt to all distributed configurations:
. For end users this means that the i-Reflet platform makes it possible to operate
independently of space, platform and time constraints.
. For call centers, the i-Reflet platform provides a unified base for tele-operators and as
need be for several additional call centers that are not linked geographically or by a
specific function.
. Multimedia communications platform: in addition to intelligent and unified management
of all communication media, the i-Reflet platform integrates the ACD multimedia
concept, making it possible to perform automatic skills-based routing, processing classic
phone calls and messages of all kinds (e-mail, fax, chat, video, …) as need be, and
equally on distributed network architecture.
. A technical solution entirely federated by Internet technologies and standards, which
guarantees that all i-Reflet solutions can take immediate advantage of the web's many
fast-changing developments.
. Wide open: the i-Reflet platform operates as need be over PABX or PCBX
architecture. It is fully independent of hardware platforms (server and agent platforms),
operating systems, and PABX and PCBX architecture communication cards.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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. Use of strictly standard technologies (hardware and software) guaranteeing low cost
flexibility, openness, and in particular, medium term viability of all i-Reflet solutions.
Advantages linked to the use of Internet standards and technologies
These technologies and standards allow all i-Reflet solutions to remain independent of
server and customer platforms and their respective OS, thanks to:
. The use of JAVA, HTML and the web browser,
. Natural integration of the i-Reflet platform with a company's other Intranet/Internet
applications,
. Easy personalisation of data display and applications through the use of HTML web
pages (easy to create and modify using a wide range of available tools), JAVA and
JAVA SCRIPT languages,
. Native inclusion of distributed application processing,
. Guarantees that all i-Reflet solutions can take quick and easy advantage of the net's
many and frequent new developments,
. Easy installation, upgrading and maintenance of applications and the range of shared
data (stored on the server(s) and automatically downloaded when the user accesses it,
either for the first time or when the version on the server(s) is different from that on the
customer's platform).
. Standardises access to data and applications via a single customer interface: the web
browser.
. Enhances existing investment and reduces costs.
C3T / SECA 2001 / Press release
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