Enterprise software vendor SAP has signed a deal with Siemens valued at €550,000 to have a IP telephony network rolled out to over 500 users at SAP’s Support and Global Service Centres in Dublin and Galway.
The two SAP support and service centres will then be linked to other SAP operations in Germany, the UK and Asia and via IP telephony will be able to take calls from 20 different countries in 17 different languages. The contact centres operate on a “follow the sun” policy that requires full multi-lingual operations from 7am through to 1am in the morning.
The Siemens communications system to be deployed will be on the HiPath convergence platform that will enable SAP to manage the entire voice network from one single location.
According to Damien O’Rourke, international key accounts manager with Siemens, the system will operate in a mixed Voice-over IP (VoIP) and time division multiplexing (TDM) environment. “They benefit from a reduction in telecom charges by deploying IP trunking while benefiting from reliable and secure voice communications. In addition SAP can set the pace and define their approach to migrate to a full IP environment as is required due to the flexible nature of the solution.”
The solution is based on the HiPath ProCenter platform incorporating multiple skill based routing, email and Web chat integration for 400 agents. HiPath is a modular architecture and allows businesses to deploy a very simplex call centre solution with as little as eight agents with basic telephony call routing or as in the case of SAP right up to a full contact centre . The HiPath open interfaces facilitates SAP in rolling out their own CRM application to the desktop. Also deployed by SAP is HiPath Xpressions – Siemens unified messaging application.
It is understood that the latest version of HiPath Procenter is certified for mySAP CRMV4.0, which helps improve the workflow for agents as multiple transactions related to one caller can be handled via a single user interface without interruption.
Gary Fortune, enterprise telecoms services manager at SAP, explains: “Our IP clients have direct access via the Intranet to the appropriate head office server which we didn’t have before. Users can be set up very easily via PBXs through the Siemens HiPath domain and connect globally via Germany. We can now do much of the IT administration work locally ourselves rather than relying on outside companies which makes us more efficient and saves us money and time in the long run. “
By John Kennedy
