The latest news and information from Aspect Software. http://www.aspect.com/News/PressReleases.html 2010-03-14T21:01:11+01:00 http://www.aspect.com http://www.aspect.com/favicon.ico text/html 2010-03-10T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Positioned_in_Leaders_Quadrant_for_2010_Gartner_MQ Aspect Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant for 2010 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure Worldwide Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute 10 Mar 2010 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 10 March 2010 — Aspect, a global provider of unified communications (UC) and collaboration services and software, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant of the 2010 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide report. Gartner has evaluated Aspect based on completeness of vision and ability to execute. Additionally, Aspect states that its forward-looking strategy and proven product value are enhanced through its equity relationship with unified communications leader, Microsoft.As stated by Gartner, they evaluate “contact center infrastructure providers on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods and procedures that enable contact center performance to be competitive, efficient and effective and to positively affect revenue, retention and reputation. Ultimately, they are judged on their ability to capitalize on their vision.”“Aspect believes the positioning underscores our visionary leadership in creating unified communications applications on a unified platform to help contact centers achieve their business objectives and further emphasizes the company’s confidence in our strategic direction,” said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer, Aspect. “Our focus today is on the next generation contact center that positions our valued customers to take advantage of and participate in exciting new advances in communications and collaboration, and to help them address dynamic customer requirements in the age of consumer-generated content.”  The Gartner Magic Quadrant analyzes the vendors in an industry and categorizes them in the “leaders,” “challengers,” “visionaries,” or “niche players” quadrants.Source:1Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide” by D. Kraus, S. Blood, G. Johnson, February 22, 2010.      About the Magic QuadrantThe Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.About AspectAspect is a global software and IT services firm specializing in applying Microsoft unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC. #  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2010-03-02T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Selected_by_Banco_Walmart_to_Achieve_Increased_Collections Aspect Selected by Banco Walmart to Achieve Increased Collections Efficiency and Agent Productivity Corsidian Helps Banco Walmart Implement Streamlined Collections, Voice Portal and Intelligent Routing Capabilities in the Contact Center 2 Mar 2010 MEXICO CITY, 2 March 2010— Aspect, a global provider of unified communications (UC) and collaboration services and software, announced today that Banco Walmart has selected Streamlined Collections™, a unified communications (UC) application for the contact center, as well as voice portal and intelligent routing capabilities from Aspect to increase its collections efficiency. Utilizing Aspect software and services from Aspect channel partner, Corsidian, the company expects to improve promises to pay, reduce roll rates and bad debt provisions, and deliver a better customer experience. Banco Walmart provides checking and savings accounts, loans, credit cards, and more across its network of 863 Walmart outlets in 130 Mexican cities.When Banco Walmart decided to launch its retail banking operations, the company knew that growth could happen rapidly and expected to increase its customer base from 50,000 to 500,000 in 2010 alone. Project leaders determined the need for a complete contact center solution that included an outbound dialer, voice portal, and campaign management capabilities that could easily integrate with the company’s virtual customer relationship management (CRM) application.  They wanted to be able to address both collections and customer service business processes, while supporting the expected significant business growth and improving agent productivity.Following the implementation of Streamlined Collections at Banco Walmart, the company could:• Intelligently transfer callers to agents based on skill sets and customer data gathered by the voice portal application• Tightly integrate the bank’s collections processes with its collections CRM for desktop management and list building• Enhance the hardware security module with integrated security for personal identification number (PIN) and customer data protection• Offer quality and business-driven recording management for agent mentoring and feedback• Enhance its Citrix-protected back-office applicationsIn addition to the 150 percent collections productivity increase it has already realized, Banco Walmart has improved its voice self service utilization rate by 50 percent and has saved $100k in PIN replacement processing costs.“Aspect and our partners are committed to providing customers with innovative, cost-effective software and services that offer unparalleled choice and flexibility while delivering real business benefits,” said Alejandro Bourg, vice president of sales for the Caribbean and Latin America, Aspect. “When companies like Banco Walmart choose to implement Aspect UC applications for the contact center, it demonstrates that businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that they must find ways to deliver a better customer experience and create longer-lasting, more profitable customer relationships.”Streamlined Collections is a UC application for the contact center, powered by the Aspect® Unified IP® platform product, which automates early-stage collections and enables expert agent engagement for a more effective delinquent account targeting strategy so organizations can secure more promises to pay faster, reduce servicing costs and write-offs, and improve collections results.About AspectAspect is a global software and IT services firm specializing in applying Microsoft® unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.  Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC.#  #  #Note:  Aspect, Unified IP, Streamlined Collections and Aspect Software are registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2010-01-26T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Sponsors_Benchmark_Study_of_Voice_Self-Service Aspect Sponsors Benchmark Study of Voice Self-Service in Achieving 2010 Goals DMG Consulting LLC Uncovers Drivers Behind Voice Self-Service Usage and Plans for Technology Investments 26 Jan 2010 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 26 January 2010 — Aspect, a global provider of unified communications (UC) and collaboration services and software, today announced its sponsorship of the 2009 Hosted/Managed Service IVR Market Report, a report conducted by DMG Consulting LLC, an independent research, advisory and consulting firm. The report surveys more than one hundred global contact centers that included IT vice presidents, managers, directors, leaders and decision makers. This report enables companies to benchmark their 2010 enterprise, contact center and IT goals against their peers, compare their interactive voice response (IVR) solutions against the best of breed offerings and understand best practices.“This study has found that enterprises are waking up to the power and benefits of voice self-service applications,” said Donna Fluss, president, DMG Consulting LLC. “The top three goals for both the contact center and enterprise for 2010 are: improving the customer experience, expense control/improving productivity, and preserving existing revenue/increasing customer retention. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions are growing in importance due to their ability to cost-effectively help companies achieve these goals.”“Reports like this are very important for us to enable our customers to benchmark their business and support strategic decisions in their enterprise and contact centers,” said Andy Bezaitis, senior vice president of product management, Aspect. “At Aspect, we want our customers to know that we continuously work to help them identify how to improve the performance of their solutions compared to those of their peers, and to provide them with best practices to deliver a superior customer experience while reducing expenses.”Based on the report, 76.6 percent of responding enterprises are using IVRs today and 37.8 percent of those companies that are not using an IVR plan to invest in one within the next 12 months, and another 23.2 percent in the next 24 months. The report also found that the profile of IVR users continues to change, as traditionally in the past, IVR was only a topic of interest for large contact centers. Through the findings of this report, however, the survey participants show that it has captured the attention of contact centers of all sizes.  “Enterprises continue to demand technology solutions that help them both improve customer service and reduce costs,” said Brooks Crichlow, director of marketing at Tellme Business Solutions at Microsoft Corp.  “This study reflects the accelerating trend toward hosted IVR solutions, where a well-designed speech application running on a highly reliable on-demand platform, makes it easier for callers to complete self-service tasks. That makes for a better caller experience and translates directly to higher task completion rates that drive significant savings for the enterprise.”In addition to sponsoring the report, Aspect will host a webinar on Thursday, 28 January 2010 to present findings on the DMG report and discuss Aspect voice self-service offerings, including Aspect On-demand Voice Portal powered by Tellme. To register for the webinar, please visit http://regs.aspect.12hna.com/2010/q1/voice-webcast-tellmeAbout DMG Consulting LLCDMG Consulting LLC is an independent research, advisory and consulting firm that provides strategic and tactical advice to contact center managers, vendors and the financial community about the contact center and analytics markets. Our mission is to help clients build world-class contact centers by leveraging technology, processes and people. We provide insight and guidance to assist management in optimizing the performance of their contact centers by increasing operational efficiency, providing an outstanding customer experience, enhancing loyalty and increasing sales and profits.DMG Consulting analyzes all aspects of the contact center market and publishes research on Quality Management/Liability Recording (WFO), Speech Analytics, Performance Management, Surveying/Feedback, Workforce Management, Contact Center Outsourcing, Hosted Contact Center Infrastructure and Interactive Voice Response Systems. DMG’s consulting experience spans more than 2,000 end-user organizations and vendors. Our hands-on operational, technology and financial expertise gives us deep insight into what customers need and want from enterprises and vendors. For more information, visit www.dmgconsult.com.About AspectAspect is a global software and IT services firm specializing in applying Microsoft® unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC. #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2010-01-21T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Customer_American_Century_Investments_Wins_Award_from_Ventana Aspect Customer, American Century Investments, Wins Contact Center Leadership Award from Ventana Research Investment Management Firm Recognized for Leveraging Workforce Management Capability in Productive Workforce to Substantially Enhance Customer Care through Long-term Planning 21 Jan 2010 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 21 January 2010 — Aspect, a global provider of unified communications(UC) and collaboration services and software, today announced its customer, American Century Investments, a leading privately-held investment management firm, has won the 2009 Contact Center Leadership Award from Ventana Research, a business and IT research and advisory services firm. American Century Investments won the award for its use of the workforce management capability of the Productive Workforce™ UC application for the contact center and an innovative staffing strategy that improved its call center operations. The Ventana Research Leadership Awards recognize exemplary individuals and organizations that have demonstrated business leadership.“We’re honored to be recognized for our commitment to improving customer care through our efforts to optimize our contact center processes,” said Nina Westvold, director of contact center operations, American Century Investments.   “Thanks to our careful planning and Aspect’s workforce management capabilities, our contact center has been better positioned to handle the variability of customer demands in the financial services industry, particularly throughout the past few years. Any organization that understands the importance of long-term contact center strategies should consider Aspect’s workforce management solution to gain greater control in forecasting, planning and scheduling for optimized performance.”    American Century Investments used the workforce management capabilities of Productive Workforce to develop a strategy for using current and historical contact center data to better predict longer term forecasting requirements.  This strategy involved a Capacity Planning Model, which was designed to analyze how the data for every metric could potentially impact the contact center— including call volume, staff levels, attrition and hiring projections—to understand how all the parameters would impact service levels in the long-term. To ensure the Capacity Planning Model was successful, the company needed a solution that could run the complex “What If” scenarios required for the strategy. Using the substantial real-time and historical reporting capabilities in the workforce management capabilities of Productive Workforce, the company could identify patterns that impacted service levels and organize the data for the Capacity Planning Model.Today, the Capacity Planning Model and the workforce management capabilities from Aspect are used across American Century Investment’s contact center and play an integral role in how scheduling, off-phone planning and hiring decisions are made. As a result, American Century Investments has seen a number of dramatic service improvements:Customer care has improved significantly and the average speed of answer (ASA) decreased from more than four minutes to approximately five seconds. The abandonment rate plummeted from more than 14 percent to one percent. Service levels improved from under 40 percent to 90 percent, surpassing the company's goal and board of directors’ mandate of 80 percent.And with a more efficient utilization of contact center resources, American Century Investments was able to reduce the need for new hiring, saving approximately 8-12 phone representatives at a cost of $400,000-$600,000 annually.“In many financial organizations, the customer service and contact center operations have become even more critical to business goals in the last year as the global economic crises have introduced more volatility than usual and customers require more personalized service,” said Brett Williams, director of product management, Aspect. “Successful companies, like American Century Investments, are recognizing that the workforce optimization capabilities within Productive Workforce are necessary to accurately plan and forecast, save costs, optimize resources, and gain a competitive advantage in the contact center.” About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge platform products. The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™. About American Century InvestmentsAmerican Century Investments is a leading privately-held investment management firm, committed to delivering superior investment performance and building long-term client relationships since 1958. Serving investment professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors, American Century Investments offers a variety of actively managed investment disciplines through an array of products including mutual funds, institutional separate accounts, commingled trusts and sub-advisory accounts. The company's 1,300 employees serve clients from offices in New York; London; Hong Kong; Mountain View, Calif. and Kansas City, Mo. James E. Stowers Jr. founded the company and serves as co-chairman of the board. Jonathan S. Thomas is president and chief executive officer and Enrique Chang is chief investment officer. Through its ownership structure, more than 40 percent of American Century Investments' profits support research to help find cures for genetically-based diseases including cancer, diabetes and dementia. About AspectAspect is a global softwareand IT servicesfirm specializing in applying Microsoft unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC.  #  #  # Aspect, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2010-01-20T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Statement_on_Avaya_Roadmap Aspect Statement on the Avaya/Nortel Roadmap Announcement Authors: Gary Barnett, Andy Bezaitis, Serge Hyppolite, and Brett Williams 20 Jan 2010 This statement is intended to help organizations inform future decisions as they evaluate short-term and long-term implications of the recently announced Avaya/Nortel roadmap for their offerings and potential operational challenges.Avaya has stated that it will be selectively choosing its best of breed capabilities based on the Avaya and Nortel product portfolio.  While we applaud this approach, we also question the impact it will have on its customers. With two product portfolios that are largely based on proprietary technology and competing product strategies, this means that in many cases there will not be an optimal migration path for customers that are not on the platform of choice for future development. This will require significant investments and forklift upgrades for the combined Avaya/Nortel customer base.Based upon our company’s experience with large mergers and acquisitions, Aspect believes that Avaya has a monumental task in trying to maintain customer satisfaction while trying to build credibility in the unified communications (UC) market, integrating platforms, maintaining continuity in its contact center offerings, and making adjustments to its workforce under a newly-appointed management team; a challenge while having fewer people supporting a significantly expanded product portfolio.  Based upon our past experience and Avaya’s just-released roadmap, we have insight into some of the challenges they’ll face in the coming years:Nortel and Avaya had very different, competing directions for their contact center solutions and this will make it challenging for both sets of customers because they will have very different migration paths to contend with going forward.  Avaya has offered to support most of the legacy products for at least 6 years. Since Avaya inherited an incredibly large legacy base, the market has to wonder how customers can expect them to maintain all of the outdated hardware for a long period of time, while creating new platforms with greater capabilities to address the future business requirements of their customers.In two critical contact center categories, Avaya did not provide much information related to its outbound capabilities or workforce optimization. Given that Nortel’s contact center solution will eventually become their flagship platform, how will Avaya’s existing outbound products be handled. This could be an area that needs development, therefore current and future capabilities should be carefully considered by customers managing proactive customer care, collections or sales processes.  In addition, during the roadmap announcement, there was very little said about adding tightly integrated workforce optimization capabilities to the product portfolio. Avaya maintained they would continue to support both user interfaces while working on developing a single interface for both customers in the future.  This will require significant investment and focus from Avaya, plus based on our experience, raises existing and future investment questions for both companies’ customers.Even coupled with Nortel’s UC capabilities, Avaya’s Aura Communication Server, Modular Messaging UM product, and Interaction Center do not provide complete unified communications features and functionality, and are missing some specific detail on the collaboration capabilities that Avaya will be bringing to market around things like email, messaging and tools like SharePoint. We’ve seen some recent major collaboration announcements from Microsoft and Cisco, but limited information from Avaya at this point.Nortel had a partnership with Microsoft to deliver unified communications to the contact center and the enterprise, but the strength of the relationship was somewhat questionable, as it was not on the surface showing progress and that Innovative Communications Alliance (ICA) agreement has ended. Further, our view is that Avaya hasn’t committed to the Microsoft stack.Former Nortel customers may have to alter their approach to unified communications, as Avaya and Nortel clearly had divergent strategies, and clarity and detail on the combined unified communications and collaboration strategy is still required. Plus, as Avaya focuses on extending Aura to enable connectivity to the Nortel platforms, it will reduce its focus on non-Avaya platforms like those from Cisco or Microsoft causing go-to-market challenges in mixed environments.     Both Nortel and Avaya had a very significant channel partner network that has a lot of overlap, as well as differing operating strategies and perspectives.    The channel partners are going to need to evaluate the solutions they’re supporting and may have less motivation to support the new solutions.  In addition, there is external concern about the ability of Avaya to get its channel partner network into shape, and ready to support the new roadmap.  Plus, Avaya’s announced plans to move from a 60% indirect model to an 85% indirect model within two years is aggressive and will require strong support from the channel partners.Avaya also inherited a very large field services and support staff from Nortel.  Many customers have lost or will lose their customer-facing contact. Finally, this could potentially mean losing access to experts who knew their business processes, implementations, and solutions.  This impacts future collaboration – Avaya will be lacking the close customer touch-points needed for them to receive feedback to optimize their solutions.Gary Barnett is the chief technology officer at Aspect and the executive vice president of research and development and Aspect® Technical Services.   Andy Bezaitis is the senior vice president of product management. Serge Hyppolite and Brett Williams are directors of product management of Aspect. Aspect is a global softwareand IT servicesfirm specializing in applying Microsoft unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC. Other opinions on the Avaya/Nortel roadmap can be found:NoJitter.comChannel Web text/html 2010-01-12T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Announces_Acquisition_of_Quilogy Aspect Announces Acquisition of Quilogy, Inc. Acquisition Creates First and Only Global Company Dedicated to Helping Organizations Derive the Full Combined Benefits of Microsoft Unified Communications and Collaboration Technologies 12 Jan 2010 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 12 January 2010 — Aspect, the global leader in applying unified communications (UC) and collaboration, today announced it has acquired Quilogy Inc., a nationally recognized IT services firm, headquartered in Saint Charles, Mo.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.The acquisition adds collaboration capabilities to Aspect’s unified communications services portfolio to help organizations improve business processes with the combined capabilities of these technologies. Bringing together unified communications and collaboration software applications with systems integration (SI) capabilities allows customers to achieve business objectives more effectively than through services or applications individually.Aspect and Quilogy share mutual expertise in Microsoft technologies.  In a strategic equity partnership with Microsoft Corp., Aspect has expertise in unified communications, while Quilogy, a leading Microsoft National Systems Integrator, provides strategic and technical knowledge in collaboration tools for key Microsoft platforms, including its fastest-growing product, Microsoft SharePoint. Quilogy also offers a broad range of Microsoft capabilities and additional vertical industry experience to Aspect in the areas of healthcare and public sector.  Both Aspect and Quilogy are Microsoft Gold Certified Partners.“Quilogy’s expertise in Microsoft SharePoint and the broader collaboration space, coupled with Aspect’s global unified communications leadership and strategic equity alliance with Microsoft, are a formidable combination in the enterprise technology market,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “Plus, the opportunities for innovation with our unified communications applications for the contact center will mean new product capabilities, customized solution development, and tighter ties to enterprise resources for our contact center customers. This supports a logical evolution of Aspect’s vision of transforming enterprise business processes by leveraging Microsoft software platforms.”The combined company will offer unified communications and collaboration services, including IT and SI services, such as strategic planning, design and architecture, user experience and interface design, implementation and hosting, user adoption and training, custom development, and business process consulting for Microsoft and Aspect software and platforms. Key supported products include Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft .NET,  and business intelligent based on the Microsoft SQL Server analytics platform, as well as Aspect’s unified communications applications for the contact center and the Aspect® Unified IP® and PerformanceEdge® platform products.“Unified communications and collaboration are game-changing technologies for the enterprise and the contact center,” said Irwin Lazar, Vice President for Communication and Collaboration Research at Nemertes Research. “More organizations are recognizing that the value of UC and collaboration comes from applying it to business processes through existing and custom applications. However, while 69 percent of companies say unified communications return on investment is important or vital, only 18 percent have been able to quantify any benefit.  Aspect’s acquisition of Quilogy will help customers identify and implement the business benefits of UC.”As part of the acquisition, Quilogy’s experienced team of application development and IT services experts will join Aspect Professional Services and its growing IT services practice. This team is led by Manish Chandak, former president of Quilogy, who will join Aspect as a vice president of professional services. Chandak brings nearly15 years of experience in professional services and Microsoft collaboration technologies to Aspect.“Quilogy has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft and is among its leading national systems integrator partners.  With this acquisition, we now have the scale to deploy resources across the globe to meet our customer’s needs,” said Manish Chandak, former president, Quilogy.  “We are known, not only for our expertise in the collaboration space and market leadership with Microsoft SharePoint implementations, but for a strong delivery culture and cohesive, end-to-end processes.  Unified communications and collaboration has the potential to revolutionize business processes and workflows across the enterprise and the contact center, and Aspect is leading the way by expanding its ability to help customers apply these new technologies across key functional areas such as customer interaction and acquisition, payment processing, data analytics and integration, and more.”About AspectAspect is a global software and IT services firm specializing in applying Microsoft unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC. For additional information on the acquisition, please refer to the FAQ document.#  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2010-01-05T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Wins_Two_Prestigious_Frost_Awards_in_India Aspect Wins Two Prestigious Frost & Sullivan Awards in India Price Performance Value Leadership Award for Unified Contact Centre and the Market Leadership Award for Outbound Category 5 Jan 2010 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 5 January 2010 — Aspect, a leading unified communications(UC) solutions provider, has been awarded two prestigious awards by global growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Aspect has received the award for Price Performance Value for Unified Contact Centre Solutions, and has also emerged as the leader in Outbound Systems in India for the sixth consecutive year. The former is presented to companies that have offered customers with the solution and services that provide the highest ratio of value to cost, while the latter is conferred upon organisations demonstrating excellence in capturing highest market share within their industries.Extending his congratulations, Mr. Mohammad Saif, Deputy Director, Consulting - ICT Practice, South Asia, Frost & Sullivan, said, “Despite the declining offshore activities in the industry, Aspect has been able to maintain its business in the domestic segment, because of the blend in product features and price. Increasing focus on customer care and high reliability have been the key concerns for enterprises, which have been well-addressed by Aspect. The market is driven by basic applications as of now, but a vendor like Aspect that provides a mix of applications will find significant traction in the market.”According to Frost & Sullivan, Aspect’s service capabilities have attracted many customers towards its unified solutions.“These awards are a strong testament to Aspect’s commitment to deliver leading, comprehensive unified contact centre capabilities that customers need to excel in an increasingly dynamic IT environment,” said Mr. Rajeev Soni, General Manager India, Mid-East, Aspect, India. “We are proud to have received this recognition from Frost & Sullivan, and we are especially delighted to be recognized as the leader in outbound systems for the sixth consecutive year. We expect 2010 to be an equally successful year for us and our customers as more companies around the world recognize the value in our unified communications applications for the contact centre around the world.”About Frost & Sullivan Award for Price Performance Value Leadership of the Year Award for Unified Contact Centre SolutionsThe Frost & Sullivan Price Performance Value Leadership of the Year Award is given to the company that has provided customers with the solution and/or service that provides the highest ratio of value to cost.  The recipient has provided customers with solutions that provide quality, while staying extremely competitively priced. This award is presented to organisations that have demonstrated the most insight into the needs and demands of the customers.  For the award, Frost & Sullivan also takes into consideration price, ease of use, features, service support and product customization to determine the award recipient.According to Frost & Sullivan, Aspect has deployed solutions which provide high reliability. Its expertise in unified communications applications for the contact centre has enabled Aspect to emerge as one of the most consistent and unswerving market participants in the contact centre segment and unified communications industry.About Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Award for Outbound Systems in IndiaThe Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership of the Year is given to the company that has excelled in all areas of market share leadership and has demonstrated strong strategy development. The Market Leadership Award for Outbound Systems acknowledges a company’s robust outbound product portfolio, a committed customer focus, and a leadership position in the outbound market in India. To determine the award recipient Frost & Sullivan takes into consideration the market share based on the organisation’s outbound segment revenuesAccording to Frost & Sullivan, Aspect has been recognized for its industry-leading outbound dialing solutions that are designed to help companies provide proactive customer service, improve their collections, and enhance their sales. Aspect has made significant inroads into the telecom and outsourcing industries capturing nearly 55 percent of the outbound market in India. It even dominates the SMB segment with its Aspect® Unified IP® solution and UC applications for the contact centre.About Frost and Sullivan:Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.comAbout Aspect:Aspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  # Aspect, Unified IP and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-12-16T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Support_Leverages_UC_to_Improve_Customer_Satisfaction Aspect Support Leverages Unified Communications to Improve Customer Satisfaction and Lower Hold Time by 76 Percent Seamless Customer Service™ and Ask an Expert Capability Helps Aspect® Technical Services See Measurable Improvements in Contact Center Interactions and Productivity 16 Dec 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass. 16 December 2009— Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced it has seen measurable results in its support call center through the use of unified communications capabilities and the Seamless Customer Service UC application for the contact center. Aspect® Technical Services is using Seamless Customer Service to utilize comprehensive inbound routing, coordinated voice self-service to live service and Ask an Expert functionality to provide integrated assistance to continue to increase first call resolution and enhance the overall customer experience.“Unified communications is bringing concrete benefits to the call center, to the business and the customer, based on our own personal experience in Aspect’s customer support center,” said Gary Barnett, chief technology officer and executive vice president, research and development and Aspect® Technical Services, Aspect. “After deploying Seamless Customer Service, our support engineers quickly saw clear, measurable results demonstrating how UC could streamline communications and improve customer service. Companies that deploy this technology can expect to leverage presence, IM routing and reporting capabilities to reap the benefits of unified communications and improve customer- company interactions.”As a result of the robust functionality within Seamless Customer Service, call hold times for Aspect Technical Services have been reduced by 76 percent to just 44 seconds per call. Additionally, since the initial introduction of the Ask an Expert capability, the overall first day resolution rate has increased by 7 percent and the time to reach a support technician with the correct skill set has improved by 8 percent. Teams using Ask an Expert to reach out to Aspect’s experts across the organization have shown overall increases in overall customer satisfaction scores by 6 percent, measuring 4.79 on a scale of 5.Seamless Customer Service is helping Aspect Technical Services utilize a number of advanced features in the contact center, including:Presence and IM routing- Ask an Expert, which uses the presence detection, instant messaging (IM) and conference calling capabilities of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2, enables support engineers to use presence identification and skill criteria to find available experts in other departments to rapidly address customer questions. Support staff can call or IM anyone in the enterprise, and even route an IM from a customer directly to that expert. The Ask an Expert feature logs and records this entire process, making it available for resource allocation analysis, quality monitoring, and regulatory compliance.Conferencing Functionality- The entire Aspect Technical Services staff now has conferencing functionality at their fingertips and can also escalate from IM to live calls when needed. Seamless Customer Service together with Office Communications Server simplifies remote support with desktop sharing, which increases collaboration to resolve issues more quickly.Unified Messaging- The unified messaging capability has been valuable to the team leaders and their managers, as all voice mails are received through Microsoft Outlook email and can be easily forwarded and/or retrieved through mobile devices.Real-time and historical reporting- Senior Aspect Technical Services staff has found the consolidated reporting in Seamless Customer Service invaluable, allowing for rapid evaluation of team performance, call volume demands, and other factors critical to delivering an efficient and high-quality support service.About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect® Unified IP® and PerformanceEdge® platform products.  The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  # Aspect, Seamless Customer Service, Blended Interaction, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-12-03T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_UC_Deployment_Wins_2009_InfoWorld_100_Honors Aspect Unified Communications Deployment Wins 2009 InfoWorld 100 Honors for Industry's Top IT Projects Company Garners Second Prestigious Accolade for Leveraging Microsoft Office Communications Server Resulting in Significant Benefits and Reduced Costs 3 Dec 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 3 December 2009— Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the company was honored in the 2009 InfoWorld 100 Awards from IDG’s InfoWorld magazine for its global unified communications deployment. Each year, the InfoWorld 100 Awards recognize the 100 most innovative uses of IT initiatives to further business goals.“Our recognition in the InfoWorld 100 further validates that the industry understands how unified communications can meaningfully help companies reach their business objectives for improved processes and reduced costs,” said Jamie Ryan, chief information officer and senior vice president of IT, Aspect. “With careful planning and strategy, our IT team has been able to execute on a UC strategy and deliver a number of benefits to the organization. Once again, Aspect has demonstrated its expertise in unified communications and we’re honored to have our IT efforts recognized with such a prestigious industry award.”Aspect won the InfoWorld accolade for its implementation of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 throughout offices in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific (APAC) regions. More than 1,700 employees have completely migrated to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for all voice and voicemail services, audio and Web conferencing, instant messaging (IM) and presence.The company completed the company-wide implementation of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in September and has already seen an aggressive return on investment (ROI), including $1 million in savings on annual conferencing costs and savings of more than $250,000 annually in telecommunication charges as a result of session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking.“This year's recipients of InfoWorld's highest honor are shining examples of IT projects undertaken by tech leaders committed to pushing their organizations forward,” said Jason Snyder, features editor, InfoWorld. The selection of companies listed in the InfoWorld 100 rankings are based on the excellence and quality of the IT environment.Aspect continues to garner industry recognition for its unified communications deployment. In October, the company was honored on the 2009 InformationWeek 500 list, which analyzes and ranks the most innovative corporate users of information technology. Aspect was ranked number 74 on the list.To learn more about Aspect's global unified communications deployment, read the IDC case study on www.ucworld.com in the resources section.About InfoWorld Media GroupInfoWorld Media Group helps IT Decision Makers choose the right technology, within the context of a cohesive strategy for business impact at their organizations. InfoWorld identifies and promotes emerging technology segments that add unique value for the organizations that implement them, as well as the vendors that provide those solutions. Using an integrated communications approach including online, events, research, and a continued investment in an independent Test Center, InfoWorld analysts and editors provide hands-on analysis and evaluation, as well as expert commentary on issues surrounding emerging technologies and products. Visit InfoWorld at http://www.infoworld.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.Follow Aspect on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AspectUC.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-11-12T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Delivers_New_QM_Capabilities_in_Productive_Workforce Aspect Delivers New IT–Ready Quality Management Capabilities in Productive Workforce UC Application General Availability of PerformanceEdge® Quality Management 3.0 Provides Cradle-to-Grave Interaction Tracking, Enhanced Alerting, Redundancy, System Management, Security, and Outsourcing Features 12 Nov 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 12 November 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the general availability of new quality management features in its Productive Workforce™ unified communications application for the contact center. PerformanceEdge® Quality Management 3.0 offers a number of features for improved business processes across multiple agents, sites and platforms.   New capabilities provide cradle-to-grave interaction tracking, enhanced security and compliance, improved alerting, redundancy, system management, and increased features for outsourcers, allowing for full-time call logging and quality recording in mid- to large-sized call centers. The new features add significant value to Productive Workforce, enabling companies to leverage robust, scalable quality management functionality with leading workforce management and performance management capabilities.“Quality management is a mission-critical function that provides insights into agent, departmental and enterprise performance,” said Donna Fluss, president, DMG Consulting. “Supporting the quality management function with feature-rich applications helps contact center managers deliver on their two top goals: providing an outstanding customer experience and increasing agent productivity. With the new quality management capabilities within Productive Workforce, Aspect has taken significant steps towards delivering a more functionally-rich and PCI-compliant quality management solution.”“The newest quality management features of Productive Workforce are helping us improve the quality and consistency of our customer interactions,” said Demetric Anamateros, vice president of sales and customer service, RCN. “Having the ability to monitor agent audio and screens in real-time as well as record the interaction on-demand helps us gain greater insight and control over the level of service we’re providing, which is critical to our customer care strategies.  New system management features such as enhanced encryption and advanced archiving will allow us to ensure recording security while providing ease of administration.  Aspect has continued to deliver the capabilities we’ve needed to pinpoint areas for improvement in our contact center operations and ultimately improve customer satisfaction.”   The new capabilities of PerformanceEdge Quality Management 3.0 include:·         Security and PCI compliance capabilities- Companies that require increased security and payment card industry (PCI) compliance, such as financial services organizations, can leverage PerformanceEdge Quality Management features like enhanced encryption for secure transmission of recordings over the network and in storage.  This includes functionality such as auto-generation of encryption keys and customer-provided key input in addition to audit trail reporting and automatic pause/resume functionality to prevent recording sensitive data (e.g. payment information).·         Scalable architecture for enterprise contact centers- Mid- to large-sized call centers can record and monitor multichannel interactions across several locations for thousands of agents and also leverage an enterprise multisite option for centralized searching and administration.·         True “cradle-to-grave” recording of customer interactions- Speech self service interactions can now be recorded in addition to agent-customer conversations and “tied” together for ease of playback providing additional insight into total contact quality and agent performance.·         Improved agent management capabilities- Supervisors can leverage live monitoring of agent audio and screens for quality and training purposes as well as for real-time assistance during a customer interaction. Supervisors also have the ability to go from live monitoring to ad-hoc recording with a click of the mouse. The solution also offers expanded coaching capabilities and advanced scorecard features for improved performance management and training opportunities. ·         Outsourcer recording features- Outsourcer clients can access recordings of interactions by team, port or skill via secure partitioning features. Audio and screens for all outsourced agents, including outside the firewall, can be recorded and monitored. ·         Enhanced redundancy and alerting- Additional redundancy capabilities now ensure business continuity, as well as advanced error trapping capabilities for enabling proactive system monitoring and alerting.·         New integrations to third party platforms and back-office recording- Companies can leverage recording of calls, screens, emails and chats outside the call center on a number of third-party platforms.  “Our customers continue to discuss the importance of quality management capabilities that can easily be implemented in today’s enterprise architectures to improve customer interactions and ensure high levels of security.  These requirements address the needs of our biggest customers including both outsourcers and large-scale contact centers,” said Andy Bezaitis, senior vice president of product management, Aspect. “The quality management capabilities of Productive Workforce will help our customers gain even broader insight into interactions in the call center and a deeper understanding of enterprise communication processes. The knowledge gleaned from these recordings will be critical for organizations to improve multichannel communications in the enterprise and leverage UC to gain a competitive advantage.”About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect® Unified IP® and PerformanceEdge® platform products. The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, and Optimized Collections. and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-11-04T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Names_New_Executive_Leadership Aspect Names New Executive Leadership to Drive Company's Unified Communications Strategy As Aspect continues to gain momentum in the contact center and enterprise markets, two new leaders will contribute to further growth 4 Nov 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 4 November 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced it has appointed new executive leadership to oversee the company’s unified communications strategy and marketing initiatives. Andy Bezaitis is now the senior vice president of product management and Laurie Cairns has joined the company as the senior vice president of marketing.“This is an energizing time at Aspect because of the depth and breadth of our unified communications software and services offerings and the value they can bring to organizations, and I am confident that these new appointments will further our momentum in the marketplace,” said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer, Aspect. “In her role, Laurie will focus on supporting our revenue objectives with innovative strategies and impeccable program execution. Andy is spearheading product planning to ensure optimal alignment with the business goals of our customers’ needs and with the emerging role of unified communications in the contact center and across the enterprise.”Bezaitis brings more than 20 years of leadership experience to his new role. In this position, Bezaitis will oversee a product management team responsible for driving UC product enhancements through research, analysis, customer engagement, competitive intelligence and field communication. He continues acting as the company’s primary liaison to Microsoft. Before joining Aspect, he was the senior vice president of business development at Cantata Technology.Cairns brings more than 25 years of marketing and brand expertise to Aspect. Her new responsibilities as senior vice president include driving marketing initiatives and brand strategy to further Aspect’s leadership in providing unified communications solutions for enterprises and their contact centers. Laurie’s career includes the formation and executive management of LEC, an integrated branding agency founded in 1986. She holds a business process patent in internet promotions, and is the marketing committee chair of Lumity, a nonprofit organization that leverages information technology. She brings extensive experience in both software and communications, and has worked closely with Aspect on strategy, messaging and demand creation for nearly ten years.  About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2009-11-03T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Wins_Nemertes_PilotHouse_Award_as_Leading_IP_Contact_Center_Vendor Aspect Wins Nemertes PilotHouse Award as the Leading IP Contact Center Vendor in Customer Survey End-Users Praise Aspect's Reliability, Comprehensive Services, Superior Customer Service and Unified Communications Focus 3 Nov 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 3 November 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced it has won the 2009 PilotHouse IP Contact Center Award based on a customer survey report from Nemertes Research, a research-advisory firm. More than 1,300 individuals participated in the survey and rated Aspect an impressive 4.48 overall score on a five-point scale, significantly ahead of any competitors in the IP contact center market by more than a full half-point. Additionally, Aspect scored the highest overall rating of any technology vendor across all 2009 Nemertes PilotHouse reports.“Our benchmark participants have spoken loud and clear— their high marks for Aspect’s products and services, as well as the overall value that Aspect provides, validate the company’s unified communications strategy and direction,” said Katherine Trost, research analyst, Nemertes Research. “More than half of the IT practitioners we work with plan to bring unified communications capabilities into their call center operations to streamline communications and improve business processes. Our results show Aspect has clearly differentiated itself as a leader in the IP contact center space, where they shine the light on unified communications in the contact center.” Customer comments in the report cited Aspect’s unified communications vision as one area of praise, including the company’s product integrations with Microsoft® Office Communications Server and Aspect’s comprehensive UC services practice.  Companies also praised Aspect’s customer service as the highest in the call center industry based on a variety of proactive technical and educational services. The report also highlighted Aspect’s reliability and virtualization capabilities as a key area of positive customer comments.“The PilotHouse Award and the results from the Nemertes survey speak to the commitment and success of every part of the company, from the research and development group, to the IT department, to the services team, to our support staff,” said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer, Aspect. “At Aspect, we pride ourselves on listening to our customers to deliver the capabilities and services they require to meet their business goals. From virtualization capabilities, to unified communications tools, to system integration services, our customers’ feedback is evaluated and thoughtfully incorporated into our product roadmap and corporate strategy. We will continue to innovate solutions with the capabilities the market demands to deliver the value and quick return on investment that our customers have come to expect from Aspect.”  About Nemertes ResearchNemertes Research is a research-advisory firm that specializes in analyzing and quantifying the business value of emerging technologies. You can learn more about Nemertes Research at our Website www.nemertes.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-10-06T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Honored_on_InformationWeek_500 Aspect Honored on InformationWeek 500 for Its Global Unified Communications Rollout Company Recognized as One of the Top 100 Most Innovative Users of Business Technology 6 Oct 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 6 October 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced it has been ranked in the top 100 of the 2009 InformationWeek 500 list, which analyzes and ranks the most innovative corporate users of information technology. Aspect was ranked number 74 on the list as a result of its global unified communications implementation and successful deployment of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 throughout 20 office locations and more than 1,800 employees.The global UC implementation at Aspect, which was completed at the end of September, has already demonstrated tremendous savings and benefits throughout the organization, including a cost reduction of more than $1 million on conferencing alone in the first year of deployment.   “We are honored to be recognized within the top 100 on the InformationWeek 500 with so many innovative and forward-thinking companies,” said Jim Foy, president and CEO, Aspect. “This is a great proof point for organizations to see the benefits and savings that they, too, could experience as a result of a well-planned unified communications deployment. It also highlights that Aspect is a leader in this space and fully understands the challenges of converging infrastructures and what it takes from a planning and deployment perspective to bring value.”The InformationWeek 500 is the most prestigious business technology ranking, showcasing the country’s most innovative users of business technology in the nation. The InformationWeek 500 managed by InformationWeek magazine tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of the best-known companies in the country.For more information about the Aspect global deployment, login to www.ucworld.com or follow Aspect on twitter at www.twitter.com/AspectUC.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-09-30T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Announces_New_Release_of_PE_eLearning_with_Integration_to_Aspect_Unified_IP Aspect Announces New Release of PerformanceEdge eLearning Capability with Integration to Aspect Unified IP Platform Product Allows Users of Unified Communications Applications for the Contact Center to Leverage eLearning Capabilities 30 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 30 September 2009– Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the general availability of PerformanceEdge® eLearning 8.2.5 with integration to the Aspect® Unified IP® platform product. This latest release provides an interface to Aspect Unified IP enabling users to monitor service levels in real time and dynamically push eLearning sessions to agents based on queue service level goals.PerformanceEdge eLearning 8.2.5 allows the system to automatically cancel an eLearning session if service levels are below pre-defined thresholds. This latest release is ideal for any inbound or blended Aspect Unified IP customer looking to reduce attrition and improve productivity.“This integration of PerformanceEdge eLearning and Aspect Unified IP allows organizations to schedule eLearning sessions for agents to provide training and coaching opportunities without sacrificing overall quality of service,” said Allyson Boudousquie, director of business process marketing, Aspect. “By bringing together software capabilities that allow organizations to easily schedule learning sessions, we’re enabling our customers to improve their agent skill sets and provide even better service to their end-users. This is critically important when organizations don’t have the bandwidth or resources to hire individuals with the right skill sets, but need to focus on enhancing what they already have available.”PerformanceEdge eLearning integrates with Aspect Unified IP’s Unified Interaction Management as well as other workforce management systems to deliver learning sessions without impacting inbound service levels. It monitors the levels of required service level metrics, and can prevent or interrupt learning sessions in real-time, as well as update the PerformanceEdge Workforce Management application, Aspect® eWorkforce Management™, indicating whether training was delivered. In addition, PerformanceEdge eLearning offers customized pre-packaged courses to meet specific training needs, aid deployment and speed return on investment (ROI). Specialized content learning bundles include Agent Productivity Improvements, Sales Optimization, and an Improved Collections Skills course.In addition to Aspect Unified IP, PerformanceEdge eLearning offers product integrations to Aspect eWorkforce Management, Aspect® CallCenter® ACD and Aspect® Spectrum® ACD.PerformanceEdge eLearning can be used as an add-on for all of Aspect’s unified communications applications for the contact center, which use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge platform products.About Aspect Unified IPAspect Unified IP is an IT-ready Microsoft .Net Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge is an IT-ready Microsoft .Net Web services platform product that synchronizes workforce optimization capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge platform products. The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, eLearning, eWorkforce Management, CallCenter ACD, Spectrum ACD, Productive Workforce, Optimized Collections, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-09-29T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_UC_Applications_for_Contact_Center_Leverage_VMware Aspect Unified Communications Applications for the Contact Center Leverage VMware Aspect Enables Virtualization Across Contact Centers and Sites 29 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 29 September 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced that its UC applications for the contact center offer virtualization capabilities through VMware. This allows multiple UC applications to run in parallel as virtual machines, enabling more applications to run on a smaller footprint. As a result, users can lower server utilization, reduce capital and maintenance expenses, and take advantage of smaller physical footprints.“We know that improving efficiency and reducing IT complexity is a very high priority for our customers. Aspect has a number of customers using VMware today with great results.  Any organization that requires scalability, multi-tenancy and UC capabilities for the call center will benefit from our UC applications leveraging VMware,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management at Aspect. “In particular, companies like outsourcers and enterprise-size contact centers can run a UC application like Blended Interaction™ while simultaneously using the full capabilities of Productive Workforce™ to manage hundreds of agents and improve productivity all while reducing their server footprint and maintenance costs.”UC applications with VMware offer a number of benefits, including:Improved Scalability – Aspect customers can run multiple UC applications on the same physical server. As a result, the UC applications offer increased capacity by moving virtual machines to larger resourced physical machines.Fewer Servers – Aspect customers can minimize their physical server footprint by configuring UC applications in VMware environments. UC applications do not take up as much physical space in a VMware environment as they do in a non-VMware environment.Enhanced Multi-tenant Management – VMware helps with tenant managementfor the UC applications in a hosted environment. There is no disruption of active users when other tenants are added or removed from the system. VMware also enables control of system resources each tenant should receive and allows for flexibility of deployment as numbers of active tenants changes.Increased Business Continuity – A call center can utilize VMware High Availability features, which can restart a single instance of the software on a second VMware server if one server fails.Reduced Costs – Aspect call center customers can minimize capital outlays and maintenance costs due to operating and maintaining fewer servers.About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities.  The UC applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-09-24T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Hosts_UC_World_Live_Day Aspect Hosts UC World Live Day to Bring Unified Communications Professionals Together UCWorld.com Event on 1 October 2009 Includes Live Webinars, Community Activities, Demos and IM Sessions with CIO, IT Directors, and UC Experts to Educate Industry on UC 24 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 24 September 2009– Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced it is hosting UC World Live on 1 October 2009, a virtual conference featuring a day of live events and activities to bring unified communications professionals together in UC World to demystify unified communications by providing “how-to” information and return on investment (ROI) data – including a webinar based upon findings from a brand new IDC case study.  UC World(www.ucworld.com) is an interactive online community providing a unique glimpse into some of the leading enterprise deployments of Microsoft unified communications, with actual users sharing real return on investment (ROI) data, lessons learned and use cases.UC World Live Dayoffers a number of activities for participants to gain practical knowledge on planning and rolling out unified communications deployments across the enterprise and in the contact center from experts with real-world experience. All attendees will be eligible to win an Amazon Kindle 2 wireless reading device. The UC World Live schedule includes:9:00 a.m. ET– 5 p.m. ET – Live chat roomsUC World Live attendees will be able to chat live with unified communications experts. Chat topics will range from “Building the UC Business Case” to “Designing for a Microsoft® Office Communications ServerImplementation.”11:00 a.m. ET - Live group IM Session on global UC deploymentsBill Lynch, Aspect’s IT team lead on its global UC implementation, will provide an overview on best practices for deploying unified communications solutions from an internal IT perspective. Lynch will take questions on this topic, including how to prep an organization’s infrastructure and its people.11:00 a.m. ET - Office Communicator DemoAndrew Browne, director of sales technical services at Aspect, will demonstrate Microsoft Office Communicator capabilities and how it can change the way organizations interact with click-to-call, click-to-IM, one-click audio and video conferencing, and Web collaboration/screen sharing.12 noon ET - Live group IM Session on optimizing a workforce through UCBrett Williams, Aspect’s workforce optimization expert, will provide a brief overview on the risks and rewards of using UC to bring knowledge workers into direct contact with customers. Williams will take live questions on this topic, including how these interactions can be scheduled, managed and made compliant.12 noon ET -  Ask the Expert DemoIn this product demonstration, Andrew Browne will show participants first-hand how companies can tap into the knowledge that resides across your enterprise with capabilities like presence and IM to improve the customer experience.1:00 p.m. ET - IM Routing DemoAndrew Browne will demonstrate the next evolution of the customer contact experience where IM is a main channel into the contact center and IMs can be routed, like voice calls or emails, to the most appropriate resource at the right time.2:00 p.m. ET – IDC, Aspect and Microsoft on Deploying UC Across the Enterprise  In this webcast, industry analyst firm, IDC, Microsoft and Aspect discuss how Aspect is poised to save $1 million a year while improving collaboration and streamlining its business processes, why savings can only be realized with more than VoIP alone, and why now is the time to plan a UC deployment. View the webcast to learn how companies can realize immediate benefits with UC by bringing together email, calendaring, voice mail, instant messaging (IM) and presence, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), audio, video and Web conferencing. Jamie Ryan, chief information officer, Aspect, will present his insights on planning Aspect’s global unified communications rollout with Abner Germanow, director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure Services at IDC, who will share his analysis on evolving enterprise network infrastructure markets.3:00 p.m. ET - Connecting the Contact Center and the EnterpriseCustomers want their inquiries addressed in a quick, informed manner by people who have the authority to get them what they need and want. Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management at Aspect, will discuss the current state of customer interaction challenges and contact center operations. This webcast will highlight the role of unified communications in the contact center and the necessary capabilities to improve first call resolution and the overall customer experience. Gary Barnett, chief technology officer at Aspect, will also discuss how the company leverages Ask an Expert functionality within its own call centers to increase customer satisfaction. 4:00 pm ET - Closing Panel SessionMike Sheridan, executive vice president of sales at Aspect, will moderate a discussion on participant thoughts from UC World Live Day. Presenters and chat leaders will discuss what key points came up around UC.4:00 p.m. ET- Closing remarks and prize drawingCommunity members and participants in the live events will hear additional reflections on unified communications to conclude UC World Live. A prize winner also will be drawn from all UC World Live Day participants for an Amazon Kindle 2.Quote“By hosting UC World Live Day, Aspect is enabling organizations to gain valuable insight on unified communications deployments and post technical questions to IT experts that have completed an implementation, as well as the ability to network with peers,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “Members of the interactive community will see how UC can positively impact business processes across a global organization throughout every department, straight from the end users. We’re looking forward to hosting UC World Live Day and educating more businesses on the impact of UC.”  VideoVisitors to UC World Live Day will be able to participate in interactive IM sessions and webinars on UC in addition to viewing content-rich videos that highlight a global UC deployment. http://www.youtube.com/user/AspectUC BlogRead Kevin Schwartz’s thoughts on UC World Live Day and the IM topics at http://blogs.aspect.com/ Registration PageRegister to join the UC World community and participate in UC World Live at http://www.ucworld.com/#register About UC WorldUC World (www.ucworld.com) provides a unique glimpse into some of the leading enterprise deployments of Microsoft unified communications (UC), with actual users sharing real return on investment (ROI) data,lessons learned and use cases. It provides direct access to, and collaboration with, the experts who have turned their UC visions into reality, and offers a rich library of valuable technical and business information about UC. Additionally, the UC World Community features interactive access to experts on unified communications, webcasts, white papers, podcasts, videos and additional material to provide information on UC, as well as networking functionality that provides user profiles, buddy lists, community chats and more. About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.  #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-09-22T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Completes_Internal_Global_Deployment_of_OCS Aspect Completes Internal Global Deployment of Microsoft Unified Communications Technology Employees Across All Regions at Aspect Now Leveraging Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 22 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 22 September 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the company’s global unified communications implementation is now complete with the successful deployment of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 supporting Aspect’s Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Singapore. Aspect offices in Beijing and Dalian, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Bangalore and New Delhi, India are now using Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 for all voice and voicemail services, audio and web conferencing, instant messaging (IM) and presence. With rollout complete in the region, Aspect has now deployed Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to 100 percent of its employee base. “This demonstrates how a large company can plan and execute a global deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and see productivity and cost savings success almost immediately,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president for the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. “Aspect was able to use its knowledge of mission-critical voice applications and professional services to become a model example for businesses looking to bring the benefits of UC to their organizations.”Since the beginning of the company-wide Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployment in the first quarter of 2009, Aspect has already begun seeing a number of significant benefits, such as:$1 million in savings on annual conferencing costsElimination of multiple PBXs, resulting in annual support savings of $300,000Savings of over $250,000 annually in telecommunication charges as a result of deploying SIP trunkingSince the initial deployment in February 2009:1,100,000+ instant messaging (IM) sessions have taken place38,000 conference calls and 70,000 if you add in web, IM, application sharing, etc conference calls have been executed, with participant minutes exceeding eight million (for just pure voice conference calls)6,140 web conferences have been held, with 882,000 participant minutes logged886,000 voice conversations have taken place, totaling more than 5,800,000 minutes of talk time“Through the entire deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Aspect has demonstrated our expertise in developing and implementing a cohesive and comprehensive unified communications strategy that allowed us to be very successful, including exceeding expectations on our initial timeline, ROI and finishing the entire deployment ahead of schedule,” said Jamie Ryan, senior vice president, information technology and chief information officer, Aspect. “The Aspect global implementation is a shining example of the company’s knowledge and expertise in deploying unified communications across a wide variety of infrastructures in many regions around the world.”About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2009-09-15T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_PELORUS_Group_Names_Aspect_as_Leader_in_Global_WFM_Market PELORUS Group Names Aspect as the Leader in the Global Workforce Management Market Company Retains Leadership Position with 31.5 Percent Market Share 15 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 15 September 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced the company has been named the leading global workforce management vendor in the 2009 World Contact Center Workforce Management Systems Marketreport by The PELORUS Group, an independent market research and consulting company. Globally, Aspect owns 31.5 percent of the workforce management market, while leading the North American market with 36.8 percent share.“Companies are looking for ways to increase productivity and efficiency in a challenging economic climate. Aspect has remained the market leader in workforce management because of its proven success in helping organizations improve contact center performance with its leading scheduling and forecasting tools,” said Dick Bucci, senior consultant, The PELORUS Group.   “In the coming years, we expect the workforce management market to grow, and Aspect can continue to pace the market with its full breadth of performance optimization capabilities including robust workforce management technology.”Aspect’s workforce management capabilities offer flexible forecasting, scheduling and tracking tools to enable companies to hire agents and optimize the allocation of inbound, outbound, and blended front and back-office staffing resources. Aspect offers workforce management functionality as one of the capabilities within its Productive Workforce™, Optimized Collections™ and Blended Interaction™ UC applications for the contact center. Aspect’s UC applications help companies target operational objectives with specific software capabilities.“Aspect is maintaining a leadership position in the global workforce management market due to our deep understanding of workforce optimization in the contact center and back-office processes,” said Brett Williams, director of product management, Aspect. “Companies can see even greater value by synchronizing workforce management capabilities with quality management and performance management, and Aspect can help them get there. We’re seeing more interest in these combined tools through our UC applications, and we expect to see more organizations taking advantage of these solutions to streamline their customer service, sales and collections business processes.”About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUC applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect® Unified IP® and PerformanceEdge® platform products. The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, quality management and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.  #  #  # Aspect, Productive Workforce, Optimized Collections, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-09-01T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Leads_NA_WFM_Market_According_to_Frost Aspect Leads North American Workforce Management Market According to Frost & Sullivan Workforce Management Capabilities in Productive Workforce™ Continue to Lead Industry 1 Sept 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 1 September 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced that the company has been named the leading workforce management vendor, based on revenues including product and services in the 2009 North American Agent Performance Optimization Market report from Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, for providing market-leading workforce management solutions.“Aspect’s workforce management capabilities continue to lead the market because they synchronize the features needed to streamline customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing business processes,” said Keith Dawson, Frost & Sullivan principal analyst. “We’re seeing more companies interested in finding ways to lower operating costs and optimize agent productivity, and many organizations are turning to Aspect to deliver these solutions through robust workforce management tools.”The workforce management technology from Aspect enables companies to hire agents and optimize the allocation of inbound, outbound, blended front and back office staffing resources to reduce costs, while improving overall business results. It includes flexible forecasting, scheduling and tracking tools that ensure organizations meet customer service, collections, sales and telemarketing and back-office goals with the most effective staffing plan possible. Aspect offers workforce management capabilities as part of the UC applications for the contact center, Productive Workforce, Optimized Collections™ and Blended Interaction™. Aspect’s UC applications help companies target operational objectives with specific software capabilities.“In today’s economy, our customers are trying to get the most out of their contact center investments – specifically their people -- and workforce management provides critical forecasting and scheduling capabilities to help companies gain a competitive advantage,” said Brett Williams, director of product management, Aspect. “Our leadership in the market is another proof point that many companies are seeing the value in tightly integrating contact center capabilities through UC applications such as Productive Workforce. With UC applications, organizations can streamline their business processes, increase their productivity and ultimately, improve their customers’ satisfaction.”About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.  #  #  # Aspect, Productive Workforce, Optimized Collections, Blended Interaction, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-08-19T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Receives_Highest_Reporting_Score_in_Datamonitor_Decision_Matrix Aspect Receives Highest Reporting Score in Datamonitor Decision Matrix of Analytics Vendors Aspect Also Scores Above Average for Dashboards, Scorecards Workflow and Alerts 19 Aug 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 19 August 2009—Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced it has achieved the highest score among all vendors for reporting within the Datamonitor Decision Matrix of Analytics Vendors. According to the report, Aspect’s strengths are in providing all-in-one contact center solutions and unified communications, but also offering strong technical workforce optimizationcapabilities for dashboards, scorecards and reporting.“Organizations should utilize contact center analytics to make improvements in business processes and ensure that agents are able to meet customers’ service needs. Aspect delivers in this area by providing mature reporting and analytics solutions.” said Aphrodite Brinsmead, associate analyst, Datamonitor. “The company has established itself as a leader for workforce optimization technologies, by offering comprehensive tools for reporting and workflow and alerts, in addition to its workforce management, logging and quality management solutions.”  Aspect scored well in the technical assessment section of the survey of end users, achieving the highest score among all vendors for reporting. It also scored above average in workforce optimization for dashboards, scorecards, as well as for workflows and alerts. According to the Datamonitor report, Aspect has a strong position in this market having gained a high recognition score from the customers surveyed, particularly for financial stability, customer support and product quality.Among the Aspect unified communications applications for the contact center that provide reporting capabilities are Productive Workforce™, Productive Workforce™ for Aspect® eWorkforce Management™, and Optimized Collections™. These UC applications deliver the tools and processes to help organizations optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture. They unite workforce management, quality management, campaign management, and performance management to reduce the cost per customer interaction and improve the overall customer experience.“We are extremely pleased to see that Aspect has been acknowledged by Datamonitor for having solid market positioning, which serves as a proof point that Aspect continues to bring real workforce optimization value to our customers,” said Brett Williams, director of product management, Aspect.   “Aspect is cognizant of the fact that our reporting capabilities can create a significant competitive differentiator for our customers by allowing them to pinpoint areas for improvement and make real-time changes to improve the customer experience. And, in these tough economic times, our reporting and analytics capabilities allow organizations to easily determine if they’re maximizing productivity across resources.”The Datamonitor Decision Matrix is a summary of IT systems management vendors' capabilities based on a quantitative assessment of their market impact and end user sentiment, as well as the technology features that they offer. It also explores the competitive dynamics within the contact center workforce optimization field and helps businesses select a vendor based on technology strength, reputation among customers, and impact in the market. Through the Decision Matrix, Datamonitor provides a complete view of vendor capabilities and advises on those they feel should be explored, considered and shortlisted. About DatamonitorDatamonitor is a leading provider of online database and analysis services for key industry sectors. We help our clients, 5000 of the world's leading companies, to address complex strategic issues. Through our proprietary databases and wealth of expertise, we provide clients with unbiased expert analysis and in-depth forecasts for seven industry sectors: Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy, Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Technology, Transport and Logistics.About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  # Note:  Aspect, Productive Workforce, Productive Workforce, Optimized Collections, eWorkforce Management, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-07-23T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Prime_Teleconnect_Selects_UC_Application_from_Aspect Prime Teleconnect Selects Aspect's Unified Communications Application to Offer Customers World Class Contact Center Services New BPO in the Philippines to Implement Seamless Customer Service™ and Leverage Ask an Expert Capabilities to Support Customers' Contact Center Operations 23 Jul 2009 MANILA, 23 July 2009— Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced Prime Teleconnect, a provider of best-of-breed hosted contact center services, is taking advantage of the multi-tenant capabilities of Seamless Customer Service, a unified communications application for the contact center, to offer comprehensive call response, which includes coordinated self-service, live service and integrated assistance to improve first call resolution and overall customer experience for their domestic and offshore contact center customers. Prime Teleconnect will also be leveraging Ask an Expert capabilities using instant messaging (IM) and presence powered by Microsoft® Unified Communications.The company is utilizing the solution’s inbound, outbound and blended call handling capabilities to support its customers’ sales, telemarketing and customer service business process outsourcing (BPO) operations. Prime Teleconnect has deployed 100 seats of Seamless Customer Service in its 1,000-square-meter location in Mandaluyong City. The application enables Prime Teleconnect’s 100 agents to leverage Microsoft Unified Communications to contact an appropriate expert in the enterprise to increase first call resolution and enhance customer interactions.“As a growing BPO, we needed a solution that is not only easy to use and reliable, but is also able to help us scale our business as we expand rapidly in this space. The features in Seamless Customer Service from Aspect enable us to provide a full range of solutions to support our customers’ diverse needs, and gives us a distinct strategic advantage over our competitors,” said Leo Mission, president, Prime Teleconnect Worldwide.Prime Teleconnect worked with Aspect partner Call Design, a contact center technology and solution provider, to define and implement a solution which best met Prime Teleconnect’s needs.“Prime Teleconnect was looking for a robust solution that could support its customers’ needs in multi-tenantedenvironment, as well as its expansion and growth plans, since the outsourced contact center industry continues to grow in the Philippines,” said Miles Stanton, managing director, Call Design.“Companies are clearly seeing Aspect’s UC applications for the contact center as industry-leading solutions and Prime Teleconnect is leveraging this solution to offer contact center capabilities in a multi-tenanted environment to help customers break down communications silos,” said James Wong, general manager, Southeast Asia and Australia regions, Aspect. “The functionality of Seamless Customer Service and its ability to orchestrate the desired customer experience and data transfer from self service to live agent assistance gives supervisors and agents greater control over campaigns and customer interactions. And, with the option to easily access experts, they will be able to provide an exceptional level of service – which is extremely important for a new company in a tough, competitive market. As a result, Prime Teleconnect’s customers could benefit from increased revenues, lower costs, and ultimately, an overall improvement in customer satisfaction.”About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect® Unified IP® and PerformanceEdge® platform products.  The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.About Prime TeleconnectPrime Teleconnect Worldwide, Inc. provides a complete and broad spectrum of CRM/BPO solutions which are catered specifically to meet the demanding needs of today’s competitive business environment.  Our experienced management team and highly educated agents are detail-oriented and results-driven and they are committed to the success and satisfaction of the client, above all else. For more information please visit www.primeteleconnect.com.About Call DesignCall Design is a Specialist Contact Centre provider with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Manila. Harnessing their relationships with Global Partners has allowed Call Design to expand their operations beyond Asia Pacific into 25 countries globally. Call Design is now supporting hundreds of enterprise customers with both multiple and single site locations, providing them direct access to world class Aspect Software solutions and support.  #  #  # Aspect, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-07-09T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Appoints_Mike_Sheridan_EVP_of_Worldwide_Sales Aspect Appoints Mike Sheridan Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales Sheridan to Lead Unified Communications Sales Initiatives 9 Jul 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 9 July 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced that Mike Sheridan has been named executive vice president of worldwide sales reporting directly to chief executive officer, Jim Foy. In this new role, Sheridan will be responsible for providing executive leadership for all sales teams across North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and the Latin America regions. Previously, he served as the company’s senior vice president of strategy and marketing, driving unified communications initiatives across product management and marketing.“Unified communications has the potential to bring significant value to organizations,” said Sheridan.  “In this new role, my efforts will be focused on bringing that value proposition to our customers and prospects around the world, as well as ensuring the entire global sales organization has the tools and capabilities they need to help companies maximize their technology investments, manage costs effectively and bring the highest level of service to their own customers.”In his previous position, Sheridan was also the executive liaison with the unified communications teams at Microsoft. This responsibility transitions to Andy Bezaitis, senior vice president of corporate development at Aspect.“Mike has played an instrumental role in cementing the company’s UC vision and product strategy, and as a result, it was a natural progression for him to lead our global sales organization to continue to raise awareness of Aspect’s offerings in both software and services,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “He brings a deep understanding of our customers’ needs from his expertise in enterprise and contact center business processes and I am confident that his direction and guidance will continue to demonstrate Aspect’s leadership in the unified communications space.”Sheridan brings more than 20 years of experience in communications and technology to his new role. He has been with Aspect for more than eight years in various marketing and product strategy roles. Prior to Aspect, he held a number of positions in sales and information technology at leading companies like Hewlett-Packard.Sheridan earned a master’s degree in computer science and telecommunications from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and technology from Bradley University. He currently resides in Chicago.About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-07-08T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Leads_Global_Outbound_Contact_Center_Market Aspect Leads Global Outbound Contact Center Market Company Dominates Almost One-Third of the Market According to Datamonitor Report 8 Jul 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 8 July 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the company is the leading global contact center vendor for outboundcapabilities, according to a report from Datamonitor, an international business intelligence firm. The Market Share Insight: The Contact Center Universe report found that Aspect has 29 percent of the market, with the next leading vendor maintaining a 16 percent market share.“Outbound contact center capabilities continue to be heavily in demand in 2009 as companies search for advanced capabilities to reach their audiences at the right time for business processes that are critical to revenue goals, such as collections and sales,” said Ian Jacobs, senior analyst, Datamonitor. “We’ve found that many companies are turning to Aspect for these outbound features due to the depth and breadth of the vendor’s offerings, in addition to their reputation in the market.”Aspect offers outbound capabilities as part of a number of UC applications for the contact center, including Blended Interaction™ and Streamlined Collections™.  Aspect’s UC applications help companies target operational objectives with specific software capabilities.“More companies are looking to increase the effectiveness and productivity of their outbound contact center processes, and our UC applications provide all the capabilities these organizations need to improve their outbound campaigns,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect. “Our leadership in the outbound market offers a strong proof point that organizations are turning to Aspect for our innovative UC solutions, our reliability, scalability, reputation, and ultimately our ability to help improve their business results.”About Blended InteractionBlended Interaction   is a unified communications application for the contact center that provides inbound, outbound, self service and workforce optimization capabilities. By eliminating complex integration and providing common management, reporting and administration, Blended Interaction gives you greater visibility, control and staffing efficiency in your multichannel contact center that helps enhance customer satisfaction and improve business results.About Streamlined CollectionsStreamlined Collections   is a unified communications application for the contact center that automates early stage collections and enables expert agent engagement for a more effective delinquent account targeting strategy to help you get more promises to pay faster, reduce servicing costs and write-offs, and improve collections results.   About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect, Blended Interaction, Streamlined Collections, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-06-30T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Strengthens_Customer_Company_Interactions_with_New_UC_Capabilities Aspect Strengthens Customer-Company Interactions with New Unified Communications Capabilities Unified Communications Applications for the Contact Center Offer New Instant Messaging Features and Voice Portal Capabilities for Improved Business Processes 30 Jun 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 30 June 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced that new enhancements to its UC applications for the contact center are generally available today, 30 June 2009, and include new instant messaging capabilities, expanded presence functionality within the contact center, and increased integration with the Tellme® on-demand voice portal. The new features, available through the Aspect® Unified IP® 6.6.1 platform product, augment the unified communications capabilities available through the UC applications’ core queuing, routing, and reporting functionality.“The newly added capabilities within the UC applications are a testament to the company’s continuing commitment to delivering robust UC functionality to the contact center and the enterprise,” said Sheila McGee-Smith, McGee-Smith Analytics. “The increased instant messaging functionality will be a key differentiator for contact centers that want to leverage flexible and reliable channels to interact with customers and knowledge workers across the enterprise.”The new functionality in this latest release adds significant value to the company’s UC applications for the contact center, specifically Seamless Customer Service™, Streamlined Collections™, and Blended Interaction™.  UC applications use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge® platform products. The new features include:Improved instant messaging (IM) routing for enhanced customer interactions. Customers will be able to interact with contact center agents through various methods like Microsoft Office Communicator and over the web with click-to-IM. Customers can incorporate the IM address for the companies that they do business with as part of their “buddy lists” and can interact with the contact center via IM.  With the power of Microsoft® Office Communications Server and Aspect UC capabilities, customers can view the presence of the customer service queues and their estimated wait time within the IM client. IM routing also offers an auto attendant capability, or interactive messaging response (IMR), enabling the contact center to fully automate and script a response to an incoming instant message and/or intelligently route the customer to an IM-based agent. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service and Blended Interaction.Extended presence and IM communications within the contact center. Agents can instant message with other agents and supervisors for escalations, coaching tips, and to receive assistance with customer inquiries. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, and Blended Interaction.Unique hybrid integration with Tellme’s on-demand voice portal platform. The Aspect On-Demand Voice Portal, powered by Tellme, helps companies leverage a number of network-based services, such as proactive customer contact, post-call surveys, automated appointment reminders, notifications, and business continuity with on-demand self service. These features are available for Seamless Customer Service, Streamlined Collections, and Blended Interaction.Improvements in email handling. This includes agent productivity improvements and auto responses. These improvements are available in Blended Interaction.“More companies are asking for robust IM and voice portal features to streamline communications and deliver a quality customer experience,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect.   “Thanks to our global strategic alliance with Microsoft and our partnership with Tellme, Aspect is best equipped to bring these capabilities to the market and demonstrate the value of unified communications in the contact center and the enterprise.”About Aspect Unified IPAspect Unified IP is an IT-ready Microsoft .Net Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About Unified Communications Applications for the Contact CenterUnified communications (UC) applications for the contact center use software to target operational objectives with specific capabilities from the Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge platform products.  The applications deliver inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice portal and Internet contact, workforce management, performance management, campaign optimization, recording and eLearning capabilities to help organizations enhance customer service, collections and sales and telemarketing business processes.  Unified communications applications include Blended Interaction™, Seamless Customer Service™, Productive Workforce™, Streamlined Collections™, and Optimized Collections™.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, Blended Interaction, Seamless Customer Service, Productive Workforce, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Tellme is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation.  text/html 2009-06-25T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_CFO_Wins_2009_CFO_of_the_Year_Award Aspect Chief Financial Officer Wins 2009 CFO of the Year Award Michael Provenzano Recognized by Boston Business Journal for Financial Leadership of Company's Unified Communications Initiatives and Community Involvement 25 Jun 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 25 June 2009— Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced that Michael Provenzano, executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer at Aspect, has won the inaugural 2009 CFO of the Year Award for large privately-held companies from the Boston Business Journal. Provenzano was recognized for his instrumental role in crafting Aspect’s corporate strategy, particularly in managing Microsoft’s equity investment in Aspect to accelerate the development of UC solutions, and spearheading the company’s international expansion and merger and acquisition activities. “Mike has been invaluable in advancing Aspect’s strategic initiatives in the UC space while driving profitability in challenging economic times,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “Also, his activities outside the company set an example for what we need to see from business leaders in the community— a focus on charitable involvement and corporate responsibility. We’re pleased to have Mike recognized for his contributions to the company and to local nonprofit organizations.  And, we are fortunate to have his financial leadership in helping see us through today’s tough market conditions.”The Boston Business Journal 2009 CFO of the Year Awards will be presented during a July 16 luncheon event at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Honorees will be recognized for their financial leadership and accomplishments, in addition to their community involvement in the Boston area.With more than 17 years of software and high-tech experience, Provenzano has principal responsibility for Aspect’s Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Programs Office, Operations and Facilities organizations. During his 10-year tenure at Aspect, Provenzano successfully executed and managed 10 mergers and acquisitions and multiple debt financings totaling more than $2 billion dollars.  Also, in March 2008, he helped manage and negotiate a global strategic alliance with Microsoft to help bring unified communications capabilities to enterprises and contact centers around the world, which resulted in Microsoft’s equity investment in Aspect.  In 2005, Provenzano was also named by the Boston Business Journal editors to its annual “40 Under 40” list of business leaders to watch in the Greater Boston region.Outside of Aspect, Provenzano is also highly involved in a number of activities that support his community. He is an active supporter of the Benjamin Foundation – a nonprofit association to raise funds and awareness of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the American Diabetes Association and he has also been a member of the Salem, New Hampshire Rotary Club and has supported   the organization’s fundraising efforts, including participating in the Boston Bruins Alumni Charity Ice Hockey Game. About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  # Note:  Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-06-16T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Training_Program_Helps_SIRIUS_XM_Radio Aspect Training Program Pilot Helps SIRIUS XM Radio Improve Sales, Performance and Customer Satisfaction Company Will See Increased Cost Savings from Management Impact Program Focused on Maximizing Workforce Optimization Capabilities 16 Jun 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 16 June 2009—Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the company is helping SIRIUS XM Radio improve agent job satisfaction, performance, workforce optimization and customer interactions through the Management Impact Program, an innovative training program for contact center managers from Aspect and Touchpoint Associates. SIRIUS XM Radio participated in a pilot program and is using the results to help standardize management training for multiple contact center locations around the world. Now, the company has the capability to lower agent tardiness, to increase sales and to lower costs for participants in the pilot program.The Management Impact Program combines consulting, classroom training, and one-on-one coaching geared toward the specific workforce optimization capabilities provided by the Productive WorkforceTM unified communications application for the contact center. The program is designed to help frontline managers become more effective leaders and positively impact agent performance."Contact center managers have a huge impact on customer satisfaction- from motivating the agents, to ensuring consistency, to directly addressing customer concerns. The Management Impact Program goes way beyond the surface of what most human resource certifications or traditional training programs cover," said George Kirby, senior vendor manager, SIRIUS XM Radio. "I haven't seen any other vendor offering a specialized, packaged workforce optimization training program like this before. I've been in the business for more than 14 years, and even I have benefited from this pilot program, such as learning how to develop better workforce optimization strategies, influence employees through metrics, and inspire others to be better managers."The Management Impact Program is a joint offering from Aspect and Touchpoint Associates for Aspect customers using Productive Workforce capabilities. Consultants from Touchpoint and Aspect® Professional Services worked with SIRIUS XM Radio contact center managers over the course of a week for the pilot program and engaged participants in interactive classroom sessions and one-on-one mentoring, discussing leadership skills, coaching, feedback, metrics, and the importance of interpersonal relationships. SIRIUS XM Radio contact center managers participated in post-program analysis for Touchpoint and Aspect to track improvement within the contact center groups."Everyone can really benefit from what we have learned with this program at SIRIUS XM Radio. I think it should be given to the whole customer care program as it is such an engaging and interactive way to learn," said Darryl Peete, Management Impact Program participant. "I was so excited for the program to end just so I could get back on the floor and give back what I had learned."Touchpoint Associates and Aspect Professional Services worked directly with SIRIUS XM Radio executives to customize the pilot program for the contact center managers, based on specific metrics drawn from workforce optimization tools, contact center structure and corporate consistency with other sites. Pre-program consulting and analysis included agent and manager surveys, conference calls and onsite forums."The Management Impact Program is a unique offering that companies looking to optimize contact center performance can benefit from," said Bob Kelly, vice president of the PerformanceEdge Group, Aspect. "The program gives contact center managers a clear understanding of how to improve individual agent performance, as well as how to use organizational key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive bottom-line results. Through this program, SIRIUS XM Radio can ensure consistency across its global, multisite contact center operations, and enable supervisors to better utilize the workforce optimization capabilities at their disposal."About SIRIUS XM RadioSIRIUS XM Radio is America's satellite radio company delivering to subscribers commercial-free music channels, premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, and traffic and weather.SIRIUS XM Radio has content relationships with an array of personalities and artists, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Buffett, Jamie Foxx, Barbara Walters, Opie & Anthony, Bubba the Love Sponge®, The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Bob Edwards. SIRIUS XM Radio is the leader in sports programming as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball®, NASCAR®, NBA, NHL®, and PGA TOUR®, and broadcasts major college sports.SIRIUS XM Radio has arrangements with every major automaker. SIRIUS XM Radio products are available at shop.sirius.com and shop.xmradio.com, and at retail locations nationwide, including Best Buy, RadioShack, Target, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.SIRIUS XM Radio also offers SIRIUS Backseat TV, the first ever live in-vehicle rear seat entertainment featuring Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network; XM NavTraffic® service for GPS navigation systems delivers real-time traffic information, including accidents and road construction, for more than 80 North American markets.About Touchpoint AssociatesTouchpoint Associates, Inc. offers a wide array of consulting services to help companies improve the Customer Experience. The company was founded in 2003 by industry thought-leader Bob Furniss with a specific focus on improving the greatest resource in the company - the people. Touchpoint consultants have worked with some of the top companies in the word and offer real-life experience in the areas of leadership and people management. For more information, visit www.touchpointassociates.com.About Productive WorkforceProductive Workforce is a unified communications application for the contact center that delivers the tools and processes to help you optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture. By motivating agents throughout their workforce lifecycle, you can service more customers with fewer agents, reduce customer interaction costs, and improve customer service, sales and collections results.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.###Note: Aspect, PerformanceEdge, Productive Workforce, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.    text/html 2009-06-11T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Customer_Wins_1to1_Customer_Champion_Honors Aspect Customer Wins 1to1 Customer Champion Honors Fran Horner of Northshore University HealthSystem Successfully Leverages Capabilities of Blended Interaction™ to Improve Patient Services 11 Jun 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 11 June 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced its customer, Fran Horner from NorthShore University HealthSystem, won the 1to1 Customer Champion Award from 1to1 Magazine. As the senior director of patient access, Horner is being recognized for successfully driving patient services initiatives and leveraging industry-leading UC application for the contact center capabilities from Aspect to ensure that NorthShore is delivering quality customer care and building loyalty among its patients.“The patient experience begins the moment you call a healthcare provider, so the contact center plays a key role in making the process as pleasant as possible,” said Horner. “Aspect has been a significant piece of our patient care initiatives, and has helped us gain a strategic advantage in a competitive healthcare market. It’s gratifying to have our hard work at NorthShore University HealthSystem validated by 1to1 Magazine and to recognize our tremendous efforts and commitment to providing exceptional patient communications.”To create the best patient care experience, Horner and NorthShore University HealthSystem embarked on a people-focused, cross-departmental initiative supported by technology. NorthShore, a healthcare provider based in the northern Chicago suburbs, implemented the inbound, outbound, voice portal, recording and workforce management capabilities of Aspect’s UC application for the contact center, Blended Interaction. In addition to deploying extensive customer interaction capabilities, Horner established new recruiting and training initiatives to better equip the contact center to address patient inquiries.The new technology and training initiatives helped NorthShore improve its contact center satisfaction level from 60 percent to up to 98 percent. Horner has also helped the organization lower agent turnover by 58 percent, and calls answered within 30 seconds have increased by 82 percent.“NorthShore is a great example of how the right technology coupled with customer-focused initiatives can translate into a major competitive advantage,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect. “We’re so pleased to see a business leader like Fran succeed with her customer care initiatives using Aspect technology and innovative strategies. As more companies see the benefits of using unified contact center functionality, they’ll turn to Aspect and the capabilities of our UC applications to reduce complexity, streamline communications, and build customer satisfaction.”The 1to1 Customer Champions are business executives focused on customers and are chosen by 1to1 Magazine based on their ability to transform customer loyalty into profit. To read more on Fran Horner and NorthShore University HealthSystem, read the magazine (http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1to1/2009summer/#/18) or the case study (http://www.aspect.com/09/Library/casestudies/Aspect-NorthShore-Univ-HealthSys_CS.pdf) About Blended InteractionBlended Interaction is a unified communications application for the contact center that provides inbound, outbound, self service and workforce optimization capabilities. By eliminating complex integration and providing common management, reporting and administration, Blended Interaction gives you greater visibility, control and staffing efficiency in your multichannel contact center to enhance customer satisfaction and improve business results. About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect, Blended Interaction, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-06-10T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Appoints_New_VP_of_Corporate_Customer_Relationships Aspect Appoints New Vice President of Corporate Customer Relationships Industry Veteran to Build Upon Successful Customer Programs to Maximize Investment Returns 10 Jun 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 10 June 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced Robert (Bob) Walker has been named vice president of corporate customer relationships reporting directly to chief executive officer, Jim Foy.   Walker will oversee the expansion of Aspect’s successful customer care programs and ensure that customers are gaining the greatest business benefits and return on investment (ROI) from their Aspect solutions.“Today, more than ever, companies need to be able to get the most value out of their   software and services investments, and it’s our responsibility to ensure that they are able to lower costs, increase productivity, and gain a competitive advantage through Aspect solutions,” said Walker. “Aspect is absolutely committed to helping our customers succeed despite today’s market challenges.”In his new role, Walker will oversee a team of relationship executives and managers that will expand on the company’s intense focus on customer satisfaction through strategic customer care initiatives. Initiatives will include more activities to incorporate customer feedback into the services and product roadmap and the evolution of technical support and education programs to best meet their needs and requirements.Walker brings more than 30 years of expertise in operations, engineering, and customer support on a global scale. He has been with Aspect since 1999 in various management and executive positions, including global support services, technical services, channel support, and engineering. Prior to Aspect, he worked at a number of leading organizations including AT&T, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), and System One/Eastern Airlines.“High customer satisfaction continues to be our top priority at Aspect,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “Bob has, over many years, demonstrated his deep understanding of our customers and their business process requirements both in the contact center and across the enterprise. Most importantly, he truly has a passion for ensuring customer satisfaction and will be an enthusiastic customer advocate across all Aspect functions and departments. Under his direction, we’re confident that more companies will be able to leverage our UC solutions to see significant tangible benefits now and into the future.”About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  # Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-05-28T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Leads_NA_Outbound_Market_in_Frost_&_Sullivan_Report Aspect Leads North American Outbound Market in Frost & Sullivan Report Company's Breadth of Products and Focus on Operational Objectives Wins Leading Market Share 28 May 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 28 May 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced that the company is the leading outbound contact center vendor in market share, according to the Frost & Sullivan 2009 North American Outbound Dialing Systems report. Specifically, Frost highlighted Aspect’s wide range of predictive outbound modes and the company’s enterprise market across a wide range of industries in the report.“The outbound market grew about 3 percent in 2008 and Aspect’s leadership in the space speaks to the company’s wide range of solutions and services to address the needs of the contact center,” said Joe Outlaw, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “The features work seamlessly with other Aspect product platforms and third-party solutions, making them a leading option for companies that require flexibility and scalability in the contact center. Companies that require advanced outbound solutions such as financial services, outsourcers, and telecommunications industries will continue to look to Aspect.”Aspect’s outbound capabilities are components of several UC applications for the contact center, including Blended Interaction™ and Streamlined Collections™.  Aspect’s UC applications help companies target operational objectives with specific capabilities.“Despite a volatile economic climate, Aspect has continued to thrive in the outbound contact center market because we understand our customers’ needs and deliver capabilities that improve agent productivity and enhance collections, sales, telemarketing, proactive contact, and notification processes,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect. “By taking a unified approach to implementing outbound functionality, combined with other key capabilities such as inbound routing, voice portal, and campaign management, companies can lower costs by up to 20 percent and improve sales by up to 10 percent. We’ve built these requirements into our UC applications to help companies see bold business benefits and a return on investment almost immediately.” About Blended Interaction™Blended Interaction   is a unified communications application for the contact center that provides inbound, outbound, self service and workforce optimization capabilities. By eliminating complex integration and providing common management, reporting and administration, Blended Interaction gives you greater visibility, control and staffing efficiency in your multichannel contact center to enhance customer satisfaction and improve business results.About Streamlined Collections™Streamlined Collections   is a unified communications application for the contact center that automates early stage collections and enables expert agent engagement for a more effective delinquent account targeting strategy so you can get more promises to pay faster, reduce servicing costs and write-offs, and improve collections results.   About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, Blended Interaction, Streamlined Collections, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-05-19T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Continues_UC_Deployment_at_HQ_in_Europe Aspect Continues Global Unified Communications Deployment with Successful Implementation in European Headquarters Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 Deployed at Stockley Park, UK; First Aspect International Office to be "Phone-Free" 19 May 2009 STOCKLEY PARK, UK—   19 May 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced the company’s European headquarters in Stockley Park, United Kingdom, has now completely migrated to Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2. The UK is Aspect’s first international location to roll out Office Communications Server for all voice and voicemail services, audio and Web conferencing, instant messaging (IM) and presence.The office has eliminated its desk phones and retired its PBX for all employee peer-to-peer and corporate calling services. More than 105 employees work in the Stockley Park office and are using OCS. Stockley Park is the hub for Office Communications Server network activity for Aspect’s other European locations, including Germany and Italy.“Aspect is making a statement with our deployment in Stockley Park—that UC can successfully be deployed across the enterprise and across multinational organizations, leading to more productive employees and decreased operating costs,” said Mark King, senior vice president of sales in Europe and Africa, Aspect. “Since we’ve implemented Office Communications Server, conferencing and telephony costs have come down dramatically, especially since our employees interact daily with so many different regions.  More companies in Europe and around the world are seeing the value in implementing Microsoft UC technology on a global scale, and can look to Aspect as a leader and a deployment expert in this space.”When Aspect’s global OCS rollout is complete, a total of 20 offices will be running Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Since first implementing the software in the company’s global headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. in February, Aspect has seen a number of positive actions and results, including:More than 222,862 calls have been placed using Office Communications Server.These calls have totaled more than 1,638,725 minutes.More than 2,774 federated IM sessions have taken place with contacts outside of Aspect.More than 15,051 conference calls have taken place with 814 minutes of application sharing across the enterprise.Aspect will continue its global rollout of Office Communications Server   to more than 1,800 employees.  The company’s deployment across North America and Europe will be completed by June, with the Asia Pacific region following in the second half of 2009. About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-05-06T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Customer_Wins_2009_SWPP_Award Aspect Customer Wins 2009 Workforce Management Professional of the Year Award Drexel Fitzwater of Vangent, Inc. Honored by SWPP as Workforce Management Professional of the Year 6 May 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 6 May 2009 –The PerformanceEdge Group of Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced its customer, Drexel Fitzwater of Vangent, Inc., a leading global provider of information management and strategic business process outsourcing services, has been named the 2009 Workforce Management Professional of the Year from the Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP).Fitzwater was chosen by the SWPP Board of Advisors from a group of five finalists that were selected from nominations received on the SWPP website. The award, announced at the 2009 SWPP Annual Conference in Nashville was presented to Fitzwater for his outstanding leadership in the workforce management industry.Fitzwater helped Vangent use the workforce management capabilities of PerformanceEdge® to enable Vangent agents to manage their own schedules for improved job satisfaction and productivity. Fitzwater’s understanding of workforce optimization and technology helped Vangent greatly reduce agent absenteeism. He also managed the installation of Aspect’s real time adherence (RTA) module, and supervised a training program to help customer service representatives follow their schedules more effectively. As a result, schedule adherence across the Vangent contact centers improved from 45 percent to 85 percent in less than one quarter.“Aspect is extremely proud to be affiliated with Drexel and the rest of the Vangent organization and to have played a role in their success,” said Bob Kelly, vice president, PerformanceEdge Group at Aspect. “The combination of Drexel’s many years of experience with workforce optimization, and the extensive capabilities that Aspect provides, shows the positive impact these types of applications can have on an organization. We are excited to have our customers acknowledged for their performance, particularly when they are recognized by such a respected institution like the SWPP.”Four of the five finalists for the 2009 SWPP Workforce Management Professional of the Year are Aspect customers. The other finalists for the award included Richard Brooks of Bright House Networks, Ferenc Castatlos of Nationwide Insurance, Donna Edwards of Sears Holding Corporation, and Matt Langford of Experian Consumer Direct.PerformanceEdge is an IT-ready Microsoft .NET Web services platform product that synchronizes workforce optimization capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies. About SWPPThe Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) is an organization devoted to facilitating education and networking opportunities among workforce planners across all industries. Membership in SWPP is available to all workforce planning professionals and other interested parties from consulting and vendor organizations. Both individual memberships and corporate membership options are available, with full benefits and costs outlined on the organization’s website at www.swpp.org. About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-05-05T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Honored_by_CRM_Magazine Aspect Honored by CRM Magazine as Industry Leader Aspect Recognized for Reputation for Customer Satisfaction, Functionality and Company Direction 5 May 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 5 May 2009 –Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced the company was ranked as a leader on the 2009 CRM Service Award lists for workforce optimization and contact center infrastructure. These awards, published annually by CRM Magazine, recognize vendors, consultants, and end-user companies focused on providing high-quality customer experiences through the sophisticated integration of people, processes, and technologies.Aspect is the only vendor that was mentioned on the leaders list for both workforce optimization and contact center infrastructure. In the contact center infrastructure category, Aspect was recognized for its loyal and supportive Aspect® Unified IP™ customer base. Aspect Unified IP is a platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their UC strategies. Aspect made a second straight appearance in the workforce optimization suite category, where Aspect was ranked for its strong continued investment in PerformanceEdge®, an IT-ready Microsoft .NET Web services platform product that synchronizes workforce optimization capabilities to help organizations execute on their UC strategies.“To make the leader’s lists in both the workforce optimization and contact center infrastructure categories speaks volumes about Aspect’s leadership in the market. They have demonstrated a commitment to providing customers with truly powerful capabilities, especially during a time when many companies are looking for solutions that can maximize their resources,” said Ian Jacobs, senior analyst, Datamonitor. “This recognition helps underscore that Aspect understands the contact center industry through both its product innovation and its dedication to quality customer care.”“With today’s hyper-focused emphasis on cost savings coupled with ensuring customer retention, contact center buyers are more and more looking for unified communications influenced suites of contact center products delivered with exemplary vendor support,” said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of strategy and marketing, Aspect. “Aspect appreciates the recognition of what we have delivered to date and will absolutely continue to deliver innovative products and services to our customers that can help streamline their business processes and improve their customers’ results.”The CRM Service awards are determined through an extensive three-month process and proprietary rating formula that involves industry analysts, financial and corporate information, product and functionality assessments, and scores reflecting customer satisfaction.The 2009 CRM Service Awards will be presented at the CRM Evolution 2009 Conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York later this year. About CRM MagazineCRM magazine is the leading publication of the customer relationship management industry, covering sales, marketing, customer service, and strategy. The magazine also administers and hosts the annual CRM Evolution conference. Each of these properties is designed to serve customer-centric business initiatives, and leaders who recognize CRM as a key strategy for creating enhanced customer value in any industry. For more information about the magazine, its editorial calendar, or CRM in general, please visit us on the Web at http://www.destinationCRM.com, or on Twitter at @CRM (http://twitter.com/CRM) and @destinationCRM (http://twitter.com/destinationCRM). The destinationCRM Web site (which is updated daily) and the monthly magazine are properties of CRM Media, a division of Information Today, Inc.  About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communicationsinto real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, Aspect Unified IP, PerformanceEdge and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-03-30T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Marks_One_Year_Anniversary_with_Microsoft Aspect Marks One-Year Anniversary of Global Strategic Alliance and Equity Investment With Microsoft New Product Offering, UC Services Development, Microsoft Certifications, and Customer Wins Among Accomplishments; Company Builds Momentum for Year Two 30 Mar 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 30 March 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications(UC) solutions provider, today announced that it has marked the one-year anniversary of its global strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp. Since launching the strategic alliance in March 2008, Aspect has achieved many significant milestones, including delivering new product offerings, launching a UC Services practice, garnering extensive Microsoft certifications, managing a leading-edge rollout of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 across Aspect, and winning new UC customers.  Together, the two companies have been focused on their shared vision of software-powered UC to help organizations address their communications needs across the enterprise and in the contact center.“The Microsoft-Aspect alliance, and Microsoft’s equity investment in Aspect, is a strong, joint commitment to UC, and to connecting the enterprise and the contact center,” said Melanie Turek, industry principal, Frost & Sullivan. “Such alliances are critical for customers and companies that want to quickly leverage a UC strategy to streamline their business processes with communications. With Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 and the Aspect® Unified IP™ Microsoft .NET-based platform product, companies can seamlessly bring UC to the enterprise and to the contact center.”Working closely with Microsoft, Aspect met a number of key milestones throughout the year, including:Aspect launched a UC Services practice and secured an early customer win with Quicken Loans Inc. Aspect’s UC Services practice helps organizations identify the right opportunities for UC across the enterprise to improve business and communications processes and navigate implementation obstacles. The UC Services practice completed its first deployment of a UC RapidStart voice pilot at Quicken Loans Inc. The Aspect UC Services team worked closely with the Quicken Loans IT teams to install and configure Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and integrate its voice capabilities into the PBX system in less than one week.Aspect introduced Aspect Unified IP 6.6 with the new Ask an Expert feature that utilizes the instant messaging and presence technology available in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. With this feature, agents can identify available experts in the enterprise based on specific skill sets to address customer inquiries, therefore streamlining business processes and improving first-call resolution.  This is the first of several Aspect product releases on the roadmap as part of the Aspect-Microsoft strategic alliance that will provide tight platform-level integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.Aspect initiates global company deploymentof Office Communications Server 2007 R2. To date, Aspect has completed deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 at the company’s headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. and an office site in San Jose, Calif. The sites have completely migrated to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for all voice and voicemail services, audio and Web conferencing, instant messaging (IM) and presence. Aspect also retired its PBX in these locations for all employee peer-to-peer and corporate calling services. The company will see aggressive ROI numbers, including reduced conference calling costs of $75,000 per month and additional cost savings resulting from the company’s use of session initiation protocol (SIP) Trunking.Aspect is recognized as one of the first voice specialized partners for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Microsoft has certified Aspect as a Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 Voice specialization partner for the Microsoft Unified Communications Solutions competency.  Aspect received this certification following the successful completion of the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP) internal pilot for Office Communication Server 2007 R2 Voice specialization. To date, approximately 100 Aspect employees have been certified.New companies choose Aspect contact center solution with Microsoft UC.  Global Crossing recently purchased Aspect Unified IP 6.6 and is deploying it across its contact center operations to help improve customer communication and satisfaction.  Global Crossing chose Aspect Unified IP largely based on Microsoft and Aspect’s shared vision of UC and how the contact center fits into Global Crossing’s enterprise-wide UC initiatives.  Global Crossing is using Aspect Unified IP for advanced call routing capabilities to intelligently transfer callers to the proper agents based on their skill sets and customer data gathered by back-end applications. The agents use the call blending capabilities to respond to incoming calls and customer questions on subscriptions while also using the outbound capabilities to increase sales.Three customer briefing centers showcase UC capabilities. Aspect opened three customer briefing centers in London, Boston and Singapore. These offices now have the capabilities to demonstrate all Aspect unified communication applications so customers and prospects can experience first-hand the benefits of Microsoft UC and the Aspect UC applications for the contact center. The customer briefing centers also offer remote demonstration capabilities for access through the Internet and around the globe.“The Aspect-Microsoft strategic alliance is an excellent way for companies to take the unified communications journey. Aspect has not just delivered on its promise of unified communications capabilities for the contact center and the enterprise, but has also proved its commitment to giving customers tangible solutions that deliver real results,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president, Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. “Joint customer wins with industry leaders such as Quicken Loans, Inc. and Global Crossing are a testament to this. Through our alliance, Microsoft and Aspect are making a statement — that Aspect’s powerful software and services capabilities coupled with Microsoft unified communications technologies supply the tools a company needs to see real business results from deploying unified communications.”As the alliance moves into its second year, the companies will continue to build momentum in product development and customer implementations. Aspect and Microsoft will be focused on: Developing additional product offerings to power UC capabilities. Aspect will introduce two new Aspect Unified IP releases with additional UC functionality as well as two PerformanceEdge™ releases offering tighter integration to Office Communications Server 2007 R2.Expanding Microsoft UC expertise. Aspect will have 200 fully trained and Microsoft UC certified employees by June 2009, including individuals in Aspect® Professional Services, Aspect® Technical Services, Aspect® Education Services, sales and IT.Completing the global Aspect rollout of Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Aspect will complete its global rollout of Microsoft Office Communications Server to approximately 1,800 workers, including its contact center representatives, this year. This will enable Aspect agents to identify appropriate experts in the enterprise based on skill set, and hence properly and efficiently address customer inquiries. “Microsoft and Aspect have successfully achieved a remarkable number of accomplishments in the first year of the alliance, but we know this is just the beginning of achieving our shared UC vision,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “We’re seeing tremendous interest from both customers and prospects in our new UC applications powered by Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge, as well as our comprehensive UC Services offerings. We’re confident that as more businesses look for ways to lower costs and streamline business processes, they’ll turn to Microsoft and Aspect to leverage UC and truly transform the way they communicate.”About Aspect Unified IPAspect Unified IP is an IT-ready Microsoft .NET Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge is an IT-ready Microsoft .NET Web services platform product that synchronizes workforce optimization capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.Aspect® Professional Services delivers unified communications (UC) capabilities in the contact center and throughout the enterprise. Aspect consultants help organizations identify the right opportunities, navigate implementation obstacles and get the right results from UC with services that span conception through completion. From improving individual productivity and heightening collaboration to communications-enabling business processes and transforming enterprise communications, Aspect provides experienced guidance at every step of an organization’s UC journey.About AspectAspect provides softwareand consulting servicesthat turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-03-12T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Contact_Center_Satisfaction_Index_CALA Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Caribbean and Latin America: Customer Satisfaction Directly Linked to Future Business Consumers Give Contact Centers an Overall Score of 72 Percent,Exposing Significant Opportunity for Improvement 12 Mar 2009 MEXICO CITY, 12 March   2009 – A regional study released today by Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, and Leo J. Shapiro and Associates shows that consumers across the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) view their typical contact center experiences as barely acceptable, with an overall satisfaction rating of 72 percent. The Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index™ Caribbean and Latin America, which also reveals that consumers who feel they receive good customer service are 13 times more likely to conduct future business with a company, finds that most companies are missing important opportunities to meet customer demands and positively impact their top lines. “In this unprecedented global economic environment when budgets are extremely tight, it is clear that conducting business as usual could cost companies significantly more than improving customer interactions,” said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of Strategy for Aspect. “The Aspect Index CALA identifies the basic consumer principles on which exceptional experiences are based, and provides the insight that companies need to put the right people, processes and technology in place and differentiate themselves from their competitors.”Some of the key findings of the Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Caribbean and Latin America include:Consumers view personal qualities more important than efficiency and automation and assign the highest scores in this area.20 percent of consumers who have typical experiences feel that contact center interactions fall short of their expectations.Contact center managers overestimate consumer satisfaction with their performance with 76 percent believing they exceed consumer expectations, while only 38 percent of consumers agree.Consumers who say they have exceptional contact center experiences score their overall interactions 19 percent higher than consumers who have typical experiences.Half of consumers who are satisfied will conduct more business with a company; 22 percent of those will do much more business.“More often than not, the interactions consumers have with a contact center are their only communications with the company,” said Paul Bullett, vice president of Caribbean and Latin America at Aspect.   “This means that every contact they make can help to cement a positive relationship with the brand. The companies that have a firm understanding of this can set themselves apart from the competition and build a very loyal customer base.”A comprehensive executive summary for the Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Caribbean and Latin America is available at www.aspectindex.com.About the Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Caribbean and Latin AmericaThe 2009 Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Caribbean and Latin America is a regional survey of approximately 1,272 consumers in five countries – Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Puerto Rico; and 84 contact center managers across Brazil, Columbia and Mexico.   It measures the quality of consumers’ telephone and Internet interactions with companies and their representatives across 25 qualities, broken out into three categories:Empathy and Advocacy – the human aspect of customer interactions, such as patience, knowledge, professionalism, and friendliness.Efficiency – the overall quality and speed of the experience including being able to quickly speak with an agent, authority to resolve an issue, and clear connection.Automation – explores ease-of-use of technologies like automated menus, multiple contact choices, and access of contact information from Web site.About Leo J. Shapiro and AssociatesLeo J. Shapiro and Associates is a premier market research company with more than 50 years of experience across a wide range of industries.  Leo J. Shapiro and Associates has been behind a variety of indexes that measure consumer behaviors and attitudes including retail customer service satisfaction, significant consumer trends, grocery store shopping and others. Learn more about Leo J. Shapiro and Associates at www.ljs.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.### Aspect, Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-03-03T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Successfully_Deploys_OCS_at_HQ Aspect Successfully Deploys Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 at Corporate Headquarters Aspect Announces First Phone-Free Site; Continues to Deploy Technology Across Company's Global Sites 3 March 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 3 March 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the successful rollout of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 at the company headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. Aspect® Professional Services worked closely with the company’s IT organization to   complete the deployment on 18 February 2009 and the company is continuing its global deployment throughout offices in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific (APAC) regions over the coming months. The implementation was accelerated through UC RapidStart, a packaged UC Services offering from Aspect that helps companies gain hands on experience with a pilot deployment of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS).The company’s headquarters, with more than 300 employees, is the first Aspect site to have completely migrated to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 for all voice and voicemail services, audio and Web conferencing, instant messaging (IM) and presence, making the Chelmsford office the company’s first phone-free location. Aspect has also retired its Chelmsford PBX for all employee peer-to-peer and corporate calling services.“This journey to ‘go-live’ is really a significant milestone in Aspect’s company-wide unified communications strategy,” said Jamie Ryan, senior vice president, Information Technology and chief information officer, Aspect. “This effort was successful because of the joint efforts of Aspect Professional Services and IT throughout the deployment.  Aspect Professional Services can now bring the same skills and experience to our customers around the globe to help customers develop a UC strategy and deploy it effectively.“The best part is the cost benefits we’ll be able to see as a result of the implementation, including saving $75,000 per month on conference calling in the first year alone,” Ryan added. “Furthermore, both local and long distance costs will drop significantly as a result of our use of session initiation protocol (SIP) Trunking and will result in additional savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars as we complete our deployment. With these types of savings, our ROI will be extremely aggressive.” Aspect continues its global rollout of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to more than 1,800 employees.   The company’s deployment across North America and Europe will be completed by June, with APAC following in the second half of 2009.“Through this implementation, Aspect has applied our understanding of global mission critical voice deployments, in addition to our expertise as one of the first Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Voice specialization partners,” said Kevin Schwartz, executive vice president of Global Professional Services, Aspect. “To the company’s knowledge, the Aspect implementation will be one of the largest Microsoft Office Communications 2007 R2 rollouts globally, and this implementation further validates our expertise as an enterprise-class UC services provider.”About UC RapidStartUC RapidStart from Aspect helps organizations jumpstart their UC journey with a pilot deployment of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS) and Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 to a small number of users, combined with introductory workshops on business and IT strategy to help organizations move forward into subsequent detailed planning, architecture, and design activities.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-02-26T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Ranked_in_Top_125_from_Training_Magazine Aspect Ranked on Training Magazine's 2009 Training Top 125 List Aspect Recognized for Comprehensive Unified Communications Education Programs 26 Feb 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 26 February 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced its placement in the 2009 Training Top 125, a ranking of organizations that excel at human capital development, as determined by Training Magazine. Aspect was recognized for delivering comprehensive training and employee development programs through Aspect® Education Services that support the company’s  UC strategy.“Our placement on the Training Top 125 list validates our efforts to educate our employees and the market on the value of unified communications, and the technology and process requirements for deploying a successful UC strategy,” said Jill Mallinder, senior director, Aspect Education Services, Aspect. “Aspect employees went through extensive training workshops and testing, making us one of the first companies to complete the Voice Certification Program for Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2. By taking advantage of the best practices we have developed in providing training for product and services implementations, we have gained a tremendous understanding of the appropriate tools and techniques needed to make our team successful with this latest set of skills training.”Aspect Education Services provides both internal and external training solutions including instructor-led curricula, online self-paced programs, and online instructor-led offerings. Courses for this UC training curriculum were developed using the ARDDIE (Analyze, Research, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) model to determine the most appropriate and relevant content per course and delivery method based on job task analysis. Hands-on activities, per job task, were designed against a simulated contact center to enable users to experience real-life applications. In addition, assessment testing and a comprehensive practical case study gave students the necessary practice to build confidence to perform on the job. As a result, there were 2,781 student days of customer training and 1,371 student days of employee training.Training Magazine sponsors an annual competition that evaluates a variety of data on elite organizational learning programs. Training Magazine's annual awards program recognizes employer-sponsored training and development. The judging is based on elements such as corporate universities, evaluation procedures, and internal best practices. Companies are then ranked accordingly. Read the full list of companies honored by Training Magazine. About Aspect Education ServicesAspect Education Services offers a variety of courses designed to provide contact center supervisors and administrators with the skills and knowledge needed to enhance productivity and improve customer satisfaction. Courses are offered online, in worldwide Aspect training facilities, and on a customer’s site.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.   #  #  #Aspect, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2009-02-17T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/Aspect-Successfully-Completes-Microsoft-UC-Program Aspect Successfully Completes Microsoft UC Program 17 Feb 2009 Aspect Successfully Completes Microsoft UC ProgramAspect Recognized as One of the First Companies to Complete Voice Certification Program for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2CHELMSFORD, Mass., 17 February 2009 – Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced Microsoft Corp. has certified Aspect as Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 Voice specialization partner for the Microsoft Unified Communications Solutions competency. Aspect received this certification following the successful completion of the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program internal pilot for Office Communication Server 2007 R2 Voice specialization.“Aspect has shown great dedication to sharing the value of unified communications and Microsoft Office Communications Server with business users,” said Roger Murff, director of unified communications partner marketing, Microsoft Corp. “This certification is testament to Aspect and its commitment to streamlining communications processes for itself and all customers and prospects using Microsoft unified communications.”In addition to the successful R2 Technology Adoption Program completion, Aspect completed a four-week intensive training program. This program includes three boot camps and a Voice Ignite workshop. Participants completing this track passed the Microsoft Active Directory exam, Microsoft Exchange Server exam, and a Microsoft Office Communications Server exam. In the last half of 2008, more than 40 Aspect employees had been certified and by the end of 2009, there will be approximately 200 Aspect employees with this certification.“Aspect’s certification as one of the industry’s first Voice specialized partners for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 demonstrates our dedication to building on our mission-critical voice experience, continuously enhancing our UC expertise and delivering the benefits of our knowledge to our customers for their UC implementations,” said Kevin Schwartz, executive vice president of Global Professional Services, Aspect. “This certification underscores the caliber of our UC Services practice, which, combined with the experience gained during one of the largest Office Communications Server 2007 R2 deployments internally at Aspect, is evidence of Aspect’s expertise as a Microsoft UC services provider.”Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is an update to the award-winning Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 that delivers a variety of new capabilities within the contact center. These capabilities offer next-generation collaboration functionality including persistent group chat and full-featured audio conferencing to reduce service provider bridge costs, new voice features to enhance Office Communications Server voice for teams and mobile/remote workers, and new tools to streamline business processes by integrating communications within applications.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.# # #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2009-02-12T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Unified_Communications_Solutions_Delivered_by_Aspect Aspect Delivers Unified Communications Solutions with Comprehensive Applications and Services Portfolio Aspect Introduces Six Unified Communications Applications for the Contact Center to Help Companies Reduce Maintenance Costs 20 Percent and Improve Productivity 10 Percent 12 Feb 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 12 February 2009 — Aspect, a unified communications (UC) solutions provider, today announced the company is introducing six new UC applications for the contact center that use software to target operational objectives with a specific set of capabilities. The UC applications utilize the capabilities from its Aspect® Unified IP™ and PerformanceEdge™ Microsoft .Net Web services–based platform products to help companies enhance their customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing business process.UC applications from Aspect include:Seamless Customer Service™ delivers the tools needed for comprehensive call response, including coordinated self-service/live service and integrated assistance to improve first call resolution and enhance the overall customer experience.Blended Interaction™ provides inbound, outbound, self service and workforce optimization capabilities. By eliminating complex integration and providing common management, reporting and administration, Blended Interaction gives contact centers greater visibility, control and staffing efficiency in your multichannel contact center to enhance customer satisfaction and improve business results.Streamlined Collections™ automates early stage collections and enables expert agent engagement for a more effective delinquent account targeting strategy so contact centers can get more promises to pay faster, reduce servicing costs and write-offs, and improve collections results.Optimized Collections™ utilizes performance, workforce and campaign management to enhance contact and calling strategies by applying the right resources at the right times to increase right party contacts, lower staffing costs, improve collector effectiveness and collections results.Productive Workforce™ delivers the tools and processes to help you optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture. By motivating agents throughout their workforce lifecycle, contact centers can service more customers with fewer agents, reduce customer interaction costs, and improve customer service, sales and collections results.Productive Workforce™ for Aspect® eWorkforce Management™ delivers the tools and processes to help Aspect eWorkforce Management users optimize resource utilization and adopt a continuous improvement culture. By motivating agents throughout their workforce lifecycle, contact centers can service more customers with fewer agents, reduce customer interaction costs, and improve customer service, sales and collections results.UC applications leverage a software-based UC architecture to help companies reduce communications silos while leveraging presence for specific customer-facing business processes. For example, Seamless Customer Service offers contact center managers comprehensive control and visibility over the customer experience as they traverse from self-service to live agent assistance, and extends the interaction to the enterprise, as necessary, with the  Ask an Expert capability powered by Microsoft Unified Communications. Ultimately, Aspect customers can improve customer satisfaction by 8 percent, increase first call resolution by 5 percent, improve productivity by 10 percent, and reduce overall maintenance costs by 20 percent.The new UC applications, coupled with Aspect’s UC Services practice, enable Aspect to deliver a full range of UC solutions across the enterprise and in the contact center.“These new UC applications are a powerful statement from Aspect to the market— the company is clearly committed to bringing specific capabilities for different business processes that will help companies as they adopt a unified communications strategy and bring the contact center into these initiatives. By introducing the UC applications, Aspect is demonstrating its understanding of the importance of integrating UC with business processes and the ability to deliver software and services tailored to a company’s requirements," said Blair Pleasant, President & Principal Analyst, COMMfusion.“Customer care and the contact center are very important to our strategic objectives. We’ve been using the capabilities of Productive Workforce in our two contact centers and have seen a number of benefits, including increased productivity and reduced costs. Implementing all these capabilities from Aspect has helped us centralize our reporting for greater flexibility and control, and has opened the door for us to leverage unified communications in the future," said Mark Good, Vice President of Information Systems, LCA Vision, Inc.“After deploying the Productive Workforce capabilities from Aspect, we have seen a number of improvements in our contact center. Having these capabilities packaged together from one vendor has helped in deployment and maintenance costs, in addition to increasing agent productivity and improving customer care. Clearly, implementing a UC application from Aspect could help any company hit the ground running with a UC strategy," said Larry Kasten, Assistant Vice President, CNA Surety.“The UC applications were designed with a specific purpose in mind to help organizations improve particular business processes– such as customer service, sales and collections -- while at the same time reducing ongoing expenses. Because the UC applications use targeted software capabilities, they empower business users to manage and change the system dynamically and help free up IT for other projects. These offerings, coupled with Aspect’s UC Services practice, deliver a true unified communications solutions portfolio of software and services," said Mike Sheridan, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Marketing, Aspect.Added Sheridan, “Aspect and Microsoft share a vision of software-powered UC solutions that address companies’ requirements throughout the enterprise and in the contact center. The new UC applications and Aspect’s unified communications solutions portfolio further demonstrates the company’s commitment to streamlining communications processes for all its business customers using Microsoft UC.”PodcastQ&A on UC Applications: Empowering the Business with UCBlog PostContact Center: Unplugged blog postVideoUnified Communications Architecture for the Contact CenterTo learn more about UC applications from Aspect, please visit www.aspect.com.About Aspect Unified IPAspect Unified IP is an IT-ready Microsoft .Net Web services platform product that unites customer contact capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge is an IT-ready Microsoft .Net Web services platform product that synchronizes workforce optimization capabilities to help organizations execute on their unified communications strategies.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, Seamless Customer Service, Blended Interaction, Streamlined Collections, Optimized Collections, Productive Workforce, eWorkforce Management, PerformanceEdge Performance Management, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-01-30T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Supports_Virtual_Launch_of_Microsoft_Office_Communications_Server_2007_Release_2_with_Platinum_Sponsorship Aspect Supports Virtual Launch of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 with Platinum Sponsorship Virtual Tradeshow Booth to Showcase Unified Communications Offerings from Aspect 30 Jan 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 29 January 2009 –Aspect, a unified communications (UC) and contact center software and services provider, announced its support of the virtual launch of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 as a platinum sponsor.  At the event, Aspect will highlight its UC services offerings, which provide strategic planning and implementation capabilities for companies deploying unified communications strategies and Aspect® Unified IP™ 6.6 with its Ask an Expert function leveraging the capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007.“We’re looking forward to the launch of  Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and to being able to deliver the expanded UC capabilities for the enterprise and the contact center to our customers,” said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of strategy at Aspect. “The strategic alliance between Microsoft and Aspect is helping companies improve productivity and the customer experience they deliver. This release of Office Communications Server will help companies make significant inroads on their UC journey.”  The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 launch is one-of-a-kind because it is an online virtual event that includes a keynote address, fifteen breakout sessions, online areas for attendees to view product demonstrations, explore customer experiences, and learn about offerings from Microsoft and its partners.  At the Aspect booth, attendees will be able to view videos, listen to a UC podcast, and read white papers and other key documents.“Microsoft is excited by the tremendous opportunity Office Communications Server 2007 R2 brings to a leading UC services and software company like Aspect to deliver strong business value through innovative unified communications technologies, including the integration between Office Communications Server and Aspect Unified IP,” said Betsy Frost Webb, general manager of Microsoft Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. “ Both Microsoft and Aspect remain focused on our global strategic alliance and our joint, on-going commitment to develop solutions and services that streamline communications, resulting in enhanced business processes and increased business productivity for customers across the entire enterprise.”Throughout the duration of the event, Aspect will be showcasing:Aspect Unified IP 6.6, which seamlessly integrates with Office Communications Server 2007 to empower contact center agents with presence and preference information on experts in the enterprise.  Combined with routing and prioritization capabilities, this Ask an Expert functionality enables contact center agents to engage any appropriate, available expert to assist with a customer inquiry. The UC services offerings from Aspect help organizations plan, implement and support UC products across their enterprises and into their contact centers.  This practice, within Aspect® Professional Services, supports the Aspect strategy to provide services and software that turn the potential of UC into real business results.For more information, call Aspect at 1-888-412-7728 or register for the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 launch today at www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver.Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is an update to the award-winning Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, to deliver a variety of new capabilities within the contact center. These capabilities are next generation collaboration including persistent group chat and dial-in audio conferencing to reduce service provider bridge costs, new voice features to enhance Office Communications Server voice for teams and mobile/remote workers and new tools to streamline business processes by integrating communications within applications.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center. Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps more than two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect, Aspect Unified IP and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2009-01-07T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Acquires_Assets_of_AIM_Technology Aspect Acquires Assets of Applied Information Management Limited Acquired Product to be Called PerformanceEdge Performance Management Automates and Streamlines Contact Center Processes to Help Organizations Motivate, Measure and Manage Employees 7 Jan 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass. – 7 January 2009  – Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Applied Information Management Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary, AIM Technology, Inc. (collectively, “AIM Technology”), a provider of analytical performance management software solutions with global headquarters in the United Kingdom. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.AIM Technology provides performance management software solutions that help companies continuously motivate, measure and manage employees. The acquired product, which will now be known as PerformanceEdge™ Performance Management™, provides performance management, coaching, employee review and workflow functionality. Its capabilities help streamline the coaching process to reduce the amount of time contact centers spend manually conducting mundane tasks and raises performance visibility to the executive level. The employee review process can be automated and tracked, including performance metrics populated in individual review forms.“Aspect is aggressively pursuing ways to bring enterprises, including contact centers,  even more value – especially given today’s increased pressure for greater productivity,” said Jim Foy, president and CEO at Aspect. “With this acquisition, we are delivering on our commitment to help companies bring unified communications (UC) applications to their enterprises to address contact center and workforce optimization challenges in a brand new way.”Aspect now gains control of a technology that is central to contact center workforce optimization and will deliver performance management capabilities across PerformanceEdge applications. Building on the analysis and reporting services of Microsoft SQL Server, PerformanceEdge Performance Management centralizes data from disparate sources, manages workflow and provides one reliable version of metrics upon which managers can base performance tracking and decision making. This helps organizations automate the coaching process and ensures that contact centers are better able to meet customer-facing goals with fewer resources.“We are seeing a growing need for performance management as most contact centers lack the time to isolate poor performers and put corrective measures in place, which can lead to lost revenue and high customer attrition,” said Paul Stockford, president and chief analyst Saddletree Research. “With the acquisition of AIM Technology, Aspect truly rounds out its PerformanceEdge offering and is able to deliver all of the workforce optimization applications companies need to get the most from their staff.  And, it is exciting to see companies like Aspect leading the contact center industry during the current economic environment by maintaining a continued focused on their customers, their prospects and their technology portfolios and making the kind of confident moves that will ensure even greater value to their customers and prospects in the future.”“The AIM Technology performance management capabilities are an ideal addition to the leading workforce management, quality management, campaign management and eLearning capabilities found in PerformanceEdge,” said Tony Hayward, former CEO of AIM. “Our product has a track record of success in leading companies’ complex contact center and back office environments in the financial services, insurance, retail, travel and outsourcing industries and we are looking forward to bringing these leading capabilities to Aspect customers and prospects.”As part of the acquisition, Aspect welcomes a team of experienced R&D, support and professional services individuals, including Justin Smith, former head of research & development from AIM, who joins the PerformanceEdge Group, Russell Parsons, who joins Aspect® Professional Services, and Hayward, who brings his 30 years of expertise to the Aspect executive team.“Whether as a standalone capability or tightly integrated and synchronized in the PerformanceEdge suite, PerformanceEdge Performance Management will help organizations optimize their most costly resource – their staff – and deliver the tools and results companies need to stay competitive and profitable while delivering the best customer experience,” said Foy.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge combines workforce management, quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to enable organizations to holistically respond to changing business conditions. The PerformanceEdge capabilities dynamically interoperate to help contact center managers consider everything and act immediately, ultimately making it easier for inbound, outbound and blended contact centers to control costs, enhance service levels and align performance with strategic goals. For more information, visit www.performanceedgesuite.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge and Performance Management are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2009-01-06T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_STC_Honors_Aspect_Twice Aspect Honored Twice by the Society for Technical Communication Aspect Education Services Technical Publications Department Recognized by STC, Boston Chapter 6 Jan 2009 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 6 January 2009 –Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it has been honored by the Boston chapter of the Society for Technical Communications (STC) for its development of technical online communications and learning materials for call center customers. Aspect received an Excellence Award for the PerformanceEdge™- Aspect® eWorkforce Management™ Analyze II Developer Guide and a Merit Award for the PerformanceEdge- Aspect eWorkforce Management Analyze II User Guide. Excellence Awards are given to those who are rated as well-researched, interesting and focused on the tasks the audience needs to perform. Merit Awards, according to the STC, are well-stated, professional, clear and factual documents. “This recognition from STC recognizes our commitment to providing easy to use, clear, concise documentation to our contact center customers,” said Jill Mallinder, senior director, Aspect Education Services, Aspect. “One of the goals of Aspect Education Services is to ensure that we make it simpler for our customers to leverage and fully understand the capabilities that Aspect products provide to call centers. These awards help validate that the organization is successfully meeting that objective. ” Winners in the Technical Publications category are selected by a panel of judges based on audience and purpose, organization, content, writing and editing, illustrations and graphics, layout and design, and product and integration. Judges make an award determination based on the individual entry’s strengths and weaknesses and how well it fulfilled its objective. The Society of Technical Communications submissions are considered for the following four awards:• Award of Distinction- the highest award• Award of Excellence• Award of Merit• Best of Show- selected by special judging team About the Society of Technical CommunicationThe Society for Technical Communication (STC) is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication - it is the largest organization of its type in the world. Its 18,000 members include technical writers, editors, graphic designers, videographers, multimedia artists, Web and Intranet page information designers, translators and others whose work involves making technical information available to those who need it. Through the efforts of a small, full-time staff and a large network of volunteers, STC promotes the public welfare by educating its members and industry about issues concerning technical communication. STC is governed on a Society level by an elected board of directors. Membership is divided into eight regions each containing approximately 20 local chapters. In addition to the Society leaders, each local chapter elects a set of chapter level officers. About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.  #  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge, eWorkforce Management, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-12-18T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_PerformanceEdge_Announces_General_Availability PerformanceEdge Announces General Availability of Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 to Help Companies Lower Operating Costs Customers Leverage Innovative Performance Optimization Features and Use Flexible Seat Scheduling Capabilities for Front- and Back-Office Staff 18 Dec 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 18 December 2008 - The PerformanceEdge Group, a dedicated organization within Aspect comprised of contact center performance optimization professionals, today announced the general availability of enhanced PerformanceEdge™ workforce management capabilities through Aspect® eWorkforce Management™ 7.2. This release offers the new Reserve™ enhancement package, designed for scheduling physical positions for call center agents and back-office staff. Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 also includes more than 45 new features that will improve scheduling processes and therefore lower operating costs.The Reserve enhancement package enables users to maximize existing workstations, as well as training room facilities, through automating the seat planning process by matching up the right seats with the appropriate agents. This can reduce real estate and administrative costs by enabling flexible seating or “hot desking” in an automated fashion. Through Reserve, companies can easily assign seats across teams, floors, sites and facilities, enabling organizations to reduce their physical footprint, postpone adding unnecessary capacity, and reduce operating costs.Other customer-requested enhancements that are now available in Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 include:  extended scheduling and assignment features, enhanced synchronization with other PerformanceEdge capabilities, and additional eSchedule Planner improvements that provide agents with a new, graphical view of schedules and also offer administrators more flexibility.Performance Optimization Quotes on Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2• “PerformanceEdge is a great tool for optimizing agent schedules and forecasting call volumes,” said Kathie Drayton, director of Workforce Planning, VIPdesk.  “We count on Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 to help us manage schedules for more than 800 work-at-home Brand Ambassadors.  The latest version has made it easier for our Brand Ambassadors to easily view their schedules and has helped us improve productivity and ultimately enhance the customer experience we provide to our clients.”•  “Aspect continues to push the performance optimization envelope with innovative applications that address a clearly defined and identifiable problem,” said Paul Stockford, president and chief analyst, SaddleTree Research, Inc. “Aspect eWorkforce Management offers benefits that will bring value to organizations through new capabilities that can create increased synchronization among other performance optimization solutions, as well as generate cost-savings  that will come from freeing staff of the time consuming manual tasks typically associated with seat assignment software.   Aspect has created a call center solution that is sure to get the attention of even the most recession-weary financial manager.”• “In today’s economic environment, companies are looking for ways to lower costs while still optimizing their contact center operations and delivering a positive customer experience,” said Bob Kelly, vice president of the PerformanceEdge Group, Aspect. “Hundreds of operations managers rely on PerformanceEdge for advanced workforce management capabilities and these customers will find that the enhancements in Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 can reduce operating expenses significantly. Businesses have learned that every dollar counts in a volatile economy, and the latest enhancements to our performance optimization portfolio are going to help these organizations maximize their resources and truly gain a competitive advantage.” Performance Optimization Podcasthttp://aspectpodcasts.12hna.com/assets/episodes/aspect_podcasts_episode_01.mp3Performance Optimization VideosReserve enhancement package demonstration- Aspect eWorkforce Managementhttp://www.performanceedgesuite.com/eprise/main/performance/demos/Reserve/1454_Aspect_eWFM_Reserve.htmOptimizing Your Contact Center Performance - PerformanceEdgehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itUdUpfe63QPerformance Optimization White Paperhttp://www.performanceedgesuite.com/performanceedge/whitepapers/PerformanceEdge_NineThingsYouShouldKnow_WP.pdfAspect eWorkforce Management is a complete automated solution that provides the capabilities for forecasting, scheduling and tracking, to ensure contact centers have the right staff, with the right skills, at the right time. The end result is increased productivity and revenue, improved customer service and agent performance, reduced staffing and operating costs, and increased profits and customer satisfaction.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge combines workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to enable organizations to holistically respond to changing business conditions. The PerformanceEdge applications dynamically interoperate to help contact center managers consider everything and act immediately, ultimately making it easier for inbound, outbound and blended contact centers to control costs, enhance service levels and align performance with strategic goals. For more information, visit www.performanceedgesuite.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge, eWorkforce Management, Reserve, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-12-11T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Announces_General_Availability Aspect Announces General Availability of Aspect Unified IP 6.6 with Ask- an-Expert Capability and Advanced List Management Release Features Enhanced Unified Communications Functionality through Microsoft Office Communications Server 11 Dec 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 11 December 2008 — Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced the general availability of Aspect® Unified IP™ 6.6 with a new Ask-an-Expert feature that utilizes the instant messaging and presence technology available in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.  The latest release also offers enhanced outbound campaign features through Advanced List Management 3.0. These capabilities will help Aspect customers support their unified communications (UC) strategies and streamline customer service, collections, and telemarketing business processes.Aspect Unified IP 6.6 seamlessly integrates with Office Communications Server 2007 to empower contact center agents with presence and preference information on experts in the enterprise.  Combined with routing and prioritization capabilities, this Ask-an-Expert functionality enables contact center agents to engage any appropriate and available expert to assist with the customer inquiry. Aspect Unified IP customers, such as Datapoint, a systems integrator for enterprise and call center communications based in the United Kingdom, will be able to use this capability to improve first-call resolution and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.Aspect Unified IP 6.6 also provides Advanced List Management 3.0, a powerful outbound campaign management application that bolsters proactive contact, collections and telemarketing strategies. Available in four package options: Core, Dynamic, Campaign Optimizer and Enterprise, the Advanced List Management application enables companies to develop, deploy and analyze contact strategies to significantly improve right party contacts.• Core - designed to manage outbound lists for dialing campaigns in single site environments.• Dynamic - for contact centers who wish to manage call records and redial strategies in an automated fashion throughout the day with dynamic list filters for real-time record workflow, and automatic scripting of dialer manager operations functions such as list imports and exports, pacing adjustments, and notifications.• Campaign Optimizer - for Best Time to Call strategies to contact customers at the time and place they are most likely to be reached.• Enterprise - for managing multi-site, multi-dialer operations and to support disaster recovery requirements. Additional capabilities available in Aspect Unified IP 6.6 include enhanced security and reliability, licensing control for hosted multi-tenancy environments, localization in Traditional Chinese, French, Thai, and support for Greek localized data, in addition to the already available support for Simplified Chinese, Korean, French, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, German and English.Quotes on Aspect Unified IP 6.6• “Aspect Unified IP 6.6 will definitely play a key role in our unified communications strategy,” said David du Toit, chief technology officer, Datapoint. “The product has clearly made an impact on how we identify experts and route interactions to them in the enterprise. Plans are underway for a wider rollout to leverage the Ask-an-Expert capabilities. We’ve been searching for a way to easily find experts in the enterprise to improve customer interactions, and Aspect Unified IP has helped us accomplish these business objectives.”• “We recently upgraded to the latest version of Aspect Unified IP and are already witnessing positive results,” said the director of Call Center Operations at Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC. “Our contact center continues to handle a high volume of inbound and outbound calls, and we have leveraged the blending capabilities of this latest version to maintain our high standards of delivering ‘world class’ customer service, while boosting agent productivity at the same time.”• “Organizations are looking for opportunities to improve the overall service they are providing to their customers.  By developing upon Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Aspect is making it easier to take advantage of the core of knowledge that resides throughout the enterprise to get the right information to the customer at the right time,” said Roger Murff, director of unified communications partner marketing, Microsoft Corp.  “The new expert agent capability in Aspect Unified IP is an important first step in implementing a unified communications strategy within the contact center to improve business processes and enhance the customer experience.” • “More companies are looking for ways to make their communication channels more efficient, either through unified communications or through business process improvements such as campaign optimization tools,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect. “Aspect Unified IP 6.6 is going to help bring about an enterprise transformation that truly enhances the way companies interact internally and with their customers. The latest release is the culmination of 35 years of contact center expertise and our customers’ requests for advanced unified communications and list management capabilities.”PodcastsQ&A on Why Aspect for Unified CommunicationsVideoAsk-an-expert Demonstration- Aspect Unified IPUnifying Your Contact Center Applications - Aspect SoftwareWhite PaperKeeping the Customer In the Equation About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-12-10T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Customer_Briefing_Center Aspect Customer Briefing Centers Enable Customers and Prospects to Experience Unified Communications Locations Near Boston, London and in Singapore Offer Opportunities for Prospects and Customers to Observe Aspect® Unified IP™ and its Expert Agent Capability 10 Dec 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass. — 10 December 2008— Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced the opening of customer briefing centers in its U.S. and Asia Pacific headquarters locations. The customer briefing centers are facilities for hands-on software demonstrations that enable Aspect customers and prospects to experience unified communications first-hand through interaction with Aspect Unified IP and PerformanceEdge™.  The customer briefing centers are located in the Boston area and in Singapore. A third customer briefing center will be opening at the Aspect European regional headquarters near London at the end of December.“We visited the Chelmsford briefing center and the facility was impressive with state-of-the art equipment,” said Oleg Puzyreff, director of business development, One Communications. “Seeing demonstrations in a hands-on environment gave us a clear understanding of the software functionality and its value. The customer briefing center is a great way for companies to see the real-time capabilities of the Aspect product portfolio, including Aspect Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, and Microsoft Unified Communications.”At the customer briefing center in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Aspect will be demonstrating the following capabilities:• The Expert Agent capabilities available through the tight integration of Aspect Unified IP 6.6 and the instant messaging and presence technology in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.• The hybrid enterprise voice portal services available through Aspect Unified IP and Tellme.• PerformanceEdge capabilities, including workforce management, quality management, campaign management, performance management, and eLearning.• Unified communications leveraging Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 for unifying voice, instant messaging, email, calendaring, and multimedia conferencing using presence through Office Communicator.• Unified Command and Control™ - Reporting, which gathers and consolidates information from one or more call centers, providing companies with a consistent enterprise-level view of call center operations. “These demonstration centers serve as a powerful proof point that Aspect is delivering important unified communications capabilities to the enterprise by leveraging the technology available in Microsoft Office Communications Server,” said Mike Sheridan, senior vice president of strategy and marketing, Aspect. “Customers and prospects that visit the customer briefing centers will gain a better understanding of how Aspect can help streamline communications for improved business processes and a successful unified communications strategy.”Aspect Unified IP is a complete contact center solution that unites inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (voice, email, the web and fax), while also delivering voice portal, recording and quality management, and unified reporting and administration capabilities. PerformanceEdge combines workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to enable organizations to holistically respond to changing business conditions.If you are interested in visiting one of the Aspect customer briefing centers, contact your sales representative or email info@aspect.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, Unified Command and Control, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-12-04T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/InTheNews12_04_08d Aspect Rated Most Trusted Workforce Optimization Technology Provider Based on Datamonitor Survey 4 Dec 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 4 December 2008 –The PerformanceEdge Group, a dedicated organization within Aspect comprised of contact center performance optimization professionals, today announced that Aspect had the largest number of respondents vote it number one among global vendors who they most trust to deliver a complete workforce optimization solution. This was based on an end-user survey conducted by Datamonitor, a global provider of online data and analytic forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors. This recognition demonstrates that Aspect is the highest regarded workforce optimization vendor among survey respondents in both North America and Western Europe.The study, Business Trends: Contact Center Investments in Developed Markets (Customer Focus), is part of Datamonitor’s Customer Interaction Technologies research. The survey asked 150 contact center managers and IT decision makers from North America and Western Europe questions regarding technology budgets, investment priorities and vendor selection for various contact center solutions.“Aspect continues to demonstrate leadership and strong mindshare in the contact center industry and the workforce optimization space, and it is evident in the results from our study,” said Daniel Hong, Lead Analyst, Customer Interaction Technologies at Datamonitor. “Aspect provides a well rounded workforce optimization solution stack and companies are beginning to recognize the benefits of a complete workforce optimization solution.”The respondents indicated that, when looking for advanced contact center application vendors, their top priority is an ‘all-in-one’ contact center solution. A strong combination of technology and services, best-of-breed technology and flexible pricing models were also key considerations. The report also found that companies were looking for one vendor to provide their contact center technology and services for easier software management and more economically viable solutions.“As Datamonitor has found in the survey, there is increased interest in workforce optimization applications like PerformanceEdge™. Much of this is being driven by economic factors, as well as regulatory and customer satisfaction issues,” said Bob Kelly, vice president of the PerformanceEdge Group at Aspect. “For example, workforce management clearly speaks to a need to improve workforce efficiency and more effectively manage the limited resources organizations have available. And, an analytics application is quickly becoming a ‘must have’ application to better understand customer and agent relationships, to increase customer retention and loyalty, as well as to ensure compliance. This survey underscores that Aspect understands its customers’ needs by delivering the critical solutions they require to achieve their strategic objectives. Perhaps most importantly, they view Aspect as a trusted partner.”Datamonitor's report Business Trends: Contact Center Investments in Developed Markets (Customer Focus), provides insight into an enterprises' plans for investment in a number of key contact center switch, workstation, self-service and emerging technologies. Respondents are from within the communications, financial services, retail and travel & transport industries.About DatamonitorDatamonitor is the world’s leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors. We help our clients, 5,000 of the world’s leading companies profit from better, more timely decisions. Through our proprietary databases and wealth of expertise, we provide clients with unbiased expert analysis and in-depth forecasts for seven industry sectors: Automotive & Logistics, Consumer Markets, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail and Technology. Datamonitor maintains its headquarters in London and has regional offices in Frankfurt, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. See www.datamonitor.com.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge combines workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to enable organizations to holistically respond to changing business conditions. The PerformanceEdge applications dynamically interoperate to help contact center managers consider everything and act immediately, ultimately making it easier for inbound, outbound and blended contact centers to control costs, enhance service levels and align performance with strategic goals. For more information, visit www.performanceedgesuite.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.  text/html 2008-12-02T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Gartner_Magic_Quadrant_Contact_Center_Infrastructure Aspect Placed in Leaders Quadrant for 2008 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute 2 Dec 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass. – 2 December 2008 – Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant in the 2008 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide report.According to Gartner, “leaders are high-viability vendors with broad portfolios, significant market share, broad geographic coverage, a clear vision for how contact center needs will evolve and a proven track record for delivering contact center products.  They are well-positioned with their current product portfolio and are likely to continue to deliver leading products. Leaders do not necessarily offer the best-of-breed solution for every customer requirement. However, overall, their products are strong and often include some exceptional capabilities. Additionally, they provide solutions that offer relatively low risk.” “We believe being placed in the leaders quadrant by Gartner helps underscore that the industry views Aspect as a trusted partner with a solid vision for the future and a proven products and services portfolio to help organizations achieve their strategic objectives,“ said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect.  “With an evolving focus on bringing unified communications to the enterprise and the contact center, Aspect sees a lot of opportunities for organizations to maximize agent and information worker productivity, improve customer-company interactions, and fine-tune their business processes to be more efficient than ever before, which is so important, especially in our volatile economy.”The Gartner Magic Quadrant analyzes the vendors in an industry and categorizes them in the “leaders,” “challengers,” “visionaries” or “niche players” quadrants.Source:1Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide” by D. Kraus, S. Blood, G. Johnson, et al. November 18, 2008.  About the Magic QuadrantThe Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Note:  Aspect and Aspect Software are trademarks and registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or tradenames are the property of their respective owners. text/html 2008-11-25T08:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Wins_Gold_Massachusetts_Economic_Impact_Award Aspect Takes the Gold at the Fifth Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Award Ceremony Company Recognized for Contributions to Local Economy 25 Nov 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 25 November 2008 –Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it has been selected as a Gold winner of the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development’s Fifth Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Award. This is the only award of its kind in Massachusetts, honoring a select group of companies from across the Commonwealth who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the Massachusetts economy. Aspect was recognized for the jobs created during the company’s recent move to its new corporate headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. “The judges did not arrive at their decision lightly; there are so many good stories from a variety of industries,” said Susan Houston, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development.  “All the companies nominated enhance the Massachusetts economy, and we’re proud to be able to recognize them.”Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer at Aspect, was on hand to receive the award. The award was presented to Aspect at a November 25th awards luncheon at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel with more than 450 attendees, including the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. The winning companies were selected based on their attributes in the categories of job growth, facility expansion, investment and community involvement since January 1, 2007.“To stand out among such successful organizations in all of Massachusetts is gratifying for all of us at Aspect.  It not only reflects the company’s hard work and dedication, but it also helps recognize the positive impact we’re having in the communities where we live and operate our business,” said Jim Foy, chief executive officer, Aspect. “It also demonstrates how important local industries are in supporting our efforts to provide unified communications software and services to the global market.  Without the solid foundation of local businesses and suppliers, we wouldn’t be able to be successful.”The Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development is a private, non-profit partnership of business, industry leaders, and government dedicated to fostering economic growth in the Commonwealth.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-10-30T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_New_Dalian_Call_Center Aspect Opens Customer Support Centre in Dalian, China New Support Centre Provides Technical Support Services for Aspect Solutions; Addresses Increased Demand in Growing Region 30 Oct 2008 Singapore, 30 October 2008 – Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced the opening of its new technical support center in Dalian, China. The 4,055 sq. ft. contact center will provide support services to customers and partners in China, Korea, and Japan.“It is critical that organizations are able to manage their customer inquiries seamlessly, with no downtime, so this new center in Dalian is designed to ensure that our customers are able to solve any potential contact center issues without delay and that their calls are handled by knowledgeable Aspect experts,” said Lui Simhua, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, Aspect. “Expanding our presence in China supports our efforts to deliver quality customer service, helping our partners and companies in the region optimize their contact center operations to better offer enhanced customer interactions.”The new contact center reflects the company’s growth in the Asia Pacific region and allows Aspect to provide high-quality service to its rapidly expanding customer base by offering extended technical support for China, Korea and Japan. The technical support engineers at the Aspect Dalian contact center have received extensive training and are well-equipped to respond to customer inquiries related to Aspect® Unified IP™, the company’s all-in-one, unified contact center solution, and two PerformanceEdge™ products, Aspect® Quality Management™, a robust voice and screen recording application, and Aspect® eWorkforce Management™, which provides essential forecasting, scheduling and tracking functionality.The Dalian contact center provides:Rapid issue resolution through reliable support availability, remote support abilities and distributed field services personnel.Support for system performance with ongoing application updates that refine system capabilities.Ability for Aspect users to deliver an exceptional customer experience by ensuring Aspect solutions are always up and available to service customers.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, PerformanceEdge, Quality Management, eWorkforce Management, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-10-29T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_eWorkforce_Management_release PerformanceEdge Offers Enhanced Workforce Management Capabilities for Front- and Back-Office Personnel Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 Reduces Physical Footprint and Facility Costs through Automated, Flexible Seat Scheduling 29 Oct 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 29 October 2008 - The PerformanceEdge Group, a dedicated Aspect organization comprised of contact center performance optimization professionals, today announced that new PerformanceEdge™ workforce management capabilities will be generally available in Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 on 17 December 2008. This release will include more than 45 new features designed to significantly streamline the scheduling process and therefore lower operating costs. Furthermore, Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 will offer a new enhancement package for scheduling physical positions for front- and back-office staff, as well as provide extended scheduling and assignment capabilities and enhanced synchronizations with other PerformanceEdge applications.The new Aspect eWorkforce Management - Reserve enhancement package enables users to maximize how they utilize existing workstations as well as training room facilities to automate the seat planning process by matching up the right seats with the appropriate agents. It can reduce real estate and administrative costs by enabling flexible seating or “hot desking” in an automated fashion. Companies using Aspect eWorkforce Management - Reserve can assign seats across teams, floors, sites and facilities automatically, enabling organizations to reduce their physical footprint, postpone capacity-adding decisions, and reduce operating costs.“Workforce management vendors have traditionally focused on optimizing agent schedules because staffing represents the most expensive component of a contact center or back-office budget.  What is too often forgotten, however, is the difficulty of managing physical seats and the associated facility costs,” said Robert Kelly, vice president, PerformanceEdge Group. “Now, PerformanceEdge gives customers a way to reduce facility costs, while optimizing agent and supervisor performance and decreasing administration costs, which can help give these companies a clear-cut competitive advantage in today’s volatile economic climate.” Many customer-requested capabilities are also now available in the new release of Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.2 which include:Extended Scheduling and Assignment Capabilities with the ability to create team-based schedules or to schedule for one month at a time.Enhanced Synchronization across all the PerformanceEdge products with the ability to utilize quality scores and other key performance indicators (KPIs) to schedule coaching and classroom training sessions, or to prioritize schedule assignments.  Additional eSchedule Planner Enhancements to provide agents with a new, graphical view of schedules that offers administrators more flexibility.“The new features of Aspect eWorkforce Management demonstrate that Aspect continues to listen to our customers’ requests to add value to PerformanceEdge by helping them gain visibility into capacity planning and employee scheduling,” Kelly added. “And, by leveraging Aspect eWorkforce Management with other performance optimization applications, companies will have a more holistic view of its performance, providing them with the insight and tools they’ll need to make changes to more easily drive improved service, sales and collections.” Aspect eWorkforce Management is a complete automated solution that provides the capabilities for forecasting, scheduling and tracking, to ensure contact centers have the right staff, with the right skills, at the right time. The end result is increased productivity and revenue, improved customer service and agent performance, reduced staffing and operating costs, and increased profits and customer satisfaction.About PerformanceEdgePerformanceEdge combines workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to enable organizations to holistically respond to changing business conditions. The PerformanceEdge applications dynamically interoperate to help contact center managers consider everything and act immediately, ultimately making it easier for inbound, outbound and blended contact centers to control costs, enhance service levels and align performance with strategic goals. For more information, visit www.performanceedgesuite.com.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com. #  #  #Aspect, PerformanceEdge, eWorkforce Management, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-10-28T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Intech_Partnership_on_Unified_Communications Aspect Announces Strategic Partnership with Intech Partnership Enables Aspect to Provide Unified Communications Solutions in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Central America 28 Oct 2008 San Juan, Puerto Rico, 28 October 2008— Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it has formed a strategic partnership with Intech (Integration Technologies Corp.), an information technology consulting and integration firm.  Under the terms of the agreement, Intech will distribute and implement Aspect solutions to enable enterprises and contact centers throughout Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Central America to achieve strategic business objectives by leveraging unified communications (UC) technologies. Intech is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and will be working closely with Aspect to deploy Microsoft Office Communicator and the Aspect all-in-one, contact center solution, Aspect® Unified IP™, in enterprises across the CALA region.“The impressive line of products that Aspect provides is enabling us to meet the technology and business process requirements of our customers,” said Henry Gordillo, president, Intech.  “Companies in our region are really looking at the value that a unified approach can bring to the contact center, and when coupled with a strong unified communications strategy, our customers will be able to streamline communications processes and see significant benefits in productivity and customer satisfaction. Together with Aspect, we are seeing significant opportunities to deliver advanced unified communications and contact center technologies to help our customers grow and improve their businesses.”Later this year, Aspect is releasing a new version of its .NET-based Aspect Unified IP product, which delivers interoperability with Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007, which includes a powerful ask-an-expert capability using the instant messaging and presence technology in Office Communications Server 2007. Aspect has designed this feature to enable contact center agents to find and consult with experts anywhere in a company to resolve customer inquiries in a single interaction.“With its expertise in the contact center and Microsoft OCS, Intech will be a key player in support of the Aspect strategy to help enterprises fully realize the benefits of their unified communications strategies to enhance knowledge worker and agent productivity,” said Paul Bullett, vice president of Caribbean and Latin America at Aspect Software. “Intech is a very important partner for Aspect as we begin to deploy more unified communications software and services in the region. Intech brings an understanding of UC strategies, OCS implementations and enterprise solutions that will enable businesses to really maximize the results they see as they roll out their unified communications initiatives. By establishing strategic relationships with companies like Intech, Aspect continues to educate the market in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Central America on ways to optimize productivity and improve their business processes.”About IntechIntegration Technologies, Corp. (Intech), an information technology consulting and integration firm, was founded in San Juan in 1992.  Intech has operations in Puerto Rico with a client base throughout the island, in the Caribbean, and in Central and South America. With a total of over 80 employees, Intech has over 50 consultants and specialized IT professionals in different areas.Intech’s mission is to offer added value to its clients by providing prompt and cost-effective Network, Telephony, Unified Communications and Security solutions based on their individual needs. This, and a personalized and excellent service, has positioned Intech among the top companies in its field. About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Note:  Aspect, Unified IP, and Aspect Software are registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners. text/html 2008-10-22T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/NewsRelease_Aspect_Unified_IP_UC_Capability Aspect Announces Aspect Unified IP 6.6 with Expert Agent Capability to GA in December Datapoint Leverages the Enhanced Unified Communications Product Functionality for Real Business Results 22 Oct 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 22 October 2008 — Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced that the upcoming release of Aspect® Unified IP™ 6.6, scheduled for general availability on 12 December 2008, will include a number of significant new features, including an ask-an-expert capability using the instant messaging and presence technology available in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. This ask-an-expert feature enables Aspect Unified IP to seamlessly integrate to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to specifically request real-time presence information on experts located across the enterprise to assist with customer interactions and improve first-call resolution. Aspect Unified IP 6.6 unites inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (including voice, email, Web, workflow and fax) in a single, scalable session initiation protocol (SIP)-based voice over IP (VoIP) software platform.Aspect customer and partner, Datapoint, a systems integrator for enterprise and call center communications based in the United Kingdom, is currently using Aspect Unified IP 6.6 to successfully identify the availability of knowledge workers, route calls to them, and record and monitor the interactions."This version of Aspect Unified IP is really changing the way that we can communicate, internally and externally,” said David du Toit, chief technology officer, Datapoint. “Through streamlined communications processes, we now have the ability to find the expert with the right knowledge in the enterprise quickly, and that is an indispensible tool in getting our customers’ inquiries resolved efficiently. We’ve had a great experience with Aspect Unified IP 6.6 thus far and have seen positive results almost immediately. These new capabilities help us engage knowledge workers in the customer care process, and training agents on using these tools has been a breeze. We really feel that Aspect Unified IP will help give us a competitive advantage and we expect to benefit from lower operating costs and increased customer satisfaction in the future.”In support of the ask-an-expert feature, Aspect Unified IP 6.6 has added a new user classification, Knowledge Worker (expert), so that companies can add data on experts, such as names and phone numbers, to the Aspect Unified IP database, and assign a skill or set of skills, to define their profile as an expert. This enables agents to search for experts with unique skills who can assist with specific types of customer inquiries and then engage them via instant message (IM) or phone.These new unified communications (UC) capabilities within Aspect Unified IP support the company’s strategy to provide solutions and services that enable organizations to take advantage of all of the potential benefits that UC can provide, including improved enterprise productivity through enhanced customer-facing business processes.  “Unified communications offers a very exciting opportunity to significantly change the way companies interact with both their customers and, now within the organization too,” said Serge Hyppolite, director of interaction product management, Aspect Software. “With this version of Aspect Unified IP, you won’t find a tighter integration to Microsoft Office Communications Server available anywhere else, which is making it possible for contact centers to seamlessly leverage experts throughout the enterprise to provide the best customer experience and the most productive business results.”“Leading companies, such as Datapoint, recognize that Aspect Unified IP can provide all of the capabilities necessary to streamline communications business processes, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction,” added Hyppolite. “Ultimately, these companies are able to reap all of the benefits that a logical unified communications strategy, combined with a leading unified solution, can deliver.”Other new capabilities that will be available in the upcoming release of Aspect Unified IP 6.6 include:Expanded Localization with support for Traditional Chinese, French, Thai, and Greek (data only) in addition to the already available localizations in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. Inbound Queue Optimization to provide customers in queue the flexibility to schedule a callback based on their position in queue, or at an alternative time and phone number. Reactive Blending with Nortel and Siemens ACDs to protect existing investments in these platforms and enable blending of inbound and outbound interactions to agents (reactive blending currently exists with Aspect Signature ACDs and Avaya ACDs).High Availability enhancements with virtualization and telephony redundancy.Increased Security and Compliance with support for multiple active directory and domain environments; security of customer sensitive information in system logs; and the ability to force users to log off for fraud protection or emergency handling. Licensing Flexibility for Hosted Environments to enable Application Service Providers (ASPs) to manage and allocate licenses to each of their customers or tenants. Improved Supportability with streamlined installation and upgrade tools, as well as a site survey application. Migration for Aspect EnsemblePro 5.2 Customers offers a straightforward upgrade from Aspect® EnsemblePro™ 5.2 with data transfer in English.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, EnsemblePro  and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. text/html 2008-10-14T07:00:00+01:00 Aspect http://www.aspect.com/newsitems/Aspect_Launches_Unified_Communications_Services_Practice Aspect Launches Unified Communications Services Practice New Services Help Enterprises Turn the Potential of Unified Communications into Real Business Results 14 Oct 2008 CHELMSFORD, Mass., 14 October 2008 — Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it is launching a new professional services and systems integration practice to assist organizations with planning, implementing and supporting unified communications (UC) products across their enterprises and into their contact centers.  This new practice within Aspect® Professional Services supports the Aspect strategy to provide services and software that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results.In support of the Aspect/Microsoft strategic alliance announced earlier this year, the new UC services practice at Aspect assists organizations in deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) and other Microsoft UC applications from planning through implementation.“With UC continuously evolving, Aspect keenly understands that both IT and business leaders have questions around how and when to deploy it across the enterprise to reap the greatest results,” said Kevin Schwartz, executive vice president of Aspect Global Professional Services.  “Our new services practice is designed to help companies create and execute a logical UC rollout strategy, from basic infrastructure through business process enablement, which will improve enterprise productivity and enhance customer-facing business processes.”UC services capabilities will be delivered by a team of Aspect Professional Services experts who have been trained and certified by Microsoft, and include:UC Strategy, Planning and Architecture services to help organizations identify the right UC opportunities, address potential pitfalls and get the right results.  This includes roadmap development that outlines where and when specific functionality is deployed, and enterprise technical architecture specifications that cover software, security, management and availability requirements.Implementation and Integration services that will help ensure successful implementation of UC technologies and applications by providing services for the design, installation, configurations and testing of Aspect and Microsoft UC products, with expert guidance for navigating obstacles.  Services also include custom application development and integration services to deliver a complete enterprise solution.“Customers globally are embracing software-powered communications as a means to extend the life of existing infrastructure, improve productivity and reduce costs,” said Roger Murff, director of unified communications partner marketing at Microsoft.  “Today’s announcement from Aspect validates the strong customer interest we are seeing and will enable more customers to take advantage of the benefits of unified communications.”Aspect will be taking advantage of many of the capabilities available with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft’s newest release, including the voice features that support remote and mobile workers, full-featured audio conferencing capabilities and comprehensive developer tools to improve implementation and integration with other applications.  The developer tools are an important part of creating tight integrations between Microsoft Office Communications Server and Aspect® Unified IP™ with the first integration release scheduled for December.“Our alliance with Microsoft, coupled with our 35 years of successfully deploying mission-critical voice applications, makes Aspect unique in its ability to provide OCS implementation and integration services across the enterprise,” added Schwartz.  “We are anxious to show our customers and prospects how UC can improve their operations and how, in doing so, can allow IT to become an even more strategic asset to the business.”Beginning in November, Aspect and Microsoft will be hosting a series of executive forum events for joint customers across the United States and the United Kingdom to discuss the value that unified communications can bring to the enterprise.About Aspect® Global ServicesAspect® Global Services provides comprehensive consulting, technical and educational services to help customers realize the full potential of their unified communications solutions across the enterprise and in the contact center.  The Aspect Global Services team is comprised of highly-trained experts whose sole focus is to drive the greatest returns for customers by enhancing contact center and knowledge worker productivity and streamlining business processes. Aspect Global Services offerings include Aspect® Professional Services, Aspect® Technical Services, Aspect® Education Services.About AspectAspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.#  #  #Aspect, Unified IP, and Aspect Software are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.