Cloud Contact for Enterprise Customers

Components & Architecture

Integration is critical in modern call centers. As such, StarPound was architected with this in mind from day one.

StarPound Application Server

StarPound’s Application Server handles all incoming requests, drives voice tasks (IVR, call control, etc.), agent workflow (forms and pages), etc.

StarPound Work-Item Server

The Work Item Server is responsible for the distribution and management of work items (phone calls, emails, chat requests, etc.) to available agents.

StarPound Work-Item Console (WIC)

The Work Item Console (WIC) provides the agent interface for working within the context of each distributed work item.

StarPound Dashboard

On the backend, the StarPound Dashboard provides a realtime view of all call queues, work item statuses, agent statuses, availability, etc.

System Requirements

Deploying StarPound|Call Center (CE) in a call center requires the following:

• A Java/J2EE application server (e.g. JBOSS)
• JDBC-compliant SQL database (e.g. MySQL)
• A functioning telephony environment (e.g. Asterisk, FreeSwitch, or a generic SIP switch)
• A modern browser version on all agent computers
• Either desktop or software-based SIP phones for agents
• Sufficient bandwidth suitable for VOIP communications (varies, depending upon number of agents)

On-Demand Cloud Deployments

While StarPound CORE is packed full of features, we readily admit that it is a huge platform, and not necessarily something that is overly simple to install, configure, and maintain. For those customers who are ready to make the shift, but lack either the time or resources necessary to do it themselves, we do offer a full set of managed services that can help you quickly bring up and scale your IP call center in an on-demand, cloud-based model

Call Centers

Successful contact centers will deliver advanced applications where information with merged voice and data can be provided on demand to any type of device over any type of communication channel. They will attach value to customers and transactions to transform unitary customer contacts to intelligent transaction arbitrage. And they will bring new services to market in days, not weeks or months. In the absence of these capabilities, contact centers should expect their business to degrade rapidly.

StarPound’s on-demand delivery service is ideally suited to transform traditional contact centers into models for next generation services delivery, offering an array of innovative converged applications including voice and Web self-service, collaboration, chat and interactive live agents.

• Multi-Channel – Voice, Email, Web, PDA, Fax. Consistent user experience
• Computer Telephony Integration – Vendor-independent pre-built interfaces
• Skills-Based Routing – Right resources, right time, any place
• IVR – Voice self-service with natural language speech capability
• Rapid Development – 50% less cost. 90% reduction in time to market

StarPound offers a next generation, multi-channel Contact Center that doesn’t require a large up-front cash outlay, delivered through our trusted Service Provider partners, that provides a single point of contact, and delivers the people, tools and technology to stay ahead of the most demanding clients.

The Full Solution

Customer contact centers are mission critical. They must quickly adapt to changing customer needs and expectations. Failure to do so risks damaging customer relations, inhibiting loyalty and potentially impacting sales. Based on years of contact center expertise, The StarPound Project has developed a software engine that helps companies better keep pace in this rapidly-changing field.

StarPound CORE™ provides a development engine that can easily breathe new life into existing contact centers or create new contact centers from scratch. With StarPound Studio, developers and process owners can have a Business Process Management-enabled development tool visually optimized for integrating voice, data and the Web within a contact center environment.

Contact and call centers are inherently expensive to operate, and can add an enormous strain on the IT staff. When your technical resources are dealing with large hardware-based phone switches, and antiquated methods of shaping call center flow, you lose in the end. Those resources should be deployed in a way that adds incremental value to the organization and the call center — not just “keeping it running.”

For starters, using Starpound’s software pretty much eradicates the need to have a hardware switch altogether. While the rest of the world is moving to a VOIP/SIP network, why are you investing significant capital in legacy approaches to driving traffic? Sure, you have VOIP on the desks of your call center agents, but are you still running all of those phone calls through a hardware switch in a closet somewhere? StarPound’s platform provides switching in the software layer, allowing you to truly take advantage of the economics behind VOIP and SIP.

Another frustrating part of managing call centers is the sheer effort required to make changes to inbound and outbound campaigns, and integrating the phone network into the agent’s desktop. Most contact center vendors are happy to help you with this — and for good reason. Their systems are so complicated, and so siloed, that sometimes even making simple changes will require you to bring in a team of consultants to “enhance” your implementation. We think that is pretty silly.

In the StarPound world, an inbound call is a service request, just like a simple web service request. In a converged world, voice is data. You build a visual model to represent the desired flow of your call center’s traffic. When you want to make changes, you simply edit the model and redeploy. Devlishly simple, yet incredibly effective. And since StarPound is a software solution, scaling to handle additional traffic (or even new physical locations) is a breeze.