The Technology Advancement in Software

Painting Quick Response Code in Software The Technology Advancement

Through the integration of computer and telephony-type services, the old philosophy of telephony being a necessary evil has passed Advances in computing technology have enhanced the telephony world The age of mass pools of telephone operators is gone Newer technologies enable customers to call and proceed through an organization without ever communicating with an operator or a secretary The customer can get directly to the person or information that is desired In the key system marketplace, the old labor-intensive electromechan-ical system is now a computer-driven telephone system However, these computer-driven systems are now rich in features and laden with capabilities undreamed of in the past The integration of voice messaging, ACDs, and automated attendants in key systems is now commonplace Key systems are also emerging as voice servers within the organization The PBX, serving hundreds if not thousands of employees within an organization, enables an internetwork of services and capabilities to be spread throughout an organization What was once just a stand-alone telephone system is now the high-end computer that just happens to handle voice Today s technology provides full digital transmission systems or services and permits linkage to all devices that were exclusively used by the elite PBXs can now be integrated tightly into your computing systems The PBX also acts as the high-end server on a digital trunk capability to the outside world By linking to a high-speed digital communications trunk from the outside world, users can now access ANI Using inbound 800/888/877 services and a common channelsignaling arrangement enables the delivery of caller ID directly to the called party Moreover, enhancements in software (such as call forwarding), overflow arrangements when agents or other individuals are busy, and other services can all be chartered into a single PBX architecture Another service called directory number information service (DNIS) can be used on the 800/888/877 service to direct the call to a specific group, such as technical support or marketing

As the client/server architecture and the communications systems were developing throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, it was the software vendors who became the aggressors With operating systems that could work on a LAN-based server, the software vendors were aggressive in finding the integration tools necessary for the organization Microsoft developed a de facto protocol called the telephony application program interface (TAPI) in a Windows environment to bring the telephony services right to the desktop LAN-attached device A TAPI interface on a Windows platform enables users to access information through what is called a graphical user interface (GUI, pronounced gooey) Throughout the entire architecture, a server application can handle the distribution of calls to members within workgroups or departments This includes such services as screening calls, rerouting calls to new agent groups if the primary agent group is busy, or routing calls to the voice messaging and voice response systems as necessary Similarly, Novell and AT&T developed what is known as the telephony services application programmers interface (TSAPI) as a means of providing the computer with telephony integration capabilities from a LAN TSAPI works with Novell s NetWare telephony services The basis for using this particular product is to gain what is known as third-party call control Third-party call control uses the CTI application on behalf of any clients in a workgroup or department The application is running a shared environment, typically on a server, so there is no direct contact or connection between the user s PC and the telephone interface What happens, then, is that a logical connection is produced when the PC applications talks to the server, which in turn controls the telephone switch The server then is the controller and sends the order to the PBX to make calls or connections on behalf of the end user The shared-server environment can handle individual as well as dynamic workgroup applications, such as directories, individual personal information managers (PIMs), and other workgroup functions that occur within a larger organization Therefore, the server provides the linkage for all calls being handled within a dynamic workgroup This is a more powerful arrangement regarding call control A central server can handle the distribution of calls to any member in a workgroup and provide such services as call screening, call answering groups, backing up agents, or routing calls to a supervisory position in the event of overflow Many of the CTI vendors have seen these capabilities as the benefits and strengths of the CTI applications These are the primary applications that have been used within the CTI environment Thus, developers and manufacturers alike have seen the application working as a telephone set This is instrumental in designing the capabilities of a call answering/call processing environment, but more can be done through the use of the computer-based technology that is available on the market today The applications that run in server or computing platforms can use call monitoring features within the PBX and collect information of any type Using the call-monitoring features, a CTI can watch every keystroke that an agent group enters This can include such things as