Cisco Expands Call Center Product Line

Cisco Systems

The applications, Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop, are designed to provide out-of-the-box call management features typically provided by custom software, said Bill Carey, senior manager of marketing at Cisco, based here.

"It's a way for solution providers to more quickly get products up and running and out the door because there's less development involved," said Carey. "If they feel all the features meet the majority of their customers' requirements, they might not need to build custom applications."

Using Cisco Agent Desktop, representatives can control calls, view customer data and launch desktop applications such as e-mail response systems through task buttons.

Cisco Supervisor Desktop shows managers real-time statistics such as which agents are idle and how many callers are in the queue. It also includes features to let managers monitor, record and break into agents' phone calls.

"It gives all the tools a supervisor needs to make sure they are running their contact center efficiently," Carey said.

Prices for the applications, available now, range from $900 to $2,000 per seat.