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New Opportunities and Expanded Offerings: The SaaS Advantage for VARs and System Integrators TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Market Drivers Impacting Contact Centers Challenges VARs Face With Premises-Based Solutions The SaaS Revolution Adding SaaS Solutions to the VAR Portfolio How SaaS Stacks up to Premises-Based What to Look for in a SaaS Technology Partner Conclusion The inContact Answer References

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Transcript of New Opportunities and Expanded Offerings:

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New Opportunities and Expanded Offerings: The SaaS Advantage for VARs and System Integrators

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntroductionMarket Drivers Impacting Contact CentersChallenges VARs Face With Premises-Based SolutionsThe SaaS RevolutionAdding SaaS Solutions to the VAR PortfolioHow SaaS Stacks up to Premises-Based What to Look for in a SaaS Technology PartnerConclusionThe inContact AnswerReferences

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VARs have the opportunity to meet this demand by exploring alternative solutions that can offer better options for their customers as well as develop new revenue streams for their business.

INTRODUCTIONThe traditional VAR provides services centered on premises-based equipment in the contact center space, including system design, implementation, maintenance and support. However, recent economic events and the overall volatility of the telecommunications manufacturing sector are forcing contact centers to be extremely cost conscious as they look for new options. For these contact centers, finding an affordable contact handling and workforce optimization solution is a top business priority. VARs have the opportunity to meet this demand by exploring alternative solutions that can offer better options for their customers as well as develop new revenue streams for their business.

Although premises-based equipment has been the de facto contact handling solution, it carries a high total cost of ownership (TCO). High cost is created by up-front capital expenses, internal IT maintenance/support staff and frequent upgrades to support critical technology advances. Until recently, there has not been a viable alternative. However, cost concerns, the interest in deploying at-home workers, and vendor instability have all given rise to an alternative solution that is rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. This solution is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), also known as on-demand services. A recent Gartner study revealed that nearly 90% of organizations expect to maintain or grow their usage of SaaS, with more than one-third transitioning from on-premises to SaaS.1

For contact centers, SaaS solutions have the added benefit of integrating with existing on-premises equipment, as well as providing enhanced features and functionality without requiring additional hardware expenditures.

This paper examines current economic and business trends impacting Value-Added Resellers (VAR) and System Integrators in

the contact center market. It provides guidance and recommendations for those looking to expand their contact handling and workforce optimization offerings beyond just premises-based systems to include Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). For the purpose of this paper, we will refer to them as VARs.

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MARKET DRIVERS IMPACTING CONTACT CENTERS The current state of the economy is taking a toll on telecom/network equipment manufacturers. For example, Nortel Networks’ filing for bankruptcy protection has raised growing concerns about general instability in the marketplace. Nortel customers, particularly in small- and mid-market companies, wonder if they will be abandoned without clear options for future upgrades or support. According to Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with the Yankee group, “What you are seeing is a transformation akin to the transformation from the mainframe to Windows. Back then you had huge hardware giants like Honeywell, Burroughs, Univac, and they all kind of went away. Nortel, Avaya, Alcatel, Siemens— these guys are the mainframe giants of this generation. One or two of them may survive but certainly not all of them.”2

While the eventual impact of this shakeup is uncertain, one effect is clear: contact centers faced with maintaining and supporting an obsolete solution will rapidly reach a point of diminishing returns. To remain competitive, they must invest in a new solution. VARs who proactively approach their customers with new ideas and expanded service offerings will be better positioned to weather this ongoing software revolution.

Deployment methods are also driving changes in the contact center business model. The prevalence of multi-site centers that rely on a dispersed workforce with outsourced, offshore and at-home agents has increased. Using a dispersed workforce, particularly at-home agents, provides many benefits to contact centers, including reduced costs and improved performance. Frost & Sullivan believes that the work-at-home agent model could become the industry norm in the coming years.3 However, effectively adding and supporting geographically dispersed agents using an on-premises solution is expensive and time-consuming. It requires additional hardware and telecom costs and takes longer to fully implement than a SaaS solution. In this changing software environment, the ability to quickly take advantage of new cost-saving trends can be a real competitive advantage.

CHALLENGES VARS FACE WITH PREMISES-BASED SOLUTIONSThere are three primary challenges for VARs who exclusively sell premises-based solutions: replacing lost revenue, adapting their business model to include SaaS, and helping their customers achieve their business goals. Those watching the emergence of SaaS and the growing number of obsolete systems among their customers could create a competitive advantage by paying attention to these three challenges and the potential impact on their business.

Replacing Lost RevenueTraditional VARs make their money from providing large implementations and ongoing support. Customer skepticism about premises-based solutions due to market volatility and the rise of on-demand services has the potential to drastically impact these groups—particularly those serving small-to-medium-sized businesses. When customers select a SaaS solution, the VAR’s overall project deal size shrinks by up to 75%.4 As SaaS continues to grow in acceptance and offerings, VARs will be significantly impacted because SaaS largely eliminates hardware and technical integration. According to research group IDC,

“Two big wrinkles for partners are obviously the subscription revenue stream associated with SaaS solutions as well as selling ‘virtual’ products where there is nothing to physically ship, implement, or keep on the shelf.”5 However, with the right technology partner, a VAR agreement can be highly lucrative with very little overhead. The right partner will help facilitate the sales process, oversee implementation and pay residuals for as long as the first year. While it will likely take years for the full impact of SaaS to be made manifest, VARs should begin to transition their sales models and form more lucrative partnerships now.

Adapting Business Models to Include SaaSChanging a VARs business to include SaaS is not simply a matter of adding SaaS products under the umbrella of service offerings. Effectively selling SaaS solutions requires a great deal of education and the ability to consult with customers who have varied interest and confidence in SaaS. In addition, there are

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many scenarios where SaaS is a complement to existing on-premises equipment, especially for contact handling solutions. This requires VARs to maintain traditional hardware expertise while simultaneously developing specialized skills for SaaS delivery – essentially keeping one foot in the traditional business model and one in the emerging SaaS business. “Those that are unable to pull off this balancing act risk seeing their overall revenues shrink, threatening the overall health of their business,” said Michael Speyer of Forrester Research.6

SaaS implementations require expertise in business processes rather than technical implementations and will require additional skill sets for many VARs. Darren Bibby, IDC senior analyst suggests,

“For traditional partners who have made their money finding IT complexity and solving it, a lot of that goes away with Software-as-a-Service. So, in its place, the smart partners are going to make money helping companies use the Software-as-a-Service application better. And that’s going to come with some business process expertise.”7 Adapting to changing market trends is necessary to maintain profitability, but the heart of all VAR business is the ability to recognize customer concerns and provide a better path forward.

Providing Better Customer SolutionsWithout a clear upgrade path, the likelihood of an obsolete system having a devastating impact on contact center customers increases exponentially over time, creating dissatisfied customers, affecting agent morale and generating skyrocketing maintenance costs. Obsolete premises-based equipment becomes a barrier to achieving critical business goals: reducing costs, improving performance and increasing productivity. These are the challenges VARs must help their customers overcome because of premises-based equipment.

1. Cost concerns:• Significant upfront capital investment • On-site IT staff to provide around-the-clock supervision of

the system• Stable vendor who can provide a roadmap for future upgrades2. Performance concerns:• Outdated technology that does not provide the latest advances in

contact handling • Lack of enhanced workforce optimization tools to improve

customer loyalty, attrition rates, agent-to-customer communications and business efficiency

• Inability to add new features and quickly upgrade capabilities decreases competitive advantage

3. Productivity concerns:• Downtime created by system malfunctions• Customer dissatisfaction as calls wait too long in queue or are

otherwise mishandled• Time invested by IT staff that could be spent on more

strategic projects

This requires VARs to maintain traditional hardware expertise while simultaneously developing specialized skills for SaaS delivery – essentially keeping one foot in the traditional business model and one in the emerging SaaS business.

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As VARs struggle to maintain revenues and provide solutions that deliver on their customers’ objectives, relying exclusively on premises-based offerings can create a significant, if not insurmountable, challenge. Understanding how SaaS offerings have emerged to meet these concerns is an important first step.

THE SAAS REVOLUTIONWhile SaaS has been in use since 2000, it has only recently achieved widespread adoption. Reluctance of contact centers to implement an on-demand solution can be attributed to a number of factors:

• Concerns over security and regulatory compliance

• Skepticism about stability and reliability• Perceived lack of industry-specific

customization • Resistance from internal IT staff

Compliance & SecurityThere is no higher priority for companies than keeping their customer data secure, especially for companies in highly regulated industries, such as financial services and healthcare. That is why the best SaaS-based providers have compliance standards and internal process reviews in place for PCI, SOX, FCC, Safe Harbor and HIPAA. When contact centers implement premises-based solutions, data security and industry/regulatory compliance are their responsibility. However, with a SaaS-based solution, contact centers have access to greater security measures to protect their customer information than with traditional premises-based systems. Few customer service organizations can afford carrier-grade facilities for:

• Physical and information security• Fire control• Backup power• Systems and network redundancy• 24/7 network monitoring• Network operating security and

database security • Redundant firewall protection• External IP network monitoring

• Intrusion detection and prevention systems monitoring

• Secure SSL and direct VPN connectivity options

Stability and ReliabilityCritics of SaaS claim that it is not as stable as a premises-based hardware solution. This is simply not true. SaaS is a hardware solution; it is just hardware that customers do not have to buy, configure, maintain, or upgrade. And, it is typically hardware that is much more robust than the type of hardware customers might affordably purchase on their own. Good SaaS vendors will demonstrate their uptime commitment with a guaranteed service level agreement (SLA) of 99.99%.

Industry-Specific CustomizationA common concern for customers evaluating SaaS is that it is a one-size-fits-all solution that cannot accommodate industry-specific needs. However, service providers understand that each contact center is unique. Leading contact center solutions are multi-tenant, enabling customized implementations without impacting another customer’s system. Multi-tenancy ensures a customer’s data is stored and secured separately using the same SaaS platform.

IT ResistanceTransitioning to SaaS has a positive impact on the IT staff responsible for maintaining a premises-based system. Eliminating the need for 24/7 support creates opportunity for the IT staff to take a more strategic role in IT planning and work on more important business needs.

These are all important concerns that have been addressed by SaaS service providers. As a result, recent studies show that SaaS is emerging from its infancy and gaining market share as a viable solution in many business applications. According to the IDC research analyst group, companies of all sizes will increase their use of SaaS by at least 27 percent by 2011.8 The contact center market is among the fastest growing segments for SaaS. In fact, the industry research firm DMG Consulting projects that by the end of 2011, 30-35% of new contact center seats will be hosted.9

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ADDING SAAS SOLUTIONS TO THE VAR PORTFOLIOAdopting a business strategy that includes SaaS specialization can help VARs replace lost revenue, take advantage of new opportunities and provide solutions that address their customers’ challenges with cost, performance and productivity.

Replacing Lost RevenueAs the number of large-scale hardware implementations decrease, VARs in the contact center space must change the way they do business. According to Forrester Research, resellers will need to make up revenue in project volume rather than project size. “The number of projects that [resellers] will need to deliver to maintain overall revenue parity must increase from an average of two to four per year to eight to 12 per year.”10 Instead, it can be much easier to increase sales volume by selecting the right technology vendor. VARs are simply asked to turn over qualified leads while the partner completes the sales cycle and implementation. This frees up the VAR to pursue additional sales opportunities while collecting generous residuals for at least one year after the contract is signed. Also, if the VAR wants involvement in the implementation, they can increase the utilization of their existing staff to assist with SaaS implementations between traditional premises-based implementations.

SaaS Opportunities for VARs

Better UtlizationSaaS implementations are typically much shorter than their premises-based counterparts. Utilize your staff during the short breaks between premises-based implementations.

Greater Geographic ReachSaaS applications have no geographic boundaries, as there is no hardware to install. This creates a much larger selling pool to sell anywhere.

Shorter Sales ProcessVARs and System Integrators cultivate leads, then turn them over to the SaaS company to close the sale and perform the implementation. The sales process becomes much shorter, freeing time to pursue new sales opportunities while enjoying a generous commission.

Become the ExpertAfter the initial sale is made, you become the de facto expert on your clients’ business processes. You can provide consulting services on overall best practices throughout the purchasing/implementation process and beyond.

Primary Objectives for Adopting SaaS

Increasing sales volume is also attainable when VARs consider that SaaS implementations are not geographically constrained. A SaaS implementation doesn’t require on-site hardware installation; it merely necessitates that a set of requirements be configured within the provider’s multi-tenant hardware. Now VARs can expand their reach of influence globally if they wish, without hiring any additional employees.

In addition to sales volume, VARs can develop professional service offerings that demand a higher hourly rate than technical support. Professional services help customers reduce costs and achieve high performance levels by implementing best practices for common business processes. In the contact center space, this could include consulting on call flows, multi-site configurations, and integration with CRM or other business systems. These services allow VARs to create a premium value for their customers by specializing in solutions and industry verticals.

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Adapting the VAR Business Model to Include SaaSThe VAR and System Integrator business will look radically different in the coming years. Forrester Research predicts that by 2011, resellers who have successfully adapted to SaaS will have learned to:

• Increase sales volume through a focus on lead generation rather than extended consultative selling

• Hire business process management consultants who can effectively manage short projects rather than lengthy engagements

• Adjust to different cash flows which are smaller, more frequent, and ultimately more predicable11

While there will be an ongoing need to support legacy on-premises equipment, VARs will ensure profitability and future viability by developing expertise that allows their customers to improve the SaaS experience. The close relationship these VARs develop with their customers will enable them to understand their customer needs and identify areas of opportunity. VARs will receive the support they need by working with leading SaaS providers to effectively bridge the gap between the traditional hardware business model and the new SaaS business model.

Providing Better Customer SolutionsSaaS contact handling solutions can help companies meet the goals of reducing cost, improving performance and increasing productivity.

CostIn addition to eliminating the need for a large, up-front capital expense, a SaaS solution helps reduce overhead and depreciable assets by enabling at-home or remote workforces. This approach helps mitigate or completely avoid losses due to natural disasters and epidemics. It can also increase productivity and profitability by linking multiple centers together as one. Leading SaaS solutions will integrate with any brand of switch or telephony hardware, eliminating the cost of standardizing equipment. Because maintenance and upgrades are centralized and performed by the

service provider, SaaS also removes the need for on-site IT staff at every location to manage and support the system. Additionally, SaaS can be used in conjunction with existing premises-based infrastructure, allowing companies to add enhanced features while maximizing the return on their initial investment.

Increasing Performance and Customer SatisfactionAccording to analyst firm Peppers & Rodgers Group, “more than nine out of ten consumers (94 percent) state that they spend less money with a company that has violated their trust, and eight in ten will never go back to a company after a bad experience. Therefore, an underlying competence for locking in customer relationships is the ability to deliver excellent customer experiences.”12 SaaS solutions help increase contact center performance and ensure customer satisfaction by delivering insight into call handling trends, agent performance and the customer experience. The enhanced features found in several SaaS contact handling solutions such as user roles and permissions, reports, dashboards, call flows and user alerts all serve to increase performance levels. SaaS contact handling solutions can also integrate with many CRM applications, providing better customer intelligence at the agent desktop, and enabling customer self-service through the use of convenient, web-based tools.

Real Savings in On-Demand Solution vs. Premises-Based Solution

Agent SeatsTotal Cost of Ownership %

Savings over 5 years

25 Seats 28% Savings

100 Seats 34% Savings

400 Seats 45% Savings

Source: Yankee Group, April 2006 “VoIP and Lower TCO Will Drive Adoption of Hosted On-Demand Contact Centers”

Improving Productivity and Operational EfficiencyGood SaaS solutions include workforce optimization tools that can significantly improve agent productivity and operational efficiencies. These tools typically are used to automate training, simplify hiring processes,

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reduce attrition, gather near real-time customer feedback, facilitate workforce management and deliver comprehensive reporting. Workforce optimization tools can also improve scheduling efficiency by basing forecasting on historical call volume and involving the agent more directly in the scheduling process.

VARs need to seriously consider adapting their business to support SaaS practices. Not only will they be better prepared to ensure their long-term

business success, but will be able to provide their customers with superior, more affordable contact handling and workforce optimization tools.

HOW SAAS STACKS UP TO PREMISES-BASEDSelecting the right components for a contact handling solution is based on the unique needs and requirements of each contact center. However, most contact centers have similar concerns, which will serve as the comparison points between SaaS and premises-based solutions.

SaaS Vs. Premises-BasedBusiness Concern SaaS Premises-BasedUpfront Cost SaaS has low or no upfront costs. It is billed as a

subscription based on the number of seats or users. Premises-based systems require a significant outlay of capital funds upfront to cover equipment, installation and configuration costs.

Hidden Costs Most SaaS solutions are billed monthly. There are no hidden fees or extra charges.

Additional costs with premises-based solutions include: installation, integration, maintenance, security, backup, servers, internal labor, testing, development and obsolescence.

Deployment SaaS applications are on-demand, making deployment quick and easy.

Deploying a premises-based infrastructure is time consuming, and requires purchasing and installing many hardware and software components.

Scalability Leading SaaS solutions can easily handle fluctuations in call volume as business needs change from month-to-month, providing contact centers with significant cost savings when call volumes are low.

Premises-based contact centers must purchase hardware and telephone equipment to accommodate maximum anticipated call volume, resulting in high capital expense and inefficient hardware utilization. Installing and activating new telephone lines also takes additional time and money.

Support for At-Home Agents

The on-demand solution is designed for at-home agent capability, without the need for hardware. SaaS solutions handle the same IVR, CTI, ACD and recording capability functions as premises-based systems, but are less expensive and more efficient to operate.

Premises-based systems are typically geographically-bound (designed to support directly-connected users). Enabling an at-home agent on a premises-based solution is often treated as a secondary hardware add-on, which becomes expensive and difficult to configure.

Support for Multi-Site Centers

SaaS architecture allows multiple sites that use diverse worker models such as outsource, offshore and at-home to operate as one, reducing IT costs and routing multi-channel contacts to the right agents, regardless of their location.

Similar to the challenge presented by at-home agents, premises-based solutions are not easily adapted to multiple centers and require additional hardware and telecom expenditures. Worse, if a single point of failure occurs, the entire system can go down.

Upgrades SaaS customers always have access to the latest and greatest technology, without the expense of buying new software. The agile SaaS model delivers new advances on-demand.

Upgrades are performed under annual maintenance contracts. Due to the length of product development cycles, most upgrades are outdated by the time they reach the customer.

Maintenance The SaaS provider is responsible for upgrades and maintenance of the hardware and software. A well-architected on-demand solution does not impact existing on-site infrastructure.

While some maintenance is performed by the vendor or VAR under an additional service contract, premises-based equipment requires in-house IT resources to manage and support it.

Security SaaS service providers offer a higher level of security than traditional, premises-based solutions. Types of security provided by SaaS include: physical security, fire control, backup power, systems and network redundancy, and a 24/7 network monitoring operating center.

Replicating the level of security delivered by the best SaaS providers is incredibly expensive and difficult to maintain for large centers, and not a viable financial option for small and midsize centers.

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WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A SAAS TECHNOLOGY PARTNERVARs who want to keep up with the demand for SaaS solutions should find a good SaaS technology partner who understands the value VARs provide to the sales channel. To find the right partner, compare how SaaS technology partners measure up in these eight critical areas.

1. Commitment to VARsLook for partners who are invested in VARs success. Are their VARs policies clear and fair? Do they provide multiple ways for VARs to generate revenue? Find a technology partner that offers specialized training and will help VARs develop professional services offerings. Determine if the partner offers assistance in the sales process, including selling, implementing, maintaining and billing. Do they offer lengthy residuals?

2. Proven Track RecordThere is no substitute for experience. Find out how many calls the service provider handles monthly/annually and how large their customer base is. Do they stand behind their service with an SLA of 99.99% guaranteed uptime? Is theirs an award-winning solution that’s recognized by analysts and industry experts?

3. Complete SolutionAvoid piecemeal solutions. Trying to create a complete solution by implementing a series of narrowly focused point solutions can create interoperability problems and be difficult to manage. Look for a service provider that offers an integrated platform, combining core contact handling functionality with a suite of workforce optimization tools.

4. Single Point of ContactKnow every partner involved in the solution. Find out if they lease their telecommunications and data network. The ideal service provider will control and operate the telecommunications and data network and be the sole responsible party.

5. Full IntegrationSave money and add functionality. Integrating SaaS contact handling with existing equipment, such as a PBX or CRM systems, provides valuable feature enhancements and cost saving benefits. Make sure the service provider offers a solution that is compatible with existing equipment and CRM software.

6. FlexibilityTake advantage of new worker models. Ask how the service provider accommodates multi-site centers, at-home workers and seasonal call volume. The best service providers offer flexible features and billing to meet these needs.

7. Compliance & SecurityKnow the service provider’s compliance and audit policies. Make sure they conduct internal process reviews and follow customer privacy and financial regulation standards critical to major industries such as PCI, SOX, FCC, Safe Harbor and HIPAA. Find out how

There is no substitute for experience. Find out how many calls the service provider handles monthly/annually and how large their customer base is.

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security levels are monitored in their data and operations centers.

8. Financial StabilityDon’t partner with an unknown entity. Ask about the company’s history and how long they have been in business. What are their plans for growth? Do they achieve profitability quarter over quarter?

CONCLUSIONThe challenging economy combined with volatility in the telecom/network equipment manufacturing sector is pushing contact center executives to look for alternatives to on-premises contact handling solutions. VARs can take advantage of the new opportunities created by SaaS by engaging with SaaS technology partners to help their customers achieve their goals of reducing costs and increasing performance. As SaaS continues to emerge as an attractive alternative to premises-based solutions, VARs should build a strong relationship with a SaaS technology partner who can help them meet their customers’ expectations and grow revenue by including SaaS solutions as part of their service offerings.

THE INCONTACT ANSWERinContact® is a state-of-the-art on-demand contact handling and agent optimization platform. Since 2001, inContact has been providing call centers with the connectivity and agent management tools to be successful. Their SaaS technology includes a full-featured Automated Call Distributor (ACD) with skills-based routing, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) with speech recognition and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI). Agent optimization solutions from inContact include an online hiring application, patented eLearning and communications, a workforce management tool and a dynamic customer feedback and survey application.

inContact is the proven technology to help contact centers deliver exceptional customer experiences while decreasing costs, increasing revenues and giving them a strategic competitive advantage regardless of size. inContact is delivered via a telecommunications and data network that it controls and operates,

something no other on-demand provider can claim.

The inContact VAR agreement is one of the most lucrative in the SaaS market. Once inContact is presented with a qualified lead, the inContact team completes the sales process, implements the system, performs all maintenance and does all billing. The partner who delivered the qualified lead collects generous residuals for at least one year for software and long distance sales. With very little overhead and a short sales process, inContact VAR partners are extremely profitable.

inContact offers a complete, integrated solution, which includes:

PROVEN TECHNOLOGY

• Over 10 billion calls handled

• On-demand solutions for call centers since 2001

• Deployed in approximately 600 call centers, of all sizes

• Industry’s best published SLA of 99.99%

• Over 300 employees dedicated to your success

CONTACT HANDLING

• Full-featured ACD with skills-based routing (phone, email, fax, chat)

• Easily integrates with your existing PBX

• CTI, IVR, and automatic speech recognition

• Drag-and-drop call routing control

• Call logging and recording

• Outbound dialing

WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION

• Hiring

• eLearning with patented RightTime™ technology

• Customer surveys with real-time feedback

• Workforce management with scheduling, forecasting, and strong agent/manager interaction

• Tight integrations into the industry’s best CRMs

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NETWORK CONNECTIVITY• Multiple carrier options

• Multi-protocol connections

• Fast and simple to scale

• Unifies multi-center organizations on disparate switches

• Geographic, carrier, machine and POP redundancy

Find out how inContact is helping hundreds of contact centers significantly reduce costs while simultaneously increasing their customer satisfaction levels. Call 866-298-9102 today, or visit www.inContact.com for more information.

REFERENCES1 Gartner, User Survey Analysis: Software as a Service, Enterprise Application Markets, Worldwide, 2008

2 Tech World, November 11, 2008: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/267371/microsoft_nortel_committed_marriage_future_cloudy?pp=1&fp=4&fpid=145

3 Frost & Sullivan, The New Mantra: “The Agent is King”

4 Forrester, SaaS Economics Will Change ISVs’ SI And VAR Channels, October 29, 2007

5 IDC, The Emerging SaaS Channel, September 2007

6 Forrester, SaaS Economics Will Change ISVs’ SI And VAR Channels, October 29, 2007

7 Application Development Trends, SaaS Spells Disruption for Partners, September 26, 2007 http://www.adtmag.com/news/articles.aspx?editorialsid=9091

8 IDC, Software as a Service: Shifting into a New Gear, March 2008

9 destinationCRM.com, Believe the Hype about Hosted Contact Centers, June 1, 2008: http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/Believe-the-Hype-about-Hosted-Contact-Centers-49187.aspx

10,11 Forrester, SaaS Economics Will Change ISVs’ SI And VAR Channels, October 29, 2007

12 Peppers & Rodgers Group, Winning on Service in an Uncertain Economy, 2008

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