VOIP

Forget cutting costs - these days, voice over IP is about making money. So start thinking revenue-boosting apps instead.

In a day and age when IP rules, there’s only one rule about VOIP to keep in mind: It’s more about making money than saving money.

In other words, look beyond the opportunity to shave long-distance costs by shipping voice over the data network. Most corporate customers have already negotiated rock-bottom rates for their voice services, so what’s the benefit of squeezing out a few more nickels?

So when thinking VOIP, think a whole new generation of VOIP-based CTI apps that really can deliver revenue and boost productivity. That’s what Tim Reha did. He’s executive director of e-commerce at Golfdiscount.com Inc. (Seattle), an online retailer of golfing gear that added VOIP (voice over IP) to its Web site last year. Customers wearing headsets can now click an icon to talk online to a sales rep—who might just get them to splurge for that graphite-shaft titanium driver instead of the wooden tees. "VOIP capability has increased sales by about 20 percent," Reha notes.

There are now third-party software developers getting in on the VOIP app act. Cosmocall software from Cosmocom Inc. (Hauppauge, N.Y.) for example, lets net managers integrate a call center with e-commerce Web sites. (Golfdiscount.com’s Reha uses the Cosmocom software.) Because they use Java and de facto client software standards, products like Cosmocall can be made to work with virtually any Web server and any H.323-compliant VOIP gateway.

Here’s how the Cosmocom system works. When a Web surfer clicks on a "click-to-talk" button, the Web server downloads the Cosmocaller client software to the PC in the form of a Java applet. The PC must be running Netmeeting client software from Microsoft. The applet tells Netmeeting to do the VOIP conversions and initiate a session with the Cosmocall automatic call distributor (ACD) server, located in the company’s call center. The ACD locates an available agent and directs the call to that agent’s PC. The agent uses Netmeeting to receive the VOIP call, and both parties speak to each other over the Internet using headsets connected to their PCs. Meanwhile, to accept calls from the PSTN (say, those to an agent via an 800 number), net managers can install a VOIP gateway between Cosmocom’s ACD and the phone network.

Click-to-talk is just the tip of a very big iceberg. Once connected, Cosmocom furnishes a function called "team browsing," where the agent can push Web pages and video clips to customers during the conversation to help them select the most appropriate product. If they get put on hold, the system can push audio and video clips to keep them amused while they’re waiting.

Down the line, Web sites could even solicit sales before customers ask for a specific product. For example, the server could monitor a customer’s purchasing decisions; if they start spending big, an agent could ask if they need any help, just as attendants do in stores.

The above is an excerpt from an article which appears in the June 1999 issue of Data Communications.