Genesys CTI User Forum
Genesys CTI User Forum => Announcements Scratch Board => Topic started by: Adam G. on August 15, 2006, 12:18:47 PM
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Hi Vic,
I'm just really curious to know how you picked the domain name for this board? Does it stand for anything in particular?
Cheers,
Pavel
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Hi, Pavel,
well, actually it stands for Star Global Group USA.
There is Star Systems Japan, Star Systems Thailand and Star Global Group USA.
I had this company registered about two years ago. Unlike our Japanese and Thai offices, it is mainly on paper.
I have been stuck in Japan for quite some time now, and time permitting planning on going back to U.S, where I would be launching our USA office, finally.
But without sales and everyone else, it will be a long and winding road... :-\
Vic
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Thanks Vic.
If you want to set up a European Office just let me know.
;D
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Hi, Pavel,
actually, it is something I was thinking about for some time.
I was researching coutntries, and from what I see neither Germany nor France seem like something I would want to consider.
With BT and Vodafone well established in Europe, it will be a real pleasure digging into them.
Of course, from what I understand, Aspect and Siemens seem to be de facto standard over there.
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hmmmm....
Aspect and Siemens may just be the impression [i]I've[/i] given (!)
All of the major mobile and landline operators in the UK have Genesys in some capacity. As do a lot of the banks. ...And the major catalogue stores... Aw heck, just look them up on the Genesys Website!
- Don't let me cloud your view, Vic!
Tony
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My comany has several Siemens HiPath, its crap beyond belief.
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Avaya G3 (or whatever they are called nowadays) and Meridians seem to be the most numerous but many greenfield sites are VOIPing (esp. Cisco Call Manager).
If Asterisk was marketed toward call centres I think it would clean up.
Just my 2 pennies worth.
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[quote author=Sie link=topic=1787.msg5736#msg5736 date=1155731583]
My comany has several Siemens HiPath, its crap beyond belief.
[/quote]
LOL
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What - good old ProCentre5 with HiPath 4000's? I think I know them...! ::)
I remember there being plans afoot to upgrade to VOIP and the suggestion was that we terminate VOIP calls next to the PBX, to convert them back to TDM so that "traditional" telephony methods could be employed, on site. ...Yeah - that'll work.... :-\
LOL
Tony
[quote author=sy278 link=topic=1787.msg5738#msg5738 date=1155732018]
[quote author=Sie link=topic=1787.msg5736#msg5736 date=1155731583]
My comany has several Siemens HiPath, its crap beyond belief.
[/quote]
LOL
[/quote]
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[quote author=Tony Tillyer link=topic=1787.msg5740#msg5740 date=1155733466]
What - good old ProCentre5 with HiPath 4000's? I think I know them...! ::)
I remember there being plans afoot to upgrade to VOIP and the suggestion was that we terminate VOIP calls next to the PBX, to convert them back to TDM so that "traditional" telephony methods could be employed, on site. ...Yeah - that'll work.... :-\
LOL
Tony
[quote author=sy278 link=topic=1787.msg5738#msg5738 date=1155732018]
[quote author=Sie link=topic=1787.msg5736#msg5736 date=1155731583]
My comany has several Siemens HiPath, its crap beyond belief.
[/quote]
LOL
[/quote]
[/quote]
What is ProCentre5?
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Surely you wouln't want me to advocate another CTI system on the Genesys CTI User Forum?
Actually, it's not that clever - it's an ACD with some bells (Voice/IVR), but no whistles, which works "on board" a HiPath4000. Quite frankly, it smells... :o
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[quote author=Tony Tillyer link=topic=1787.msg5743#msg5743 date=1155735297]
Surely you wouln't want me to advocate another CTI system on the Genesys CTI User Forum?
Actually, it's not that clever - it's an ACD with some bells (Voice/IVR), but no whistles, which works "on board" a HiPath4000. Quite frankly, it smells... :o
[/quote]
Not at all, just hadn't heard of it, but as it smells it would match the HiPath quite well! ;D
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[quote author=Tony Tillyer link=topic=1787.msg5743#msg5743 date=1155735297]
Surely you wouln't want me to advocate another CTI system on the Genesys CTI User Forum?
Actually, it's not that clever - it's an ACD with some bells (Voice/IVR), but no whistles, which works "on board" a HiPath4000. Quite frankly, it smells... :o
[/quote]
Actually, why not? After all, we do not get paid by Genesys or anything, and while playing with other systems we notice that they are better, I for one, would migrate in an instance. It's not like I own Genesys (Alcatel now) stock or anything :)
Regarding Asterisk, I think it has quite a potential. I wonder if Genesys would even consider it, because GPL + proprietary license schemes never really worked well.
Oracle is probably as close as it gets, but I am sure they are kicking themselves now, because Postgre SQL not only can do pretty much everything that Oracle can do, but costs much less (0, which is REALLY NOTHING compared to Oracle CPU license).
I think Genesys will tihink twice and then think again before releasing Asterisk-compatible T-Server (even though I hear interesting rumors regarding this), because the invisible armies of programmers willing to dedicate their time, health and electricity bills to the good of many, will instantenously turns their attention to developing an rival t-server. Only this one being GPL. I am sure Genesys would simple love it.
Say, come to think of it, the only reason why those goons from the dark side of the moon have not attacked CTI market in large numbers because they lack the knowledge of how the existing systems work, especially the interface between CTI and CRM. So... let me see... Tony, Pavel, sy248, me... I think among all of us, we have more than enough knowhow to pretty much create our own Genesys T-Server, URS, ICON and maybe even something more. I think that we can be three CTI warlords and one CTI sourcerer (we will draw straws for the title of sourcerer, of course!) and we will be leading the army of programmers behind us.
If we wanted to get into it, I would assume that instead of diving straight into T/Server, we would start with something simple lying on peripheral edges, such as wallboard server, ccon, softphone, ccp.
Come to think of it, this is not such a bad idea. Think about it guys: ccon? ccp? urs? With SIP becoming a standard, this makes things even easier: there is no reason why someone would need to use Genesys stream manager or GVP: all the tools are already out-there. All we need to do is add Genesys ActiveX (t-lib) to it to make it Genesys compatible.
Wow... Tony, what do you think?
(In case I die over the weekend in a fiery car crash, you know who to blame :) )
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Hi Vic,
It sounds like you've had an overdose of Omega3 fish oils! Your brain is in overdrive. ;D ;D
Yes, I'm sure all of what you mention is possible and I agree with you that a simple app would be a place to start. The other thing to bear in mind is that if something is built that is in direct competition to a Genesys product, I'm sure Genesys would have a major problem with it especially if it affects their revenue stream.
So where are we going to start o great CTI sourcerer? Wallboard server?
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Flippin' heck! Let me see if I've got this straight;
You want to use a comparitive Genesys Framework model and, with the available API's/Toolkits/T-Lib and interfacing tools etc. coupled with combined knowledge, build components that don't already exist in a developer format and then build our own CTI Solution, [i]then[/i] market it...?
Y'know it's not a crazy idea. The crazy part is that you are right - it could be done. I mean, it could be done better than it appears in it's standard format today since the tools exist to build it any way you please.
Pavel - Genesys will no doubt still get their cut because of the standard seat (T and S) licensing, [i]unless [/i] we are considering utilizing the tools being made availbale for [i]any [/i] solution and not related to Genesys in any way. Personally, I'm not sure that is feasible/possible/legal and I think before anything is put on paper you'd want to check out the legal standpoint...
Tony
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I am glad that so many of us feel the same way.
Important thing is to use our know-how to enhance what Genesys has to offer. And in case Genesys cannot offer what we need, I do not think that it would be a big deal to develop something on our own. As I have mentioned before, I don't owe a stock in Alcatel, so Genesys revenues are not directly affecting me. My main priority is getting sure that our call centers get what they need and run the way we intend to do it.
From what I have seen so far, I think Genesys is one of the best solution so far. It offers the robust and yet flexible adaptation to a multitude of different PBXs as well as VoIP-based architecture, allowing for pretty much all the flexibility that you need. Unfortunately, Genesys is just a framework and for every call center out there, there is never a out-of-box solution, and I do not think that there should be. Genesys tried Genesys Express, and it seemed like it slowly fizzled as it should have, because Genesys to call centers is what Cisco is to network. Perhaps, one day people would be able to get Cisco routers and just place them all over the building and have their 5000+ staff network up and running in no time, but I still think it is going to take some time. So, I would expect Genesys to continue to be a highly customized solution (at least for large scale call centers), meaning that the edges will always be neglected. Unfortunately, when we are talking about the edges, we mean the very top layers which contain the applications used by very people who shell out millions of dollars to use it. They don't care if Genesys is running on Solaris or whether or not it is able to handle 50 CPS without significant CPU load. they see the numbers shown in CCP and when they hear about Genesys, usually it has to do with how something went wrong. After all, Genesys is part of call center infrastructure and since you never talk about your gas pipes being very efficient and NOT leaking, neither would call center operators talk about Genesys CTI other than when something goes wrong.
This is why there is a huge market out there for all the little tiny applications that can be included with Genesys T-Server. We are talking about improved OCM, an SV -friendly CCP, and even wallboard server.
the areas that can be focused on without overburdening ourselves would be:
1. Reporting
2. Outbound Control
3. URS-centric CRM
For reporting, I think we can start with wallboard server so that we all get accustomed with Genesys ActiveX as well as slowly build the name recognition. The great thing about wallboard server is that since it is not mission-critical, its failure would not freeze call center, thus making it an easy candidate for implementation in a call center.
For outbound contol, I am sure that I speak for many of us when I say that OCM is probably as bad as WFM: whoever has designed it has never worked in an outbound call center. It is not intuitive and it is not fun. Also, there is no simple way to integrate it with agent desktops to tell them how many more calls they are expected to make this day for example. We know how many records were dialed, but when you have 200 agents and 400 lists, it is sure nice to know how many calls each agent still has left.
For URS-centric CRM, I think it is time the whole Genesys community came together and came up with default template to be used for call centers. We are talking about something that is much better than GCN and does not cost an arm and a leg. I think that combining URS with a basic web-based CRM screen with fields tied to DB is great. What puzzles me is why in the world would someone want to have 300 operators connect directly to DB?! Genesys is a messaging system, so why not use that to store and retrieve data from DB? I think this would make roll-outs a snap.
So, I am working on wallboard system right now that I expect to post during the next two weeks. Let's get the system out there.
As for talk about Genesys being upset what we are doing, I don't think that it is the case. Genesys needs to grow up and understand that developers and integrators are the main reason why they are in business. The love-n-hate relationship that I have experienced with the company during the last six years has to stop. The more we are supported, the better are the chances of Genesys making it out alive in the new IP-based call centers.
Ever since voice went IP, every network and communication equipment maker closed the niche between PBX and CRM, making many Genesys products obsolete.
T-Server, Genesys flagship, can only survive if the upper layer products using it do not lose their relevance. And the fact that Genesys was purchased by Alcatel does not really help it either. We have many a client who decided to use Cisco Call Manager instead of Genesys IPMX and SIP T-Server solely because their network backbone is , yes, you guessed it, Cisco.
Genesys is a very technolgically advanced company, that unfortunately has a very poor record with supporting its middle-tier users. I do not know about US, but in Japan, they still do not have Genesys Interacts, and when I asked about it, I was admonished and told to wait and wait and wait. Of course, this is the same Japanese Genesys whose VP told me that they want me to stop our http://www.starsystem.co.jp/GenesysForum Genesys forum because we create a bad rap for them since so many users discuss bugs on it. But then again, it was more than three years ago, so, hopefully, they got better since then :)
( I was even warned by a local Genesys VP that our Genesys Forum creates bad publicity for Genesys because we discuss Genesys bugs on it and they don't want