Communications-Enabled CRM

C3IP Communications, a privately-held VoIP provider based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has integrated its communications functions with the Act! customer relations management software. As a result, C3IP clients using Act! have access to customer histories, account information and other resources whenever customers call in.

These days we might call the availability of communication features inside an application a "mashup." Decades ago we would have called this an example of computer-telephony integration. By either name, the idea is roughly the same: embed communications inside a business process.

UM to UC to CEBP

It isn't clear how much actually has changed except the semantics, but application providers finally are getting better at explaining the benefits to be gained from IP-based communications capabilities. Several years ago the buzzword was "unified messaging." Last year it was "unified communications." This year it is "communications-enabled business processes.

However meaningful the change, it seems fairly clear that the terrain now is shifting in a subtle way. In the old days "telephone service" "dial tone" or even "messaging" was a discrete point solution, not requiring understanding of what the end user actually was doing at the use site, Martin Suter, Objectword president says.

By definition, a supplier has to understand much more about what a user or organization actually has to accomplish at a site, and what software is used to support those tasks, to "communications enable" those processes.

Almost by definition, value added resellers and other technology support organizations have had to know more about what users wanted to accomplish, compared to retailers of "voice" services. And that probably will be telling over the next several years as the CEBP or "next acronym" business moves forward.

In the meantime, expect to hear lots more about how communications can affect everyday business or organizational processes, ranging from safety to inventory management and customer management. It isn't "old wine in new bottles," though some will rush to try that. It's a new role for communications: enabler of better software.

BroadSoft for Act!

Forget the hype about "voice mashups," the integration of communications capabilities with applications. The idea is about as simple as mating the BroadSoft call control and feature set with the Act! customer management application.

The VoIP AddOn developed by C3IP seamlessly integrates ACT! with BroadSoft’s BroadWorks platform Basically, BroadWorks users now can access those features directly from Act!

That means the ability to "click to dial" from the database, automatic logging of calls and screen pops on inbound calls, for example. So far, voice mashups largely have been developed as a way to improve the efficiency or effectiveness of current business processes.

That's just the way such innovations are introduced, because in a business context there has to be some measurable benefit on either cost or revenue fronts. The easiest way to demonstrate such effects is to "save money" or "save time" doing things that already must be done.

It will be a while before people start to redesign whole processes in light of ubiquitous communications embedded inside the applications themselves.

Telcos More Open to 3rd Party Partners

One difference between 2006 and 2007 was that global telco executives began to shift attitudes about the importance of working with third party application and service providers. Where they might arguably have been more focused in 2006 on cost cutting and other internal measures, 2007 found executives more focused on how to position themselves for new services.

Though there arguably is more recognition that advertising operations will demand partners, there also seems to be more recognition that core communications capabilities can be leveraged as a revenue stream if those features are made available to other application and service providers.

This is a very big and quite important shift in thinking.

Outshouts Launches Voice Mashup Service

Outshouts has launched the beta version of its Web service allowing users to create introductions of their favorite audio tracks with their own voice before sending the files to anyone with an email address or mobile phone.

Outshouts can be sent to one person, or a group; marked public or private; or posted as a widget on blogs or social sites like Facebook or Myspace. Recipients do not need to be registered to receive Outshouts and the service is free.

Outshouts supports targeted, personalized micro-casting by making it easy to mash together your own commentary (recorded by phone or computer) on top of your favorite MP3s, and send or posted.

Tracks uploaded from a computer are accessible for sending directly from a mobile phone using an Ineractive Voice Response system.

Ribbit!

Ribbit has unveiled a new platform for developing telephony services and integrating them with Web apps, as well as what it says is a new business model as well.

The company says it has a 600-plus developer community and already can be integrated with salesforce.com.

"The world doesn't need another phone company," says Ted Griggs, co-founder and CEO at Ribbit. "What it needs is new kind of phone company, one that liberates voice from its current confines -- devices, plans and business models -- and more readily integrates into the workflow of our professional and personal lives."

At the core of Ribbit's technology offering is an open platform that enables developers to bridge the worlds of traditional telephony and the Web. The Ribbit SmartSwitch, evolved from a Lucent-tested CLASS 5 softswitch, and open Flash/Flex-based application programming interface will enable non-telephony developers to quickly build innovative, rich voice applications and integrate them into Web sites, communities and applications, Ribbit says.

By connecting voice from any Flash-enabled browser to the PSTN (public switched telephone network) and new VoIP (voice over IP) networks, over 750 million computers become the next generation of phones with developers deciding how they work, the company says.

With an assortment of back-office and service delivery infrastructure, the platform also enables developers to not only build services, but sell them as well.

In the first quarter of 2008, the Ribbit for Salesforce workflow integration will be available for salesforce.com customers via the AppExchange.

In the first quarter of 2008, Ribbit will open its service to consumers. Also in the first quarter, the company will sell commercial and enterprise packages. Both the consumer, small, medium and enterprise markets will be areas of focus for Ribbit.

Ribbit is another example of the growing "voice is a mashup" trend, where communications and voice simply are integrated with applications.

More SOA-Based Voice, Text from BlueNote Networks

BlueNote Networks has launched a pair of new application program interfaces for its SessionSuite communications platform. The new APIs for BlueNote's SessionSuite SOA Edition, which allows developers to embed voice within SOA applications running on IP networks, make it possible to add outbound notification and interactive response to business applications.

For example, the ON-SF allows users to add account activity notification or stock alerts, prescription renewal notifications, flight delay or cancellation notifications within the framework of existing business applications.

The ON-SF goes beyond voice notifications to reach intended message recipients through multiple channels. It enables not only voice notifications, but e-mail and text message notifications as well.

The announcement provides more evidence that communications are being embedded within the context of Web and enterprise applications.