Over two days—Monday, March 17, and Tuesday, March 18—VoiceCon will devote a series of sessions, speakers and discussion forums to the migration from traditional technologies to IP-based contact centers. See the schedule below, and click on the session titles for detailed descriptions. There are two ways to gain admission: Register separately for the VoiceCon Next-Gen Contact Centers program, or attend with an "Entire Event" registration package (pricing and what's included).
In this kickoff session to Next-Gen Contact Centers, a leading contact center market analyst will lead a roundtable discussion among executives of the leading vendors, who will discuss the trends in contact-center applications -. Participants will learn the risks and rewards of moving to an IP contact center and how to plan for the future in this critical area of the enterprise. KEY QUESTIONS: * What are the main benefits to migrating to an IP contact center implementation? What are the biggest challenges? * What role are emerging Unified Communications tools and systems playing in the contact center? * What role is contact center software playing in the emerging area of Communications-Enabled Business Processes? * What's new about how vendors are offering contact center applications, in particular hosted, managed services and software as a service options?
Laura Conner DiSciullo, Vice President Global Applications Product Management, has over 17 years in the telecommunications industry and customer sales and service field. In her current role, Ms. DiSciullo directs the creation of industry-leading innovations for customer service applications delivering modular software capabilities for sophisticated customer-specific contact management ? integrating multiple communication media, self-service applications and business critical reporting. Ms. DiSciullo is a 2006 recipient of both the Avaya Presidents Award and the Avaya Leadership Award. Prior to joining Avaya, she led the Lucent Technologies team responsible for integrating the Internet into the traditional call center successfully delivering the industry?s first Internet Call Center. This achievement earned Ms. DiSciullo a prestigious Bell Labs President?s Award for innovation. Prior to joining Lucent Technologies, Ms. DiSciullo worked for AT&T holding positions in sales and marketing, financial operations and business development. Her last assignment with AT&T focused on professional services support and application development in the area of electronic commerce across various access media. Ms. DiSciullo graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Arts in International Relations from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. She earned a Masters of Business Administration in Economics and Public Policy from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Panelist - Paul Lang, Vice President, Product Management, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.
As Head of Product Management for Genesys, Mr. Lang is responsible for defining, developing and delivering product strategy for the company. Mr. Lang joined Genesys in 2005. Mr. Lang's distinguished career spans 20 years of management experience in the contact center and telecommunications industries. Prior to joining Genesys, Mr. Lang spent 10 years at Aspect where he held executive management positions in Product Management and Engineering. Previously, Mr. Lang held various senior management positions at the Cable and Wireless Group and NatWest Bank in the United Kingdom. Mr. Lang holds a Bachelor of Arts Honors Degree in Business and Marketing from South Bank University, London, England.
Panelist - Mike Bergelson, Director of Product Manag, Cisco
Michael is head of product management for Cisco's customer care applications. Prior to its acquisition by Cisco, he was co-founder and CEO of Audium, the leading provider of VoiceXML application software. He was also co-founder of online advertising solutions provider Conducive Corporation. Prior to this, Michael was a consultant with First Manhattan Consulting Group, where he helped major banking clients create and execute customer-knowledge driven product and marketing strategies.
Terrence Hickey is an Associate Partner in IBM responsible for contact centre technology solutions. With over 15 years experience in the telecommunications industry, Terrence's energetic style and innovative approach has lead IBM to be one of the leading edge companies in this space. He and his team have been applying their methods to create business value through integrated architectures, multi-media solutions and agent efficiencies. Terrence just recently completed his MBA with the Rotman School of Management and holds a post-grad in Telecommunications Management from Sheridan College.
Panelist - Dave Murashige, VP and General Manager for Multimedia Applications, Nortel
David H. Murashige Vice President & General Manager Multimedia Applications Dave Murashige is the vice president and general manager of Nortel?s Multimedia Applications business, including the Self Service, Contact Center, Messaging and Conferencing product portfolios. As the leader of the Multimedia Applications business, David is responsible for business strategy, profitability and product development/quality. Most recently, he served as vice president, strategic marketing of Nortel?s Mobility and Converged Core networks business. During his 5 years in this position, David led the global marketing of the company?s wireless and carrier core networks solutions. In this role, his responsibilities included strategic planning, industry/market intelligence and analysis, industry associations, and commercial marketing. In addition, during his 17 years at Nortel, David has held positions in product management for CDMA wireless networks and the Meridian 1 PBX system, in addition to marketing roles supporting the launch of the Companion wireless PBX system, and pricing and Enterprise-wide solutions for North America. David has been engaged in the communications industry since 1980. Prior to joining Nortel, he has worked at GTE, Wells Fargo Bank and Pacific Telephone/Bell in positions varying from sales, engineering, pricing, contracts and marketing. David is married with two daughters, enjoys reading, skiing and diving, and is based in Richardson, Texas.
Moderator - Sheila McGee-Smith, President & Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics
Sheila McGee-Smith, the founder of McGee-Smith Analytics, is a leading communications industry analyst and strategic consultant focused on the contact center and unified communications markets. She has a proven track record of accomplishment in new product development, competitive assessment, market research, and sales strategies for communications solutions and services. Ms. McGee-Smith works on a daily basis with both solution providers and enterprises. Her insight helps them develop strategies to meet the escalating demands of today's consumer and business customers. Ms. McGee-Smith has spent over twenty years in the telecommunications industry, including 12 years with analyst firm The PELORUS Group. Prior to her career as an industry analyst, Ms. McGee-Smith held sales management, market research and product management positions at AT&T, Timeplex and Dun & Bradstreet. Ms. McGee-Smith was awarded a bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University, majoring in psychology and an MBA with majors in marketing and management information systems from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Sheila is a regular blogger on CMP?s information portal No Jitter at www.nojitter.com.
Agents often need to tap expertise that doesn't reside within the contact center, and that creates challenges ? knowing if the person is available, how he/she prefers to be reached, etc. Unified Communications tools are becoming available that can be incorporated into contact center communications systems and improve the process of connecting the right specialists to customers, colleagues, contact-center agents and help-desk staffs. In effect, experts throughout a company can become an adjunct to the contact center, and this can affect everything from business processes to customer loyalty. This session examines how companies will use these new capabilities. KEY QUESTIONS * What's currently available to link agents and customers to specialists who can immediately address detailed questions? What's likely to be available over the coming 12?24 months? * What frameworks are emerging for deploying Unified Communications tools and systems within contact centers? * What are the elements to measure in preparing an ROI analysis? * What are the organizational and training implications of deploying these new systems? * How will Unified Communications change buyer-seller relationships in the contact center market?
Speaker - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting
Don Van Doren is a principal of UniComm Consulting, an independent consulting firm he founded with Marty Parker. The firm focuses exclusively on unified communications. It helps clients understand the potential for UC in their business, develop strategies appropriate to their goals and opportunities, identify specific applications and associated ROI, help identify supplier partners, and assist with implementation, including project management, change leadership, and metrics. In addition to his work on client projects and helping manage the firm, Don writes articles and columns and speaks frequently at industry conferences. Don is also president of Vanguard Communications, another consulting firm which helps clients plan, design, and implement innovative contact center technology and processes. He is a co-founder of UCStrategies.com. Before founding Vanguard, Don held management positions in several systems integration firms. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Contact Don at dvandoren@unicommconsulting.com.
Speaker - Paul Lutz, Product Marketing Prime, Nortel
Paul Lutz, Director of Global Contact Center Marketing at Nortel, is a 20 year veteran of the communications and contact center industries. While at Nortel he has held various positions including Market Development, Distribution Development, Systems Analyst and various marketing positions. He is currently responsible for market assessment and product market strategy while defining customer needs and delivering solutions that exceed customer expectations. Paul has been a leader in the organization, developing the Customer Experience 2.0 strategy and solution development direction. Prior to Nortel, Paul's vast experience included GTE, Rockwell, and Stratus Technologies. A popular speaker at training seminars and industry events, Paul is an evangelist for Nortel Multimedia Applications and the advantages of integrated applications to create competitive differentiation.
Speaker - Simon Gwatkin, VP, Strategic Marketing , Mitel
With more than two decades of marketing and strategic experience in technology, Simon Gwatkin is responsible for communicating and evolving Mitel?s corporate positioning and brand equity in the global marketplace. Appointed Vice-President of Strategic Marketing in 2003, Simon has raised Mitel?s international presence with key stakeholders and publics through dedicated and ambitious initiatives in marketing and media, analyst, and investor relations. Prior to 2003, Simon held a variety of executive roles in Mitel, including Vice President of IP Platforms. He was instrumental in the development and marketing of the company?s flagship IP-PBX platform during this time. Additionally, Simon brings a seasoned history of international business experience, ensuring continuity and an end-user focus in Mitel?s global marketing initiatives across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Simon is a well-regarded authoritative speaker. His extensive speaking schedule and insight into market dynamics and unfolding trends in user adoption have contributed to the emerging shift towards the mass adoption of IP communications. Simon is a board member of the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation, as well as an active member with a wide variety of trade and industry associations.
Speaker - Tim Passios, Director, Solutions Marketing, Interactive Intelligence
As director of Solutions Marketing, Tim's responsibilities include creating the positioning and messaging for all products in the Interactive Intelligence portfolio. Solutions Marketing is also the outward facing delivery team for webinar, seminar, analyst and media presentations as well as prospect and end customer demonstrations. Tim has been with Interactive Intelligence since 1998, and has more than 17 years experience overall in the contact center and business communications industry. Prior to joining Interactive Intelligence, Tim spent 7 years working in the contact center as an agent, supervisor and manager.
This session will help you understand the different players in the IP contact center market, their product offerings and market positioning. A top market analyst discusses the key factors you should use when evaluating vendors and their offerings. KEY QUESTIONS: * Are the leading IP-PBX vendors also the leading IP contact center vendors? * What are the various vendors' strengths and weaknesses? How do they compare on price? * What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a different vendor for your IP contact center and IP-PBX? * What do IP contact center packages offer in the way of new features and functions that were not available with traditional offerings? * What new developments can we expect from the vendors in the coming 12 months, and how should this affect your procurement plans?
Speaker - Sheila McGee-Smith, President & Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics
Sheila McGee-Smith, the founder of McGee-Smith Analytics, is a leading communications industry analyst and strategic consultant focused on the contact center and unified communications markets. She has a proven track record of accomplishment in new product development, competitive assessment, market research, and sales strategies for communications solutions and services. Ms. McGee-Smith works on a daily basis with both solution providers and enterprises. Her insight helps them develop strategies to meet the escalating demands of today's consumer and business customers. Ms. McGee-Smith has spent over twenty years in the telecommunications industry, including 12 years with analyst firm The PELORUS Group. Prior to her career as an industry analyst, Ms. McGee-Smith held sales management, market research and product management positions at AT&T, Timeplex and Dun & Bradstreet. Ms. McGee-Smith was awarded a bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University, majoring in psychology and an MBA with majors in marketing and management information systems from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Sheila is a regular blogger on CMP?s information portal No Jitter at www.nojitter.com.
The more you know about your customers, the more productive your contact center can become. There's a new set of metrics that are on the minds of contact center managers -- customer defection saves, service-to-sales conversions, and cross- and up-sell ratios ? but the ability to produce those metrics requires a new level of hardware and software systems, all of which must interoperate to present contact center agents with an accurate history of the callers. This session will explore the emerging systems and analyze the leverage points for integration. KEY QUESTIONS: * What elements comprise the growing field of "customer intelligence?" * Where are the key leverage points for deployment of customer intelligence systems? * What are the technical and business process issues that need to be addressed for deployment to be successful? * What does it take to integrate the subsystems with the rest of contact center communications infrastructure and services?
Speaker - Rick Baggenstoss, Southeast Regional Director , Merced Systems
Speaker - Alex Massie, Vice President of Business Solutions, Clickfox
As Vice President of Business Solutions, Alex Massie manages the delivery of business analytics and training services for ClickFox. He ensures ClickFox products deliver value and are successfully adopted by customers during and after implementation, and has successfully deployed solutions across all major industry verticals in a variety of interactive channels / systems. He is a frequent speaker at various CRM conferences throughout the United States, and is also a published author on the topic of customer experience and behavior in single and multi / cross-channel environments. Prior to joining ClickFox, Massie was an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton performing Management Consulting focused in Strategy and Business Process Redesign with emphasis on Customer Relationship Management. He began his career honorably serving in the US Navy as a Reactor Operator and Scuba Diver aboard Fast Attack submarines. He earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, and his Bachelor of Science degree from Thomas Edison State College.
Speaker - Ike Mitchell, Principal, Computer Sciences Corporation
Mr. Mitchell is a Principal Consultant at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and a Contact Center specialist with in-depth knowledge of process re-engineering, customer service and technology. He has focused on both the technical and human side of contact center management. His experience includes assessing and avoiding business risks, planning technology assets, and managing large projects. Mr. Mitchell has extensive industry experience and has provided consulting services in over 100 contact centers covering multiple applications, sizes, technolgies and industries.
Moderator - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting
Don Van Doren is a principal of UniComm Consulting, an independent consulting firm he founded with Marty Parker. The firm focuses exclusively on unified communications. It helps clients understand the potential for UC in their business, develop strategies appropriate to their goals and opportunities, identify specific applications and associated ROI, help identify supplier partners, and assist with implementation, including project management, change leadership, and metrics. In addition to his work on client projects and helping manage the firm, Don writes articles and columns and speaks frequently at industry conferences. Don is also president of Vanguard Communications, another consulting firm which helps clients plan, design, and implement innovative contact center technology and processes. He is a co-founder of UCStrategies.com. Before founding Vanguard, Don held management positions in several systems integration firms. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Contact Don at dvandoren@unicommconsulting.com.
The contact center brings together a wide array of communications and network equipment and services. Some adjunct systems have been important parts of a contact center infrastructure, and now that we're adding unified communications and new customer intelligence systems, the number of piece-parts will further expand. Contact center executives, who have long faced a major a challenge getting traditional elements to work together, find that the future is likely to be even tougher. This session will examine ways to ease this long-standing struggle. KEY QUESTIONS: * What frameworks are emerging for deploying unified communications and other tools and systems within contact centers? * How do all these new capabilities work together? How do they integrate with legacy systems? * What is likely to be the share of new project budgets that are devoted to integration? * What are the organizational and training implications of the new integrated systems?
Speaker - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting
Don Van Doren is a principal of UniComm Consulting, an independent consulting firm he founded with Marty Parker. The firm focuses exclusively on unified communications. It helps clients understand the potential for UC in their business, develop strategies appropriate to their goals and opportunities, identify specific applications and associated ROI, help identify supplier partners, and assist with implementation, including project management, change leadership, and metrics. In addition to his work on client projects and helping manage the firm, Don writes articles and columns and speaks frequently at industry conferences. Don is also president of Vanguard Communications, another consulting firm which helps clients plan, design, and implement innovative contact center technology and processes. He is a co-founder of UCStrategies.com. Before founding Vanguard, Don held management positions in several systems integration firms. He has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Contact Don at dvandoren@unicommconsulting.com.
Panelist - Kevin McPartlan, VP, Contact Center Solutions, Intervoice
Kevin McPartlan, VP/GM Contact Center Solutions Mr. McPartlan has more than 25 years of experience in providing strategic product and engineering leadership at successful telecommunications and call center companies such as Nuasis, Aspect Communications, ROLM Corporation and David Systems. He was a founding member of the Nuasis team where he was responsible for writing the specification for Nuasis? SIP-based multi-channel contact center. In 7 years at Nuasis he had executive roles leading engineering, business development and product management. During his 11 years with Aspect Communications, he led the product architecture team and was instrumental in the design and engineering of the Aspect CallCenter automatic call distributor through the 1990's. Following that, he focused on sophisticated contact routing including networking contact centers. Prior to Aspect, McPartlan was with David Systems where he worked as a software engineer on an integrated voice/data PBX. At ROLM Corporation, he worked on the development of the CTI integration of ROLM's PBX with computer systems as well as ROLM's ACD offering. Since the acquisition of Nuasis by Intervoice in 2006, McPartlan is the GM responsible for directing the expansion of Intervoice further into the contact center market. He holds a BA in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, is a member of the IEEE and is a named inventor on six US patents for contact centers.
Panelist - Tim Kraskey, VP Marketing & Business Development, Calabrio
Tim Kraskey is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of Calabrio, Inc. Tim oversees product management, marketing communications and business development. Tim started his career as a top account manager for ADC. Following ADC, Tim joined Canadianbased Newbridge Networks as one of the company?s first sales personnel. He was an Account Manager for the New York City Metro Region and later Director of International Sales ? selling to both service providers and enterprise networks. Tim grew sales as Director of ATM Marketing at General DataComm from $0 to a $45M run rate in 18 months before leaving and starting his own company. Tim co?founded Sahara Networks, which developed an open architecture for building and managing ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks. Sahara was acquired by Cascade, then Ascend and later Lucent. Most recently, Tim was a Managing Partner at YankeeTek Ventures along with Howard Anderson, founder of The Yankee Group. YankeeTek is a Venture Capital fund for early?stage technology. Tim and Howard Anderson co?authored the first sales and sales management class at MIT Sloan. Tim has brought his class to the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He is also an active participant and on the advisory board of the Carlson School for Entrepreneurship founded by Gary S. Holmes. Tim has a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of Minnesota.
Panelist - HENRY BECHTEL, Global Service Product Manager, IBM
Hank Bechtel is a Global Services Product Manager responsible for developing IP Contact Center infrastructure services on a worldwide basis. These services help companies design and upgrade the traditional TDM contact center infrastructure with IP based technologies. IP based voice, presence, web and video communications combine to create a powerful advanced communications system, enabling companies to improve customer interactions through multiple channels and to implement a business resiliency strategy that accommodates remote agents and geographically distributed operations. Hank has 30 years of experience with IBM in networking, including 15 years in network consulting and managing services delivery.
Panelist - Brian Bischoff, Global Vice President, Voice Platform Sales and Solutions, Genesys Telecommunications
Brian Bischoff, Global Vice President for Genesys Voice Platforms and Solutions, has spent more than 20 years focused on Contact Center technology and Customer Care solutions. Brian brings an applied knowledge of delivering advanced customer solutions to leading enterprises and carriers. Before joining Genesys, Brian was responsible for Product Management and Product Development at Telera, a leading pioneer in VXML voice processing software. In addition, Brian worked in several roles at AT&T including Product Management, Offer Development and Sales. Brian has a BS in Business Administration, and an MBA from the University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. He has also earned an Advanced Management Certificate from the Kenan-Flager Business School at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Panelist - Vickie McGovern, VP, Global Customer Service & CEBP Solutions, Avaya
Vickie McGovern, Avaya's Vice President of Global Customer Service and Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) Solutions, is an industry veteran with over 20 years of industry experience. A sought after industry speaker and author, Vickie has held leadership positions at Cisco Systems, Nortel and Aspect Telecommunications. Having focused in communications applications, Vickie's experience within systems engineering, product management, professional services and marketing enable her to have a broad perspective on the changing world of communications and its integration into companies? business processes. As the VP Global Customer Service and CEBP Solutions, Vickie and her team are responsible for driving the creation of market driven solutions and then delivering those solutions into the market. Vickie attended George Mason University where she focused on her passion for writing and majored in journalism. She is the author of many industry specific white papers and articles and is also co-creator of several patent pending ideas around communications technologies.
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