Information for Teleplex Developers
This page is intended for developers, and discusses the different ways to
create Call Center applications and
IVR
applications.
Call Center
Applications
There are three ways to create Call Center applications for agents.
1. Teleplex CallBrowser ("TPXCB")
This
is the easiest and quickest way to create basic (and a few sophisticated),
web-based applications. TPXCB is a telephony-aware web browser, and provides
the toolbar and buttons that agents need to login and logout, change the agent
state, and control the telephone. Advanced telephone functions such as coach,
monitor, and conference can also be via the popup "soft phone", which is
usually left hidden to maximize the agent's screen real estate.
Applications are web pages created with the TPXCB companion program, "Teleplex
PageBuilder", typically in about 15 minutes. In addition to the toolbar and
buttons mentioned above, the web pages have a frame in which to show the screen
pop data that you need, and a results frame where the agent can display a
calendar, register a callback call, set the call outcome code, and register a
comment. Optionally, you may create a third frame which can be to link to other
web pages such as your products page, FAQ page, and so on.
Applications can include a script that agents can refer to when
talking to the customer. The script is personalized for each customer using
some of the "screen pop" items, helping the agent to have a professional
and friendly conversation.
PageBuilder can create both Inbound and Outbound pages for CallBrowser that
handle "screen pop" and call result registration. More sophisticated
data entry or survey pages can also be created that allow the
agent to fill in answers to a set of questions. PageBuilder not only creates
the web pages, but also creates the corresponding database structure—a great
time saver if you do lots of short-term outsourcing jobs.
As a developer, you need to determine what information needs to be
displayed, what information needs to be collected, and then create, and test
the web page.
2. TPXAgentApp
If
the web-based approach doesn't suit your needs, the next easiest thing is to
use TPXAgentApp. This is essentially the toolbar and soft phone functionality
of TPXCB, repackaged as a plug-in for VB.Net and C# applications. To use this
you add the TPXAgentApp control to your main screen, set a few properties,
perhaps define a few event handlers, and go—the majority of the telephone logic
is transparent to the application, so you can concentrate on the business
logic.
3. TPXAppLib
The
third approach is to use "TPXAppLib", allowing you to get "closer to the
metal". Both TPXCB and TPXAgentApp are built on this library, which
itself is based on the ActiveX CT Council's "ACT" API.
TPXAppLib is oriented only toward agent-side applications, not
every conceivable telephony function. Therefore, it is easy to use
because there are only about 30 functions and a small number of events to deal
with. TPXAppLib is typically with VB.Net or C# to implement your own business
logic and your own presentation of the telephone control. This approach is most
appropriate when you need to create a sophisticated application for order
fulfillment, insurance policy processing, or a sophisticated reservation system
has large number of detail screens.
IVR Applications
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) applications are self-service applications
accessed via telephone. IVR applications can be either as a standalone service,
or in a Call Center as supplementary services. Examples of some applications
that have been created with Teleplex are:
- Language Net. This is an extremely sophisticated
conferencing system that provides various ways for a caller to connect to an
interpreter (on duty at the moment) with a third party.
- Voice Mail. This is a basic IVR application common in
many businesses. The Akasaka Prince Hotel uses a Teleplex-based voice mail
system for their guests, and Accel Corporation's "EveryNet" and "Message+"
services are Teleplex-based systems providing voice and fax messaging to over
1,500 companies and 100,000 users around Japan.
- Voice / Fax Information Service. FutureNet Corporation
uses Teleplex to provide generalized voice and fax "town pages" and catalog
retrieval services.
- Emergency Notification. Honda Research uses a
Teleplex-based system, "ILAS", in Japan and Thailand. Car and bike engines are
connected to monitoring equipment, which in turn is connected to ILAS. When an
abnormality is detected during testing, ILAS can contact the engineer(s) in
charge, either by phone or by e-mail.
- Order Entry. IVR-based order entry systems make life
easier both for the customer and the supplier, especially when the customer is
buying repeat items.
IVR applications are quite different from the agent applications mentioned
above. An IVR application interacts with the multiple callers through audio
prompts (either recorded or generated on-the-fly with our text-to-speech or our
"speech synthesis" feature). In response to the caller's input, the application
then typically queries a database, and plays back the answer.
IVR applications are separate executable files that run on the Teleplex
server or a separate machine on the network, and you can run any number of IVR
applications simultaneously. Teleplex routes incoming calls to the right IVR
application based on rules that you set up in Teleplex such as the dial-in
number or particular trunk.
TPXIVRLib
Our IVR library ("TPXIVRLib") internally is based on the
ECTF S.100 specification.
However, that specification is really oriented towards "C" applications, so
TPXIVRLib adds a level of abstraction allowing applications to be written in
easier-to-use languages such as VB.Net and C#.
Scripting
Finally, we should mention "TPXScript", our scripting language for Inbound Call
Center handling. If you need to perform either complex calculations or
have complex database interaction, you will want to use TPXIVRLib. However, for
many simple applications you might be able to implement it using TPXScript,
saving lots of development time.