Altitude Software Emerges in the North American Contact Center Market

By Sandra M. Gustavsen

Analyst, Access Intelligence LLC

 

Altitude Software, a global contact center solutions vendor, continues to expand operations and increase its partner network throughout the world. The Altitude unified Customer Interface (uCI) contact center solution serves more than 650 customers in 55 countries with a strong customer base in EMEA and in Latin America and an emerging market presence in North America and in Asia Pacific. Recently, Altitude added Canada-based Unity Telecom to its growing list of global reseller partners. Unity Telecom designs, implements and supports IP based business communication systems from a number of vendors and has an extensive history with Avaya (News - Alert) since 1989. Now, Unity Telecom will also offer Altitude’s uCI contact center solution to customers in Canada and the western United States, bringing a cost-effective, integrated solution to the contact center and IP telephony market. 

 

Altitude Software solutions have been deployed by U.S. and Canadian companies since 1995; however, in early 2007, Altitude Software concluded a major reorganization of its operation and partner program in the U.S. and Canada under the leadership of Mr. Mark Lepko. “Altitude Software is increasing its global presence and expanding operations in the major contact center markets. We have been investing in the US market for a few years now, and our new team will enable new business opportunities and provide our customer base and our expanding partner network with increased support,” notes Mr. Lepko, President North America, Altitude Software.

 

Altitude Software's Unified Customer Interface (uCI) is a complete suite of contact center modules for customer interactions (fax, voice, email and Web) that integrates with leading TDM and IP telephony switches. The solution is comprised of one platform with four cumulative modules: Default Routing, Business Routing, Intelligent Routing and Virtual Routing.

 

The latest release, uCI 7.5 adds native IP support that makes it easy to distribute operations and include remote agents, along with proactive customer service features and user-friendly voice self service. Notable functionality includes “flexible licensing” which allows the reuse of licenses up to the maximum number of licenses purchased. A License Manager tracks concurrent logins and sends out custom alerts if there is an imbalance in calls versus e-mails or web chat requests. For example, during peaks of high calling volumes, contact centers can assign agents to basic call handling, but alert agents to switch to handling e-mails when call volumes are lower or if e-mail inquiries spike.

 

In other news, Altitude has integrated its outbound dialing application with a Do Not Call compliance service from Georgia-based PossibleNOW. Now, customers deploying Altitude’s Unified Customer Interface (uCI) suite of contact center modules, specifically the Unified Dialer solution, can be sure that their company is complying with federal and state rules and that agents are not calling phone numbers listed as “do not call” or companies not listed, but that have requested not to be called.

 

TelecomTactics Takeaway: Altitude Software with its unified Customer Interface (uCI) contact center solution has a strong customer base in EMEA and in Latin America and is emerging in North American and Asia Pacific markets. While Altitude Software solutions have been deployed by U.S. and Canadian companies since 1995, the company is forging ahead, expanding operations and increasing its partner network following a major reorganization in the U.S. and Canada in 2007.

 

Recently, Altitude added strategic reseller partner Unity Telecom that will offer Altitude’s uCI in Canada and the western United States. North America is an important target market since the U.S. had the largest market share of agents in 2006, 47.1 percent, followed by EMEA at 29.1 percent and APAC at 16.1 percent, according to TelecomWeb’s InfoTrack for Converged Applications "Full Year 2006 Contact Center Report." The report also says global contact center shipments for the full year 2006 yielded worldwide manufacturer revenues of $2.4 billion, with agent-seat shipments (new and add-on) approaching 2.6 million.