Killer Apps

The Apps That Matter

Because Microsoft is the manufacturer behind so many desktop applications, many companies’ integration efforts are focused there. Konat notes, for example, that the Mitel phone systems that Superior Communications represents can easily integrate with a wide range of Microsoft programs. Alternatively, Mitel and some other phone system manufacturers also offer their own software packages that provide similar functionality to some Microsoft products.

Mitel calls its productivity package “Your Assistant.” In addition to messaging, the program also supports document sharing, a capability that can be very useful to accounting firms or other businesses that consult with clients over the phone on document-related topics. An accountant, for example, could display a client’s tax return on a computer monitor so that both he and the client could view it, and he could illustrate the changes he proposes to make to the return.

Solutions such as Your Assistant and software that interfaces with Microsoft Exchange or Communicator may garner the most attention because many types of employees can benefit from them. But telecom software interfaces to more specialized IT applications also can provide major benefits for a company as well.

“The two major categories of software we see people tying their phone systems to are CRM [customer relationship management] and ERP [enterprise resource planning],” says Keith Meierhofer, a partner at N’compass, a Minneapolis-based telecom consulting firm. Some phone system manufacturers have developed interfaces with popular CRM programs such as PeopleSoft and popular ERP programs such as Oracle. But if companies expect to use such interfaces, N’compass advises them to make sure that their phone system manufacturers offer them before making a phone system purchase. If a pre-packaged interface is not available, a company could find itself facing a steep price tag and significant time investment for custom software development required to integrate them.

Some telecom productivity solutions require software to be installed on a central server and at each desktop, Bussey explains. Some offerings also may support a browser interface to enable authorized employees to use the applications even when they are away from the office.

By using a browser interface to call center management software, for example, a call center manager can remotely monitor call agents and calling patterns. “To do that in the old days, you would have had to be in the office,” Bussey notes. He adds that by the same token, software is available from a number of sources that enables visitors to a company’s Web site to click on an icon onscreen to place a call to the company’s call center.