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2008-09-23 - Fonality Extends HUD to Call Centers and Conferenc

HUD 3 represents a complete rewrite of the call-handling and presence-detection application, according to Fonality CEO Chris Lyman. The most noticeable change is making everything more visual. Now the software identifies contacts and callers by displaying their pictures, not just their names and numbers, something Fonality calls Photo Caller ID. More specifically, it adds visual voice mail, so users can see a list of their messages in a window and click to listen to, save or delete them.

The visual enhancement goes well with another new feature of HUD 3: its integration with Google Talk, which also provides photo identification of users. The integration means Fonality users can exchange IMs (instant messages) with Google Talk users outside their companies, detecting their presence, availability and status just as if they were fellow employees. It also means when they're away from the office, they can similarly communicate with their co-workers using, for example, Google Talk-equipped BlackBerry handsets. Integration with AOL and MSN is in the works, according to Lyman.

 The most powerful enhancements, though, are HUD 3's extension of graphical control to call-center and conferencing activities. As applied to the Call Center Edition, it provides a window that shows information like how many calls are waiting in the queue, callers' average wait time and the percentage of abandoned calls. It also displays a list of agents with color-coded buttons indicating what kinds of calls they are on.

 In addition, HUD 3 provides graphical tools for supervising call-center agents. Managers can send staff text messages individually or as a group from a pop-up window. They can also use the new contact-card feature — also a pop-up window (with the person's picture, of course) that functions as a sort of note pad — to, in this case, enter information about the agent's performance.

 HUD 3 makes the conference-calling function equally graphical. Users can drag and drop individuals (also identifiable by pictures) into calls, creating conference rooms on-the-fly, as Lyman put it. They can also kick users off a call, mute them and record the call, all with a mouse click or two.

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