By Melanie Turek, Senior Vice President, Nemertes Research Inc.
April 28, 2006

Siemens’ [NYSE: SI] new contact-center technology, HiPath ProCenter Enterprise 7.0, highlights a trend Nemertes is seeing in the contact center: Nearly 50% of companies with contact centers report the use of real-time communications
within them, according to Nemertes’ benchmark, “The Virtual Workplace.” That makes sense, given that presence can enable virtual contact centers—so agents can work from anywhere—as well as boost performance in traditional
environments.

The solution’s presence and collaboration tools include Team List and Team Bar features that let agents see the real-time, telephony and online availability of peers, experts and even employees outside the contact center. They can
then click to chat, transfer calls, or conference in another agent. The application’s capabilities are not unique—Nortel’s [NYSE: NT] Expert Anywhere solution offers similar features—but they are nevertheless welcome.

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