Ensuring Seamless Collaboration Conversations with Alcatel-Lucent's OpenTouch Software

Thriving in the current economy requires a level of employee productivity that would be nearly impossible only a few years ago. Recent advancements in telephony and unified communication (UC) technologies have allowed enterprises to connect an otherwise disparate workforce through a rich seamless conversation experience.

The latest step forward in UC comes from Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), whose OpenTouch Conversation software is changing modern workflows by extending UC across multiple channels, platforms and devices.

Alcatel's OpenTouch software helps overcome the limitations of today's workforce, made up of an ever-increasing percentage of virtual employees who need to engage with equally mobile partners and customers. OpenTouch makes distance between players in the value chain a detail, not an obstacle.

Here's how: OpenTouch is a singular software client that operates across multiple devices, including enterprise SIP phones, smart deskphones, video end-points and personal gadgets like laptops, smartphones and tablets. Unlike other siloed solutions, OpenTouch seamlessly extends conversations across a near-limitless number of medias such as email, IM, video, audio, and application-sharing.

So, an enterprise user can begin a conversation with a quick IM using their iPad, then quickly transition to a voice call or video conference with one or more parties using their office phone or PC – all without interrupting the flow of the conversation or losing its context. Users can quickly and easily add participants to the conversation as needed and through the platform of their choosing. New entrants to the conversation can quickly be brought up to speed through a detailed history of the collaboration session.

The five pillars of OpenTouch include:

• Real-time, dynamic conferencing
• User-centric connections
• Meaningful presence information
• Native video capabilities
• Social knowledge & applications context

"The genius behind OpenTouch Conversation is that it leverages the power of smart devices and reconciles all the modes of communication in one place in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface," says Eric Penisson, vice president and general manager of Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) business. "With OpenTouch Conversation’s outstanding approach, employees will be able to get much more out of their tablet or smart phone."

In addition to providing unprecedented functionality, OpenTouch enables enterprises to respond effectively to the "Bring Your Own Device' phenomenon, where employees use their personal devices for business purposes even if their company specifically forbids it. With OpenTouch, enterprises can be assured that their employees are working within the bounds of highly productive, company-controlled software.

The success of OpenTouch, scheduled for deployment in June 2012, will rely heavily on its ability to improve productivity in a number of scenarios. Alcatel-Lucent detailed a handful of these situations in a recent addition to its whitepaper library, titled "Business Collaborative Conversation Scenarios."

Keep the conversation moving forward

Productive business conversations are rarely completed in one sitting through a singular medium, especially for mobile employees. Rather than attempting to pick up the pieces of a conversation through a game of phone tag (News - Alert), OpenTouch enables "road warriors" to seamlessly switch the conversation from their cell phone to their desktop phone or tablet as needed.

In addition, employees can tap the "presence awareness" function to discover if other participants have video capabilities. Users can even share an interactive whiteboard to walk customers through figures and other business-critical documents.

Collaboration across multiple geographies

Communicating with partners and clients that reside in different time zones can be a difficult proposition, especially for architectural and construction companies that rely on schematics, drawings, photographs and other visual clues to advance a given project.

With OpenTouch, users can take photos and create videos of a building site and integrate them into email and IM conversations, and then add updated documents and other visual components as needed. This way, stakeholders can remain in the loop without needing to travel to a build site, saving time and money.

Improving customer service through first-call resolution

In order to minimize customer churn, enterprises must resolve customer complaints without delay. Quite often, this entails transitioning the customer from a call center employee to an expert more capable of handling their concern.

Unfortunately, handing off a customer to a fellow employee starts the process anew, forcing the client to reiterate both their personal information and their problem.

Rather than putting a customer on hold and dragging them through the mud an additional time, contact center employees can leverage OpenTouch to search through a community of knowledge workers to find the best fit – all while continuing the conversation with the customer.

Before forwarding the call over, contact center reps can educate the expert on the caller's issue by sending them contextual information like screenshots, text notes and a history of the their purchases.

Check out the OpenTouch resources page for additional information on how OpenTouch can improve productivity and drive value for employees, partners and customers.