Information and the practical and usable analysis of information provide a measurable advantage to companies. While all companies analyze data within silos (customer service, finance, sales, etc.), few have the capability to view the data in a holistic way. Businesses are more than the sum of their parts and need to view how actions of one department affect other departments and the enterprise. For example, information within a recorded call can provide information data on product defects. Without an enterprise-wide data management and analysis process, that information may languish within the workforce optimization solution.
Upstream Works released Version 3 of its products in January 2012. With the new version, the company expanded its philosophy analytics is a process not a product out of the contact center and into the enterprise. It has not, however, diluted its data-centric outlook. If anything, Upstream Works not only expanded its reach, it has enhanced its analytical capability. The needs of each organization are unique, so each installation needs to be adapted to those unique needs. With the uniqueness of the organization in mind, Upstream Works creates custom analytics process for each installation that includes a flexible analytics datamart and a set of role-tailored agent interfaces.
Customer interactions are no longer limited to calls. More and more contact centers are becoming multi-channel contact centers incorporating email, chat and social media in to the operational mix. Moreover, interactions are no longer contained within the contact center. To serve customers to the best of their ability, companies need to incorporate the talent and skills of employees and partners throughout the enterprise. Moreover, interactions are no longer short events but now have a life-cycle as it passes through a corporate workflow. Interactions are born, grow, mature, sometimes spawn little interactions, and end. The complete life-cycle of an interaction is a series of events where the customer or customer data is processed by an element (or multiple elements) of the enterprise. Elements may be agent facing, IVR self service, or even business applications like mobile banking. With each contact, the customer leaves his or her “mark” which provides information about why he or she contacted the company, what occurred, and the outcome of that interaction.
Upstream Works’ suite of products gathers data as interactions progress through their life-cycle. A typical interaction starts at agents’ desktop where Upstream Works Contact Center Agent (aka UpStart) gathers necessary information and passes to the Business Interaction Manager (BIM). However, it is becoming more common that the interaction starts in an IVR or Web Self-Service application. Upstream Works Contact Sentry is an application that resides on various systems and collects interaction data from these systems and passes it onto the Business Interaction Manager (BIM).
Business Interaction Manager organizes the information collected by each interaction hub and then defines profiles of common interactions which not only supplies users with frequencies and trends, but also with profiles of who made the contact and why, as well as what was the most common outcome. Users can analyze the profiles to determine corporate and support priorities as well as possibly product directions. Profiles are not static and are continually being updated with new data from every interaction hub.
Business Interaction Manager also supplies a significant set of reports and dashboards written using Business Objects. Moreover, since Upstream Works’ datamart is a MS-SQL database, the schema can be accessed using any number of business intelligence tools, such as IBM’s Cognos and SPSS.
In this latest revision, the company has evolved its Call Management Automation Server into the Interaction Management Automation Service [LINK]. Like CMAS, IMAS is a comprehensive computer telephony integration infrastructure that acts as an interaction hub. However, where CMAS supplemented the third party ACDs, Upstream Works’ Interaction Management Automation Services supplements interaction third-party routing engines with analytics from agents, interaction hubs, and Business Interaction Manager.
Upstream Works is a privately held company headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1995 as Canadian Lynx with a focus on building computer telephony integration solutions for the Telco and outsourced markets. The company changed its name to Upstream Works in 2000. In 2005, HP acquired a 20% stake in the company. Upstream Works earns most of its revenue in Canada and US but several of its customers are international corporations. The company is an Avaya DevConnect partner, Business Objects partner, Microsoft ISV and Cisco Development Partner. Upstream Works reseller network includes Bell Canada, Ronco Communications, Hiscall Communications, Sunturn and Parallax Technologies. Finally, Upstream Works’ customer base includes Ingram Content Group, The Sutherland Group, Permanent General Companies, and Canadian Tire Financial Services.
In many ways, information is almost as important in business as is cash. The right information can provide businesses with a substantial competitive advantage. However, the information needs to be sliced and diced in such a way as to make it useful. Upstream Works provides tools that enable businesses to glean useful analysis from the tons of information they get on a daily basis. Concentrating on revenue sources, customers, and the ways in which they interact with a company, Upstream Works provides information that enables businesses to streamline and improve their customer interactions.
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