1214 — Verint Systems Focuses on Actionable Intelligence

May 13, 2004 | Conteúdos Em Ingles

Mundo
In the first three parts of this series, we examined why it’s important to invest in, or upgrade, quality management (QM) and logging applications in your contact center, and focused on two leading vendors: NICE Systems and Witness Systems . In part four of this series, we focus on another leading QM and logging vendor, Verint Systems.Verint Systems, headquartered in Melville, NY, with offices in 15 countries, is a subsidiary of Comverse Technology. Verint, similar to competitor NICE, sells logging and QM solutions, as well as security and surveillance products . The company has two divisions: Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI), which sells logging and QM solutions for contact centers, liability recording and compliance; and Digital Security and Surveillance, which sells communication interception and digital video security systems to law enforcement, government agencies and global enterprises.

 

EBI generates approximately 40 percent of the company’s overall revenues and the Digital Security and Surveillance division accounts for about 60 percent. (As Verint does not provide separate financials for its divisions, these numbers are estimated based on company guidance.)Corporate revenues for Verint for fiscal year 2003 were $193 million and profits were $18 million.

Verint Products
In February 2001, Verint revamped and regrouped all its contact center products under the ULTRA family name. ULTRA Release 9.0 became generally available in February 2003. The ULTRA line of products includes:

  • ULTRA Intelligent Recording: A unified platform for contact center recording and analytics; this is the core system module.
  • ULTRA Contact Center Quality: Provides quality monitoring, including random and 100 percent screen capture and an agent evaluation application.
  • ULTRA Customer Xperience Management: Provides real-time, rules-based analyses and alerts.
  • ULTRA Enterprise Transaction Management: 100 percent logging solution for liability recording and compliance.
  • ULTRA Customer Intelligence Analytics: Includes two applications: IntelliFind, a speech analytics speech-to-text application; and IntelliMiner, which identifies and extracts trends from contact center data and delivers it to relevant decision makers.
  • ULTRA IntelliPortal: Customizable, role-based portal that provides access into all data collected in the system (comes with ULTRA Enterprise, ULTRA Contact Center Quality and ULTRA Express).
  • IntelliConnect: Software services-oriented application programming interface (API) layer.
  • ULTRA Express: On the same platform as ULTRA Enterprise but geared for contact centers with 10 to 100 seats. (Does not include the ULTRA Customer Intelligence Analytics module.)
Verint Technology
The Verint ULTRA product line is Microsoft-centric and coded in C and C++, with the exception of the new IntelliPortal, which is a .NET application. Verint provides turnkey systems (hardware and software) or will install its software on customer-furnished hardware. The product runs on any Windows 2000 server and can be used by any Windows client. The product uses AI Logix for telephony interface and AudioCodes for DSP voice cards that are installed in the server along with the software. ULTRA products use a Microsoft SQL database and are open database connectivity (ODBC) compliant.

Verint Recording and Quality Monitoring
Verint does 100 percent recording, quality assurance recording, random recording, on-demand recording and Internet protocol (IP) recording. Verint captures 100 percent of all interactions (voice and screen) and then decides what action to take, a process Verint calls “selective retention.”

Verint Differentiators:

  • Recent emphasis on marketing is gaining it broader name recognition and bringing them into more deals.
  • Current “do what it takes” strategy enables very aggressive deal making and pricing, winning deals.
  • Very loyal customer base, thanks to continuous emphasis on customer service.
  • Verint is emphasizing and investing R&D dollars in text categorization to develop tools that yield a better understanding of what happens in contact centers speech analytics.
Verint Challenges:

  • The third largest company in the call logging/quality management market, based on sector revenues for 2003.
  • As R&D and marketing revenues are generally a percentage of total revenue, Verint appears to invest less in these areas than its two leading competitors.
  • Verint needs to grow its company size to remain competitive, in the long-term.
  • To grow, Verint should consider purchasing one or more of its competitors and, so far, has not made an acquisition in the QM/liability recording market, despite substantial cash assets, though the company has acquired companies in other markets.
Looking Ahead
Verint realizes that its core products—logging and quality assurance—are quickly becoming commodities, so it is looking for a new way to extend the value of its offerings. Verint is increasingly concentrating on providing products in the area of actionable intelligence. The company is dedicating a significant amount of R&D dollars to developing products that capture unstructured customer communications and transform them into a corporate data asset that can be used both inside and outside the contact center. These solutions are meant to enable enterprises to make crucial business decisions better and faster. Also, look for Verint to build a consulting practice that concentrates in this area.

In my next article in this series, we’ll look closely at another QM/logging market leader—etalk, which is one of Verint’s biggest competitors. This series is based on DMG Consulting LLC’s new 2004 Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market report (www.dmgconsult.com).

Donna Fluss

Donna Fluss is the Principal of DMG Consulting LLC, delivering customer-focused business strategy, operations and technology for Global 2000 and emerging companies. Ms. Fluss is a recognized leader and visionary in customer relationship management and a highly sought-after writer and speaker. She is the author of the industry-leading 2004 Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market Report and the 2004 Guide to Successful Contact Center Offshore Outsourcing. Contact Ms. Fluss at [email protected] .

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