Chrysalis Software Inc., a provider of contact center professional services and products, has introduced a cloud or premises-based multimedia information delivery service that manages outbound notifications for contact centers. The Chrysalis Notification Service delivers information quickly via a variety of media such as phone, text message, e-mail or Twitter. Messages can be sent on a one-by-one basis, or broadcast to tens of thousands of recipients.

The Chrysalis Notification Service uses a Campaign Manager to manage a list of contacts and a set of rules for how recipients should be contacted. The rules include the media to be used, the specific media parameters, for example Twitter login credentials, and any restrictions on the way the messages should be handled. A campaign can be large or small, one-time or continuous and is used to manage notifications that may be sent in real time or in batches. A one-time campaign includes the start and end time, allowing a contact center to load it overnight and run it the next day. A continuous campaign is up and running all the time, but can be configured to different time zones. Using the Web service interface built into the Chrysalis Notification Service, new or updated contacts can be inserted into the campaign list at any time and the notification will be queued for launch.

Campaigns can be configured to limit the hours during which dialing occurs, to make sure that calls aren't launched too early or late in the day. For nationwide campaigns, the Chrysalis Notification Service can examine the time zone of each contact to be sure that time restrictions are respected in the recipient's time zone.

"Providing the best possible customer service requires more than staffing a contact center and waiting for calls to arrive," said Debbie Diersch, president and CEO, Chrysalis Software. "Today customers expect that the companies they do business with will contact them proactively with the information they need. Outbound notifications can generate significant cost savings by modulating inbound call center traffic. By launching outbound calls when the contact center is quiet and allowing customers to opt out to less busy agents, a percentage of calls can be deflected away from the contact center busy hours. The Chrysalis Notification Service allows contact centers to provide these notifications to their customers, resulting in fewer calls and lower staffing levels during busy hours."

The Chrysalis Notification Service works with the Call Progress Detection (CPD) capabilities of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform to monitor every outbound call in order to determine whether or not the call is successful. If a call fails due to a busy signal or other problem, the Chrysalis Notification Service schedules the call to be retried at a later time.

The Chrysalis Notification Service can embed the URL of a mobile Web page in the text message, which can be viewed optimally on both messaging phones and smart phones. Simple messaging phones receive the SMS message giving the basic information, while smart phones with Web browsers allow the recipient to tap the URL, bringing up more detailed information on a mobile Web page.