New technologies enable the transition of call centers to contact centers, including:
Multi-channel (voice, text chat, Web collaboration, e-mail, video) services on converged networks
Customer relationship management (CRM) and business applications
IP networks and voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications
These new contact centers promise bottom- and top-line competitive advantage, driving organizations to deploy them. Established enterprises and service providers have attempted to compete in this new environment while taking advantage of their sizable existing investments. Infrastructures in place are typically based on time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks, deployed for voice services under the traditional call center paradigm. They have added additional, if ultimately limited, functionality such as automatic call distributor (ACD) and computer telephony integration (CTI) through a vertically integrated architecture.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/custcosw/ps1844/products_white_paper09186a0080145588.shtml
