Interactive Intelligence CIC and Call Manager

[imbdpetty]

Has anyone integrated Call Manager and CIC version 2.4 IP for Call Center / ACD applications using SIP or H.323 as a replacement for Cisco / Geo-Tel?

This is a consideration in our enterprise and would like to hear of good or bad experience.

Thanks,

Don

[dgahm]

Don,

We have been running EIC 2.2 in a CCM TAPI integration, and are planning an upgrade to CIC 2.4. All gateways are on the Call Manager side, so SIP or H323 is not a consideration.

Overall our experience has been good, though we had some early trials and tribulations. Some was the learning curve, and some was poor support from the reseller. We now have direct support which has been excellent.

Are you also looking at IPCC Express?

Dave

[imbdpetty]

Dave,

Thanks for the quick reply.

We have IPCC 7.0 enterprise deployed to 4 or 5 small business units. Currently CIC 2.2 SR-D (TDM) is running in 1 of our large existing call center and they want to keep it. It has been in production for over 6 years with a lot of CTI, Web, and email integrations and they don?t feel that IPCC brings any benefit and it is very costly. The move to IP CIC is less then half of moving to IPCC so they want to migrate to IP and use the Cisco infrastructure.

I3 has recommended that we not move to the TAPI integration and from all info I can gather this is correct as it is limited and hard to support. We are looking at SIP or H.323 with Cisco session border controls.

In your infrastructure will CIC have any direct PSTN connections or will the connections to Call Manger be T1 / PRI? Are you going to use the CIC remote agent function to the CM IP phone?

Please excuse if I don?t get the IP part the first time around. I am very experienced with I3 and TDM CIC however just learning the IP integration as described by I3. My white board changes daily as I put all the pieces together.

Thanks,

Don

[dgahm]

Don,

In our configuration EIC looks like IPCC Express would in an all Cisco environment. There are no TDM connections to I3. All phones are registered with Call Manager, usa Unity voice mail, and EIC is a CTI application controlling the phones through the TAPI interface. This allows the IP phones users to be local agents. We have no remote agents.

In your case it sounds like CIC is a standalone phone system with ACD, and you just want to use Cisco gateways. I don't have experience with SIP, but would be inclined to go that way. Cisco support for SIP has been continuously improving, and that seems to be the emerging standard.

Dave

[imbdpetty]

Dave,

When you move to CIC 2.4 are you staying with TAPI?

We just want to use CIC as an app server.

Don

[dgahm]

Don,

Yes, if CIC is just handling the ACD then TAPI seems to me to be the way to go. It has worked fine, and no one at I3 has been able to provide a good argument for changing -- but I always encourage them to try.

Do you have a Call Manager cluster at that location?

Before committing to the upgrade we did look at dumping I3 and going to IPCC Express, but it would have been a major project, and I3 does some things very well that Cisco can't match, recording being the most important to us.

Dave