ProCall 4.0 Enterprise – Functions

The icons represent the typical ProCall Enterprise scope of benefits including: CTI, Presence Management and Instant Messaging to improve Collaboration within companies - and via Federation beyond company borders.

Today, the communication tools like telephone, E-mail and increasingly Instant Messaging, are fundamental components in most areas of business environment. New media applications (e.g. desktop sharing) offer enhanced functions as well as practical challenges: users and administrators should not be overwhelmed; commercially an optimum on investment protection should be offered and sustainability should be promoted. ProCall 4.0 Enterprise unifies the use of typical communication services, so that users can concentrate on their actual jobs in their individual business context and the overall associated process can therefore be simplified.

Please find here an overview of ProCall 4.0 Enterprise key features:

    Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is the essential part of modern Unified Communications solutions. As a pioneer of CTI, ESTOS has its roots in technologies bridging the gap between computers and telephony, which is the foundation of Unified Communications solutions today.

    Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) signifies the connection between the telecommunication world (TC) and the world of information technology (IT). With CTI, a user is able to remote control his phone to automatically set up, receive and end a call out of his computer program. CTI allows callback and the forwarding and mediation of calls as well as the establishing of conference calls. Typical CTI programs signal the status of all telephone devices to the user, regardless of whether they are non-wireless or mobile devices. This integration with the data processing world can take place on different levels: Integration of data services, integration on the application layer and in the user interface.

    The CTI viewpoint differentiates generally between two architectures, but mixed versions are also possible:

    First Party – the single Workspace:

    A direct connection between telephone and computer is used for single workspace solutions. The connection can also be established via LAN. The ESTOS solution for this environment is called ProCall One.

    Third Party – Teams, Partner, Contacts

    ProCall 4.0 Enterprise is a powerful 3rd-party CTI solution for networks with several users. Within this environment the control and monitoring of phones and their logical assignment to users takes place centrally on a server, which has applications for easy administration as well as additional, intelligent services. These are the basics for team cooperation and create a significant added value compared to single-user solutions. ProCall Enterprise has a very powerful and scalable 3rd-party CTI implementation with almost all VoIP, hybrid or TDM PBX systems.

    In the world of classical CTI concepts it was not the user that was the focus, but rather his telephone lines (“line-centric architecture”). Here it was always, “line 177 – Franz Mueller – busy”.  ESTOS ProCall 4.0 Enterprise as a SIP based UC platform puts the emphasis on the person, a new “person-centric architecture”. Naturally, here the person communicating comes first! Consequently, it is now “Franz Mueller – busy – in a call” or “Franz Mueller – busy – in a meeting until 12:00”. If on top of this you integrate new media into the communication concept then the following questions arise. Is the person I want to communicate with available? Through which medium can I make contact?

    The answer to this is provided by ProCall Enterprise’s integrated presence management system. It links the so-called presence information with each user. This is created by defined rules, based on the status of several services (e.g. telephony, calendar, and system services). The presence information provides dynamic information about the availability of the communication partner.

     

    ESTOS own developed Presence Management system is based on standards (SIP, SIMPLE, ECMA). Within ProCall 4.0 Enterprise the concept is implemented as followed: A dedicated presence status is assigned to each user of the system. The presence is built by clear and defined rules of the statuses of different services. telephony status (telephone), calendar status (calendar), online/offline (IDLE status) or manually set by the user. The presence provides information about the availability of contacts - depending on current status of the different services:    

    • available 
    • busy
    • absent
    • inactive 
    • do not disturb
    • presence information not available

    Within ProCall the following additional symbols are used:  

    • If a user is not registered in the server, its present status is transparent
    • If a call comes in via a respective line of a user his presence status is indicating red/orange
    • If a user has put a note, this is shown up with a small grey "i"  

    Beside of these contact-based presence information the telephone lines can also show the different statuses:

    • line available, no active call
    • active external call
    • active internal call
    • indicating red and green –
    • coming in
    • line out of service
    • active call forward
    • active DND (in case of active DND the icon for call forward is shown)
    • calendar meeting: free, busy, out of office
    • Federation – external contact

    In today's typical office environment, two forms of media dominate: the telephone – to communicate in real-time (a synchronous medium), and E-mail – as the predominant form of correspondence (an asynchronous medium) for a less urgent form of communication. Other asynchronous media, for example, the fax, is less important now due to the rise of E-mail communication. Because of continuous optimization of networks and the rising acceptance from users, another relatively new method for written correspondence has been established: instant messaging (IM, chat).

    With this method two or more users communicate via text messages. Messages are exchanged on a real-time basis via a push method.

    Users work usually with a special client application like the ProCall client. The clients are connected with each via the UC Server or another service. All internal ProCall users can use IM also within a dedicated group. With Federation also external contacts can be adressed.

    Realtime Collaboration, being a synonym for Communication and Collaboration requires a software, which allows users, teams and organizations to accomplish their day-to-day operations in a quick and efficient way. Considering a business environment, the software should be integrated seamlessly into all work and business processes to create a great value. ProCall 4.0 Enterprise is a Realtime Collaboration solution for coporate networks (LAN/VPN) and via Federation also beyond companies borders (WWW).

    Our Top Ten Highlights to improve Your Collaboration:

    • Presence Management – optimised reachability
    • Instant Messaging – communicating simply and comfortable compare to E-mails
    • CTI Pop-up – appropriate address of customers due to context-related information  
    • Monitor – overview about colleagues, teams and important contacts
    • Group journal - information, who within a team has spoken with a respective contact regarding a dedicated topic
    • Calls in absence via E-mail or SMS - accelerated processes
    • Plan calls for others - call tasks can be delegated and tracked
    • Automatic messages about presence status and change of presence status ("tagging")   
    • SIP domain for companies - consistent SIP address for all employees
    • Picked-up calls are shown within the client - unnecessary calls are not needed anymore

    The Federation implemented in ProCall 4.0 Enterprise allows the networking with other organizations such as companies or public institutions - based on open standards (e.g. SIP/SIMPLE) and secure protocols (TLS/MTLS).

    A federation is a special trust frame or trust network for users of IT and telecommunication systems, which creates a secure structure for communication between organizations and companies. This results in optimzized communication and collaboration processes for all memebers. Within the frame of this structure, every organization defines the quality of the information which it would like to reveal and decides which services and systems may be used for the exchange of information.

    Typical communication services which are used today on the base of a federation are presence management and instant messaging (Chat). The presence management of a federation allows the exchange of presence information with, for example, partners or customers beyond company borders. In the future other services like voice or video could be also shared within federation scenarios.

    Who benefits from Federation?

    Federation is helpful for people working in teams within oprganizations or being in touch within a business relation - including colleagues, suppliers, and customers. Compare to the eletronic data exchange (EDIFact), which structures the trade relations between the involved partners, the Federation allows a structured communication between organizations.

    Federation is a brandnew networking concept with the potential to revolutionize the communication between companies like the E-Mail used to be. Please read also our latest press release.