Microsoft Lync and the Contact Center

The big Microsoft Lync launch was yesterday. As you'll have seen from my post yesterday, as a contact center analyst there was more content for me at the Cisco event than in New York with Microsoft. But it was important enough to me to get up early for the analyst briefing at 7:30 am local time and listen for the words "contact center," (admittedly while I put on my makeup).

And hear "contact center" I did. About half-way through the hour briefing, talk turned to Microsoft’s UC Partner Ecosystem. We were told that there are five categories of partners: Applications, Infrastructure, Devices and Video Conferencing, Communications Service Providers and System Integrators. And the very first partner mentioned? Aspect.

Over 2.5 years ago, at the March 2008 VoiceCon event, Microsoft announced a multi-year strategic alliance with Aspect Software to help bring unified communications to contact centers. While there has been a role for Aspect with Microsoft with the earlier version, OCS R2--providing expert presence through the MOC desktop for example--full-scale replacement of existing legacy PBXs and ACDs was not the target. In the video below (captured at Aspect's Chicago location last week), EVP Mike Sheridan of Aspect talks about what the Microsoft Lync Launch means to his company and customers.

While certainly a "blessed" contact center partner, Aspect is not alone in believing there is opportunity in the market for a Lync-compatible contact center application. Yesterday Interactive Intelligence announced integration with Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Another alternative comes from Clarity Connect, that bills its solution as a contact center platform that uses features inherent in Microsoft’s platform (like skill search) to deliver a system "at a fraction of the cost of other top-of-the-line products." The cost comparison presumably refers to solutions from companies like Aspect and Interactive Intelligence.

The Lync marketing team is realistic, understanding that companies will rarely rip out existing infrastructure and replace it with Microsoft Lync and partner contact centers. But they also believe that there are cases where companies will do that precisely that. The best example is a firm that is at end of life with their existing investments in voice. Whether they will replace both the voice PBX and the contact center with a Microsoft Lync system remains to be seen.