Ask your customer if they have a call center. Most verticals from Finance, Legal, Insurance and Retail all have Call Centers.
This is an ideal scenario for a cloud-connected device powered by IGEL, and it is a great way to get a foot in the door.
Here is why.
- Call centers take on a massive role in today’s business environment, and it is increasingly delivered via business process outsourcing (BPO) in the form of call centers.
- These call centers may be centrally located or consist of distributed, remote workers.
- Ensuring comprehensive availability (up to 365/24/7) places new demands on call center workers, especially IT.
- Call centers provide on-site customer service in multiple shifts, so the available workstations are used by different employees one after the other.
- Many call center workers operate either full- or part-time remotely from home or elsewhere.
- Whether on-site or remote, people need easy, fast, and, above all, secure access to sensitive company and customer data, which strongly implies controlled access to a corporate cloud and network.
Simple and Secure access to cloud workspaces
- IGEL OS enables easy, secure access to the latest versions of Citrix Workspace, VMware Horizon Client, Microsoft AVD, and Amazon Workspaces, to name just a few.
- IGEL OS is secure by design. It is modular and includes a secure read-only file system. Enhanced security includes IGEL’s complete “chain of trust,” which verifies all boot-up processes from the user hardware/UEFI to the destination VDI host or cloud and applies to both on-network and remote users working with unified communications tools.
Support for Unified Communications
- IGEL OS is ideal for unified communications, and the IGEL UMS is the perfect complementary platform for managing and controlling devices where call center agents may be looking to collaborate from anywhere.
- IGEL OS supports more unified communications software than any other virtual desktop or cloud workspaces OS provider. In addition to Zoom, Teams, Cisco WebEx Meeting & Teams, Jabra, and Avaya are also supported.
- IGEL OS offers outstanding multimedia performance and supports multimedia offloading to optimize the end-to-end user experience in audio-video or audio-only calls between users or other standards-based desktop video and conference room systems.
Peripheral Support
- A vast selection of headsets from three of the most prominent vendors for unified communication hardware: Poly, EPOS & Jabra.
- Most IGEL OS-supported headsets can be customized by IGEL’s management software, the Universal Management Suite (UMS). The UMS can update headset firmware when available.
Shared Workplace
The Shared Workplace functionality is an optional feature of the IGEL UMS that allows user-dependent configuration based on setting profiles and configuration settings created in the UMS that can be linked to user accounts within Active Directory.
This functionality enables support of different people using the same device while using their own individual settings, or in roaming environments, where users frequently switch workstations.
After a user has logged in, the licensed end-user for Shared Workplace automatically configures itself. It does this via the UMS server using the individual or group profile stored in the UMS database. These profiles can easily be assigned by an administrator to a user with the help of the UMS console using a convenient drag-and-drop procedure.
Annoyances about constantly different-looking and functioning desktops are no longer an issue that prevents employees from enjoying their work and remaining productive.
The staff loves it and they are now free to interact with customers and provide the very best experience without barriers from their IT system.” With Shared Workplace, people can get their work done “their way”, regardless of which endpoint device they are using, from shared stations in call centers.
The IGEL Shared Workplace helps ensure maximum organizational management, control, and security by policies while end-users enjoy a highly efficient and productive digital workspace experience.
BYOD?
- UD Pocket to the Rescue
- Scenario: Enabling remote workers and temporary staff access to the corporate environment via their own device, all while being secure, compliant, and managed.
- Any compatible x86-64 device can be set up in minutes with IGEL’s UD Pocket. A highly portable and tiny USB stick solution, the UD Pocket can be delivered via express post to users located almost anywhere. They simply plug it into their device and then connect to the IGEL Cloud Gateway via the Internet, and they are up and running!
- Once finished, remove the UD pocket to return to the native environment. All underlying apps and files remain untouched. The ease of control, even from remote locations, makes the UD Pocket a simple mobile guest user solution for IT administrators. Upon completion of an assigned task or contract, the UD Pocket at a remote location can be disabled by the IT admin.
Citrix Call Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
“Transitioning to IGEL OS could not have been easier for our call center team. IGEL offered full support, making life simpler for our IT staff.”JOE VERDERAME
VP of Architecture and Operations, Corporate Information Technology, Citrix
SUMMARY
THE CUSTOMER
THE CHALLENGE
- Hardware mix. Over time the call center supported a mixture of aging laptops and different thin client devices. Thus, platform-independent software became a requirement.
- End-user experience. Equipment needed to be as “connected” as possible, providing reliable, “always-on” access for 120+ inside sales representatives (ISRs).
- Manageability. The organization’s IT team desired a simple to deploy, easy-to-manage intelligent operating system that could support the latest version of Citrix Workspace to ease the burden on IT.
- Security. IGEL’s UEFI smart-boot capabilities prevent manipulation of the boot sequence and subsequent execution of malware, enabling IT organizations to confidently future-proof their investment.
THE SOLUTION
- IGEL Workspace Edition
- IGEL UD Pocket
- Citrix Workspace
- VoIP integration – GoToMeeting and Skype for Business/Teams
- Headset hardware – Poly (formerly Plantronics)
- CRM integration – Salesforce
At the Citrix Call Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, 120 inside sales representatives (ISRs) drive business success by creating opportunities through outbound calls, following up on leads, and closing deals.
Segmented by customer size, geography, and deal size, ISRs are assigned desks that feature a thin client device running Citrix Workspace; dual view monitors; a physical desk phone; a Poly headset; CRM integration; and, VoIP integration for communication and collaboration.
Over time, ISRs come and go, or are assigned to different segments, but the desktop set-up remains the same. Regardless of which desk they are assigned to, an ISR can always access their digital desktop via Citrix Workspace. It is a system that the call center has relied on for quite some time now, according to Michelle Fiore, Inside Sales and Marketing, Citrix.
“During certain points in time, we have provided our managers with laptop computers, but they all prefer their thin clients used in conjunction with Citrix Workspace, where they can log on and access all of the applications and information they need to do their jobs,” she says.
ISRs: IGEL Works Great!
Through IGEL OS, Citrix has been able to unify all of its hardware endpoints at the OS level.
“The reliability of the solution ensures that our ISRs have uncompromised and secure access to mission-critical apps they need to perform at their best,”said Kurt Heusner, Vice President, SMB Digital Transformation Sales, Citrix.
“Further, IGEL’s UEFI smart-boot capabilities prevent manipulation of the boot sequence and subsequent execution of malware, enabling us to confidently future-proof our investment in IGEL. It’s a win-win-win combination.”
Future Expansion Plans
Following the successful pilot of IGEL at the Ft. Lauderdale call center, Citrix is considering areas where it can expand its IGEL deployment.
“Our plan is to run GoToMeeting directly on an IGEL-powered endpoint,” added Verderame. “The vision is that any Citrate can walk into any conference room, log into their GoToMeeting account and conduct a meeting. Being able to achieve this with IGEL OS requires first deploying the Google Chrome browser to the IGEL device, then locking down Chrome so the user is restricted to GoToMeeting when running Google Chrome on IGEL OS. If everything works as expected, it may be that all conference rooms are set up with an IGEL-powered endpoint, including those in and around the call center.”
Hi,
I know call centers are vital to your overall customer support. Have you looked at IGEL as part of that endpoint strategy? I bring it up because the unique challenges that Call Centers face fit perfectly with their technology out of the box.
- Security and Compliance: Due to the nature of the customer data collected. IGEL ensures no data is collected on the endpoint and its read-only OS makes it difficult for malware to be effective.
- Unified Communications: IGEL OS offers outstanding multimedia performance and supports multimedia offloading to optimize the end-to-end user experience in audio-video or audio-only calls between users or other standards-based desktop video and conference room systems.
- Uptime: Time is money, and the IGEL OS is very stable and requires minimal updating, minimizes and supports the need for “hands-on keyboards” as it can be managed and supported from anywhere in the world.
- Peripheral Support: Due to the IGEL Ready program, headsets, speakers, and keyboards work when they are plugged in, out of the box.
If you are willing, let's set up a quick 30-minute call to review in more detail.
Best regards,