cicero xm: desktop improvement

Desktop Improvement

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1

What is Cicero XM? ................................................................................................................................................. 2

Cicero XM Core Technology .................................................................................................................................... 3

United Data Model® ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Desktop or Surface Integration ........................................................................................................................... 4

Cicero XM Studio ................................................................................................................................................ 4

The Cicero XM Design and Build Process ......................................................................................................... 5

Cicero XM Architecture ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Client Applications .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Cicero XM Client Deployment and Maintenance ............................................................................................. 7

Other Cicero XM Capabilities .......................................................................................................................... 8

How is Cicero XM Used? .......................................................................................................................................... 8

Next Steps ............................................................................................................................................................ 12

About Cicero ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Cicero Contact Information ............................................................................................................................... 12

Cicero, Cicero XM, Cicero Discovery, United Desktop and United Data Model are trademarks or registered

trademarks of Cicero Inc. and/or its affiliates. Other company names and/or products are for identification

purposes and are the property of, and may be trademarks of, their respective owners. Version 04042014

Headquarters • Cary, NC USA • US 1-866-538-3588 Fax 1-919-380-5121 • International 1-919-380-5000 E-mail: [email protected] • http://www.ciceroinc.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ciceroinc.com/

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©2014 Cicero, Inc. All rights protected and reserved.

Introduction Your company does not have the luxury of time when it comes to increasing productivity, reducing costs, and

improving the customer experience. Customers expect seamless service now and employees have to be more

efficient and more effective in order to deliver high-quality service during each customer interaction. From

intra-company back-office applications to servicing applications, your company needs to maximize each

customer interaction while leveraging existing investments in best-of-breed applications.

Cicero XM allows companies to streamline the processes that inform business users from the back office to the

contact center. It can be deployed quickly, economically, and iteratively (no “rip and replace”) and allows

customer service representatives to simultaneously tap into disparate applications from a single, unified

desktop. Cicero XM also addresses the immediate needs of IT executives, sales executives, contact center

managers, and anyone who needs access to the critical information and streamlined processes that will elevate

the customer experience. Cicero XM handles major IT and business requirements including:

Saving time and money: Cicero XM allows companies to do more with less. It streamlines workflow,

shortens and improves training and reduces call times. Implemented in weeks with an ROI in just

months, Cicero XM also reduces the need to replace existing applications, develop in house solutions or

begin a lengthy enterprise application integration project.

Connecting technology to customer advocacy: More employees get more effective access to customer

information with Cicero XM. This wealth of information presented when it is needed, enables enterprise

and contact center employees to make faster decisions based on timely information. The contact center

employees become empowered to deliver an experience based on the customer’s needs and value.

Ease of configuration and change control: Composite screens, workflows, scripts, alerts and other

notifications can be easily built and maintained by business analysts or IT without the risk of negatively

impacting the underlying applications. Cicero XM’s United Data Model™ keeps data secure and pure,

reducing change control cost and time.

Eliminating silos: Cicero XM is an automatic silo killer. Compliance, consistency of customer

information and other best practices are available through a mouse click, not a long chain of process-

based commands. In this way, companies can take a customer-oriented view of business rather than a

process-oriented view.

Getting the most out of your technology requires speed, flexibility, and a firm focus on the customer as the

beneficiary. Cicero XM gives executives and customer-facing employees new ways to achieve that. The

enterprise challenges of delivering integration, automation, unified desktops, and a complete interaction

management solution are not insurmountable. They are faster and more efficient than ever.

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What is Cicero XM? Cicero XM is desktop activity intelligence and improvement software for contact centers and the enterprise.

Cicero XM simplifies workflow, automates tasks, and automatically shares data between any applications from

back office to desktop servicing solutions. Cicero XM is the only truly non-invasive solution. It differs from

competitors’ various unified desktop concepts in that Cicero XM does not require taking away or hiding users’

access to existing applications but rather simplifies, extends, and automates processes using those applications

while allowing new applications to be simply and rapidly integrated. In addition, Cicero XM features tools to

create a modular, customizable interface, scripting or user guidance, screen pops, new composite applications,

and a powerful toolbar. The result is a highly efficient, intelligent desktop that not only improves business user

productivity but can also be quickly and easily changed to address ongoing business challenges. The following

table summarizes the key features of Cicero XM.

Feature Description

Desktop Event Tracking and Capture

Monitor and capture end user desktop activities across applications

Non-invasive Integration High level of object-oriented integration that eliminates the need for source code modification

Workflow Automation Automate manual work processes such as auto-notation of actions performed and synching data across applications

United Data Model™ (UDM) Provides a single, holistic view of the customer interaction data regardless of the source of that data.

SOA Consumer Allows for the retrieval of data that can be used with other integrated applications

Single Sign-On (Static) Manage application logins at the desktop by providing a secure location to enter and modify user information

Guidance Provides the ability to add context sensitive prompts and/or complete guidance for the user

Composites Create new, dynamic composite applications based on any desktop applications and data sources

Configurable Workspace Create a single interface with separate and/or composite applications

Integrated Softphone Controller

Provide TAPI or CTI server-based support with an integrated interface as part of the workspace

Centralized Data Store Collect desktop activities in a central store for real time and historical reporting and trend analysis

Single Sign-On (Dynamic) Securely manage credentials in a central location

End User Scorecard End user customizable snapshot of the number of interactions handled, sales made or other data

Server-based CTI Use server-based CTI to pre-fetch data for a given interaction

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Feature Description

Business Analytics Create dashboards and reports from blended telephony and desktop application data

Automatic Failover and Redundancy

Persist data and update applications when they become available again to avoid service interruptions

Cicero XM Core Technology Cicero XM uses the United Data Model, Desktop Integration, and the Cicero XM Studio configuration toolset.

United Data Model® The United Data Model (UDM) is at the core of Cicero XM. The UDM uses a unique abstraction layer that

isolates the source(s) of data from the use of that data in scripting, reporting, form composition, workflows and

other interaction components. The UDM can include data that is sourced from any other enterprise application

or data that exists solely within Cicero XM. Data elements are easily defined using the UDM Designer in Cicero

XM Studio (See Figure 1). No programming or database manipulation is necessary to add new data elements or

to bind them to existing data sources.

Figure 1 – UDM Designer in Cicero XM Studio

The United Data Model allows companies to:

Provide scripting, workflow, composite screens, enterprise reporting, data validation from multiple

enterprise applications without knowledge of, or impacting, legacy systems.

Provide a single view of the customer interaction data regardless of the source of that data.

Add new data elements to the UDM without an external data source.

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These elements may be used to gather any data that may not be available in any of the legacy

applications but can be reported together with that data to present a more complete holistic view of

the interaction or the customer.

Create your own UDM and add it to an existing UDM.

Allow business analysts to manage and maintain scripts and data elements without impacting the

integrity or security of the underlying applications.

Make changes to the underlying data sources without impacting the objects (scripts, composites,

etc.) built with the UDM.

Use the contents of the UDM for any given interaction to pre-fetch data for a future call and support

business intelligence and analytics.

Desktop or Surface Integration Cicero XM, the original desktop integration framework, is a unique solution because it allows you to non-

invasively exploit the interaction between the applications and the platform on which they run. Using Cicero

XM Studio, integrators interrogate or examine the interface exposed by an application (See Figure 2) and to

selectively access specific information at a meta-level without requiring a deep knowledge of that application's

internal implementation. Once the integrator has selected the information of interest, Cicero XM Studio

translates the integration specifications into application Data Providers that are bound to elements of the

UDM.

Figure 2 – Example of Interrogating an Application

Cicero XM Studio Cicero XM Studio is an integrated studio environment (See Figure 1) that consists of six designers: UDM,

Activity, Workflow, Script/Guidance, Composite Screen, and Reports/Dashboard. The designers can be

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deployed to both business and IT employees, allowing them to contribute to Cicero XM projects. For instance,

an organization can configure a deployable version of Cicero XM Studio to only contain the Script/Guidance

designer. This studio could then be given to a training department to convert training materials into live

interaction specific prompting and guidance to be presented at the precise moment of impact during an

interaction. Another configured studio may contain just the presentation designers. A third studio may contain

the Workflow designer (See Figure 3) and data modeling tool. While yet another could be configured to provide

the technologists with the Activity designer and United Data Model Binding and assignment designers.

The Cicero XM Design and Build Process

The Cicero XM Studio design and build environment is both flexible and

intuitive. Using the six designers in Cicero XM Studio you can easily:

Separate the design and build responsibilities

Target the correct implementation skill set

Enable team development

Control and provide a rapid turnaround for operations

Control and ensure the security of enterprise integrations

points for IT

Support Model View Controller (MVC)

architecture

Enable offsite development

Once an organization has defined your project requirements, you can begin using the Cicero XM Studio

Designers to:

Interrogate legacy applications to create Data Providers.

Design a United Data Model (UDM) and bind to the Providers. Auto-generate the Data Model and

Surface Model.

Develop domain specific language activities in .NET using the Surface Model and Data Model.

Build call/work flows using Activities and Rules with the UDM.

Develop Scripts with dynamic content and workflow control.

Layout composite screens and toolbars using content from the UDM and mash-up content.

Design Reports and dashboards using interaction data.

Figure 3 – Workflow Design

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Cicero XM Architecture

Client Applications

Cicero XM on the desktop runs as a Windows service, and provides integration and automation services for

existing desktop applications in both 32 and 64-bit environments. It is capable of moving data between

applications and controlling process flows across applications without having to modify the existing

applications in any way. Cicero XM works with most applications types including Windows, web, Java, and

mainframe applications such as 3270 or console applications.

Cicero XM includes a Windows application that provides the ability to display a context sensitive toolbar,

present “composite” displays and organize the user’s desktop by providing a docking interface for all

applications required for a given interaction while only presenting those applications needed for the current

application. It also provides a “command center” that allows access to scripting, a telephony control panel if a

TAPI-compliant phone client is available, and other key functions. Cicero XM is compatible with Windows XP

(SP3) and Windows 7 32 and 64-bit editions.

As indicated previously, both clients support the core abstraction features of the United Data Model, providing

the ability to build and modify workflows and scripts and composite forms without having to have specific

knowledge of where the data is coming from. Both clients also support secure single sign-on using the

maximum available encryption processes. Single sign-on may be configured to be linked to the user’s account

for all future use, or it may be restricted to a single session based on security requirements of the enterprise.

Both clients utilize industry standard architectures based on Microsoft .NET 3.5 utilizing Windows Presentation

Foundation (WPF) for all visual components, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for workflow management

and the docx open XML format for storing and managing scripts. In fact scripts can be created in Microsoft

Word or other docx compatible editor and then transferred into Cicero XM Studio complete with all graphics,

Figure 4 – Using your existing applications, you can automate processes, integrate data, hide applications with composite screens or provide a variety of other features to improve the employee desktop.

Context-aware Guidance/Scripting

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charts and other formatting intact. Both clients are fully capable of consuming web-services and acting as

database clients as well.

Cicero XM uses an n-tier architecture to add enterprise Customer Interaction Management capabilities to the

Customer Experience Management capabilities that exist within the Cicero XM client applications. Cicero XM

utilizes highly efficient and secure network communications based on standard Windows Communications

Foundation (WCF) architecture.

Cicero XM consists of a series of small servers and a Microsoft SQL Server database. The Cicero XM servers are

deployed using an n+1 scheme to allow for redundancy using as a base configuration a maximum load of 300

Cicero XM clients per server. One of the Cicero XM servers is designated to act as the “Master”. This server has

the responsibility for maintaining load balance among the other servers. If an enterprise CTI service is available,

or Cicero XM is configured to talk directly to an ACD, the Master server will also execute a “pre-fetch” on call

arrival against the Cicero XM Database to retrieve any data that may be available from previous contacts with

the caller. Lastly, in smaller implementations (under 500 positions) the Master server also acts as the web

server for the real-time dashboards and reporting.

Although not explicitly represented in the diagram in Figure 5, any Cicero XM server is capable of acting as the

Master. Cicero XM is designed for maximum reliability: if a Cicero XM server should fail for any reason, the

Master will automatically redirect the clients that were working with that server to other servers seamlessly. If

the Master should fail, one of the other servers will automatically “promote” itself to the Master and will

reallocate its clients to other servers.

The Cicero XM database is built on Microsoft SQL-Server (2005 or 2008) and can be deployed in an existing

data environment or as a separate server. Cicero strongly recommends utilizing standard Microsoft replication,

redundancy and backup procedures to ensure the level of reliability necessary for successful operations.

Cicero XM Client Deployment and Maintenance

Cicero XM supports full automatic deployment of Cicero XM solutions and runtimes with full version control

Figure 5 – Cicero XM Architecture

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and roll-forward/roll-back capabilities. There is no need to go to each workstation to install software whether it

is a solution update created by Cicero XM Studio or an update of the product itself. Updates may be scheduled

to deploy upon CSR login or immediately (between interactions). Only those portions of a solution that have

changed will be deployed and are fully compressed to minimize network load. Updates may be targeted to

certain CSR groups for testing. Deployments are automatically targeted solely to those CSRs who will be

affected by the change. When a CSR logs in, the client software automatically checks to confirm that it has the

appropriate version of all solution components that may be required for that CSR’s tasks.

Other Cicero XM Capabilities

Other capabilities provided by Cicero XM include:

CSR, Supervisor, Manager and other stakeholder dashboards

Dynamic, centralized Single Sign-on capabilities

Blended reporting and analytics consisting not only of interaction statistics but full business data

“Cradle to Grave” CTI management

Support for multi-interaction, multi-user workflows

Enterprise web-service provider will full load balancing and object brokering capabilities

Multi-site support

Work at Home Agent support

Kiosks and Web self-service support

How is Cicero XM Used? Communication, Collaboration, and Insight: Cicero XM empowers managers to build, implement and deliver

desktop servicing solutions using its own workflow tools, database and data store. Cicero XM comes with fully

integrated communications, telephony, CTI and other features that simplify processing, back-end integration,

reporting and analytics.

Cicero XM Example

Eliminates the need to manually copy and paste data between applications

An address change made in a supply chain system can automatically populate all other systems that use this information, including the servicing application, and vice versa

Uses CTI data to identify, retrieve and populate customer information in any CRM/servicing/customer management application

Once a call is identified via CTI, Cicero XM can grab the required data from a premise-based Oracle Siebel system or a hosted Salesforce.com application and integrate it into the employee’s servicing application

Delivers the appropriate screen to the employee, based on call context

Gives the employee the screen relevant to the IVR activity being accessed at the point when the customer decided to request live help

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Cicero XM Example

Shares after-call/post-call data with all appropriate applications

Copies and pastes the employee’s after-call wrap-up summary from the servicing application to an ERP or R&D application so that engineers can see what needs to be fixed

Passes data between mainframe 3270 screens and servicing/customer management applications, enabling the integration of information from legacy systems into the workflow of applications used by employees

Automates the transfer of sales data from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system into the employee’s servicing application

Uses a smart workflow to identify the context of a situation and capture relevant data from other systems, so the right information can be delivered to the employee to address the customer’s issue

When an employee accesses the credit line increase screen on their serving system, the smart workflow mechanism grabs the increase approval guidelines as well as the necessary information about the customer’s credit-worthiness to determine if the caller qualifies and to provide a dollar amount

Delivers desktop analytics; monitors, captures, tracks and analyzes everything that employees do while using their desktop servicing application to identify areas for process and system improvements and employee training

Cicero XM can identify when third-party applications supporting the contact center are slow to respond and when employees repeatedly go to the wrong screens; this information can be used to diagnose operating issues and employee training needs

Automates and generates employee activity reports, eliminating the need to manually collect and aggregate employee activity data in Excel spreadsheets

In merged environments, such as in banking, telecom, insurance, etc., where there are often two or more customer servicing systems, Cicero XM can find the appropriate information in all of the relevant systems, normalize and aggregate it, and present it to management in a standard format

Hides unnecessary fields, toolbars and data not required by employees, expediting the handling of inquiries and improving quality

Giving employees more information than necessary can be confusing or, even worse, cause them to be out of compliance; Cicero XM can hide customers’ personal information from the claims adjustment screens so that employees do not have access to information that is not relevant to them

Context-sensitive composite screens can deliver the appropriate toolbar based on caller information, such as caller’s incoming phone number, customer value, customer category, most recent purchase, payment history, etc.

The icons included in the toolbar change based on the needs of each caller; if a call is about an address change, the employee receives one set of icons; if the call is about a credit line increase, the employee is presented with different icons

Provides single sign-in and automated log-in capability for employees

Many servicing environments require employees to access data 4 to 10 different enterprise systems to resolve

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Cicero XM Example

customer inquiries, so employees often spend the first five to ten minutes of every work day just signing in; this sign-in process can be automated and accomplished rapidly by Cicero XM desktop

Presents a 360-degree view of the customer by accessing and combining data from all relevant systems and applications

Cicero XM can obtain customer servicing history from an Oracle Siebel solution, a list of sales transactions from Salesforce.com, and product configuration data from SAP; all of this information can be presented to the employee in one composite screen so that they do not have to jump among supporting applications to obtain the information they need to answer customer inquiries

Identifies the ideal prospects for up-sell/cross-sell opportunities; also identifies the best offers for these prospects

When a customer orders a pair of slacks, Cicero XM can flag this individual as an ideal prospect for a shirt and belt

Issues alerts, triggers flags or pop-ups to employees when a caller/customer requires special handling

If a caller is a known fraud risk, the employee receives a pop-up alert not to sell them anything and to transfer the call to the fraud department

Enforces compliance with business policies and rules by issuing pop-ups with instructions

When an employee tries to close down or leave a screen without filling in all of the required fields, the system sends a pop-up message reminding them to insert the missing information

Enforces compliance with business policies and rules by preventing employees from entering data into inappropriate fields or entering wrong data

If an employee tries to insert the wrong CVV numbers (security code) for a MasterCard, the system rejects the transaction and generates a pop-up message explaining why

Profiles customers and enables special handling for qualified callers

High net worth callers can be routed to the top-rated employees with the best quality assurance scores

Provides employees with guided scripts to facilitate the handling and resolution of inquiries

New employees are delivered the right scripts for each call type, while experienced employees may receive just a few reminders

Composite screens, workflows, scripts, alerts and other notifications can be easily built and maintained by business analysts without the assistance of IT or the risk of negatively impacting the underlying operating systems

When contact center managers need to modify or enhance one of the servicing solutions, they must complete the paperwork and submit the request to IT, where the submission is reviewed and prioritized based on their workload; this often delays the delivery of functionality that is considered high-value to contact centers but low-value by IT; the delay prevents the contact center from rapidly meeting the changing needs

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Cicero XM Example

of their internal and external customers; with Cicero XM, the contact center controls its own destiny by enabling business analysts to make the changes on a same-day basis (analysts can access the business logic that has been abstracted from the underlying code)

Includes a softphone capability that eliminates the need for employees to use a separate ACD console to answer customer calls

The contact center can build a new composite servicing application that has the information necessary to resolve 80% of all inquiries, as well as offering softphone controls so that employees do not need to use their ACD consoles

Provides role-based work spaces so that employees, supervisors and managers receive the screens and fields that are appropriate for their jobs

Each supervisor is enabled to see only the data for their employees and not for other teams

Simplifies the contact center reporting challenge by giving managers a server that collects operational (historical) and real-time data from all telephony and business systems and presents the consolidated data in real-time dashboards or customized report formats

Cicero XM can gather data from multiple ACDs, case management applications and the sales systems so that the contact center VP can compare the performance of each center down to the employee level, without manually integrating the results from a variety of systems

Provides an application development environment, database and data store that are capable of functioning as the primary customer information repository/case management/order entry/trouble ticket system for the department

Cicero XM can be used to build an order entry application for employees to use when closing new sales or doing up-sells/cross-sells; the order entry application feeds the enterprise’s ERP solution

Provides the underlying technology, architecture, application development tools, database, data store, workflows, functionality and pre-built services to rapidly build a case management/service or trouble ticket solution.

Cicero XM can be used to build a new case management/trouble ticket servicing application for a high-technology support team.

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Next Steps Cicero offers a complimentary, no-obligation evaluation of your customer service and/or back office work

environment with our Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Insight Assessment. Contact us at [email protected] or

call us at 866-538-3588 for more information.

About Cicero Cicero® provides desktop activity intelligence and improvement software that enables companies to monitor

people, processes, and technology, to identify areas for improvement, and to implement change using existing

technologies. Cicero Discovery™ is used to collect any activity and track business objects across time and

across multiple users as well as support big data initiatives by capturing the customer journey at various touch

points within an organization. Cicero XM® improves contact center and back office performance by

integrating, automating, and presenting information. Cicero helps customers such as Nationwide and UBS

perform to their potential and rapidly build enterprise value by reducing cost, improving operations and

increasing employee productivity. Learn more at www.ciceroinc.com.

Cicero Contact Information Cicero, Inc. 8000 Regency Pkwy Suite 542 Cary, NC 27518

International: 1-919-380-5000 U.S.: 1-866-538-3588

[email protected]

www.ciceroinc.com





cicero xm: desktop improvement

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