Cisco Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal 11.0(1)
Functional Overview
Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) is a product with two distinct aspects.
First, it provides the Voice over IP (VoIP) routing capability for Unified ICME. Unified ICME
provides the services necessary to determine where calls should be routed, whether to Automatic
Call Distributors (ACDs), specific agents, or Voice Response Units (VRUs), but the routing
services themselves must be provided by an external routing client. Traditionally, Unified
ICME’s routing clients were various Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) network
switches, or, in some cases, customer-provided ACDs. Unified CVP makes it possible for
Unified ICME to use VoIP gateways as routing clients as well. This carries a number of
advantages, not the least of which is that call traffic can be handled over the IP network rather
than by the PSTN carrier.
provides the services necessary to determine where calls should be routed, whether to Automatic
Call Distributors (ACDs), specific agents, or Voice Response Units (VRUs), but the routing
services themselves must be provided by an external routing client. Traditionally, Unified
ICME’s routing clients were various Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) network
switches, or, in some cases, customer-provided ACDs. Unified CVP makes it possible for
Unified ICME to use VoIP gateways as routing clients as well. This carries a number of
advantages, not the least of which is that call traffic can be handled over the IP network rather
than by the PSTN carrier.
The second aspect is as a VRU platform. Long ago, intelligent PSTN carrier networks provided
the capability to prompt for and collect basic data from the caller before delivering the call.
Unified CVP now provides that capability, and greatly expands it with the use of its own
VoiceXML Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application platform. Also, when calls were
delivered to an ACD, the ACD could provide some initial prompt and collect capability, and it
could also provide some messaging or hold music to callers who are waiting in queue. When
ICM took over the ACD queuing function, it needed a place to park calls while they were
waiting. It introduced the notion of a Service Control VRU for that purpose, and third-party
VRU vendors were invited to fill that role. Today, Unified CVP fills that role as well in VoIP
environments.
the capability to prompt for and collect basic data from the caller before delivering the call.
Unified CVP now provides that capability, and greatly expands it with the use of its own
VoiceXML Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application platform. Also, when calls were
delivered to an ACD, the ACD could provide some initial prompt and collect capability, and it
could also provide some messaging or hold music to callers who are waiting in queue. When
ICM took over the ACD queuing function, it needed a place to park calls while they were
waiting. It introduced the notion of a Service Control VRU for that purpose, and third-party
VRU vendors were invited to fill that role. Today, Unified CVP fills that role as well in VoIP
environments.
Unified Customer Voice Portal is both a product and a solution. As a product, it consists of a
number of CVP-specific components. However, these components must be set into a solution
which includes other products. The Unified CVP solution components are discussed in the next
section.
number of CVP-specific components. However, these components must be set into a solution
which includes other products. The Unified CVP solution components are discussed in the next
section.
Planning Guide for Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal 4.1(1)
8
Chapter 1: - Product Overview
Functional Overview