Enterprise Voice is another medium of communication, in addition to instant messaging (IM), e-mail, audio/video (A/V), or application sharing. Voice-based applications can be built using the Microsoft Office Communications Server Enterprise Voice features. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 provides the following Enterprise Voice applications: voice mail, Response Group Service, Conferencing Attendant, Conference Announcement Service, and Outside Voice Control. Each of these applications requires that Enterprise Voice be deployed in the organization.

This chapter covers the following Enterprise Voice applications in detail: Response Group Service and Conferencing Attendant.

Response Group Service provides similar functionality as a call center. Using Response Group Service, callers can be routed via a variety of methods to a group of agents. The routing leverages the presence information of agents to connect callers to the best available agent. Agents can answer calls directly from the familiarity of Office Communicator without requiring training to use a custom call center application although one is available if needed.

Conferencing Attendant enables callers dialing from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to join the audio portion of a meeting created using Office Communications Server. Callers can be external users, such as customers and partners, or employees that currently do not have access to Office Communicator and Microsoft Office Live Meeting client. Conferencing Attendant makes Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Enterprise Voice more accessible to all users, regardless from where they are dialing. Users dialing in from the PSTN can join meetings; however, they cannot schedule new meetings.

On the Companion Media

Please see the companion CD for information related to topics in this book.