January 1996

Computer-Telephone Integration offers attorneys a universal tool for accessing, retrieving and sharing vital firm data.

The integration of computers and telephones offers law firms a new way to boost firmwide productivity and efficiency. By uniting the functionality of computers and telephones, innovative law firms can offer their attorneys a universal tool for accessing, retrieving, and sharing vital firm data.

The term Computer-Telephone Integration (or CTI) refers to the connection of a computer, i.e. a single workstation or file server on a LAN, to a telephone switch, whereby the computer issues commands telling the switch to move calls around.

The most classic example of CTI involves call-center environments and the use of enhanced phone-switch features such as Automatic Number Identification (ANI). With ANI, the caller's phone number is delivered to a database when the call comes in. In turn, the CTI link searches the database for the customer record associated with that phone number and retrieves all pertinent information for an agent or customer-service representative. At the agent's desktop, a "screen pop" displays all of the customer-related information.

Applying this typical scenario to a legal environment creates opportunities for improving client service and firmwide efficiency. The ability to view client information as a call is answered offers more than a professional, personal greeting. The call automatically can be routed to an associate who is dealing with the client or to someone else who can respond quickly and efficiently to a client's request. In addition, the call can be linked to a contact management database, as well as case management and financial systems for tracking client activity, updating client records, and communicating important client information.

When a client calls to speak to an attorney, the system can be used to track the amount of time the lawyer spends on the phone. This data can then be integrated with the firm's time-and-billing system. Database information on the location and availability of staff members also can be tracked and passed along to callers as part of a CTI application. Furthermore, attorneys can call in and update their schedules remotely so clients and staff know their whereabouts when they're on the road.

Growing Market

The market for CTI products and services is expected to grow to almost $8 billion by 1999 from $1.4 billion in 1995, according to market research firm Dataquest Inc. of San Jose, Calif. The development and deployment of extensible and portable applications and Application Programming Interfaces (or APIs) will have the most impact on this flourishing industry segment. Continuing cooperation and competition from market leaders including Novell, AT&T, Microsoft and Intel also will fuel market growth.

For the first time, LAN-based applications including database managers, personal information managers, spreadsheets, and word processors will benefit from gaining direct access to the telephone network. Applications built on a PC foundation not only will be less expensive than their mainframe counterparts, they also will gain the flexibility and interoperability that were not possible in traditional legacy systems.

Controlling the Call

CTI applications can be broken down into two categories: call control and media processing. In its simplest form, call control lets the PC control telephone functions ordinarily handled by the friendly handset--dialing, hanging up, conferencing, and so on. In other words, the computer replaces the telephone keypad.

According to CTI supporters, many useful but often overlooked phone features, such as conferencing, transferring calls, paging, and call forwarding, will be used more widely once people replace the phone systems' cryptic interface with a friendly Windows-driven user interface.

More important, these call-control features can be integrated into existing applications. Auto-dialing for single-party or multiparty calls can be integrated with information databases or firmwide directories. An application that integrates call-control functionality with the law firm's existing time-and-billing systems is the primary reason many of the current CTI applications have been adopted.

Another technology, interactive voice response (IVR), links callers with an information database. The telephone serves as a front-end to the database, and through a tone-dial telephone or voice commands, supplies enough information to identify the caller. The database application controls the telephone resources, directing the caller through a series of options to initiate and complete a database transaction. Although banking-at-home and reservations systems are the best-known examples of this technology, the trend to use IVR no doubt will make its way into court scheduling systems that firms interact with regularly.

Media Processing

Although current CTI standards focus primarily on the call-control arena, there is plenty to consider on the media processing front. Media processing refers to immediate transactions during a call, such as sending and receiving fax information, or e-mail to fax conversions, as well as speech synthesis and voice recognition.

Another aspect of media processing is unified messaging, the consolidation of voice mail, e-mail, fax, and video-conferencing into a single in-box with a common graphical user interface (GUI). When a particular message is selected, the unified messaging application launches the application and displays the message on the user's computer screen. If the application includes a voice-annotated message, then the user's phone will ring.

And, with unified messaging, the reverse is true. The universal in-box can be used to let attorneys or staff members pick up their e-mail when they are on the road and do not have access to a PC. They can change meeting dates, update schedules, and have the scheduling application notify all other attendees via e-mail--all from the airport telephone.

Currently, Microsoft Windows 95 offers this universal in-box feature as part of Microsoft Exchange, which lets users send, receive, view, and manage electronic mail from CompuServe, The Microsoft Network, and Microsoft Mail.

PC-based voice-processing companies like Active Voice Corp. (Seattle), Centigram (San Jose, Calif.), and Applied Voice Technology (Kirkland, Wash.) have products that offer unified voice and fax messaging. They are, respectively, TeLANophy, OneView, and CallXpress3.

An application area that is generating a lot of interest is speech recognition, the ability of telephone users to interact with computers using voice commands. Speech recognition applications will have strong appeal for rotary phone users, who account for about 20 percent of the U.S. population, and non-typists.

Workgroups, departments, and branch offices will gain productivity and resource-sharing benefits with CTI workgroup-enabled solutions. Lotus Development Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.) is leading the way with PhoneNotes, which was co-developed with Simpact Associates (San Diego). PhoneNotes, a combination of voice-processing software and hardware, lets users access Notes databases via the telephone.

The telephone keypad also can be used to retrieve information that can be "read" or faxed to the user. Using the keypad and a series of voice prompts, information can be entered into Notes databases.

On the Line

Now that CTI has moved onto the LAN, the technology also has migrated from its proprietary roots to a standards-based, distributed client-server environment. Although the technology itself has become more mainstream, there's still lively debate over which standard and deployment strategy makes the most sense. Two camps, consisting of Novell/AT&T and Microsoft/Intel, have put their best strategies forward and future CTI development plans on the line.

The Novell and AT&T camp went live with last year's release of NetWare Telephony Services. Telephony services for NetWare provides a CTI infrastructure for NetWare networks. It provides drag-and-drop conference calling, mixed-media mailboxes, first- and third-party call control, and telephone-database integration.

Novell's CTI services consists primarily of a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that links a PBX and a NetWare server, Telephony Services API (TSAPI), appropriate PBX drivers, and a sample application called TSCall, which is an electronic telephone directory. The Novell solution, which relies heavily on AT&T technology, costs anywhere from $75 to $200 per seat.

The Novell solution establishes a logical connection, rather than a physical one, between the telephone and computer. The only physical connection established is between the server and the PBX, thus eliminating the need to connect PCs to a desktop telephone or install special PC hardware. So far, Novell is hedging its CTI bets on applications developed to take advantage of the security, administration, reliability, and performance of the NetWare operating system.

Extending PC Architectures

While Microsoft will argue that NT Advanced Server is a much more robust client-server platform than NetWare, the focal point of the Microsoft-Novell debate lies at the desktop. As part of Microsoft's universal desktop vision, the software giant has teamed up with Intel to spearhead the development of the Windows Telephony API (TAPI).

TAPI is part of Microsoft's Windows Open Services Architecture (WOSA) standard, which provides a single set of open-ended interfaces for enterprise computing
services. Like other WOSA services, TAPI relies on a systems extension call TAPI.DLL that lets developers write to a common telephony API.

The TAPI layer provides an interface for multiple vendors' telephony hardware and respective protocols. TAPI enables the desktop with telephony capabilities by extending PC architectures with add-in boards or external modems.

A TAPI Service Provider Interface (SPI) is a second API that offers access to telephone lines and switch services. Applications written to either Microsoft APIs can take advantage of phone connections via Intel's telephony-enhanced SatisFAXtion fax products. Different PC boards will be released by Intel to offer compatibility with a variety of telephone manufacturers' models.

PBX vendors, and PC and peripheral manufacturers are working to develop TAPI-compliant devices that would replace telephone handsets completely. TAPI has a full set of call-control features that manage volume, muting, display, and telephone programming features. With TAPI, users will be able to plug one headset directly into the PC adapter, and have the benefit of a singular, universal desktop tool. An impressive list of TAPI supports has publicly proclaimed commitment to the Microsoft CTI model.

Most law firms will no doubt elect to use both TAPI and TSAPI applications and demand interoperability between the two. The Enterprise Computer Telephone Forum (ECTF) was formed to bridge the two APIs. The group, which now includes Intel, Microsoft, and Versit, is developing a bridge between TAPI and Novell's Telephony Services server. Called TMap, this software tool provides the translation between TAPI and TSAPI for the internetworking of CTI applications between desktops and servers. This effort, apparently is the first step in unifying the two CTI standards.

Versit was formed by Apple, AT&T, IBM and Siemens Rolm to address CTI interoperability issues beyond Windows and NetWare platforms. Intel is doing its part to contribute to CTI interoperability by developing a Universal Serial Bus (USB) that provides a shared PC interface for all external I/O devices.

This common interface between devices such as modems and PBXs will ease the adoption of CTI solutions that demand a peripheral to connect the telephone and the PC. Interoperability between devices and a true, open set of multivendor standards will benefit everyone and advance the market accordingly.

While full-blown CTI functionality is still six to eight months out on the technology horizon, today's law firms should start to examine the alternatives for simplifying and reducing the number of devices needed for firmwide communications. The consolidation of the computer and the telephone into a fully integrated, universal productivity tool will become a commonplace fixture in law offices of the future.

Leo S. Spiegel is chief technology officer and executive vice president for LANSystems Inc., a New York-based intenational systems integration firm specializing in legal automation systems

Copyright 1996, The New York Law Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved.