Supply Chain Call Center Software
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring and Barbara Fox were prepared for the February 26, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Virtual Proctors, Online Tests
It costs a testing company, an ETS for example, approximately
$30 to administer a test to each individual who signs up. This figure
comes from Koushik Roy, whose new company, Checkspert, has technology
that promises to drop that cost to 7 cents.
Checkspert, with offices at 650 College Road, has a patent pending
for eProctor, its virtual test system. In addition to testing large
groups sitting for a GMAT or an SAT, the technology can be used one-on-one
by tech recruiters, and also by job hunters sending multimedia resumes
over the Internet.
Roy, who received a degree in electrical engineering from Kurukshetra
University in India in 1992, partnered with Romi Raj Singh in founding
the new company. Roy’s background is in consulting on IT issues. He
has worked on projects for a number of companies, including AT&T,
Lucent, and Ernst & Young. Singh’s expertise, says his partner, is
in business and in marketing. Singh, who holds the title of president,
while Roy serves as vice president, worked in marketing for Unisys
before founding Sysnet Technologies, an IT staffing firm with offices
in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
Singh continues to work at his staffing company while Roy and his
team continue developing Checkspert’s technology. While the company
is operating with a small staff and with independent contractors now,
Roy emphasizes that it definitely is “open for business.”
The partners have been funding operations from their own pockets,
but are due to receive a $250,000 check any day. After presenting
their technology to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority
(NJEDA), the partners secured a loan in that amount.
With one of his company’s products ready to go, Roy says he is no
hurry to solicit funds from venture capitalists. Doing so would involve
giving away part of his company and he is unwilling to do so until
it is further along.
Checkspert has had talks with ETS, Oracle, Juniper and other companies
that test hundreds of thousands of people a year. Response has been
good. “They’ve been waiting for something like this,” says
Roy.
Meanwhile, the company’s product for recruiters is fully
ready. It is similar to the virtual test administration Checkspert
is working on for organizations that give tests to hundreds of people
at a time, but does not require quite the same level of security.
This is so, Roy explains, because the recruiter will meet his candidates
at some point, while the person taking a Realtor’s licensing exam
or a GRE will have no contact with any human involved in his test.
The virtual test for recruiters also differs from mass tests in that
Checkspert develops not only the technology, but also the content
of the test. The company now has tests on 11 subjects, including Oracle
DBA, C++ Basic Concepts, Active Server Pages, and SQL Server Development.
Recruiters register to give the tests at the company’s website, www.checkspert.com,
and pay $100 for each test. “If a recruiter is testing three candidates,
that is $300,” says Roy. The recruiter then sends passwords to
each of the candidates, who log on to the website to take the test.
The candidates need a computer with a Pentium processor, 128 megabytes
of RAM, a microphone, and a web cam. Checkspert is happy to supply
a web cam to any test taker who does not have one. “They cost
just $10 now,” he points out.
Sitting at home in front of a webcam, the candidate takes the test
in real time under the vigilant eye of a Checkspert monitor. “If
he talks to anyone or looks at a book, the monitor sees it,” says
Roy. The test is stopped the moment cheating is detected.
In addition to helping a recruiter assess a candidate’s technical
skills, the virtual test gives him a look at the potential hire’s
communication skills. Each candidate is asked a series of questions
he must answer orally, giving insight, Roy says, into everything from
his body language to his accent.
Results are sent over to the recruiter the moment the test ends. In
addition, Checkspert archives each test taker’s tape so that it can
be referred to should any dispute about the test ever arise.
Advantages for the recruiter are the ability to test candidates no
matter where they live, doing away with any quandaries over whether
it is worthwhile to pay for transportation and a hotel room for a
potential hire. Expenses for such trips are also erased. In addition,
the recruiter saves time. He no longer has to buy or devise a test,
and he does not have to sit around while a candidate takes it.
For candidates, the advantages are similar. They do not need to spend
time or money traveling to take a test. Any place with an Internet
hook-up becomes a test site. The tool should gain more appeal when
overseas IT hiring picks up again. “Right now, there is a freeze,”
says Roy. But in the recent past any number of companies, large and
small, looked to India, Israel, and other equally distant lands for
IT professionals. Checkspert’s eProctor technology facilities the
long-distance evaluation.
Testing for the likes of ETS would be similar to testing for recruiters.
Checkspert would recreate the test experience in cyberspace. Instead
of reporting to a high school auditorium to take a test, perhaps a
GRE, candidates would log on in their bedrooms. Checkspert would replicate
the monitor ratio of a typical testing facility, providing one monitor
for about 24 test takers. It would use tests prepared by an ETS or
by a college, professional licensing board, or similar organization.
The advantage to the testing organization would be a substantial monetary
saving. The need to rent auditoriums and computers and to hire proctors
would vanish, along with the administrative tasks involved in making
these arrangement. Security would also be boosted, because the tester
would gain reassurance that the person taking the test really was
who he said he was.
For test takers, the virtual arrangement would mean freedom from having
to report to a test site that might be some distance from home. It
would also mean that no site would ever be booked up.
Roy says such virtual testing has not taken place because of multimedia
streaming issues on the tester’s side of the computer. His company’s
technology has conquered this problem, and is, he says, unique.
Roy, a resident of Plainsboro who will soon move to East Windsor,
was married last year. He met his wife, Anuradha, through friends
in India. “It was a semi-arranged marriage,” he says. Singh,
Roy’s partner, lives in South Brunswick with his wife, Vineet, and
their three young sons.
With start-up funds due to arrive in the mail any day, one product
available now, and others ready for roll-out, the partners are ready
to test their idea in the marketplace.
— Kathleen McGinn Spring
Checkspert Inc., 650 College Road East, Suite 1700,Princeton 08540. Koushik Roy, vice president. 609-520-0564; fax, 609-520-8849.Home page: www.checkspert.comTop Of PageComputer Firms FindSurvival StrategiesSistematica, 80 Henderson Road, Box 5235, KendallPark 08824-5235. Debbie Aguiar-Velez, president. 732-398-1000; fax,732-422-4676. Home page: www.sistematica.comIn January Sistematica closed its computer and Internet training centerin the center of the state government office complex. At an officein Kendall Park the company still offers consulting, computer hardwareand software, systems support, maintenance, and bilingual training,but the owner, Deborah Aguiar-Velez, now has a variety of far-flungclients. “You go where the work is,” she says. Her staff ofsix people now offers computer training at client sites.In the Kean administration Aguiar-Velez had been the director of theDivision of Small Businesses and Women and Minority-Owned Businessesin the state commerce department. When she founded her company in1983, training employees to work on PCs was the major focus. Whenshe opened her office in Trenton (U.S. 1, November 27, 1996) she focusedon training minorities and she also qualified for reduced sales taxin the Urban Enterprise Zone.”Now I am doing a lot of consulting work and getting into theLatino market,” she says, citing software clients in Virginia,financial organizations in Puerto Rico, and the Latino community inMiami. “The business is snowballing in an interesting way —using our bilingual ability to do a lot of interesting things.”Princetec Inc., 196 Route 571, Windsor Office Park,Princeton 08540. Mohan Reddy, president. 609-720-9800; fax, 609-720-9899.Home page: www.princetec.comThe software development and consulting firm moved from 3,500 squarefeet at 4365 Route 1 South to 2,000 square feet at Windsor OfficePark. It went from 65 to 50 employees globally, with six people insteadof 12 people at the home office. Earlier, the company had been locatedat Jefferson Plaza. It was founded in 1998 by Mohan Reddy, Raj Sajankila,and Srini Nemani to do client server software consulting and Year2000 compliance.”The downsizing is over,” says Sajankila, the vice president.” Our earlier strategy was based on providing people to work ona project at the client site. We continue to do that but now we alsoprovide total solutions. We take on projects and handle everythingfrom the requirement stage through development, testing, and implementation.”Soon we may be looking to hire more people. We have one new product,software application for managing contracts, and we are going to developcustom applications from other products.”Clients’ payment problems plague most software companies in this economy,and Princetec is no exception. One client who failed to come throughwith the funds was a Ramsey-based foundation. For this foundation,Princetec was working on the Choice Game, an interactive video gamefor teenagers that taught values and making the right choices in life.Amtech Business Systems, 2667 Nottingham Way, Mercerville08619. Maria Valente, president. 609-689-9919; fax, 609-689-9929.Home page: www.amtechsvc.comAmtech Business Systems’ offices had been on Broadway, within a blockof the World Trade Center. After the attacks of September 11, ownerMaria Valente moved her business’ main office closer to her home,according to Sal Pennacchio, office manager of the computer company.The new address, 14 Hilltop Place in Robbinsville, proved too faroff the beaten path, however, and so the company has moved to 2667Nottingham Way.Amtech sells, installs, and services computer networks and softwareprograms. “Small and medium size companies can’t afford an ITdepartment,” says Pennacchio. This work is the company’s breadand butter, but it also counts larger organizations among its clients,and at the other end of the spectrum welcomes walk-in traffic fromconsumers toting frozen PCs and laptops. It also installs residentialnetworks. “You’d be surprised how many people have networks athome,” says Pennacchio.The new location gives Amtech greater visibility with its small businessand residential clients.Amtech, which was founded in 1996, also maintains an office in NewYork City, at 236 West 26th Street, where it has four employees. ItsNottingham Way office has seven employees. Pennacchio says the company’sNew Jersey business is growing. “There was a void,” he says,particularly in the area of troubleshooting. “Software programsare so huge today,” he comments. Lots can go wrong, and when itis too expensive to maintain an on-site IT department, outsourcingto firms like his can be the answer.Top Of PageSupply Chain Call Center SoftwareAmong the most dreaded sentences in the English language,circa 2003, is “Please hold for the next available customer servicerepresentative.” It is nigh on to impossible to order a sweater,add HBO to cable service, correct a bank error, check a plane’s arrivalstatus, or find out why the computer refuses to boot up without beingasked to listen to elevator music or worse for an indeterminate amountof time.AC Squared Solutions, a start-up located in the Trenton Business andTechnology Incubator, has developed technology that cuts down thewait by helping call centers to determine just how many reps needto be manning the phones at any given hour of any given day. The appealfor consumers is obvious. The appeal for companies which operate callcenters is cost savings. Staffing up enough to answer the phones quicklyduring busy times maximizes profits by keeping discouraged customersfrom hanging up, and keeping staffing low during slow times cuts personnelcosts, which make up a good 70 percent of a call center’s budget.Call center scheduling is a growing part of AC Square’s business.It joins the young company’s expertise in supply chain optimization.The former specialty involves getting the proper number of peopleinto call center chairs. The latter involves getting the proper numberof nuts and bolts onto factory floors, and especially of contractmanufacturers working on complex projects for telecom equipment companiessuch as Lucent and Nortel.Turgut Aykin is president of AC Squared. He founded the company withSami Saminathan, chief technology officer, whom he met when the twoworked together at Bell Labs. Aykin received his bachelor’s degreein industrial engineering from the Middle East Technical Universityin 1979, went on to obtain a master’s degree from that institution,and then immigrated to the United States, where he earned a Ph.D.in industrial engineering from the State University of New York atBuffalo.He spent the better part of his early career in academe. In his lastposition, he was an associate professor in the Rutgers graduate schoolof management. His research was in the fields of supply chain optimizationand call center optimization.He left Rutgers in 1997 and joined Bell Labs in Princeton, workingon supply chain optimization, and then did similar work for IBM. By2001 he and Saminathan were talking about going out on their own.He had knowledge of how to most efficiently manufacture complex machines,and how to most efficiently answer of tens of thousands of ringingphones. Saminathan, who holds an undergraduate degree from the IndianInstitute of Technology and a Ph.D. from Wooster Polytechnic, hadknowledge of how to design software to accomplish these tasks.Saminathan had worked for Bell Labs for 22 years, and was eager toown his own business. A resident of Yardley, Pennsylvania, he is marriedto Thamarai Saminathan, a pathologist at the Medical Center at Princeton.The couple has a 12-year-old daughter. Aykin, a bachelor, lives inAtlantic Highlands. They chose the Trenton incubator, says Saminathan,because of the reasonable rent and the sales and marketing adviceavailable. AC Squared would like to find larger offices, preferablywithin 15 miles of Princeton, but meanwhile the company, which hastwo contract employees, is adding more functionality to its software.The company has not received any funding but rather has sustaineditself on contracts. “We completed a project for a telecom andinvested the money in developing software,” says Aykin. In a typicalsupply chain management project, a contract manufacturer, workingon an order from a telecom equipment company, sends AC Squared a monthlyreport detailing upcoming orders. “We analyze the data,” saysAykin, “and deliver them plans. What they should buy and stock.”These plans are comprehensive, he says, including everything requiredto manufacture, for example, a complex, custom switch “right downto the number of screws.”Such a service is important, he explains, because the world has speededup. “Since 1997 telecom companies wanted equipment delivered inthree weeks, in two weeks.” This means that the manufacturer towhich a telecom outsources projects must have every part on hand andready to go. “These are not things that can be over-nighted,”says Aykin. Parts, often coming from overseas, can take six weeksto arrive. Travel time and customs play a part in the lag time, andso do the parts manufacturers’ supply issues. “They have to havetime to order raw materials.”One missing part can mean a delivery date will not be met. This makesthe customer, who has orders to fill and installers standing by, mostunhappy. But having too much inventory is a problem for contract manufacturerstoo, because it cuts into profits.”We tell them part by part what they need to stock,” saysAykin. “Each bolt, each screw. This controls costs and improvesefficiency.” Just as the big telecom companies have sold theirfactories and outsourced manufacturing, so too have the manufacturersoutsourced their production planning.Providing detailed inventory plans for the manufacture of one-of-a-kindpieces of telecom equipment accounts for the bulk of AC Squared’searly business, but Aykin says the company can apply its methodologyto manufacturing of any kind, including less complex off-the-shelfprojects.The company also is gearing up to provide its services to call centers.Aykin says one of the world’s largest banks is now testing its softwareagainst that of IEX, a Texas-based workforce management software companythat is a leader in the field.AC Squared’s software uses historical data and weekly updates to arriveat mathematical models predicting just how many “inbound”calls a call center will log at any given time. It takes into account”calendar” events as well as “spatial” events. Anexample of the former would be Christmas, a day on which traffic ata catalog call center might slow to a trickle while that at a telephonecompany would soar. Events that change from year to year — coldsnaps, terrorist warnings, special sales, and the start of a new schoolyear — fall into the latter category.After calculating expected calls, the software makes up a schedule.It takes into account percentages of full-time and part-time employeesthe call center uses and lets it know exactly how many people needto be at work at what times to meet timely-phone-answering goals.There need to be enough people on headsets, but not too many. Idleoperators lead to slim profit margins.AC Squared offers call centers a number of ways to access its technology.They can buy the system outright, an option very large customers prefer,or they can use an Application Service Provider (ASP) model. Callcenters choosing that option pay a yearly subscription fee to logon to AC Squared’s website (www.ac2solutions.com), enter their data,and print out a work schedule. A third possibility is to send calldata to AC Squared and let the company do all the work. This serviceappeals to small companies, says Aykin, because it means that theydo not need any special expertise and do not have to spend time inputtingdata.Call center scheduling facilitated by software could well be the “nextbig thing,” says Aykin, who points out that 7 to 8 million Americansare now working for call centers, as are uncounted numbers of English-speakingpeople in other countries, including India and Ireland. Research byAMR, he says, indicates that software spending for this market couldreach $4 billion.While AC Squared is preparing to reap its share, anyone connectingwith a human after a too-long stretch on hold might do well to ask:”Hey, do you guys use workforce management software?”— Kathleen McGinn SpringAC Squared Solutions, 36 South Broad Street, Trenton08608-2102. Turgut Aykin, president. 609-393-2600; fax, 609-396-8603.Home page: www.ac2solutions.comTop Of PageComputer Start-upsStrasz Computer Consulting Inc., 316 Commons Way,Montgomery Commons, Princeton 08540. Frank Strasz, president. 609-252-1711;fax, 609-252-1751. E-mail: Jackie@strasz.comIn January the software development firm moved from temporaryspace at 314 Commons Way to 2,000 square feet at 316 Commons Way.It offers custom software for the telecommunications, financial, andcomputer-based testing industry. Among the platforms used are Wintel,Microsoft.net, and Java Solutions, and 14 of the 20 employees workat this site.A graduate of Rutgers College of Engineering, Class of 1990, FrankStrasz worked for Educational Testing Service and Virginia-based Cysivein programming, project management, and software architecture. Heand his wife, Jackie, started the business in 1995, they moved itout of their home last year, occupying temporary space at MontgomeryCommons until the current space was ready. Jackie, a 1998 graduateof Rutgers Douglass College, has a project management testing background,most recently for EDS. The couple is has a two-year-old son.Postdocme Corporation, 29 Emmons Drive, Suite F40, Princeton 08540. Hussain Sheriff, director. 609-520-0100; fax,609-520-0535. Home page: www.postdocme.comThe web development company expanded from a home office in Lawrencevilleto Emmons Drive (U.S. 1, December 8, 2002). It does custom web developmentfor small business, web-based marketing.Hussain Sheriff and Asifa Nahad, a husband and wife team from Bangladesh,founded the company last March. He majored in mechanical engineeringat the Indian Institute of Technology in Calcutta and has master’sand PhD degrees from Clemson University. She majored in economicsin Australia and has an MBA in international business from Boston-basedBrandeis University.Top Of PageExpansionsBlue Star Infotech America Inc., 666 PlainsboroRoad, Suite 1116, Plainsboro 08536. Sanjeev Sethi, director (strategicaccounts & partnerships). 609-799-5454; fax, 212-412-9009. Homepage: www.bsil.comThe software consultancy and design and development services companychanged suites within Princeton Meadows Office Center. It is headquarteredin Mumbai, India.Patni Computer Systems Ltd./Data Conversion Inc. ,4390 Route One, Suite 2, Princeton 08540. Prasanna Satpathy, regionaldirector. 609-580-0011; fax, 609-580-0017. Home page: www.patni.comLast fall the computer systems company expanded from 2,100 to 3,000square feet at the same address and added staff for a total of 10people. It does software consulting, services, off-shore development,E-commerce, support and maintenance of applications, engineering dataconversion, CAD, CAM, and CAE services. It has offshore operationsas well.Spire Systems Inc., 112 Commons Way, Princeton08540. Jason Lee Harding, accounts manager. 609-252-9165; fax, 609-252-9121.Home page: www.spireinc.comAn IT consulting office opened at Montgomery Commons last fall. Basedin Burlingame, California, it offers project management E-commerceservices, data base planning, system administrators, and network architects,among other specialties.SysFour Solutions LLC, 3086 Route 27, Suite 11,Kendall Park 08824. Mike Zalepa, president. 732-940-8770; fax, 732-940-8780.Home page: www.sysfoursolutions.comIn January the information technology consulting firm expanded from3530 Route 27 to 1,200 feet at 3086 Route 27, Suite 11. Among itstelecommunications clients are AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, and Verizon Wireless.It has seven workers at this headquarters and 200 people in the field,doing everything from network support to application developers toproject management.Top Of PageDown-SizingsPro Commerce Technologies Inc., 8874 Commerce LoopDrive, Columbus OH 43240. Siva Annaparedy, founder and president.614-841-7501; fax, 614-573-7613. Home page: www.procti.comThe software consulting and development firm closed a 2,500-foot officeon 2525 Route 130 after two years here. The corporate headquartersis now in Columbus, Ohio. The firm developed web tools and other softwareproducts (U.S. 1, February 7, 2001).Tavata LLCPaul Butera closed Tavata, his software sales firm at 13 Roszel Road,on December 31. The eight-person company set up sales appointmentsfor sales representatives of small to medium-sized firms. Clientsranged from supply chain and customer relationship management solutionsto business process management and a live chat product (U.S. 1, August21, 2002).Aptech Worldwide Inc., Home page: www.aptech-usa.comThe 5 Independence Way office of the computer training and consultingcompany has closed, but the web site lists the headquarters in Mumbai,India, and other offices in Laos and Bangladesh. Aptech had also hadan office on Station Drive.The Software Company, 14 Washington Road. JohnGiampolo, president. 215-245-2291.Peter Blood and John Giampolo closed this office and are working atan office in Pennsylvania. They do custom software for PCs and theAS400 environment.GenLed.com LLC, Box 10314, Trenton 08650. ZahidRupani CPA. Home page: www.genled.comLast year GenLed.com closed its office on Emmons Drive. It does accountingand financial analysis tools and applications, plus traditional accountingand bookkeeping services, also in Metuchen.Velocient Technologies Inc., Upinder Zutshi, president& COO. 609-919-1266. Home page: www.velocient.comThis software company, based in Mumbai, India, moved out of 5,000feet at 214 Carnegie Center last year. Though it has a working phonenumber, it has no listed Princeton address. It offers on site or offsitesoftware development in USA, Europe, and Asia.Storage Networks (STOR), 225 Wyman Street, WalthamMA 02451. Paul Flanagan, CEO. 781-622-6700; fax, 781-622-6799. Homepage: www.storagenetworks.comThe Massachusetts-based firm closed its Princeton technology centerat 5 Independence Way last fall. It offers a storage network operatingsystem with STORos software and had 18 people at this location. Nowit has just over 100 workers, most based in Waltham, with some inCalifornia and New York.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
