Siebel Email Response Administration Guide > Overview of Siebel Email Response >

Fundamentals of Using Siebel Email Response

Siebel Email Response allows organizations to manage and respond to a high volume of incoming email. It has a browser-based user interface and accesses a single company-wide customer information database. You can use Siebel Email Response with other Siebel Business Applications.

Siebel Email Response and Siebel Communications Server are installed with the Siebel Server and work together to receive email and send responses. Siebel Communications Server supports and integrates communications channels that are used to communicate with customers. The following Communications Server components handle email traffic to and from Siebel Email Response:

• Communications Inbound Receiver (CIR). CIR pulls email from the email server, converts the email into event data, and creates an SRM request for the Communications Inbound Processor.
• Communications Inbound Processor (CIP). CIP receives the events from the Communications Inbound Receiver and processes them using workflows.
• Communications Outbound Manager. Communications Outbound Manager manages outbound communications with customers. Siebel Email Response uses the Communications Outbound Manager server component to send responses.

In addition to handling email traffic, the Communications Server can support a multichannel toolbar. This toolbar includes buttons that agents use to access different communications channels, such as voice and email. Products such as Siebel CTI and Siebel Email Response might use the communications toolbar to allow agents to initiate outgoing communications and accept incoming communications using supported communications channels. For details about Communications Server components and the communications toolbar, see Siebel Communications Server Administration Guide.

Siebel Email Response performs the following tasks:

• Monitors one or more mailboxes on your email system.
• Parses an inbound email message for various fields, such as Sender, Message Body, and the message attributes for further processing.
• Creates an activity record in the Siebel database for each inbound email and stores the content of the email in fields within the new record.
• Sends an acknowledgment message to let the sender know that the email is received.
• Routes an inbound email message to an agent, based on parameters such as agent skills, when integrated with Siebel Workflow and Siebel Assignment Manager or a custom routing and queuing solution.
• Allows an agent to compose and send a response message using templates configured for your company's needs. Templates save agents time and give them preapproved responses to send to customers.
• Includes a spell check feature to improve the accuracy of messages.
• Accesses customer data and history in one customer information database.
• Provides global support for companies that receive email messages from customers around the world with the following features:
  • Support for many different international languages. For information about supported languages, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Oracle Technology Network.
  • Unicode support. Organizations can deploy Siebel Email Response around the globe without needing separate Siebel environments.