Things to hate about Quintus

 1. Is Quintus Support adequate?

If you feel like the existing vendor is not providing you the support that your organization requires for this mission-critical application, your organization is faced with a difficult decision: upgrade to the next version, switch to different application, or stay on the existing version and support it yourself.  The changes in the new versions of the application are mostly cosmetic, with no real leap in technology or functionality. Queplix can offer you a fourth alternative�transparently convert from Quintus to QueWeb�replicating all GUI elements and Business Rules. (What�s more, Queplix offers an excellent support structure.)

 2. Alternatives are expensive

Whether you are contemplating an upgrade to a new version of Avaya or a switch to a different application, the costs are high. Taking into consideration the costs of license fees, professional services fees, infrastructure and support, costs can run up to several million dollars for several hundred users. Queplix, on the other hand, will ensure that you can extend the life of your investment and your existing application.

 3. Quintus is based on old technology

Quintus is not compatible with latest versions of Windows and UNIX.

Substantial differences exist between the desktop application’s User Interface and Web User Interface. While stable, Quintus’ User Interface is limited to the small subset of visual objects and could be substantially improved if desired by using standard QueWeb Components and a large number of standard or custom Java GUI objects available in QueWeb:

• Built-in and customizable Search Grids
• All advanced SQL search operators are available in QueWeb in addition to few standard operators supported by Quintus desktop client (directly in GUI fields)
• Multi-language support with UTF-9 and UNICODE
• Screens can be customized virtually without any limitations
• Permissions are application-controlled, security and fail-over as well as scalability provided by the Java Application Server
• Database load is minimized by utilizing the connection pooling and JSP/Servlets, instead of the obsolete “data server” process.

 4. Limited Customization

The Quintus architecture is based on Visual Basic for application (QScripts) and hence has limited customization ability. As well, the Quintus client has limited availability of native GUI controls (only few of them supported, such as calendar, edit fields, combo-box.) While QBE approach to the GUI is user-friendly, short supply of GUI elements creates challenges during customization process.

Application Design files (used in QDesigner) are not available for development/customization by a team of developers; this prolongs the implementation process and making the version control a challenge.

Quintus WebQ system has limited functionality and was designed as a subset of the desktop application’s functions. Today, web-based systems became a necessity for all customers and WebQ does not satisfy this requirement.

Upgrades to newer versions of Quintus require implementation of any custom requirements.

 5. Limited Integration

While Quintus has limited built-in Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), QueWeb is based on an industry-standard J2EE API and can integrate with any other system natively, as long as it has an API. QueWeb also presents an additional integration module: Script Scheduler.  Utilizing this module, an administrator can import and export data from other systems automatically based on the predefined schedule, as well as schedule and launch any external scripts (SQL, PERL, UNIX Shell scripts, Windows BAT, etc.) and log their results in the QueWeb logging module.

6. No True Thin client

The Quintus WebQ� client is very limited compared to the Desktop application, and virtually no usable web interface exists for WebQ. WebQ is not a true thin client application, but rather a web-enabled application. Queplix QueWeb is a true thin-client application with no software required on the desktop, other than the Internet Explorer Browser.

7. Quintus� research Agent is not stable, not easily implemented

QueWeb utilizes a Full-Text Search (FTS) agent, which automatically scans emails attachments, ticket attachments, catalogs, database BLOBS and CLOBS and any other large data containers; these documents are automatically indexed by the FTS and available for searching from the same GUI, using all standard SQL relational operators as other regular fields. In fact, users can use a combination of regular fields� constraints and Full-Text Search documents in the same query from the GUI. A stand-alone FTS module is also available in QueWeb to allow more advanced search options and indexing.

 8. CTI support is poorly integrated in Quintus

QueWeb can work with Avaya�s IP Agent and Definity switches natively, and most other CTI hardware and switches. QueWeb will present a screen-pop with the contact information through POTS or VoIP lines and capture vital contact statistics and allow multi-channel communications.

 9. Email functionality is poorly integrated in Quintus

Upon acquisition of Mustang Software Inc., Quintus Corp. started incorporating the email functionality into the core, but never finished it. Out-of- the box there are two separate database with a lot of disconnect points between Quintus functionality and Email processing.

QueWeb’s Advanced Inbox was built from ground-up as an integrated and essential part of QueWeb system. Inbox module further extends QueWeb’s Standard email functions. It is a complete server-based process, not requiring any client email application (such as Outlook), but can work in parallel with Outlook, providing better accountability for emails and skill-based routing rules. The module allows integration with Java-based email, as well as MS Exchange; while utilizing the email routing, filtering, Inbox and Outbox size controls by the workgroup, automatic Ticket Creation and escalations from email based on the predefined criteria. In order to help reduce time employees spent working with emails auto-replies are available as well as templates.

10. Scalability and Fail-Over Capabilities

Quintus Web client is based on older NSAPI technology, which supports very few concurrent connections and has virtually no fail-over capabilities. QueWeb utilizes the latest technology in EJB and J2EE to preserve the user experience in the event of system or hardware failure. QueWeb utilizes advanced features from the leading Java Application server vendors (such as Oracle and IBM, BEA and Sun Microsystems): connection pooling, security, scalability and fail-over capabilities. With recent version of QueWeb server clustering is supported as well for mission-critical and intense-load applications.

 1 | 2 | 3