The Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has been given $150,000 worth of software plus consulting support from Aspect Communications for use in IST 421, IT Systems Integration II. A team of students in the class has taken on the business problem of ensuring customer data security by developing the optimal technical solution that requires integration between Aspect's flagship enterprise customer-contact software and SAP, a widely used enterprise resource planning system.
Based in San Jose, Calif., Aspect is best known for its contact-center technology with customers including the Internal Revenue Service, Shop at Home and Cox Communications.
The students are mapping out the processes, workflows and integration options between Aspect and SAP systems so as to make it easier to integrate Aspect technology with SAP applications. The team also is looking at potential ways to thwart hackers attempting to gain personal information from call center staff.
"The university-corporate collaboration benefits students by giving them hands-on experience with enterprise systems they'll encounter in the workplace," said Brian Cameron, IST 421 instructor.
Aspect benefits, too, from the partnership: "We're creating a growing team of Aspect experts for our customers," said Doug Domergue, senior vice president of sales at Aspect Communications and a Penn State alumnus (Class of '72).
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