In essence, chat is treated like voice, even to the extent of being completely monitorable and archivable. The agent also has the ability to reject a particular chat request, sending the chat-call back into the queue. Chats can be assigned to agents based on criteria, for skills-based routing. Suppose a person browsing a web page requests a call back. Genesys says that they've tested the systems universal queuing for volumes of email up to 100,000 per day.
Emails can also be routed according to agent skill, they say.
The ICC module is a new addition to the G6 suite, which includes applications for Enterprise Routing, Network Routing, Workforce Management, Outbound Contact and Universal Workflow. Obviously this wouldn't be nearly so interesting if they didn't work together, which they do, via a suitewide reporting capability. This is how call centers will become contact centers - through the integration of functions at the basic level of call flow and routing, and then up the chain to the unification of the basic information surrounding each interaction. I've been very skeptical in the past about the effectiveness of universal queuing, but my resistance is breaking down.