Contact Information: Media Relations: Jonathan Varman 908 953 6432 jvarman@avaya.com
Avaya Customer Service Technologies Help Businesses Gain Strategic Advantage in Tough Economic Times
AAA Mid-Atlantic, City of Indianapolis and Harte-Hanks Select Avaya Contact Center Solutions to Raise Customer Satisfaction, Reduce Costs
| Source: Avaya Inc.
BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - August 5, 2008) - A broad range of businesses -- from
transportation to government to direct marketing -- are choosing Avaya
customer service solutions to gain a strategic advantage during challenging
economic times.
Three organizations using contact center technologies
from Avaya -- the leader in the contact center market(1) -- to deliver
superior customer service include American Automobile Association (AAA)
Mid-Atlantic, the government of the City of Indianapolis and direct
marketing giant Harte-Hanks (NYSE : HHS ). These organizations are taking
advantage of innovative contact center capabilities -- such as home-based
agents, reporting and analytics, and speech-automated self service -- to
ensure customer satisfaction continues to rise, even in an economic
slowdown.
AAA Mid-Atlantic Rides Agent Efficiency to Customer Service Success
Even as gas prices and traveler frustrations rise, AAA Mid-Atlantic's customer
service operation remains a smooth running machine. This is due to a 24/7
customer service solution from Avaya that AAA Mid-Atlantic relies on to
deliver fast and reliable service in any traveling season, with an eye on
cost-savings.
"We deal with all types of calls, from insurance and vacation planning to
emergencies that require an immediate response," said AAA Mid-Atlantic CIO,
Dominic Grosso. "Flat tires, dead batteries and accidents necessitate
customer service that can handle a large volume of roadside assistance
calls all year round. When drivers have a problem, it's our goal to get
them back on the road fast, and Avaya helps us do this."
More than 95 percent of AAA Mid-Atlantic member calls are answered by an
agent in less than 30 seconds, a factor that has led to AAA Mid-Atlantic's
90 percent membership renewal rate, one of the organization's highest. This
was achieved while using an Avaya contact center solution that reduced the
number of facilities, resources and costs, without sacrificing quality of
service.
"We have a huge fleet of tow trucks," adds Grosso. "So like everyone else,
gas prices are impacting us and we need to be smart about how we spend
money."
To introduce new efficiencies, Avaya helped AAA Mid-Atlantic consolidate
five contact centers down to just two. They also introduced home-based
agents who could work at home providing various functions -- such as
roadside assistance, insurance counsel and travel agent services -- using
sophisticated Avaya contact center technology.
Enabling agents to have a flexible workplace drives increased agent
productivity and retention, and drives down expenses by reducing hiring and
training costs, as well as reliance on brick and mortar facilities. This
ultimately leads to a smarter, more efficient customer service operation.
City of Indianapolis: As Budgets Tighten, Customer Service Still Rises
The government of
Indianapolis, Indiana oversees a broad range of agencies, including the
Office of Finance & Management, citizen hotlines, Public Safety, and the
Marion County Superior Courts. To meet the administration's goal of
improving citizen experiences -- even as city budgets tighten --
Indianapolis selected an Avaya customer service solution with a
sophisticated reporting and analytics application, Avaya IQ.
Avaya IQ is key to helping the City of Indianapolis gain a strategic
advantage during an economic slowdown. It provides a full view of what is
occurring across contact centers supporting various agencies, so the right
changes and investments can be made to optimize customer service.
"We are always looking for ways to improve customer service," said Giesla
Schepers, telecom manager, City of Indianapolis. "With Avaya IQ, we can
see which agencies are serving customers effectively, and where
improvements are needed. This helps us better allocate resources for
improving customer service."
Additionally, Avaya IQ is helping the city of Indianapolis fine-tune agent
responsiveness and productivity. "Now, we can easily track down and
rectify problematic agent behaviors," says Schepers. "Depending on what a
supervisor sees -- like an agent hanging up excessively, or putting
customers on hold for too long -- Avaya IQ can identify that behavior, and
drill down to learn the details. Avaya IQ eliminates the guesswork, and
provides the data to back it up."
The City of Indianapolis plans to introduce even higher levels of
responsiveness in the future. According to Schepers, they envision using
Avaya technology to help them provide follow-up calls to citizens, so if
someone calls to complain about a pothole, for example, the person will be
called back automatically once it is fixed.
Direct Marketing Giant Harte-Hanks Uses Self Service for Speed and Savings
Harte-Hanks, the worldwide direct
marketing company, provides FORTUNE 500® clients with global contact
center solutions encompassing key functions such as lead generation,
customer care, and technical support. Success to Harte-Hanks means helping
clients realize a substantial return on their marketing investments.
To ensure customer service remains fast and effective in tough economic
times, Harte-Hanks uses a range of Avaya contact center solutions,
including self service, which lets customers navigate a company's phone by
themselves to get to the right information or live agent. Self service
improves both customer satisfaction and cost savings through faster, more
accurate interactions, and more efficient use of agents.
Speech self service -- which lets customers speak commands to an automated
system via phone -- enables Harte-Hanks to provide their clients with a
unique servicing capability. One of their large shipping clients uses
speech self service to help customers quickly provide information, and get
to the live agent best equipped to handle their request. This enables
customers to spend less time on the phone or talking to agents, increasing
customer satisfaction while reducing the company's cost of labor.
Ultimately, speedy self service allows agents to handle more customer
requests in the same amount of time.
"The great thing about Avaya's self service technologies is that you don't
have to break the bank to be effective," said Kris Klein in Corporate
Technology Services at Harte-Hanks. "We can be smart with technology to
help our clients keep customers happy, while keeping overall costs down."
Harte-Hanks also makes the most of the Web to raise customer satisfaction
in a cost-effective way. Since the last economic downturn, Klein states
that the Web has grown to become an excellent self-service medium that
customers are comfortable using. Instant feedback via downloaded PDFs or
FAQs means reducing costs that would otherwise be incurred by lengthy agent
conversations or postage for mailing materials. This drives bottom line
savings, while contributing to a sophisticated database of Web-based
customers that only gets more accurate the more customers use it.
"Extending self service via the Web, we helped a game console provider
build a knowledge database over 5 years," said Klein. "Our customer service
ratings with them are very high, and this is due to Avaya self service
helping deliver fast, accurate information for people that demand instant
gratification. Even in tough times, clients want to see customer
satisfaction levels trend upward -- and they hold us accountable."
(1) Gartner Market Share, Contact Centers, Worldwide 2007. Drew Kraus. June
2008
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies
transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1
million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE
500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications,
Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global
Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to
large.
For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.