IBM Awarded Genesys Gold Certification for Expertise, Innovation and Customer Satisfaction

Wokingham, March 12, 2007 - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), today announced that IBM has earned the Genesys Gold Certification in Europe for the full Genesys software suite. IBM was awarded this certification for the company's commitment to quality service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Genesys launched the certification programme in 2005 to meet the needs of its growing customer community by enhancing Genesys skills available through partners. The programme provides a framework for partners to manage Genesys competency and be recognised for technical expertise and superior record of customer service.

Genesys and IBM are helping businesses transform expensive call centres that frustrate customers into business assets that provide excellent service and high agent productivity. The joint solutions integrate leading interaction management and enterprise routing with natural language self-service to expand access options including web, e-mail and text, and enable proactive outbound contact for alerts and confirmations. The result of integrating these open standards capabilities with existing systems and processes is reduced expense, risk and disruption.   

This unique combination of industry-leading software and platforms is complimented by IBM's world-renowned Genesys expertise and service capabilities. In addition, Genesys and IBM have collaborated to integrate the Genesys 7.2 Customer Interaction Management (CIM) platform with IBM voice, middleware and technology platforms to deliver business solutions that increase customer satisfaction, agent productivity, operational efficiency and sales.  

One joint customer that has benefited from the partnership is Bank Hapoalim, the largest bank in Israel. "With the help of IBM, Bank Hapoalim has gained a 70 per cent increase in productivity in the areas of product specialty," said Gideon Makleff, senior vice president of Call Centre, Bank Hapoalim B.M – Direct Banking. "The skill-based routing capabilities we deployed have helped to improve productivity among our teams that deliver products that require a high level of expertise. It enables us to maintain more bankers in these areas to provide a high level of service and fill their free time interacting with customers that have general banking requests."

The joint industry-specific solutions include:
 
Service to Sales Transformation for Retail Banking
Service to Sales Transformation provides a customised contact centre environment to help transform customers' inbound calls into qualified sales and retention opportunities. The solution dynamically responds to incoming data and incorporates IBM Global Business Services, IBM Websphere Voice Server and CRM software with the Genesys platform to help customer service representatives capitalise on sales opportunities.

The joint solution helps retail banks capitalise on improved customer satisfaction by applying real-time analytics to deliver customised sales and retention offers during interactions. All relevant information is routed to the best resource to complete the transaction, thus, customers receive a more customised experience and are not subjected to sales pitches that don't match their needs.

"One of the greatest challenges faced by any organisation is turning opportunities into sales," said Eric Entzeroth, senior vice president, Americas field operations, Genesys. "This solution can help banks take the first step toward identifying and addressing opportunities. At the same time, they can better leverage the skills within customer service to drive revenue."

Insurance Claims Self-Service
IBM and Genesys' Natural Language Voice Solution for insurance contact centres brings process improvements such as higher completion rates and increased use of self-service, customised offers and advanced routing to the insurance industry. This solution helps insurers reduce costs, improve satisfaction and improve retention via a self-service contact centre solution that employs the latest natural language speech technology. IBM's middleware, biometric and speech technologies are delivered via the Genesys CIM platform with multi-channel customer service and customer insight.

"IBM and Genesys have developed a strong partnership by leveraging the strengths of both companies," said Jay Ennesser, vice president, Global Solutions, IBM. "The combination enables our joint clients to improve customer satisfaction, lower costs and increase profitability. Together, IBM and Genesys help customers go from simply taking calls to transforming costly centres into profitable business assets."

As further evidence of the business value of IBM and Genesys alliance, IBM has invested in new tools for regional customer solution centres, including:

  • Natural language speech lab in Hursley, United Kingdom, advancing speech effectiveness and capability;
  • Contact Centre Optimisation live demonstration in LaGaude, France, integrating Genesys with CRM;
  • Service to Sales Transformation live demonstration in Barcelona, Spain, presenting integration between IBM Websphere and Genesys solutions with real-time analytics to maximise customer retention and sales; and 
  • "Day in the Life" contact centre demonstrations at the Hawthorne, NY Industry Solutions Lab.

For more information on any of the above joint solutions and capabilities, please visit: www.ibm.com/solutions/genesys or www.genesyslab.com/partners/directory/interacts/ibm.asp.

About Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.
Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, is the only company that focuses 100 per cent on software to manage customer interactions over the phone, web and in e-mail. The Genesys software suite dynamically connects customers with the right resources - self-service or assisted-service - to fulfill customer requests, optimise customer care goals and efficiently use resources. Genesys software directs more than 100 million customer interactions every day for 4,000 companies and government agencies in 80 countries. These companies and agencies can leverage their entire organization, from the contact centre to the back office, to improve the overall customer experience. As a result, Genesys helps stop customer frustration, drive efficiency, and accelerate business innovation. For more information, go to www.genesyslab.com

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users.  As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications, and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move.  With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organizations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent achieved adjusted proforma revenues of Euro 18.3 billion in 2006 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. [All figures exclude impact of activities to be transferred to Thales]. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: www.alcatel-lucent.com

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Media Contact:
Lucille Jackson, Genesys, 0118 974 7144, ljackson@genesyslab.co.uk or visit the industry blog at www.betterinteractions.com

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