Stream Energy Adopts Genesys' Strategic Plan and Solutions to Transform and Improve its Customer Service

  • Competitive Retail Electric Provider Differentiates Based on Customised, Person-to-Person Customer Service

Wokingham, May 22, 2007 - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), announced that Stream Energy, a major electricity retailer in Texas's deregulated utilities market, has adopted a Genesys-designed three-year plan to provide Stream customers with unsurpassed service - even as the firm pursues aggressive growth and expansion into new markets.

Stream is one of the fastest growing of a new breed of power companies that compete in unregulated markets for new customers, and it has established a passionate commitment to customer service as a foundation for growth. The "Transformational Roadmap" developed by Genesys Business Consulting (GBC) details a technology and management approach that keeps Dallas-based Stream a step ahead of business expansion to ensure consistent customer service. GBC - a provider of strategic advisory services around the areas of contact centre technology, business objectives, operations and process - embraced Stream's business strategy, uncovered service needs, and developed a strategic plan that guides the company as it weaves customer service processes into departments beyond the contact centre.

"In the past, utilities didn't really need to be concerned with having excellent customer service because they had a captive audience," said Greg Martin, manager special projects, Stream. "Deregulated markets, on the other hand, allow us to compete for customers with a strong emphasis on customer service at the core. This is a paradigm shift in the way that Stream will do business. Customer service used to be something that only existed in the contact centre. Now, all units will eventually be linked so that Stream can leverage its full capabilities to optimise the customer experience."

Stream's Transformational Roadmap outlines a wide range of technologies including workforce management tools to improve agent utilisation, agent scripting to improve service, skill-based routing to deliver callers to the best resource, and business process routing to link the Stream contact centre with other departments. The roadmap also calls for integration of multi-channel interactions (voice, e-mail, chat and Web), offers Stream customers speech-enabled self-service, and provides Stream agents with information captured during self-service interactions to better help callers who opt to switch to assisted-service.
 
Stream will also implement Genesys' recommendation to institute an automated customer satisfaction survey that will help shape contact centre policies regarding self-service, hold times, agent help, e-mail usage, Web contacts and other issues. 

John Quaglietta, manager of Genesys Business Consulting, said: "The satisfaction surveys will help Stream identify customers who may be considering another provider.  Using skill-based routing, Stream can direct such customers to a loyalty group of agents for extra care. As a whole, the recommendations within the roadmap form a customer service ecosystem that Stream will put into action."

Stream will begin to implement the roadmap in the summer of 2007 when the firm installs Genesys Voice Platform, Virtual Hold for Genesys, and speech-enabled self-service and assisted service. The Genesys Customer Interaction Management (CIM) Platform will form the basis of all the applications that Stream adds as it goes forward. The modular, dynamic nature of the CIM Platform allows Stream investments in additional Genesys software to integrate with existing infrastructure and increase value by adding new features.

"Genesys Business Consulting took the time to really understand Stream's business realities and as a result was able to create a logical and applicable roadmap rather than a pie in the sky strategy that we couldn't use," said Martin. "Genesys was focused on our success, not on building a pipeline of business."

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 organisation, 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 or visit the industry blog at www.betterinteractions.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 organisations 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 transferred to Thales]. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: www.alcatel-lucent.com

About Stream Energy
Since being approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas in early 2005, Stream Energy (Texas PUC License #10104) has rapidly grown into one of the largest participants in the Texas deregulated electricity market for residential consumers. The success of Stream Energy is attributable to a comprehensive, full-service approach to customer relationships that is further tied to an aggressive pricing model. Such strategies have allowed privately-held Stream Energy to one of the largest retail electric providers in Texas, primarily through its network marketing subsidiary, Ignite. Stream Energy also provides a wide range of electricity services for small businesses and large commercial consumers. To learn more about Stream Energy, visit www.streamenergy.net. For more information about Stream Energy's networking marketing subsidiary, Ignite, visit www.igniteinc.com

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Media Contact:
Lucille Jackson, Genesys, 0118 974 7144, ljackson@genesyslab.co.uk
Duncan Burford, UK PR for Genesys. 01780 721 433, dburford@iba-europe.com

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