Eircom Transforms Customer Service with Genesys Dynamic Contact Centre

  • Irish Telecommunications Provider Recognised with Genesys Customer Innovation Awards for Customer Service
Wokingham - June 7, 2007 - At G-Force London, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), recognised Eircom as one of the world's top-ranked customer service organisations in the world. Eircom, the main provider of fixed-line telecommunications services in Ireland, was selected from more than 240 applicants as a recipient of the second annual 2007 Genesys Customer Innovation Awards.

Using technology innovatively to streamline and optimise customer service, Eircom partnered with Genesys to transform its customer contact centre into a Dynamic Contact Centre (DCC), increasing customer satisfaction as well as improving the contact centre's alignment with company business goals. Finalists strive to provide excellent customer service through the innovative use of technology in highly dynamic environments. Furthermore, the DCC showcases how customer service can be elevated to a strategic business asset designed to increase overall customer loyalty and business value. A DCC stops customer frustration, drives contact centre efficiencies and accelerates business innovation.

"The goal of the awards programme is to recognise the world's most dynamic contact centre environments," said Wes Hayden, president and CEO, Genesys. "Eircom has strategically leveraged the Genesys suite of contact centre solutions to achieve an optimal balance of customer traffic, internal resources and business outcomes. The most universal common thread among all of the innovators is the ability to link business issues to customer service, achieve optimisation and treat the contact centre as a strategic opportunity."

Eircom began working with Genesys when it set out to improve the efficiency of inbound customer contact management for its sales, marketing and service delivery activities. Using the Genesys Customer Interaction Management platform, Eircom provided voice self-service, intelligent call routing capabilities and CTI screen pop functionality to better serve its customers calling in to the company. With voice self-service, Eircom provides round-the-clock service that allows callers to get information such as payment status, fault reporting and order tracking any time of the day, without having to speak to an agent.

To track progress, Eircom set a three-year target plan for improvement in the areas of customer self-service, call routing and reduction in average call handling time.

"These technologies have exceeded the goals set by Eircom even before the completion of the three-year plan," said Oliver Lennon, director at Kainos, Eircom’s implementation partner. "The company has already received the payback it has put into the technology investment and contact centre customer service metrics are positive."

In defining its DCC vision, Genesys looked at the global customer service leaders among the 4,000 companies currently using its software. Genesys recognised that customers have started to deploy elements of the DCC vision today, based on key capabilities. Genesys created the Genesys Customer Innovation Awards to recognise those customers who are already making strides toward creating DCCs. The programme also enables sharing of experiences among the Genesys customer community.

Eircom presented to a panel of analyst judges during the semi-finals at Alcatel-Lucent Forum, held in Paris in February 2007. The company attained perfect scores in several of the 17 scoring categories, and its level of innovation with voice response, multiple self-service options and ROI all rated highly. Eircom will receive recognition at G-Force London. For more information on the event, visit: www.genesysgforce.com

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

Media Contact:
Duncan Burford, UK PR for Genesys. 01780 721 433, dburford@iba-europe.com

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