Reader's Digest relies on Genesys Dynamic Contact Centre platform to cost-effectively manage more than three million calls annually

  • Genesys' intelligent routing helps multimedia company reduce costs, improve responsiveness and enhance customer service
WOKINGHAM, July 23, 2007 - Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), announced today that it has been selected to deliver its Customer Interaction Management (CIM) platform across The Reader's Digest Association’s four North American contact centres. The Genesys CIM platform will improve customer service, route incoming customer calls more effectively and better manage the multimedia giant's growing call volume.

The advanced CIM platform incorporates advanced routing technology, called skills - based routing, designed to help The Reader's Digest Association better manage customer interactions by matching customer needs and inquiries with the best available resource. The company's flagship publication, Reader's Digest, is the world's most widely read magazine, reaching nearly 80 million readers each month. As a $2.8 billion diversified publishing and direct-marketing company, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. understands the importance of customer service.  

Across its four virtual contact centres, The Reader's Digest Association fields as many as three million calls annually, facilitating ongoing communication with customers and actively soliciting readers' responses and feedback. The new contact centre platform will enable the company to manage incoming contacts more effectively, improving their customer relationship management and driving new business. With the new Genesys technology in place, The Reader's Digest Association expects that the number of customers who enter their account number into the interactive voice response (IVR) system will increase by about 50 per cent, saving agent time on each call and reducing customer frustration by eliminating the need to repeat account information.   

Intelligent routing technology from Genesys, in conjunction with the company's existing IVR system, will allow Reader's Digest to identify and precisely route customers based on call type and value according to specific attributes of the call. Once the customer provides information on the reason for the call and the contact centre has access to the customer's information, the routing technology will send the customer to the agent best trained to handle that type of call.  

"To reach our goal of improving our customers' experience while maximising the value of each interaction, it is clear we needed to get away from putting all of our customers into one general queue and then sending them to the next available agent," said John Delgado, Associate Director, Customer Care for The Reader's Digest Association.

"With skills-based routing, calls are fielded to the most appropriate agents, providing a better experience for the customer and, by making better use of those agents skilled at up-selling and reversing cancellations, helping to boost the bottom line," John Delgado continued.

"For consumer-oriented companies like Reader's Digest, answering calls quickly and efficiently is extremely important," said Brian Galvin, Genesys Chief Technology Officer. "The Reader's Digest Association clearly understands the impact intelligent contact centre technology can have on the customer call experience and took the steps necessary to ensure that each customer interaction is given the level of attention, responsiveness and care that it deserves."
 
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 center 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 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 transferred to Thales]. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: www.alcatel-lucent.com.

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Media Contact:
Duncan Burford, PR for Genesys, 01780 721433, dburford@iba-europe.com 


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