Avaya announces global availability of contact centre solution

Avaya today announced the global availability of Avaya CT for Siebel eBusiness Applications, a component in Avaya`s CRM Solutions software portfolio. This solution enables seamless interoperability of Avaya`s market-leading contact center software and infrastructure with the market-leading Siebel eBusiness applications.

Previously offered to select customers in English, Avaya CT for Siebel eBusiness Applications is now generally available in Japanese, Portuguese, French, German and Spanish, with support for other languages in the first quarter of 2001.

This release is part of a series of customer-focused solutions under development as a result of the alliance between Avaya and Siebel Systems, the world`s leading provider of eBusiness Applications software. The Avaya-Siebel Systems global strategic alliance, announced in June 2000, was formed to cooperatively develop, deliver and market eBusiness solutions that enable seamless communication between companies and their customers over any media - including the Web, email, phone or fax - using any appropriately-configured device. Together, Avaya and Siebel Systems enable businesses to deliver increased customer satisfaction through the real-time delivery of the right information to the right person across any communication channel, transforming traditional call centers into highly focused, highly successful customer interaction centers.

"Since announcing our global strategic alliance, we`ve worked closely with Siebel Systems to create advanced solutions that allow our companies` applications to interoperate more easily," said Keith Larson, Avaya vice president, Communications Applications Group. "Avaya CT for Siebel eBusiness Applications is an important milestone in our cooperatively developed applications and customer-driven solutions needed to deploy successful eBusiness Communication strategies."

Nexstar Financial Corporation, which delivers residential mortgage products through corporate and co-branded relationships, is one of the first companies to benefit from the expanded cooperative development and product integration of the two industry leaders. Nexstar is using the Avaya CT for Siebel eBusiness Applications to enable real-time telephony and Internet chat sessions in its contact center. As a result, Nexstar has been able to realize its objective of handling multiple channels of inquiries in order to improve efficiency and ensure superior customer service.

"Avaya, Siebel Systems and Nexstar share a dedication to leveraging advanced technologies in order to best meet our customers` needs," said Rich Harkwell, vice president of Customer Experience at Nexstar Financial Corporation. "Working in close collaboration with the Avaya and Siebel Systems teams, we have put in place eBusiness solutions that support our seamless, high tech, high touch service, and that allow Nexstar to provide our customers with an industry-leading, highly efficient experience. We look forward to continuing to benefit from these interoperable advanced solutions."

"Together, Avaya and Siebel Systems enable today`s global organizations to increase their customers` satisfaction across multiple communication channels," said Kevin Nix, vice president and general manager, Siebel Systems, Inc. "This release exemplifies our commitment to working with Avaya and delivering tightly- integrated solutions for the global marketplace that significantly improve customer satisfaction, reduce operating costs and dramatically increase revenues."

Adexus, the leading Chilean system integrator, uses Avaya solutions and Siebel eBusiness Applications to enable its Global Internet Services Center to manage its customer relationships and to offer outsourced services that include telemarketing, customer service and help desk. The contact center`s anymedia capabilities support customer communications via e-mail, fax or telephone, as well as chat, callback and voice over Internet.

"We looked for a formula that leveraged the best of the core competencies of each company," said Carlos Rodr'iguez, project manager at Adexus. "Our goal was to optimize the contact center resources to offer the highest quality of service to our clients by reducing response time and providing more communication options."

Avaya and Siebel Systems plan to introduce other new, cooperatively developed and packaged solutions in 2001, further integrating the leading eBusiness capabilities offered by the two companies.