EDS announces three customer relationship management contracts

EDS has announced three new and renewed contracts worth $77 million with companies around the world for business process outsourcing (BPO) in the customer relationship management (CRM) services segment.

EDS`s CRM Services include contact centre outsourcing, business intelligence, demand management and distribution, and warranty services to help clients get in touch with customers` needs and manage their expectations from order through delivery. Today`s announcements include:

* A new five-year agreement with United Airlines for contact centre services for United Cargo, the airline`s global cargo business. This agreement includes EDS`s CRM solution and will allow United Cargo to focus on its core business and improve customer service. With this agreement, EDS will utilise its Best Shore model to deliver contact centre services from EDS sites in the US and Canada for United Cargo`s sites across the US.

* A five-year renewal with Visanet that includes expanded service capabilities under the master contract. With this new contract, EDS will provide customer care contact centre services for the financial services firm`s clients, which are merchants affiliated with Visa. EDS also provides Visanet with transaction processing, systems development and maintenance, authorisations, data warehousing, risk management and hosting services.

* A five-year contract renewal with ArvinMeritor, a leading manufacturing company for the global trucking industry, for technical call centre services and warranty administration support for ArvinMeritor customers in the US.

IDC estimates the worldwide market for outsourced customer care services to be $38 billion in 2002, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12.3% through 2007. EDS`s global presence and broad portfolio of business process outsourcing and other solutions helps clients worldwide leverage its scalable and agile infrastructure to streamline operations, improve customer service and manage costs related to these non-core business processes.

"With more than 40 years of industry, process and technology `know how,` EDS is uniquely qualified to provide clients with a full scope of business process and outsourcing services - helping clients worldwide leverage technology to streamline operations, improve customer service and manage costs," said Paula Kruger, president, CRM Service Line for EDS. "Through our CRM contact centre services, EDS clients have realised up to 50% growth and three times faster sales cycles, while reducing costs 15% to 30%."

EDS is a leading provider of enterprise CRM solutions, processing more than 190 million contacts and 700 million minutes of multi-channel customer interaction annually and managing 299 data warehouses with more than 214 terabytes of data on behalf of 500 clients in more than 30 countries. EDS employs 20 000 people at 280 locations, who deliver service excellence for clients of EDS CRM services in 41 languages.

The EDS Business Process Outsourcing portfolio includes customer relationship management (CRM), financial process management (FPM) and administrative and enterprise shared services, which includes human resources, finance and accounting and procurement services.