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New Avaya one-X Agent Helps Businesses Boost Productivity and Efficiency of Virtual Customer Service Operations
Sutherland Global Services Plans to Deploy New Avaya Customer Service Desktop Application to Over 1,000 Home-Based Customer Service Associates
| Source: Avaya Inc.
BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - July 14, 2009) - Avaya Inc. today announced the new
version of its powerful desktop application suite designed for customer service associates. The new application, Avaya one-X®
Agent, features significant enhancements -- including a streamlined
user interface, embedded video and improved deployment options -- that can
improve the productivity and cost-efficiencies of today's increasingly
virtual customer service operations.
Avaya one-X Agent gives customer service associates working from any
location -- at home, headquarters or a remote location -- a simple-to-use
interface providing fast access to all of the sophisticated capabilities
required to deliver top-quality customer service. Accessible via a customer
service associate's personal computer, it enables businesses to easily
extend headquarters-quality customer service capabilities to associates and
subject matter experts, regardless of their physical location.
New enhancements driving greater productivity include a re-designed user
interface that lets customer service associates better manage multiple
interactions simultaneously. This helps simplify work item management for
the user, while driving more first-call resolutions across customer service
operations. The user interface also features new capabilities such as
integrated contact lists with 'click-to-dial' and 'drag and drop' features
for conferencing and transfers, giving customer service associates more
effective means to reach the right expert and include them in customer
interactions.
"Avaya one-X Agent offers businesses a way to significantly upgrade the
agent's experience on several dimensions," said Sheila McGee Smith,
industry analyst and president of McGee-Smith Analytics. "The look and
feel is slick and modern, in keeping with its membership in the Avaya one-X
family. Virtualization enables multiple thin client options, including
Citrix, Sun Ray and VMWare. And support for video in the contact center,
the enterprise, and with customers offers companies a way to differentiate
their service in this very challenging market."
The virtual nature of Avaya one-X Agent gives businesses a helpful tool for
engaging customer service associates and subject matter experts based on
their skills, not just their location. For example, with just a personal
laptop and a VPN connection, a teleworker using the solution can work
flexibly from any location, and quickly become a seamless part of a
business' customer service operation. Avaya one-X Agent uses the Avaya
Aura™ Communication Manager platform for access to enterprise
collaboration tools.
Customer Service Administration and Collaboration Made Simple
In terms of desktop administration, Avaya one-X Agent enables the
deployment and management of customer service operations in a simplified,
cost-efficient manner.
Using a standard Microsoft® Installer®, the installation of Avaya one-X
Agent can now be easily customized and run silently in the background, with
no interaction required from the customer service associate. This
eliminates the extra costs and time associated with individual desktop
installations, since IT installation visits to home and remote offices
using one-X Agent are no longer necessary. Administrators can also
determine which features are accessible by customer service agents,
providing administrators with greater control over the agent desktop
experience.
Another key enhancement introduced in Avaya one-X Agent is support for
embedded video, an emerging customer service tool that makes video-based
interactions as simple as a phone call. This lets home-based or remote
customer service associates collaborate with colleagues using visual
communications, just as if they were in the same office. Video also makes
for more dynamic customer interactions through face-to-face discussions via
computer or in-store kiosks. Video collaboration is part of Avaya one-X
Agent's growing set of multi-modal, multi-media capabilities, which will
also include instant messaging and TTY (teletype) in the next release,
later this year.
Sutherland Global Services Develops Ambitious Work-at-Home Customer Service
Strategy; Deploys 'Avaya one-X Agent'
Rochester, N.Y.-based Sutherland Global
Services, a multinational Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company
with more than 24,000 employees worldwide has deployed Avaya one-X Agent
applications, with plans to expand the solution to more than 1,000
home-based employees in the U.S. This will enable the company to have a
fully equipped force of home-based employees to support their clients.
Commenting on the deployment of Avaya one-X Agent, Kam Shenai, Chief Client
Officer, Sutherland Global Services, said, "With Avaya one-X Agent, we can
support a productive work-at-home initiative that will help tap into talent
from across the country. We are no longer restricted to a geocentric model.
The Avaya solution will help us attract the best talent from a national
pool, and give our associates a user-friendly virtual desktop at their home
base."
Adds Shenai: "With this technology, people who work from home can use
their personal computers to securely connect to a virtual environment
customized to suit the business needs of our clients. This allows us to
develop and deploy business process services, which we can easily scale to
meet a growing market need."
As a global leader in the BPO space, Sutherland Global Services is paving
the way towards the next-generation virtual resource model that breaks down
physical boundaries and incorporates talent from anywhere in the world.
Avaya one-X Agent will play a strong role in helping businesses continue to
differentiate their customer service and get more value from their global
delivery operations.
About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company
provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its
channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world.
Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art
communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service,
and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.