Customer Care Centre and Directory Enquiry get equipped with the latest technology with the aim of increasing customer satisfaction

Tuesday, October 19, 2010: Dubai, United Arab Emirates --Etisalat has signed an agreement with Avaya to upgrade its current call centre infrastructure to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Etisalat customers calling 101 - the Customer Care Centre - and 181 - the Directory Enquiry service - can expect faster response times and a more personalized service once the upgrade is complete.

101 Customer Care and the 181 Directory Enquiry are multichannel contact centres equipped with email, voice, fax and Avaya one-x® Agent soft phones. Each has a different contact centre infrastructure with more than a thousand agent seats.  Avaya will upgrade Etisalat's current system with solutions to facilitate customer segmentation and enhance call routing and self service, along with readjusting skill sets to allow agents to be more productive.

Located in Ajman, Etisalat's toll free 101 Customer Care is a centralised contact centre for all of Etisalat's services in the UAE. Subscribers can obtain billing and general information as well as receive technical support and report outages for Etisalat's mobile, landline, Internet, TV and online services. Avaya will enhance 101's current systems with Communication Manager software, Avaya Voice Portal and interaction management.  Voice Portal is an open-standards based platform for automating inbound and outbound voice and video customer care. Voice self-service allows customers to get simple requests taken care of quickly and frees up contact-centre agents to handle more complex issues.

Etisalat's 181 directory service is a distributed contact centre with agents based in Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Egypt. The directory service allows business and consumer subscribers to access up-to-date information via phone and text message. Avaya will enhance 181's systems with profile based routing which routes callers to the most suitable agent, thereby reducing call waiting time and increasing customer satisfaction. For Emirati accents, the intelligent system will route the call to an agent based in Abu Dhabi or Ajman only, making the caller feel comfortable speaking to an agent with the same accent. 

"Businesses and individuals are increasingly relying on the 181 and 101 contact centres to address their queries efficiently and without delay," said Mohamed Fahim, Vice President - Contact Care Center, Etisalat.  "Our contact centres are designed to provide exceptional customer service, and also act as profit or revenue generating centres. Customers can expect reduced on-hold time and efficient call handling as the upgrade will allow agents to be more agile and have better control of the increasing volume and diversity of calls.  It is a step in the right direction to becoming a centre of excellence and enabling Etisalat to offer a more personalised service."

"Avaya has been Etisalat's communications partner of choice for its contact centres since 1999. This latest upgrade builds on Etisalat's current infrastructure and will enable Etisalat to reduce administration costs and turn their contact centre into a profit centre by helping to retain customers, "said Sherif Khairallah, Service Provider Manager - Emerging Markets, Avaya. "Our Distributed Contact Center solution helps reduce the complexity of multi-site contact centres--resulting in more efficient operations, lower costs, and  reduced staffing needs.  By consolidating servers, companies such as Etisalat eliminate underused hardware and related expenses which can help reduce maintenance costs by up to 15%, and application acquisition costs by up to 35%.[1]"

Avaya is a global leader in Contact Centres with a 47% market share worldwide.[2]

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About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, data solutions, 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.

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Amber Dale
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amber.dale@theportsmouthgroup.com  

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[1] Based on Avaya estimates

[2] Gartner Inc., Market Share, Contact Centre: Worldwide, 2009

© Press Release 2010