New Delhi, India 21st July: Avaya, a global provider of enterprise communications systems, software and services, introduced its next-generation of contact center solutions to meet the real-time demands of a rapidly evolving customer service environment. The new solutions – which include innovations in multimedia work assignment, workforce optimization and outbound self-service – can help businesses more effectively manage customer experiences in an always-on world.

These advancements drive improvements in customer satisfaction, agent productivity, and cost-savings throughout contact center operations. Central to the new offerings is Avaya Aura™ Contact Center, a multimedia work assignment application for mid-size contact centers that connects customers and their information to the right agent or expert via any communications mode (i.e. voice, video, e-mail, chat).

It uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based collaborative session model of Avaya™ Aura – the company’s business communications applications platform – to enhance the efficiency and quality of customer service. Avaya Aura Contact Center complements the large enterprise solutions of Avaya Aura Call Center Elite, and will serve as its multimedia extension. Avaya Aura Contact Center’s collaboration capabilities help a business understand the full context of a customer interaction – including the customer’s mode of communications, history and present needs.

The solution also brings collaborative sessions to customer service, eliminating the process of having customers repeat information to several people as they progress through a call. By bringing the customer, agent and expert into a session to share information, a company can reduce customer frustrations, increase first-contact resolution and enhance experiences.

Through this approach, Avaya Aura Contact Center can improve customer satisfaction by up to 50 percent. Customer experiences are critical, yet most businesses are not aware of the disconnect they have with their own customers. A study by Webtorials Editorial shows that 80 percent of companies believe they provide a good or superior customer experience, while only 20 percent of consumers agree.

Additionally, 82 percent of consumers say their experience with the contact center is important or very important in their opinion about a company’s image. And in a recent Asia-Pacific survey conducted to compile the 2010 Contact Center Consumer Index*, over half of respondents who were dissatisfied with their contact center experience said they had switched or would switch to a competitor.

"Customer experience is increasingly the sole differentiator for most enterprises. These announcements from Avaya are a reflection of the rising customer expectations and sophisticated technologies required to enable that experience in today's connected world." said Shivanu Shukla, Associate Director at Frost & Sullivan's Asia Pacific ICT Practice.

"The ability to put the customer at the center of any interaction and transform it into a collaboration session - joining the customer and enterprise experts with the relevant customer information and context over multiple communications media - will enable enterprise contact centers to deliver differentiated service and improve customer satisfaction. Enterprises across the Asia Pacific region, irrespective of their size, are increasing their focus on customer experience.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, Asia Pacific correspondent

Source: http://www.c2clive.com