Avaya and Accenture Form Alliance To Provide Customer Relationship Management Systems For Enterprises
Alliance to deliver leading-edge technology to the contact center market
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. and NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2001 – Avaya and Accenture today announced a customer relationship management (CRM) alliance to deliver contact center business solutions to help enterprises increase operational efficiency, enhance and retain customer relationships and support revenue growth. Avaya is a global leader in corporate networking solutions and services and Accenture is the world’s leading provider of management and technology consulting services and solutions.
This alliance brings together Accenture’s market prominence in CRM consulting and business integration services with Avaya’s leadership in CRM solutions and Internet Protocol (IP) communications. The two companies will integrate offerings with a focus on enterprise-level projects and multichannel communications, including telephony, email, Web chat, fax, wireless and collaborative Web browsing. The alliance’s joint offerings and marketing activity are targeted at a high growth CRM services market, estimated by market research firm IDC to surpass $148 billion by 2005, with a 2000-2005 five-year compound annual growth rate of 25.2 percent.
“In today’s customer-focused economy, customers determine how and when they wish to conduct business,” said Donald K. Peterson, president and CEO, Avaya. “Each contact between a company and its customers creates a relationship that is more critical than ever. By combining Avaya’s leadership in developing next generation, customer-focused technology with Accenture’s proven record as one of the leading providers of CRM solutions and services, we are uniquely positioned to help thousands of enterprises manage their critical customer relationships.”
“Developing strategies for retaining customers and keeping them happy throughout the life cycle, regardless of interaction channel, is a priority for any business,” said John Freeland, Accenture global managing partner, Customer Relationship Management practice. “Accenture and Avaya are teaming to respond to this challenge by providing innovative, cost-effective, CRM contact center business solutions, which are designed to help companies harness emerging technologies and realize increased revenue through customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention.”
Accenture will expand its ability to deliver key Avaya contact center applications via its newly developed Customer Contact Transformation (CCT) offering, which also incorporates Accenture’s next-generation contact center offering. Accenture’s experience has shown that enterprises can achieve cost savings ranging from 10 to 30 percent in their customer contact center operations through transformational solutions, such as the CCT offering, which can decrease labor requirements, increase self-service capabilities, and integrate leading-edge CRM technologies. Avaya and Accenture will be able to showcase leading contact center capabilities via the CCT offering through Accenture’s Minneapolis-based CRM Center of Excellence.
An essential part of the alliance offerings are Avaya Interaction Management and Commitment Management solutions. Avaya Interaction Management applications are industry-leading solutions, listed as a leader in Gartner Inc.’s Call Center Infrastructure Magic Quadrant 2001¹. Interaction Management enables direct inbound and proactive outbound customer contact through the choice of communications channel and at any time of day preferred by the customer. Commitment Management helps build customer satisfaction by effectively applying knowledge and resources through repeatable, predictable and measurable business processes that extend across the enterprise. These solutions are designed to enable companies to offer comprehensive self-service capabilities by providing highly personalized customer experiences, matching the customer to the resources within the contact center, the enterprise, or virtual locations.
About Avaya
Avaya, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., is a leading global provider of communications solutions and services that help businesses, government agencies and other institutions -- including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500 -- excel in the customer economy. Avaya offers Customer Relationship Management Solutions, Unified Communication Solutions, Hosted Solutions, MultiService Networking Infrastructure, and Converged Voice and Data Networks -- including the company’s no-compromise Enterprise-Class IP Solutions (ECLIPS) -- all supported by Avaya Services and Avaya Labs. Avaya is the worldwide leader in unified messaging, messaging systems, call centers and structured cabling systems. It is the U.S. leader in voice communications systems and services. Avaya is an official partner for the 2002 FIFA World Cup™, the 2003 Women’s World Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup championships. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at http://www.avaya.com.
About Accenture
Accenture is the world’s leading provider of management and technology consulting services and solutions, with more than 75,000 people in 46 countries delivering a wide range of specialized capabilities and solutions to clients across all industries. Accenture operates globally with one common brand and business model designed to enable the company to serve its clients on a consistent basis around the world. Under its strategy, Accenture is building a network of businesses to meet the full range of any organization’s needs - consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital. Its home page is http://www.accenture.com.
1. Source: Gartner Inc., Call Center Magic Quadrant 2001, released August 14, 2001
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