Avaya Releases New Contact Center Solution

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Avaya Inc. released Avaya Proactive Contact 3.0, which can call customers, detect a live connection, and then ensure the right agent is connected to the customer. 

One of the companies already using Avaya Proactive Contact is Asset Management Outsourcing, Inc. (AMO), a provider of accounts receivable services that help companies retain customers, improve cash flow, and reduce bad debt expense.  AMO is using Proactive Contact to support its contact center in Everett, Wash., where agents make more than 500,000 outbound customer calls each month.
 
New Avaya Outbound Service Capabilities Lead Evolution of Predictive Dialing
Avaya Proactive Contact increases agent productivity through a new predictive dialing automation capability, known as 'Cruise Control'. This feature allows administrators to more easily set service level objectives and have the system dynamically adjust the pace of calling activity with no further manual intervention. To achieve this, the software tracks a range of key parameters in real-time, such as the number of outbound calls answered and length of time on calls - to achieve faster throughput while complying with government regulations. Proactive Contact can accelerate or reduce the pace of interactions based on its predictions of when agents are free or too busy, reducing 'nuisance calls' (i.e. calls that occur when a customer hears silence on the other end) and maximizing agent time, making for a more productive outbound campaign.

Businesses can more easily and cost-effectively deploy outbound sales technologies, since Avaya Proactive Contact is now available as a software-based solution that integrates with Avaya Communication Manager - the industry's leading IP telephony software. This software approach minimizes the need for additional hardware and easily blends proactive customer outreach with existing inbound calling operations. This lets a company fill an inbound agent's 'downtime' with productive outbound work. Additional cost-savings are gained by using IP telephony to tap outbound agents anywhere—including home-based agents—and connecting them to customers using the "least cost" route.

Greater business continuity is achieved through a new 'health management' application that reduces the complexity of managing 24/7 outbound contact center solutions. Avaya Proactive Contact provides a simplified way to identify issues in outbound communications and quickly alert administrators, allowing them to take fast action before outages occur. For example, if the main dialing server has an issue, or if there is an outage somewhere on a network, the administrator can quickly fix the problem, reducing downtime and more effectively supporting continuous outbound customer calling service.

"For businesses to remain competitive and focused on the bottom line, their customer communications and contact centers must become increasingly proactive" said Joe Outlaw, principal analyst, Current Analysis. "Avaya continues to pioneer contact center features that leverage advanced technologies, such as Cruise Control, that help businesses achieve higher levels of performance while remaining compliant."

AMO, Inc Helps Clients Reach and Retain More Customers with Avaya Proactive Contact

AMO, Inc. uses a blended inbound and outbound solution from Avaya to help contact center administrators boost productivity and fill downtime by moving idle inbound agents to outbound calling activities. This approach, combined with the advanced capabilities of Proactive Contact, makes for a more efficient and productive operation.

"Avaya Proactive Contact has greatly increased our productivity," said Aaron Burke, AMO IT manager for the Everett facility.  "Since the system automatically connects with an agent only when it reaches a live customer, we are able to handle far more calls to make better use of our time and resources."

With the software's cruise control feature fine-tuning performance, Burke said the system is able to connect agents and customers in milliseconds - reducing the number of hang-ups and greatly improving the odds of keeping a customer on the phone to discuss account status or payment options.  Administrators no longer have to monitor service levels and are freed to spend time assisting their team with calls.  

According to Greg Mauk, Chief Information Technology Officer for AMO, the company will continue to expand their outbound activities with Avaya in order to continue improving agent performance and reduce maintenance and support costs.

"Businesses are demanding more innovative and targeted ways to communicate with their customers, not only to foster more high-value interactions, but also to solidify a bond between company and customer," said Eileen Rudden, vice president and general manager, Avaya Enterprise Communications Applications Division. "Avaya achieves this by extending intelligent communications to proactive contact, resulting in a solution that enhances agent productivity and customer experiences, while maintaining a focus on delivering easy, cost-efficient implementations."

Avaya Proactive Contact software is a key component of the award-winning Avaya Customer Interaction Suite of IP-based contact center applications. The software is interoperable with the applications in this suite, including Avaya Contact Center Express, a solution designed for mid-sized organizations and Avaya Voice Portal, a speech self-service solution.