News May 26, 08:21 Eastern Time
CHICAGO (May 26) BUSINESS WIRE -May 26, 1999--
Agreement will bring improved system reliability and Y2K-compliant technology
Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced it has signed a three-year, $21 million agreement with United Airlines to provide support for United's 17 reservations centers in the United States. The agreement calls for Lucent, through its NetCare(r) services portfolio, to support 4,900 reservations representatives and 686 voice mailboxes.
Lucent will take over management of the systems and software supporting United's reservations centers, which include Lucent's suite of CentreVu(r) Customer Care Solutions, the company's DEFINITY(r) Enterprise Communications Servers and Intuity(T) AUDIX(r) messaging systems. Lucent's CentreVu Response Solutions will support interactive voice response applications; and CentreVu Call Management System (CMS), a software application that provides information and management tools, will help monitor, analyze and optimize call center performance. Lucent will install new DEFINITY and Intuity AUDIX systems at some call centers while upgrading the equipment at others to current state-of-the-art levels. All of the products included in the agreement have been certified as Year 2000 compliant.
Lucent will provide United with remote monitoring and software administration; billing coordination; trouble ticket management; custom billing; inventory management; and professional services, such as call flow design and agent training.
"When it comes to systems that serve our customers and employees, our top priority is reliability," said Al Smith, Director-Voice & Data Communications at United's Information Services Division. "With Lucent's proven track record as an industry leader, this agreement will provide our Reservations employees with the technology resources they need to serve our customers today, tomorrow and into the next millenium."
"Lucent has been building and caring for communications networks for more than 125 years, and thousands of businesses trust their critical systems to our Lucent NetCare services," said Joie Pacifico, Lucent's Value-Added Services vice president. "We are very pleased that United has entrusted us with their network of reservations centers."
Lucent is the market leader in call center equipment in the U.S. and Europe. The call center market is growing at about 21 percent a year, and is expected to reach more than $15 billion by 2001. International Data Corp. (IDC) predicts that revenues from call center outsourcing will climb from 15 percent to 25 percent each year for the next few years.
Lucent NetCare offers a full suite of communications services to optimize companies' evolving networks. Lucent directly manages more than 1,100 voice systems and more than 2.8 million mailboxes. Lucent NetCare is a market leader in providing customer relationship solutions, with more than 6,000 clients and 600 consultants working with 700 call centers per week.
As the largest air carrier in the world and the largest majority employee-owned company, United Airlines offers more than 2,370 flights a day to 133 destinations in 27 countries and one U.S. territory. United is a founding member of the Star Alliance, a global network of airlines including Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Ansett Australia, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and Varig. All Nippon Airways of Japan is expected to join the Star Alliance in October of 1999. United also is an industry innovator with breakthroughs such as E-Ticket Service, United Connection, Airport Gate Readers, Mobile Airport Chariots, United Shuttle, and the introduction of the technologically advanced Boeing 777. |
