PRESS RELEASE: Lucent Tech Gets $80M Pact From Atento
Dow Jones Newswires
( BW)(FL-LUCENT/ATENTO)(LU)(TEF) Atento Selects Lucent Technologies Enterprise Networks Group to Design and Implement State-of-the-Art Customer Contact Centers in Three Continents
Business and Technology Editors
CORAL GABLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2000--Atento, a subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) that provides outsourced call center services to enterprises and Fortune 500 multinationals, selected Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) Enterprise Networks Group to design and implement customer contact centers in 11 countries on three continents.
Valued at $80 million, the two-year call center deployment establishes Atento as one of the leading providers of customer and telemarketing services in Latin America, with more than 16,000 agents.
Already deployed in Spain, Morocco, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Guatemala, Lucent's contact center solutions provide Atento an edge over by allowing them to provide a high level of speed, accuracy and service. Lucent will also install its call center solutions for Atento in Mexico, Venezuela and Peru later this year.
At the heart of Atento's customer contact center are Lucent's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solutions and DEFINITY(R) Enterprise Communications Server (ECS). These solutions boost responsiveness to callers and accelerate the routing of calls to the appropriate customer service agents. Individuals calling in to Atento's contact center are immediately routed to the agent who is most qualified to help them.
"We depend on the reliability of Lucent's call center solutions to provide the highest quality of service to our customers," said Carlos Merono, executive vice president of operations for Atento. "With this technology, we can provide world class service to our multinational customers. We are uniquely positioned to serve both the expanding Latin American markets as well as the US, Europe, and other markets."
"Lucent's industry-leading Customer Relationship Management solutions, together with Atento's expertise in customer care, bring together the best of both worlds to create world-class customer service centers throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa," said David Phillips, international vice president of Lucent Technologies Enterprise Networks for service provider markets.
The call center also provides Atento with critical statistics that helps it increase efficiency. Using Lucent's CentreVu(R) Call Management System software, management receives a detailed, multi-dimensional look at incoming calls. At any given time, they know the numbers of calls coming in, the demographics of each caller, the number of agents available, and the amount of time it takes to answer calls. Using this information, the company can maximize staffing effectiveness, operate efficiently and reduce costs.
Lucent also is supplying its CentreVu Internet Solutions to deliver personalized service at the click of a button by combining the capabilities of a call center with the self-service functionality and spontaneity of the World Wide Web. The solution enables businesses to create high-speed access into their call centers from their Web. For example, a customer browsing an on-line catalogue for a shirt may want to know if it is available in another color. With the click of a button, the customer is talking to a sales agent who is looking at the same on-line catalogue page. The agent can then answer questions, direct the customer to another catalogue page or take an order.
CentreVu Internet Solutions allow businesses to save network costs and agent time by off-loading basic information requests to the Internet, while allowing customers easy access to "live" agents when required. This evolution in call centers allows leading edge companies to improve their customer service in a technology age where service is increasingly becoming the differentiator for successful businesses.
Lucent's Customer Relationship Management Solutions comprise a broad array of systems, software and professional services that help companies deliver on their commitments to customers. They include multimedia customer care and computer telephony applications, customer relationship management software, predictive dialing solutions and interactive voice response products. About Lucent Technologies Enterprise Networks
By the end of September, Lucent Technologies intends to spin off its enterprise communications systems, business cabling and LAN-based data networking businesses, including CRM Solutions and DEFINITY ECS, into a separate $8 billion company focused on delivering next-generation communications networks for enterprises. The new company will be the worldwide leader in messaging and call centers, the U.S. leader in voice communications systems, and will have the largest sales and services force in the industry.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at lucent.com. About Atento
Atento is an innovative, multinational, teleservices company with broad experience in the sector, which seeks to improve the company-customer relationship. In order to enhance that link, Atento offers multichannel communication solutions tailored to the needs of each client, regardless of the company's size, in order to help companies establish a closer, more dynamic and longer-lasting relationship with their customers.
Atento is a multinational project, based in Miami and with operations in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Morocco and Europe. Atento is wholly-owned subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica, S.A.
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CONTACT: Lucent Technologies - Latin America
Inge Sengelmann, 305/569-4895 (office)
From wsj.com. Another 80M to the bottom line over two years.
Jack |
