JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- ALLTEL (NYSE: AT)
announced today the addition of Periphonics Corporation's (Nasdaq:
PERI) CallSponsor to its line of Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
solutions. Reducing the average customer service call by up to 47
percent, ALLTEL's IVR solutions are automated voice-response systems
that provide customers with immediate, secure access to loan-related
information. CallSponsor will also be integrated with ALLTEL's
Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP).
"We are proud to be partnered with ALLTEL, the mortgage industry's
leading provider of servicing software," said Rob Latour, regional
manager, Periphonics Partnership Program. "Working together, I know we
will reduce customer service inquiries for ALLTEL clients, allowing
them to increase productivity and profitability."
Responding to ALLTEL client reports that 30 to 50 percent of an average
day's customer service calls are handled by an IVR, ALLTEL enhanced its
offerings by partnering with two companies, Periphonics and TeleVoice,
both considered experts in the computer telephony industry.
Periphonics develops, markets and supports products and professional
services for Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) using technologies
such as IVR, speech input, messaging, fax and web browsers.
Periphonics provides a comprehensive line of telephony and shared
resource capabilities, host/server connectivity, and application
development tools.
"After conducting extensive research, we selected Periphonics to
enhance our IVR offerings because they are the leaders in the industry
and extremely advanced in the technological aspect of computer
telephony," said Caroline Hodnett, ALLTEL's product manager for the IVR
solutions.
Headquartered in Bohemia, NY, Periphonics began operations in 1970 and
delivers interactive transaction processing solutions that automate
customer call center services, serving millions of callers every day in
industries such as telecommunications, financial services and
government agencies.
Periphonics' CallSponsor is the industry's only single-source solution
providing a suite of call center technologies. These technologies
include IVR, Advanced Speech Processing (ASP) with Large Vocabulary
Recognition (LVR), Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and voice
activated dialing capabilities. CallSponsor allows integration with
ALLTEL's CPI Director, automatically bringing up customer service
workstation screens as the call is transferred to a customer service
representative.
The alternative choice for ALLTEL's IVR solutions, TeleVoice, has been
ALLTEL's partner providing computer telephony solutions since 1988.
Headquartered in Houston, Tex., TeleVoice provides voice response
units, computer telephony solutions, hardware and software, and
technical customer and service support. Additionally, TeleVoice
designs computer telephony solutions that interface to mainframe
computers, providing full caller functionality and are custom-built to
meet the needs of their customers.
ALLTEL is the leader in the mortgage loan automation industry and the
largest U.S. provider of software and processing services to firms
servicing residential mortgage loans. ALLTEL's Mortgage Servicing
Package is an on-line mortgage loan servicing system that automates all
areas of loan servicing, including loan setup and maintenance,
cashiering, escrow administration, investor accounting, customer
service and default management. ALLTEL currently provides
loan-servicing automation for more than 20 million mortgage loans, with
balances exceeding $2 trillion.
ALLTEL Information Services with customers in 48 countries around the
world, provides information processing management, outsourcing services
and application software to the financial, mortgage and
telecommunications industries.
ALLTEL is a customer-focused information technology company that
provides wireline and wireless communications and information services.
SOURCE ALLTEL
-0- 04/13/99 /CONTACT: Victor Soler-Sala,
Senior Vice President, 904-854-3449, or Lauralee Shapiro, Marketing
Communications Manager, 904-854-5185, both of ALLTEL/
/Web site: alltel.com (AT PERI)
CO: ALLTEL; Periphonics Corporation; TeleVoice ST: Florida, New
York, Arkansas IN: TLS CPR SU: JVN |
