BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens Enterprise
Communications, Inc. today announced enhancements to the OpenScape(R) Contact
Center portfolio that will provide customers with advanced interactive contact
center features and monitoring in a more cost-effective and easier to deploy
hosted package. The new shared interactive voice response (IVR) solution and
hosted service management offering will help enterprises deploy contact
automation in an effort to deliver superior customer services.
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Natural speech technology, enabled by an IVR solution, is an important
tool for contact centers today, as they strive to make each customer
interaction as positive and effective as possible. However, the costs of a
stand-alone IVR system can be too high for many businesses, which makes a
hosted solution the ideal choice. Working with Contact Solutions, Inc. (CSI),
Siemens will now offer customers world-class hosted IVR applications and
services to deploy a more cost-effective and readily available solution.
"Shared IVR services are a more effective way to improve contact
automation without excessive costs," said Don Greco, Director of Solution
Management for the U.S. for Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. "By adding
CSI's premier solution and expertise to the robust OpenScape Contact Center
portfolio and Siemens' existing value-added services offering, Siemens can now
expand the options available to customers who want an IVR application, but not
the added costs and management challenges."
CSI delivers shared IVR and contact automation services to customers
throughout North America, helping them leverage the latest technology while
helping to stay within their budgets and expertise. With the "Continuous
Improvement" Process that is imbedded in the offering, customers can be
assured that the application will be reviewed and scrutinized continually to
in an effort to provide improved results.
The offering from Siemens and CSI will include integrated contact
automation, platform management, robust reporting tools and enhanced caller
interaction, all on a per minute or per transaction pricing model. Plus, since
Siemens' OpenScape Contact Center solution is an open solution, the new
offering will integrate more seamlessly when live agent interaction is
required. This provides customers with a more flexible, feature rich solution
with a focus on business process optimization to help improve customer
satisfaction, drive agent productivity and reduce costs.
"The Siemens and Contact Solutions alliance brings significant value to
call centers across North America," said Paul Logan, Contact Solutions CEO.
"Siemens' contact center clients are now assured that their end user customers
will receive high quality self-service at the IVR. This means contact center
enterprises will be better positioned to save costs while increasing customer
satisfaction."
"With Contact Solutions, Siemens has chosen to deliver their hosted self
service offering with not only an experienced partner, but one with a highly
valued core selling proposition," according to Sheila McGee-Smith, Principal
Analyst at McGee-Smith Analytics. "CSI's 'secret sauce' is continuous
improvement, working with customers to automate more transactions each month.
That strikes at the very heart of the reason most companies choose to deploy
self service applications."
About Contact Solutions, Inc.
Contact Solutions (CSI) saves its call center clients millions of dollars
by significantly improving their contact automation while uplifting customer
satisfaction levels. Deploying time-tested shared IVR services, world-class
IVR applications and procedures, and an industry-leading project management
approach focused on Continuous Improvement around six distinct Centers of
Excellence, the company has helped the contact center industry redefine
contact automation standards. Large enterprises such as American Express,
Delta Airlines, Motorola and many government entities benefit from the
company's focused, cost-effective contact automation approach. Contact
Solutions is based in Reston, VA. Visit Contact Solutions at
www.contactsolutions.com.
About Siemens
Siemens AG ( SI) is one of the largest global electronics and
engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in 2006.
Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power,
Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications,
Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home
Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in
the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people
throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide
businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in
Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190
countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States:
www.usa.siemens.com.
About Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.
Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. is an affiliate of Siemens
Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, one of the world's leading suppliers
of Unified Communications technologies. The company's unique Open
Communications approach to providing software, solutions and services for
enterprises of all sizes enables business processes to be more productive,
faster and more secure -- with any device, network or information technology
infrastructure. Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. and Siemens Enterprise
Communications GmbH & Co. KG are wholly owned subsidiaries of Siemens AG with
global headquarters in Munich.
For more information about Siemens Enterprise Communications, visit:
http://www.siemens.com/open
Note: OpenScape, OpenStage and HiPath are trademarks of Siemens Enterprise
Communications GmbH & Co. KG. Siemens is a registered trademark of Siemens AG
or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and
service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
holders.
This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of
Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast,"
"expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify
forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current
views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and
uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially
different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business
conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates,
introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or
services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially
from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to
update these forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.
