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Tag: Avaya

  • Multi channel communications continue to grow in India: Avaya

    Multi channel communications continue to grow in India: Avaya

    MUMBAI: Avaya, a global provider of enterprise communications systems, software and services has announced the latest findings of the Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index.

     

    The Index revealed continuous preference by Indian consumers for multichannel communications in customer service, with video emerging as a new customer service channel, and mobile (text messages, instant messaging platforms) as well as online (including website chat, video chat, social media) continuing to grow and deliver great customer satisfaction scores.

     

    Customer service remains a key influencer of brand loyalty, with 75 per cent indicating they would avoid buying from a company, and more importantly, actively advise friends and family to do the same if they experienced bad customer service. The potential for business generation from satisfied customers is great, with approximately two in every three consumers from India prepared to pay more money to a company that provides them with excellent customer service (69 per cent) with the majority of those being willing to pay at least 10-20 per cent more. This is a trend that is set to continue, as Gen Y is more inclined towards it than mature consumers. 72 per cent of those surveyed also indicated a preference for multichannel communications – demonstrating that companies now more than ever must have a fully integrated end to end multichannel customer experience strategy.

     

    While in-person communication (71 per cent) and phone conversations (76 per cent) continue to lead in terms of interaction volumes, 2013 saw a continuous increase in preference and adoption of mobile and online channels. An average of 4.6 channels are used by consumers when interacting with organisations.

     

    The Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index also points to opportunities for the Telco, Media or Utility industry segments to engage customers at various touch points, with highest utilisation averaging 5.4 channels. While the Telco, Media or Utility industry leads in mobile and online adoption, the Health, Government and Education sector is the strongest in face to face as a channel for communication.

     

    Despite being a relatively new channel, with an average of 14 per cent users say they have engaged in a service interaction through video in the last three months, the adoption of video chat is on the rise, especially in the finance, banking and insurance sector. Indonesia (41 per cent) and Thailand (29 per cent) lead in the adoption of video as a customer service channel. The rate of adoption of video is expected to grow across the board in 2014 by around 14 percent according to the survey. The main reasons for choosing video chat were virtual face to face interaction with the customer service representative (33 per cent), ease of use (21 per cent) and cost effectiveness (20 per cent).

     

    Crucially, consumers who have used video chat rate their experience very positively, 46 per cent mention that they are ‘very happy’ with the experience and over three quarters (76 per cent) agree that they would use it again if it were offered.

     

    An average of 68 per cent of customers across India agreed that service received from customer service centers has improved over the last 12 months. This is higher than the APAC average across the seven countries in the study which stands at 60 percent.

     

    Given the very evident desire among customers for multichannel communication, businesses must have the right capabilities to collaborate across platforms and agents to provide seamless, quality service regardless of contact points. As the adoption of service channels like mobile, online and video continues to rise, technology solutions that help manage these channels and provide customers with the seamless and ever-improving experience they demand are critical.

     

    According to Frost & Sullivan 2012 Asia Pacific Contact Center Market Report , the Asia Pacific contact center industry remains as the fastest growing region for contact center services, growing at 8.4 percent. Alongside fast and high growth, this presents businesses with the opportunity to take customer service to the next level – and deliver quality service at every contact.

     

    “The importance of multichannel communication continues to grow, with the Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index results highlighting the potential and importance of channels including mobile, online and video. 70 per cent of the people indicated a preference for multichannel communications – demonstrating that companies now more than ever must have a fully integrated end to end multichannel customer experience strategy. Video is also clearly starting to represent a significant opportunity for customer service differentiation. The Index makes compelling reading for anyone focused on driving a proactive Customer Experience Management strategy in India,” saysAvaya, India and SAARC contact center sales director Johnson Varkey.

     

    This is the sixth year of the Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index (formerly ‘Avaya Asia Pacific Contact Center Consumer Index’). In 2013, over 2,400 consumers from across the Asia Pacific region, located in Singapore, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and India, who were recent users of contact centers, were surveyed from August to September 2013.

  • Avaya handles nine trillion bytes of data and voice transmission during the Fifa World Cup

    Avaya handles nine trillion bytes of data and voice transmission during the Fifa World Cup

    MUMBAI: Handling everything from players’ and journalists’ accreditations, to transmitting photos and match details around the world in real time, the converged network from Avaya, an official partner of the 2006 Fifa World Cup has managed a communication network that’s free of errors.

    Avaya, which provides business communications applications, systems and services. The converged network – which combines voice and data on the same infrastructure — connects the 12 host stadiums, the stadium media centers in Munich, Berlin and Dortmund and the Fifa headquarters in Berlin.

    Players, coaches, volunteers and fans alike benefit from the network that is being used to issue accreditations for players and journalists, report results, track materials and inventory, confirm accommodations at Fifa’s official hotels and maintain security systems.

    According to Avaya, at the halfway point in the tournament, the network has performed flawlessly and without any downtime, which is critical for a highly visible event such as the Fifa World Cup. For example, for the first 20 matches, the cumulative worldwide television viewing audience was almost 1.26 billion people. The total of voice and data bytes transferred over the network since it went ‘live’ on 1 June 2006 is 9.8 terabytes (or 9.8 trillion bytes of traffic). The average amount of traffic transmitted on Avaya network each day during the Fifa World Cup is 250,000 gigabytes.

    People have logged onto the converged communications network approximately 567,000 times, to date, and over 296,000 phone calls have been made on the network, which represents 632,297 minutes of calling time.

    Thousands of people have been using the high-speed Wireless Lan access from Avaya that have made connectivity easy and convenient for staff working temporarily in an area of the stadium or Fifa Headquarters Hotel.

    Journalists and photographers working in the stadiums can quickly connect to the Internet via an Avaya wireless Lan network and send photos and stories directly from the field.

    Avaya’s Fifa World Cup programme director Andrea Rinnerberger says, “Whether it’s our team of Avaya technical experts or the team of players on the field, the same rules apply: excellent preparation is critical to success. For months, the network Avaya built for the Fifa World Cup underwent rigorous testing in configuration, fail-over and resiliency.

    You might say we were in ‘intensive training’ for the tournament. Achieving 99.99 per cent network availability and reliability to date is the result of these high-powered IT ‘workouts’ that enable us to be fully ready for the expected and unexpected.”

    The unexpected arrived for the Avaya team of technicians working at a match at the Fifa World Cup stadium in Munich when Argentine football great Diego Maradona ducked into the stadium’s technical center to escape autograph seekers, and found himself surrounded by blinking monitors and racks of media servers and gateways that comprise the network Avaya built for Fifa. After his — and the Avaya team’s — initial surprise, the former football star was introduced to the world of high technology, with a tour of the network that Avaya deployed.

    Rinnerberger said, “It’s a ‘World Cup moment,’ but it illustrates Avaya’s dedication to being prepared for anything and everything. We bring the same dedication to the enterprise customers we serve around the world.”

  • Avaya provides converged communication network for Fifa

    Avaya provides converged communication network for Fifa

    MUMBAI: With 64 matches over 31 days, mobility will be critical to maximise productivity and efficiency for journalists, Fifa employees and volunteers at the World Cup. Avaya is building a converged communication network that will enable the estimated 15,000 media covering the tournament, to provide the most up-to-date information and images to fans, giving those in attendance and at home the closest to real-time Fifa World Cup experience to date.

    It will also give Fifa personnel and volunteers who will be working the event, the mobility they need to make them more productive.

    Avaya head of IT for Fifa Mike Kelly said, “With billions of fans watching around the globe and the media using our networks to transmit photos and information instantly — we cannot compromise on performance. We require our employees to be easily contactable whenever and wherever we need them. Avaya’s solutions will help us to redefine how our employees and stakeholders can work around the World Cup.”

    The media covering the 2006 Fifa World Cup will require up-to-the-minute and accurate information to satisfy the public’s need for near-instantaneous information through online portals, broadcast and other media. A series of wireless local area networks (WLAN) in some of the stadiums, will give the press complete mobility within these environments.

    Photographers capturing game time action and analysts transmitting match statistics can now use their approved devices such as wireless laptops to reach Avaya Wireless Access Points from anywhere in the stadium — without having to move from their match position.

    Photographer John Sibley of London based Action Images said, “I have specialised in football photography since 1991, and one of the great things about covering Fifa competitions is the way that technology has made me much more efficient. Historically, photographers covering the Fifa World Cup used conventional film cameras. The film then had to be taken to the stadium’s media centre, developed, scanned and uploaded — taking up to 45 minutes. Now, with digital cameras I can transfer images straight to my laptop and transmit them directly over Fifa’s network. Now, this can take less than 60 seconds and fans can see photographs in near real time.”

    In addition, the converged communication network that Avaya is supplying for the Fifa World Cup will incorporate key mobility features such as Extension-to-Cellular that will maximise productivity and efficiency of Fifa employees, volunteers and executives working at the World Cup.

    In order to ensure smooth running of the 31 day 2006 Fifa World Cup Germany competition, it is especially critical for members of the Fifa and Avaya staffs to remain in constant contact. In order to reduce the time spent trying to find and contact people, Avaya integrated and installed the Avaya Extension-to-Cellular application which allows individuals to be reached on a single telephone number, wherever they are.

    For example, office calls can be automatically routed to any mobile device along with key capabilities like conferencing and transferring. Furthermore, if the call cannot connect it will return to the office voicemail — meaning it is no longer necessary to have multiple mailboxes.

    Fifa personnel will also have a single interface to access their voicemails, emails, directories and more, allowing them to check, store and manage them from any phone or laptop with Avaya’s Modular Messaging.

    Since becoming a Fifa World Cup partner in 2001, Avaya has worked with Fifa to help bring the excitement of the world’s most popular sport to an estimated accumulated global audience of 30 billion fans. Avaya has already provided converged communication networks for the 2002 Fifa World Cup, 2003 Women’s World Cup and the Fifa Confederations Cup 2005.

  • Fifa signs deal for official World Cup melody

    Fifa signs deal for official World Cup melody

    MUMBAI: Music publisher and online publishing administrator Kobalt Music Group has been signed up by footballs’ governing body Fifa to be the exclusive worldwide licensor and administrator for the Official Melody of the 2006 Fifa World Cup.

    Written by Nadir Khayat aka Red One and Bilal Hajji, the 30-second melody, a sample from the Red One song Bamboo will also be incorporated into several other songs.

    These include the official single of the event and other pieces of music to be used extensively throughout the championships, including the song Hips Don’t Lie – Bamboo which has been performed by Shakira.

    In addition, dance, hip-hop, house and Bamboo mixes will also be sold as ringtones. Kobalt founder and CEO Willard Ahdritz says, “Kobalt is exploiting the content on a global basis through digital distribution partners on five continents. With an audience of more than a billion people and extensive promotion, the potential exposure and consumer base for the Official Melody is extraordinary.

    “We are thrilled to be the administrator for Fifa to market, license and collect for both the publishing and master rights in what could be the biggest digital event ever.”

    The World Cup takes place from 9 June-9 July in Germany. The Official Melody of the event will receive extensive exposure during all World Cup events, including cross-promotion and in sponsor ad spots from such advertisers as Adidas, Avaya, Budweiser, Coke, Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Emirates, Fujifilm, Gillette, Hyundai, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Phillips, Toshiba and Yahoo.

    Through the deal, Kobalt is working with Fifa’s concept developer, Engine AB an MTG company, which is Fifa’s exclusive agent for the creation and supervision of the overall music program for the 2006 Fifa World Cup.

    Kobalt is a global, independent music publisher offering administrative and creative services to writers, publishers and other publishing rights holders. Kobalt’s technology enables clients to receive faster delivery of revenues and information in a transparent and efficient manner.

  • Fifa partner Avaya completes key phase of testing of converged network

    Fifa partner Avaya completes key phase of testing of converged network

    MUMBAI: One of football’s global body Fifa’s partners Avaya is building the converged communication network for the event in Germany.

    Avaya has been rigorously testing the network’s configuration, reliability and security. The tests are a key part of the process to ensure the network is available 99.99 per cent of the time.

    The converged network — combining voice and data on the same infrastructure — will be used by teams, referees, journalists plus Fifa and organising committee officials for a variety of tasks.

    These will include accreditation, reporting results, logistics and transportation. Avaya says that to test the network without finding any major issues is excellent, especially considering the complexity of the project.

    In addition to conducting more than 400 tests at the company’s Fifa World Cup lab in Frankfurt, Avaya commissioned Netconsult Online Limited, an independent company specialising in quality control and assurance, to validate network testing results.

    Exhaustive testing of failover scenarios, back-up power, firmware and software compatibility, and the resiliency of the various IP applications was conducted. Following the independent validation, Fifa also just completed its own integration testing in which it examined performance of applications across the network.

    The Fifa integration testing was again successful. All the components of the network have been extensively tested, labeled and made ready for deployment to various stadia and other venues for the event so the excitement can commence with the kick-off of the opening match in less than 50 days.

    The stage is now set for installation of the network in the 12 Cup stadia beginning with Munich and Berlin. The IT Command Center for the entire network is currently up and running in Munich and the accreditations centers will be open over the next weeks, beginning with Berlin.

    Avaya’s Fifa World Cup technical programme MD Doug Gardner says, “Logistics and transportation are among the many critical functions that rely on our converged communications network. It is vital to extensively test the network and all the individual devices to be deployed to avoid delays for the thousands of people involved in producing this event, the 80,000 spectators at each game and to get teams to the stadia on time and match statistics to broadcasters promptly.”