Avaya Inc. (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of communications networks for businesses today announced that Australian National Credit Union has selected Gold Partner NSC to implement a $A500,000 Avaya-based convergence, contact centre and messaging initiative at Australian National Credit Union's Melbourne and Sydney call centres.

For Australian National Credit Union, the implementation represents a move towards multimedia convergence — increasing productivity and responsiveness to customers while improving intra- and inter-office communications.

Substantial efficiencies — including cost savings — are expected to accrue from having both contact centres on the same phone system. Telephone calls will be better shared between Sydney and Melbourne, providing more consistent service levels. Planning, measuring and monitoring of workloads — and thus scheduling of staff — will also be easier. Calls from anywhere in Australia can be answered by the next available operator.

The new Avaya system is easy-to-use, Windows-based and easily upgradeable — a performance feature crucial in the rapidly changing world of business telephony. A simple INTUITY™ AUDIX® voicemail system allows Australian National Credit Union staff to remotely access voicemail.

Jane Tarran, account executive for Avaya Gold Business Partner NSC, said NSC provided support from the initial discussion stage right through to post-installation service and maintenance.

"We networked the two DEFINITY® PABXs together via Internet Protocol [IP] with 8K compression over a 4Mb frame relay, getting calls coming into both call centres, then splitting them off. The 30 IP trunks between sites is a lot — and not too many sites have virtual routing and Look Ahead Interflow technologies getting two sites operating as one, maximising agent utilisation," she said.

The credit union is adopting Avaya MultiVantage™ Software on an Avaya DEFINITY communications server and INTUITY AUDIX Voice Mail System in Melbourne. Upgrades to the existing Avaya DEFINITY communications server, CentreVu® Call Management System and INTUITY AUDIX voicemail were implemented in Sydney, including Avaya Best Service Routing and Look Ahead Interflow.

Sydney's contact centre software incorporates advanced predictive routing that assesses customer needs and analyses call flow to match callers with appropriately skilled agents.

George Sotiros, National Contact Centre Manager, Australian National Credit Union, said he was "very pleased" with the results of the NSC implementation.

"It was actually meeting my expectations from day one. From the moment we ⬜opened the doors', the calls were flowing effectively through both contact centres. A member could call us from anywhere in Australia and have his or her call answered by the next available operator. And that whole process was very transparent to members."

Mr Sotiros said Australian National Credit Union had recognised Avaya as best in class for contact centre solutions, due to its quality virtual routing, consistent telephony platform and better customer experience.

Sunny Rao, General Manager, Enterprise Solutions, Avaya South Pacific, said Avaya's offering had been the clear winner in terms of cost-effectiveness and usability.

"Messaging capability has become crucial in the post-September 11 environment. Better, more cost-effective communications are needed to keep on top of intensifying security and privacy concerns around the world. The customer wanted near-total redundancy — so that if one centre fell over the other could take up its role — an effective fall-back plan. So that's what we built," Mr Rao said.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500®. A world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems, communications software applications and services, Avaya is driving the convergence of voice and data applications across IT networks enabling businesses large and small to leverage existing and new networks to enhance value, improve productivity and gain competitive advantage. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com

About NSC
NSC has specialised in communications technologies for more than 12 years. The company offers business services, applications and solutions for contact centres, voice, data, CTI and CRM. One of Australia's largest and most in-demand communications technologies suppliers, NSC is a wholly Australian-owned enterprise. NSC provides support to clients 24 hours a day across the nation. In-house strategic business and technical consultants provide on-site evaluations of needs and work with clients to ensure a smooth, non-disruptive integration of communications technologies to support and enhance B2B customer care strategies. NSC is proud to include companies such as Lion Nathan, Allianz, 3M, Ford Credit, Avis, United Airlines, Kimberly Clark, and McCann Erickson Advertising amongst our client base.