Avaya (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of communications networks and services for businesses, today announced that the Colorado Springs Credit Union is using an Avaya IP Office network to link its three branch offices — providing seamless communication among the sites and boosting customer service.

The credit union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution that serves more than 50 Colorado-area organizations. But with three independent phone systems for its three branch locations, customer service suffered. The organization had multiple phone numbers, and members had to redial each time they had questions best resolved by a financial specialist at another branch.

To resolve the problem, the credit union selected an Avaya IP Office Solution. Part of Avaya's industry-leading IP telephony portfolio, Avaya IP Office offers a choice of communication protocols and helps small- to mid-sized firms move to IP telephony at the pace they choose. It combines comprehensive voice and data applications normally reserved for large enterprises with easy-to-use tools that allow even the smallest businesses to deliver cutting-edge customer service. IP Office supports up to 256 users and features Avaya's latest advancements in converged voice and data technology — supporting conferencing, contact centers, voice messaging and a host of other communication applications.

New Avaya IP Office systems at each of the three Colorado Springs Credit Union locations are now linked in one seamless network, enabling calls to be easily transferred to the appropriate party regardless of their location. In addition, for the first time credit union staffers are able to use extension-only dialing to reach each other and to leave and retrieve messages through a new, centralized voicemail system.

"As we looked for a new system, we found that our organization was too large for compact systems, but too small for a larger system," said Alan Zetterberg, vice president of marketing for Colorado Springs Credit Union. "The Avaya IP Office system really fits the small- to middle-sized business, while still giving us room for growth. It also gives us access to the latest IP telephony technology that we know is the wave of the future."

With its new IP telephony capability, Colorado Springs is routing its site-to-site calls over its own data infrastructure, simplifying systems administration by operating one, converged network. It also has reduced the multiple phone lines it maintains for its three locations to just two — a single local number and a 1-800 number that make it far simpler for members to contact the firm.

The Compact Contact Center application delivered with Avaya IP Office has allowed Colorado Springs Credit Union to take yet another step towards improving customer service by establishing its first true call center. All the organization's inbound calls are now answered by the center, allowing the organization to match members with the financial specialist best able to meet their needs. The Avaya Compact Contact Center supports up to 75 agents and provides managers with historical reports and a real-time view of call center activity — allowing them to measure key performance indicators and manage their resources more effectively.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications — and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services — Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com