Japan Airlines delivers dynamic multi-lingual services with new release of Alcatel-Lucent contact center solution

Paris - Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that Japan Airlines, Asia’s largest air carrier, has deployed its IP telephony and contact center solutions within a new European contact center to boost responsiveness to customers, improve the provision of self-service telephone facilities, and enhance disaster recovery capabilities to ensure business continuity.

The new contact center is responsible for Japan Airlines’ Reservations, Ticketing and Frequent Flyer departments globally. The deployment features Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition solution, specifically designed to ease the management burden on mid-sized contact centers and provide the same multimedia capabilities as larger organisations.

The latest release of OmniTouch CC Premium Edition includes:

* Enhanced mobility solutions – supporting the increasing trend of remote agents through a broader range of mobile devices and low-cost SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) end points
* CCTeamer, a desktop integration tool providing collaboration, instant messaging and presence at the agent desktop – improving access to knowledge specialists in order to boost customer first call resolution
* Enhanced range of customer self service capabilities through an easy-to-use ‘software only’ visual interactive voice response (IVR) system, lowering IVR deployment & operational costs with integration to databases, ensuring calls are answered more efficiently by the right skilled agent
* Centralized management application for configuration, customer information display options, and reporting of real time and historical data

Japan Airlines’ new contact center can handle incoming calls from 15 European countries in six languages – Japanese, English, Italian, German, French and Spanish. It also provides language skills-based call routing – ensuring local service provision for callers – and email integration, so that all incoming emails are automatically routed to the relevant department and personnel. Consequently, the air carrier can now handle enquiries more effectively, thus maximizing revenue opportunities while achieving cost-savings through improved internal efficiency.

Japan Airlines opted to implement a new contact center based on an IP-based voice and data platform in advance of its decision to relocate its European operation headquarters to central London, making the transition as smooth and non-disruptive as possible. The solution, deployed by Alcatel-Lucent business partner South West Communications, offers a raft of self-service facilities covering customer enquiries and providing support for travel agents, while 120 administrative staff benefit from improved access to colleagues and free internal calls. A disaster recovery site has also been created at London’s Heathrow Airport, so that in the event of a network outage at its headquarters, Japan Airlines can continue taking calls using Alcatel-Lucent’s IP platform resilient routing capabilities.

“Top-notch customer service provides a competitive edge in the aviation industry, and we wanted a contact center that would enable us to give reliable, efficient and high-quality service at all times and to all corners of Europe,” said Warabe Tatekoji, system solution department manager at Japan Airlines Avionet Europe, responsible for Japan Airlines’ European IT services. “We’ve saved considerable time from deployment to use thanks to the solution’s simplified, centralised graphical management environment, while Alcatel-Lucent and South West Communications have provided ongoing 24/7 support, easing the burden on our IT team.”

“As more and more businesses seek ways to transform their internal processes to become more responsive to customers, especially in the highly competitive aviation/travel market, they also seek ways to save money and make money through increased efficiency,” said David Parker, VP enterprise activities UK&I, Alcatel-Lucent. “Our feature-rich and future-proof contact center is flexible and easy to use, reducing the need for specialist or technical staff. Japan Airlines’ has taken the lead in choosing Alcatel-Lucent to help them become a dynamic enterprise, one that uses its network, people, process and knowledge to better serve its customers and transform its business.”

The OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition is part of the comprehensive Alcatel-Lucent Business and Corporate Communication Solutions packages, innovative product suites tailored to meet the needs of mid- and large-sized enterprises anywhere in the world.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 16.98 billion in 2008 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com