Genesys Announces Results of Customer Innovation Awards Program

At G-Force San Diego, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), announced the results of its second annual Customer Innovation Awards program to recognize outstanding customer service through the innovative use of technology in highly dynamic environments.

Genesys started accepting nominations for the Customer Innovation Awards in November 2006 and more than 240 organizations worldwide nominated themselves or were nominated by their deployment partners or Genesys field-staff. A short list of thirteen finalists was invited to present in-person to an independent panel of judges in San Francisco, Paris and San Diego.

The independent judging panel was made up of two dozen industry experts who specialize in customer service, including analysts from IDC, Forrester, Datamonitor, Yankee Group, Opus Research, COMMFusion, Jamison Consulting, McGee-Smith Analytics and Frost & Sullivan.

Nominees were assessed on four key criteria:

-Innovating in a dynamic and challenging environment;
-Optimizing service via technology and business processes;
-Improving the overall customer experience;
-Leveraging contact centers and customer service strategically.

Organizations were eligible for an award based on their degree of achievement of these key criteria which relate to the four phases of the Genesys Contact Center Capability Maturity Model: establishment phase, consolidating phase, performing phase and optimizing phase. Organizations that demonstrated high performance in all four key criteria were considered to be in the ’optimizing’ phase of the Contact Center Capability Maturity Model and received a “4-Star” award, while companies in the ’performing“ phase received a ”3-Star" award. One consistent scoring result across all of the finalist organizations was a high strategic alignment of contact center and customer service goals.

The following companies were recognized with a “4-Star” level of achievement:

-FinecoBank, the leading direct bank and number one broker in Italy (www.fineco.it), received the highest marks in the category of leveraging IP, using new modes of delivering customer service and setting innovative new performance metrics;
-iiNet, one of Australia’s Internet service pioneers (www.iinet.net.au), was nominated for vast improvements in productivity, service levels, sales and customer service;
-Ladbrokes plc, the world’s leading sports betting and gaming company (www.ladbrokes.com), received top rankings in efficiency, financial performance and customer satisfaction;
-Scotiabank, one of North America’s leading financial institutions and Canada’s most international bank (www.scotiabank.com), received its highest marks for multi-channel integration, proactive customer service and streamlined optimization;
-Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide (www.yahoo.com), emerged as the best at extending the boundaries of the contact center and creating virtual contact centers across multiple sites using new technology.

The following companies were recognized with a “3-Star” level of achievement:

-Aeroplan, Canada’s premier loyalty marketing company (www.aeroplan.com), was the leader in voice self-service and proactive customer service;
-AXTEL S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican telecommunications company (www.axtel.com.mx), achieved top-level ratings for improved financial performance and the integration of automation and human service;
-eircom, Ireland’s largest telecommunications supplier (www.eircom.com), demonstrated a high level of innovation with voice response, multiple self-service options and ROI all rating highly;
-Houston 311, a service helpline supporting over two million residents in the city of Houston, Texas (www.houstontx.gov), was the first public sector organization to achieve finalist status and was praised for their ability to integrate multiple organizations to create a positive customer experience;
-Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., the leading securities and investment banking company in Japan (www.nomura.co.jp/), highlighted its use of IP which improves service speed and quality, and enhances business efficiencies that foster dynamic cooperation between branch offices and contact centers;
-SalesForce Australia, the largest and fastest growing telephone sales and customer development company in Australia (www.salesforceaustralia.com), achieved perfect ratings within several scoring elements and was noted for its focus on customer satisfaction and optimization of agent skills and work modes;
-T-Mobile Germany, the leading provider of mobile communication services in Germany and the largest company within the T-Mobile International group (www.t-mobile.de), was recognized for its business process strategy, extending access across the organization and overall customer satisfaction;
-United Airlines, one of the largest international carriers based in the United States (www.united.com), showcased innovative use of one of the largest speech-enabled interactive voice response applications today.

“The Genesys Customer Innovation Awards program recognizes organizations that deliver great customer service despite the challenges of dynamic contact center environments,” said Wes Hayden, president and CEO, Genesys. “Every organization received a top score in at least one scoring element and we congratulate them all for their commitment to delivering a positive customer experience. They treat their contact centers as strategic opportunities, linking customer service to business success.”