New Avaya Contact Center Helps Master Omni-Channel Experience

Avaya has announced new and enhanced Customer Experience Management solutions to help businesses eliminate the fragmented, high-effort service that jeopardizes customer loyalty and revenue growth. From a single software platform, new capabilities increase reach and bring every aspect of the customer experience into a seamless, dynamic stream with greater, real-time visibility into interactions and contextual information. The end result is a transformed customer experience built one interaction at a time.

According to a recent Avaya survey, 93% of business managers recognize that not providing a holistic, personalized, proactive customer experience has potential consequences which can include lost customers, missed sales opportunities and lower revenue, and reduced loyalty.

Avaya Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions help deliver that holistic, proactive experience by enabling companies to centralize and orchestrate all mobile, web and contact center interactions that occur throughout a customer care cycle. Companies can now easily design and manage interactive proactive outreach and self-service applications over SMS and email along with existing mobile, phone, video, and other touch points from a single platform. By doing so, companies have greater visibility, insights, and control across mobile, web and the contact center and enable a consistent, omni-channel customer experience that’s missing from many customer service strategies today.  

Location App OffersOn Now Available On iOS Platform

Squeakee a pioneer in location - aware technology has today announced OffersOn availability on the iOS platform. OffersOn is an optimized location - aware online search for discovering location based offers and discounts around a user’s identified vicinity.

Understanding the Indian consumers buying behavior Abrar Shaikh, Founder and CEO of Squeakee ignited the location promotion revolution for brands and local merchants in India through its proprietary location-aware technology. With its availability on the iOS platform, OffersOn aims to reach a larger audience. Squeakee also launched OffersOn on the Android platform, a few weeks back which got a lot of attention from the users.  As of today, the OffersOn app on Android has about 1000 plus downloads. The response received towards this app has been great, as this number has been achieved in a very short time without any marketing support since the date of its launch on January 29, 2014.

Delighted on this new development, Abrar Shaikh, Founder and CEO of Squeakee said “With the launch of OffersOn on the iOS platform, we are now available on most of the  platforms, for instance: desktop, mobile site, Android and iOS, which will ensure our users can avail of this service through multiple platforms. For a start-up like ours, where we are constantly trying to create a dent in this ecosystem, by bridging the gap between the organized and unorganized sector, it is a great achievement to be present across platforms. Now, users can avail the best offers and discounts across categories in their vicinity using this unique and beneficial app.”

Abrar further added “For a country like ours, there is a common mentality about the Indian retail consumers' "can't touch, won't buy". OffersOn is trying to bring a change with the introduction of L- commerce. With L-commerce, users can view products online, check for great discounts and then immediately visit the store closest to them offering the best deal and purchase the product on the spot, not having to wait for 24 hours before having the product in their hands. For users downloading this app, ‘Offers’ will be always be ‘On.’”

With a number of sales and promotions happening around the city, people often are confused where they can avail of the best discounts. OffersOn will help its users to find the best discounts at the closest proximity thus, also becoming the missing link between the merchants and consumers on maps.

Indian Tech Company Chooses Melbourne For Australian HQ

Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips has announced in Mumbai that Indian company Servion Global Solutions would establish its Australian headquarters in Melbourne. 

Rich-Phillips said Servion had more than 600 customers in over 60 countries and was an international expert in providing customer interaction management solutions for organisations globally. 

“Victoria welcomes the decision of Servion to set up its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, which is further recognition that our capital is a globally-competitive centre for information and communication technologies,” Rich-Phillips said. 

“The Victorian Government has been working closely with Servion for several months to ensure that they chose Melbourne as the launching pad for its activities in Australasia. 

“Information provided by the Victorian Government Business Office in India about the commercial environment in Victoria, including details of our tax system, rental rates and employment conditions, enabled Servion to develop a compelling business case for Melbourne. 

“Investment facilitation for ICT companies is a key priority for the Victorian Coalition Government, as it builds on Victoria’s positive business environment and attracts both new investment and re-investment opportunities into the State. 

“The Victorian Coalition Government actively provides specialist advice to potential investors on development approvals, statutory approvals coordination, site location, infrastructure and utility requirements and the investment climate.” 

Five Day India Aviation Show Takes Off In Begumpet

It’s going to be a breathtaking display of aerobatics and showcasing of aircraft, including the largest passenger aircraft Airbus-380, at the fourth edition of Indian Aviation Show-2014 which is set to take off on March 12. The five-day air jamboree will focus on enhancing air connectivity.

In the show one of the star attractions include: The latest 787 Dreamliner acquired by Air-India from Boeing is being flown from Delhi to Begumpet for the show.

The mega air show being organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will be inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan will be chief guest.

Briefing the media here on Monday, Asok Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said that big deals were expected to be signed during the event.

He said aerobatics display would be conducted twice daily by Mark Jefferies air shows and display aerobatics from the United Kingdom. The latest 787 Dreamliner acquired by Air-India from Boeing is being flown from Delhi to Begumpet for the show.

As many as 18 aircraft, including business jets, helicopters, commercial aircraft, cargo aircraft, motor gliders and aircraft machinery would be showcased by more than 250 exhibitors. Major international players like Bombardier, Rolls Royce, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Piaggio and Russian helicopters will have a big role at the show. The United States is the partner while France is the guest country.

CEOs of leading companies would interact with the Minister and discuss ways to make air connectivity sustainable. A video conference with American companies would be held, while a special session on helicopters would focus on promoting heli-tourism and emergency medical services. Also, a job fair would be conducted to counsel final year students in aeronautical engineering on career prospects. 

Asok said there would be an ‘aviation theatre’ to screen films on all the five days of the show. An Airbus release said an Emirates Airline A-380 would be on display for the first three days of the show to demonstrate the readiness of India and airports like Hyderabad for A-380 operations.

FICCI representative Vivek Kodikal said the air show was open only for business visitors on the first three days. Entry ticket is priced Rs. 700 each. The general public would be allowed on March 15 and 16 and each ticket is priced at Rs. 300.

With Stream Acquisition; Convergys Expands In India

Convergys has acquired tream, a leading global BPO service provider with a workforce of over 40,000 employees spread across approximately 56 service centers in 22 countries, including India. 

Hanumant Talwar - MD and country manager, Convergys India and UK stated that the acquisition of $820 million in cash of Stream Global Services by Cincinnati, Ohio-based Convergys would create a global customer management services company with combined revenues of about $3 billion.

Stream is a business process outsourcing service provider, specializing in customer relationship management solutions including sales, customer care, technical and back office support for Fortune 1000 companies. A provider of choice to some of the world's leading technology, computing, telecommunications, retail, entertainment/media and financial services companies. Once the transaction is complete, Convergys expects to have approximately 125,000 employees serving clients in 35 languages from over 135 contact centers in 25 countries.

Brian J. Delaney, COO, Convergys, said: "This acquisition combines two financially and operationally strong companies, with similar structures, enabling a smooth integration". This entity will have a highly skilled multilingual workforce of over 40,000 employees (including 900 in Mumbai, India) capable of supporting over 47 languages increasing from 35 with a presence in 31 countries with more than 150 centers. He further added that through this integration, Stream's customers will benefit from Convergys' scale, as well as capabilities such as analytics and home agent.

New Wireless Aerospace Technology From Boeing & Indian Partners

Boeing and its research partners Wipro Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd. and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) announced the successful development of wireless and network technologies that can be applied to future airplane development through their joint Aerospace Network Research Consortium (ANRC).

ANRC researchers developed wireless system antennas that can be etched onto an airplane's interior panels and sensors that harvest energy from the airplane environment. These technologies have the potential to reduce wiring, batteries and weight, which would reduce fuel and power use.

Other research led to the development of a wireless system called a "data mule," which can collect messages from cell phones in rural Indian villages to transmit them to people in cities.

Prat Kumar, president of Boeing India, said research and technology development are the backbone of a complex industry like aviation and support the evolution of future technologies in other areas. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Indian partners on this truly innovative work through the ANRC, which demonstrates the mutual benefit of partnership between Boeing and India," Kumar said.

"Boeing's collaboration with Indian companies and researchers to develop wireless technologies at ANRC will make our future airplanes more competitive and support new engineering capabilities in India," said Mike Sinnett, vice president of product development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"The ANRC is delivering on its mission to conduct world-class research on networking technologies for aerospace," said Narayan Shenoy, general manager, Product Engineering Services, Wipro Ltd. "We are excited to see the results of proof-of-concepts and are keen to scale-up the application of research findings across multiple industries."

"By leveraging ANRC's unique collaborative model and HCL's R&D experience in aerospace and defense with IPs in wireless networking and cognitive radio technology, HCL is contributing to the development of next generation aerospace systems and networks," said GH Rao, president, Engineering and R&D Services, HCL Technologies.

e-Governance Success Rate Only 25% In India

Already wobbling under low margins, currency fluctuations and an undermining economy, the IT Industry faces a trust deficit in the form of unlimited accountability, unfavorable payment terms, unreasonable legal frameworks, fall clause, obscure SLAs and lack of clarity in e-Governance projects in India.

Deliberating on the above to provide the much needed impetus to the IT industry, the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) in partnership with Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), with Accenture as its knowledge partner, organized a sensitization workshop on Model RFPs (Request for Proposal), prepared by DeitY for selection on consultants, system integrators and PPP operators for e-Governance projects. This workshop was inaugurated by M N Vidyashankar, Addl. Chief Secretary (Retd.), Govt. of Karnataka. The workshop saw the participation of southern states in the form of their IT Secretaries and IT departments and heads of leading technology companies.

Commenting on the occasion, M N Vidyashankar said, “Karnataka being the only state to have an integrated e-procurement based on deliverables and outcomes has the potential to lead the country in e-governance. Such workshops help in arriving at cohesive solutions that enable improvements in procurement processes and complimented MAIT for leading these.

At the workshop, heads from IT majors opined their experiences in e-Governance and raised challenges faced by the industry in executing such projects. They suggested policy altercations which if implemented would foster an equitable partnership between industry, government and the beneficiaries of e-Governance projects.

Speaking on the occasion, Venkat Kedlaya, Southern Region Chairman, MAIT, said, “This workshop threw light on how decision making is a challenge in our country - efficiency and transparency is our clarion call to e-Governance projects and MAIT will be rolling out a ‘White Paper’ detailing concrete actionables for streamlining IT projects.”

D K Das, National Business Head, Government Industrial Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, commented, “Ease of payment terms, rationalization of legal terms and Service Level Agreement (SLA) can boost confidence thereby enabling Tier 1 firms to actively participate in e-Governance projects in India.”

Industry experts also opined that the government should invest quality time during the evaluation of e-Governance projects. Vivek Sharma, General Manager & Business Head - Government and Defense Vertical,Wipro, said that “RFPs are often one-sided”.He further added that “two-way accountability would co-create better linkages and synergies in e-Governance and procurement”.

RamendraVerma, Partner, Health& Public Services, National Delivery Lead, Accenture,commented that “payment terms should be reasonable so as to help companies meet their cash flow requirements. The industry and government both stand to benefit if payment processes are streamlined.”

MAIT, with the given maturity of industry, urged the government to respond to the changing dynamics. C T Bhadran, Chairman, System Integration, MAIT, mentioned that “The terms of RFP should be practical and reasonable, yet adhering to the legal framework. The scope of the project in the RFP should be elucidated so as to ensure that companies know what they are getting into”

Through these initiatives, MAIT intends to reach out to all states through their IT secretaries, state e-government mission teams and other government procuring organizations.