AT&T Creates New Multimedia Call Center Business.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1998--AT&T has created a new Multimedia Call Center Solutions organization to respond to companies' needs to transform interactions with their customers by leveraging networking-centric call center solutions. These solutions enable businesses, across a broad array of industries, to form tighter bonds with valuable customers, as well as lower operations costs.

The newest practice within AT&T Solutions, AT&T's professional services unit, consolidates groups from various parts of AT&T to focus on the multimedia call center requirements of companies today. The practice offers professional services and products that address a company's entire call center lifecycle requirements, from strategy through implementation.

The categories of capabilities span call center consulting, the AT&T Call Center College of Excellence for education of call center personnel and management, networking-based solutions, including advanced call routing and interactive voice response (IVR), as well as the expertise and innovation of AT&T Labs, which provides product development, integration and support for the networking-based solutions.

Rick Roscitt, president and CEO of AT&T Solutions, said, "We are very excited about the significant growth opportunities that Multimedia Call Center Solutions presents us in the age of the electronic marketplace. We are very fortunate to have a world-class player like Deborah Ingram as our managing partner leading this dynamic practice."

Previously a managing partner in AT&T Solutions' consulting practice, Ingram helped develop business strategies and initiatives to help transform companies into superior customer service providers. These strategies included the design of customer loyalty and retention programs; customer segmentation and profitability analysis; and employee education and empowerment programs.

Ingram has more than 19 years of experience in the information management arena, with business consulting, systems integration, marketing and product offer management responsibilities. In addition, she has operational experience in designing, implementing sales and service operations including a customer support center, which provided telemarketing and customer support to several businesses.

"Today's clients are viewing their needs from a broader multimedia perspective, not just traditional call centers," said Deborah Ingram, managing partner of AT&T Solutions' call center practice. "AT&T invented toll-free calling and has provided the most advanced call-routing capabilities for our clients. As a market leader in the call center space, we are poised to continue in that position in this larger market, which includes web, voice recognition, fax, and electronic mail-based customer interactions."

AT&T Solutions plans to grow its portfolio of consulting and networking integration services, while continuing to provide advanced, networking-based technology solutions through its own products and through strategic alliances with leading call center technology providers.

"As consumer expectation for quality service increases, companies need much more than technology solutions. They are looking to call center industry leaders, such as AT&T, as advisers to help them fundamentally transform their call centers from cost centers into strategic assets," Ingram said.

Ingram, who is based in Bridgewater, N.J., has a degree in mathematics and logic from England's University of Bristol. She also has advanced level certification in pure mathematics with minors in physics and chemistry from the University of Oxford.

AT&T Solutions, through its outsourcing, networking integration and call center practices, provides linked professional service and seamless solutions that maximize the competitive advantage of networking-based electronic commerce applications. The unit provides clients with customized information technology solutions using state-of-the-art tools to operate and manage voice, data, video and internet / intranet services, including local and wide area networks, PABXs, voice-processing systems and voice and data terminals. AT&T Solutions can be reached on the web at http://www.att.com/solutions

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