Avaya and Blue Pumpkin Software Announce Joint Solution; New Plug-Ins to Support Comprehensive Information Reporting and Analysis for Multi-Channel Contact Centers.

Business & Technology Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2000

Avaya, the former Enterprise Networks Group to be spun off from Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) later this year, and Blue Pumpkin Software today announced a comprehensive solution that helps companies use and analyze customer contact center information to ensure optimal staffing and service levels.

The companies have developed software that seamlessly connects Avaya's CentreVu(R) Call Management System (CMS) and Blue Pumpkin Software's Primetime Workforce Management solution. The software plug-ins, available "out of the box," enable ongoing transfer of customer contact behavior and agent status data, without the need for costly middleware typically required to support data exchange. This rich source of information enables businesses to plan and execute the best staffing strategy to ensure the right agents with the right skills are always available - even as customer and agent activity changes throughout the day.

Avaya's CentreVu CMS is the company's premiere contact center analysis and reporting program. Blue Pumpkins' Primetime Workforce Management software uses advanced skills-based scheduling technologies to ensure appropriate agent resources at multi-media customer contact centers. The plug-ins that connect them are enabled through Blue Pumpkin's Prime Time Exchange - the company's newly announced open integration platform.

Currently available plug-ins provide functionality for the contact statistics and real-time agent adherence modules of Prime Time Exchange. The next step will be to enable a third module that will allow for automatic synchronization of agent information between CentreVu CMS and Prime Time Enterprise.

"With the evolution of contact centers comes the evolution of customers' expectations, which are higher than ever before," said Linda Dotts, executive general manager, Avaya Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solutions. "Integrated solutions are one key way of taking full advantage of the power and efficiency of contact center technology to best serve customers. Thanks to the CentreVu CMS plug-in to Prime Time Exchange, contact centers will have a tightly integrated solution enabling managers to quickly gather a broad spectrum of meaningful information they can apply to their operations."

"There are a wide variety of choices when it comes to solutions for eBusiness, so success in this competitive environment depends on a company's ability to anticipate customers' needs ahead of time and respond with personalized services," said Doron Aspitz, president and chief executive officer, Blue Pumpkin Software. "By jointly delivering integrated eBusiness solutions, Blue Pumpkin and Avaya will provide added value for organizations, enabling them to deliver a consistently high level of service regardless of specific needs, wants and preferences, or how and when customers choose to contact them."

GE, one of the world's largest services, technology and manufacturing companies operating in more than 100 countries and employing nearly 340,000 people worldwide, currently uses solutions from Avaya and Blue Pumpkin Software to support its customer care programs.

"Avaya and Blue Pumpkin Software already bring innovative solutions to the table that help us build and sustain relationships with our customers," said Jema Cooper, Manager, Corporate Initiatives, who oversees GE's global Customer Interaction Centers. "We are excited about combining the power of their Prime Time and CentreVu CMS Solutions, which will lead to even more comprehensive, faster and reliable information gathering."

Avaya and Blue Pumpkin Software also said they are developing additional integrated solutions that bring together Prime Time Exchange Integration Platform with Avaya's suite of CRM products. The array of integrated solutions will enable businesses to manage multi-media customer interactions across an enterprise, as well as the employee resources necessary to support those interactions.

"Managing the end-to-end customer experience, and ensuring employee resource availability is critical to success in eBusiness," said Dotts. "Together Avaya and Blue Pumpkin are delivering best-of-breed customer contact center solutions and fully-integrated eBusiness solutions."

About Avaya

Avaya, formerly the Enterprise Networks Group of Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., USA, is a leading provider of communications systems for enterprises, including businesses, government agencies and other organizations. We offer voice, converged voice and data, customer relationship management, messaging, multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. We are a worldwide leader in sales of messaging and structured cabling systems and a U.S. leader in sales of enterprise voice communications and call center systems. We intend to use our leadership positions in enterprise communications systems and software, our broad portfolio of products and services, and strategic alliances with other technology and consulting services leaders to offer our customers comprehensive eBusiness solutions. For more information about Avaya, visit us on the Web at http://www.avaya.com.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as broadband and mobile Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at http://www.lucent.com.

About Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc.

Blue Pumpkin Software, headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices around the world, is a market-leading provider of workforce management solutions for multimedia customer contact centers. Blue Pumpkin develops, markets and supports the award-winning PrimeTime suite of products designed to help companies guarantee superior customer service across a variety of contact media, including phone and e-mail. Blue Pumpkin provides the tools necessary to efficiently schedule and manage customer contact personnel, ensuring the right person with the right skills handles customer interactions.