BT and Avaya have teamed up to create a new pay-as-you-go call centre service that enables large businesses to meet changing infrastructure needs without incurring unnecessary effort or expense.
The service, dubbed BT Avaya OnNet, means that organisations can optimise call centre resources to make them more reactive and responsive to changing customer needs by eliminating the need to make capital investments in infrastructure.
Aimed at large businesses with at least 750 users and organisations with multiple sites, the service will also break down traditional barriers of location or capacity, according to its creators.
"BT Avaya OnNet will be of particular benefit to financial services, retailers and utility companies, who experience significant seasonal demand," said Tom Craig, president of IP networking at BT Global Services.
"Outsourcers, as well, need to flex depending on the volume of contracts being managed at any one time. Organisations will be able to provide more resource at specific times, without the need for up-front capital expenditure."
Craig added: "Historically, this has been a considerable problem for businesses, struggling to find a balance between having the right amount of contact centre resource and keeping the business cost-effective. You can bring in additional workers on contract when demand rises - but enabling them with additional necessary equipment has been another matter entirely."
OnNet's arrival is likely to transform the call centre as we know it, playing a key role in the increasingly virtual nature of communications in the future where employees can interact with customers wherever they happen to be based, claims Morag Lucey, Avaya's vice president of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
