TMCnet News
Allstate Announces Adoption of Avaya IP ProductsDavid Sims
Avaya Inc. , a provider of business communications products has announced that Allstate Insurance Company is using Avaya Internet protocol telephony products in new locations in the U.S. and Canada. Avaya's IP-based contact center applications, powered by the Avaya Customer Interaction Suite, are used by Allstate to manage customer calls and route them based on customer-entered criteria. Allstate links their contact centers and manages them as a single, virtual organization. As part of their implementation, Allstate has deployed over 10,000 IP endpoints across its organization. Allstate uses an existing Avaya communications system supporting both traditional and IP telephony concurrently. Both traditional and IP telephony endpoints are able to communicate while the transition is underway and can be managed as part of a single network. Catherine Brune, senior vice president and chief information officer for Allstate mentioned the company's responsiveness to customers caught in Hurricane Katrina when she said "we need to be able to ramp up our customer care operations quickly and efficiently when a hurricane, tornado or other disaster creates a spike in claims activity." Allstate Insurance Co., the second-largest property insurer in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina, linked "platoons of claims adjusters to its Chicago headquarters systems through mobile vans to speed claims adjustment," according to Charles Babcock. The vans used satellite communications hookups to relay claims information to headquarters in lieu of regular phone service. "We are not dependent on a cell-phone tower. We can automatically connect from the van to a satellite," said Brune the morning after the hurricane struck. Allstate sent over 1,500 adjusters into the affected areas, Brune said, adding that "The technology makes the adjuster's job less frustrating. The link (to headquarters) gives adjusters confidence they have all the information they need" for a quick settlement," according to Babcock. Donald Light, an analyst at Celent LLC, a financial-services and insurance analyst group, told Babcock that using vans to establish a mobile satellite link "is the next logical step" for a large insurance firm's catastrophe team as it tries to speed up customer service, as it "could speed up a claims settlement by 50 percent to 80 percent." In early September Avaya announced donations of over $3 million in financial aid, products and services to support the American Red Cross in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. The donation went towards helping provide communications in shelters across the affected regions and enabling victims of Hurricane Katrina obtain American Red Cross financial assistance. To help the Red Cross speed financial assistance to Hurricane victims, Avaya gave call center technology to expand the Red Cross financial assistance program by 500 agents. |