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Black & Decker has selected Avaya (News - Alert) Intelligent Communications to power the company’s communications. With this selection, Avaya will help Black & Decker build an IP Telephony-based network with the sophisticated communications for nearly 200 global locations with highly diverse needs. The company expects that the implementation will help them to improve productivity and customer service, control costs and support new ways of doing business.

As a global manufacturer, Black & Decker has built a reputation for quality power tools and accessories, hardware and home improvement products, and technology-based fastening systems. The company’s facilities include large commercial offices, 11 call centers, manufacturing operations in 10 countries and more than 100 smaller retail or repair locations.

"We needed a vendor who could support a staged migration to IP telephony in a global business with very basic to highly advanced telecom and telephony needs," said Karen Dean, Director, Global Telecommunications, Black & Decker, in a Monday statement. "Avaya meets those needs and does so securely, reliably and cost-effectively."

Using a combination of servers and survivable gateways, Black & Decker’s network architecture will extend Avaya Communication Manager IP telephony and Modular Messaging features and applications. In an effort to maximize cost-effectiveness, the IP Telephony migration will incorporate existing digital phones, while also adding Avaya IP desktop telephones and IP softphones for new locations and end-users.

Avaya Unified Communications (News - Alert) is designed to support mobile employees, enabling them to use any approved device to access, activate and manage Avaya telephony, messaging and conferencing, Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook messaging, calendaring and tasks when in the office and on the road.

The ultimate goal is to provide employees with more consistent, easier access to colleagues, resources and communications tools. As a result, these individuals will achieve greater productivity whether they are in the office or on the road.

Avaya Customer Contact applications have also been implemented to support the company’s Worldwide Power Tools and Accessories business. All customer calls in North America, whether from a large retailer or individual user, come into the main call center number and are then routed over Black & Decker’s IP network to agents in Maryland, Tennessee or Toronto.

Avaya Intelligent Communications intuitively defines the call path and information necessary to ensure the customer and agent are quickly matches in the most appropriate manner to produce an effective outcome.

Black & Decker is also considered a “power user” of Avaya Interactive Response (IR) for a variety of both ‘classic’ self-service and highly innovative applications. One application involves the pairing of the Avaya IR and a proactive contact solution to notify retail repair customers of estimated costs for a repair and the opportunity to accept or decline. The solution also notifies customers with the repairs are complete.

In an effort to help construction companies improve security for expensive tools and appliances on job sites, the company’s DeWALT business introduced a new product, MobileLock™. The produce uses Avaya IR to dial a customer when a tool or appliance is “on the move” through unauthorized activity. The GPS monitoring system can be used to pinpoint the location of the activity.

"The Avaya Interactive Response lets our company deliver a new product to the market in a much more cost effective way," continued Dean. "Through convergence, we simply couple communications capabilities with a business application and leverage the intelligence in our existing infrastructure to provide new value to our customers.

Black & Decker is really taking a whole new approach to interactive response, utilizing the applications in new ways to ensure a better experience for the customer. In doing so, not only is the company exemplifying its commitment to its customers, it is also extending the opportunity for Avaya, helping to facilitate additional applications for its solutions, thus helping to generate demand.

This global manufacturer will also see significant benefit internally from the communications applications that Avaya provides. The expected increases in productivity throughout the company will not only help to drive down costs, but will also help to foster a better overall environment, thus delivering a better experience for employees and customers.

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

 

 

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