SAN JOSE, Calif. - January 28, 2009 - Cisco announced today that 1-800 CONTACTS is deploying Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise to help it manage growth and increase uptime. By integrating contact center, web support and administration on the same platform, 1-800 CONTACTS is now able to expand capabilities of its at-home agents by blending inbound and outbound calls into a single queue, allowing contact center associates to answer calls faster. In addition, the entire system is more stable and uptime has been increased by eliminating technical issues inherent in a patchwork system.
1-800 CONTACTS is the world's largest contact lens store. Its contact center handles approximately 45,000 incoming phone calls, 12,000 outbound calls and 5,000 customer e-mails each week. Customers can purchase the exact same contact lenses prescribed by their eye care provider for less.
Cisco partner Spanlink deployed a solution using Cisco Unified Communications that can easily expand as the company grows, and seamlessly accommodate the company's contact center employees who work from their homes.
"Before we implemented the Cisco solution, we were not able to effectively route or prioritize traffic because we didn't have everything going into a universal queue," said John Murray, chief information officer, 1-800 CONTACTS. "Email didn't come into queue - it was a silo. Inbound calls were in their own silo, and we placed outbound calls manually."
The universal queue in the new system sets priority levels to incoming calls, e-mails and chats, allowing the contact center to operate very efficiently. With the Cisco Unified Communications system, 1-800 CONTACTS also now has the ability to blend inbound and outbound calls into a single queue, allowing contact center associates to remain available for any kind of call, instead of requiring them to find free time or go "unavailable" while making outbound service calls to customers.
"We are excited to see the cutting-edge ways that 1-800 CONTACTS is using the Cisco solution to reduce or eliminate an employee's commute, and to help the company to prioritize calls," said Murali Sitaram, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Customer Contact Business Unit. "1-800 CONTACTS' innovative work-at-home program has recently expanded significantly and has room for continued growth. Contact center employees who choose to work at home now have the same full set of features they would if they were sitting in the office. Leading companies are achieving significant business and competitive advantages today by applying solutions like Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise to improve collaborative business processes."
"Since we began using the Cisco solution, I've been able to eliminate my daily commute, adding to the time I can spend with my family," said Phil Olson, contact center manager at 1-800 CONTACTS. "Better yet, my team now has all the same capabilities that we do in the actual contact center."
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