Alliance & Leicester has signed a five-year, multi-million pound contract with Cable & Wireless for the creation of a 'virtual contact centre', merging diverse call centre operations across the UK.
Under the agreement, Cable & Wireless will integrate six inbound and outbound call centre operations into one virtual contact centre and manage several third party call centre suppliers.
Cable & Wirless is to use its Intelligent Network (IN) to link up the Alliance & Leicester call centres, deploying interactive voice response and computer telephony integration to ensure that calls are routed to the most appropriate agents, regardless of location.
Chris Rhodes, director, manufacturing & operations, Alliance & Leicester, comments: "Our strategy is to create a 'single view' of our customers across all communications channels, so that however and whenever we communicate with customers, we can provide the best service level. Cable & Wireless will be a key partner in these developments."
The agreement builds on an existing call centre relationship with Cable & Wirless spanning over 10 years.
Gareth James, senior vice president, enterprise UK and Ireland, Cable & Wireless, says: "We have worked with Alliance & Leicester to develop a tailored solution and look forward to working together towards a full IP-enabled contact centre solution."