Frost & Sullivan Cites Verizon Business for Continued Leadership in Contact Center and Professional Services

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, Frost & Sullivan has recognized Verizon Business with the research and consulting firm's coveted North American Market Leadership Award for Hosted Contact Center Services.  

According to Frost & Sullivan's new report, "Market Share Leadership, Hosted Contact Centers," the hosted contact center market is becoming more varied and complex, and "in that fragmented environment, it is a significant accomplishment to maintain the leadership position continuously for a long period."

The report singles out Verizon Business' expert professional services team, which can assist customers in building or redesigning contact centers, developing effective business processes, training agents, and ensuring that contact centers have the best technology to suit customers' needs.  

"The professional services organization provides custom development and consulting services to its client base, helping set Verizon Business apart from the competition in an important way," said Keith Dawson, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan, in the report. "This is a critical asset in helping the company continue its market share leadership going forward, as the momentum shifts from smaller, turnkey hosted deployments towards more complex, enterprise-level installations with more integrations required."

Frost & Sullivan cites the breadth of Verizon Business' hosted contact center services portfolio, including Hosted Intelligent Contact Routing (ICR) and Web Center, two of the company's multitenant hosted offerings. In addition, Verizon Business offers Hosted Interactive Voice Response and Speech Services, and IP Contact Center services.

In the report, Frost & Sullivan highlights two recent enhancements to Verizon Business' Web Center and VoIP Inbound services:

• Web Center Voice -- Last year, Verizon Business began offering its Web Center service in a voice-only package. It provides an affordable and value-based option by not including some of the IP-based instant message and e-mail customer contact features, which some businesses do not require.

• VoIP Inbound with Local Originations -- Verizon VoIP Inbound enables businesses to manage their incoming calls, tightly coupling signaling and functionality from Verizon's advanced toll-free and IP networks to deliver intelligent routing and call treatment that contact centers require.  The new Local Origination feature enables businesses using local telephone numbers to benefit from the same intelligent routing and call-management capabilities traditionally available only with toll-free numbers.

Verizon Business has forged alliances with leading technology vendors, such as Genesys from Alcatel-Lucent, which has named Verizon its 2009 Partner of the Year in North America. Hosted ICR, an example of the collaboration between the two companies, is a fully managed and hosted Genesys service that is powered by Verizon Business' robust and extensive network.  

For more information regarding Verizon Business contact center solutions, visit http://www.verizonbusiness.com/products/contactcenter/.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions.  We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees – enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment.  Many of the world's largest businesses and governments – including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions – rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

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SOURCE Verizon Business