FC Barcelona installs Genesys Express Multimedia Solution to handle interactions with members and fans

Genesys helps top football club in-source its call centre operation and make all services available through a single phone number

Enhanced routing capability and a universal queue ensure customer service excellence and manage call spikes when tickets go on sale

Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel company (NYSE: ALA, Paris: CGEP.PA), today announced that it has completed an installation of its Express Multimedia solution in the customer service centre of FC Barcelona, one of the world’s biggest football clubs. The implementation at the club’s Nou Camp stadium is part of an in-sourcing initiative that enables the Spanish football champions to handle ticket sales, season ticket subscriptions and general club information calls through a single phone number. The Genesys solution provides FC Barcelona with effective routing and a universal queue, ensuring that the club delivers excellent customer service and can more easily manage significant call spikes when match tickets go on sale.

FC Barcelona had previously outsourced its call centre operation but found that customer service standards fell and there was insufficient control over the huge amount of calls and e-mails the club receives every month. The Genesys Express Multimedia system helps ensure that incoming calls reach the right agents required to resolve them – defined on a linguistic basis as well as knowledge and experience, because many fans come from abroad. This allows customer sales and information enquiries to be completed quickly and easily. In addition, FC Barcelona will be able to monitor the progress of its agents to ensure continued development in its drive toward customer service excellence.

“The Nou Camp customer service centre is the primary means for supporters to get their match tickets and find information on whatever service the club offers to its members. We have installed this new Genesys technology to help ensure that we provide the best possible service to all our members – Barcelona fans around the world,” commented Xavier Boixeda, FC Barcelona’s head of contact centre. “Bringing the service back in-house will ensure that we improve the customer experience.”

Xavier Boixeda continued: “The reporting functionality of the Genesys Express Multimedia solution is critical as it allows us to check that we deliver the right levels of service, as well as provide complete control over the systems so the contact centre will be able to undergo upgrades quite easily. Using a single phone number for the full range of enquiries makes us very accessible, and this, combined with the universal queue and enhanced routing, enables the club to efficiently manage the increased volume of calls we inevitably receive ahead of high profile matches.”

“FC Barcelona is one of the world’s most instantly recognisable football teams, and it is rich in sporting history,” commented Nicolas Kaploun, senior vice president, EMEA field operations, Genesys. “For this reason there are tens of thousands of people attending its matches every week. It is therefore essential that the club manage demand effectively to ensure that the members and fans can get in touch with their beloved club. Through Genesys Express Multimedia, FC Barcelona is able to optimise the resources in its contact centre by dealing with more customers in a more efficient manner.”

High Resolution Images to accompany this release are available from here and here.

About Genesys
_{Genesys, an Alcatel company, is 100 percent focused on software for contact centers. Leading companies in the Global 2000 and Fortune 1000 use Genesys to deliver interactions that drive better business. With 3000 customers in 80 countries, Genesys directs more than 100 million customer interactions every day. Genesys allows enterprises to achieve key business objectives by tying together customer interactions, people, and customer information in both traditional telephony and IP environments. Sophisticated routing and reporting across voice, e-mail, documents and Web interactions, coupled with integrated self-service, ensure that customers are quickly connected to the right resource - the first time. Genesys solutions stop customer frustration and allow enterprises to deliver superior customer satisfaction and improved business results. For more information visit us at www.genesyslab.com.}

About Alcatel
_{Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks; applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 13.1 billion and 58,000 employees in 2005, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com}

Media Contact:
Paul Roberts, Genesys, 0118 9747144, proberts@genesyslab.co.uk

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