T-Systems and Avaya take call center into the cloud

• First European cloud partnership agreed for call center solutions
• Corporate customers book flexibly online and pay based on use

Together, Avaya and T-Systems want to cover the growing demand for flexible, scalable call center solutions in Europe. To achieve this, the two companies, each market leader in their industry, have agreed to a cloud partnership. Avaya brings its fully-virtualized "Avaya Aura" software to the table, while T-Systems takes care of the necessary cloud infrastructure, application and service management along with data protection and security. The new service is to be operated out of Germany and will be available throughout Europe.

More flexibility and freedom in call centers Thanks to software-as-a-service, minimum contract periods and high minimum usage requirements are things of the past. At the touch of a button, the cloud solution covers seasonal increases in demand or adjustments following mergers, outsourcing or insourcing. It can be scaled up or down and the customer only pays for what they actually use. This also means no major investments in new software or technology.

The cloud partnership builds on an existing cooperation. Avaya and T-Systems have already worked together on project business for several years, advising and building call center infrastructures for renowned customers such as mail order retailer Otto. Deutsche Telekom also relies on Avaya for call center software: for around ten years, Telekom has been serving all of its German customers using the Avaya solution. 30,000 agents answer 70 million calls a year with it in the call centers.

Leading in business - with partner solutions too The partnership with Avaya also underlines Deutsche Telekom's strategic goal of becoming the leading supplier for business customers and offering innovative services with partners. The focus here is on the expansion of standardized IT solutions - T-Systems aims to generate 50 percent of its revenue through standardized solutions by 2017.

About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and over 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of 60.1 billion euros in the 2013 financial year - over half of it outside Germany.

About T-Systems Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. On this basis, Deutsche Telekom’s corporate customers unit provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. Some 50,000 employees at T-Systems combine industry expertise with ICT innovations to add significant value to customers' core business all over the world. The corporate customers unit generated revenue of around 9.5 billion euros in the 2013 financial year.

About Avaya Avaya is a global provider of collaboration and communications software, and related services to companies of all sizes. Its service portfolio includes solutions for unified communications, contact centers and data networks. Please visit www.avaya.de for more information.