Billing and OSS
Convergys and Siebel's combined offer April/May 2002

Integrated billing and customer care services specialists Convergys Corporation and eBusiness applications software provider Siebel Systems launched a new product option last month (March) that enables the quick integration of Convergys' Atlys billing and customer care product with Siebel Systems' market Siebel eCommunications 7 software.

Convergys, a Siebel Strategic Software Partner, and Siebel Systems are collaborating to deliver what they describe as tightly integrated, joint solutions across Convergys' suite of billing applications including Atlys and Geneva. Convergys and Siebel Systems will demonstrate the new Atlys solution at Billing Systems 2002 in London, April 23-25.

The company says that the combination of Convergys' end-to-end billing products with Siebel eCommunications 7 enables speedy, efficient, and reliable delivery of customer data in a consolidated view to agent desktops. Siebel eCommunications 7 is described as acting as the dashboard for all customer-facing interactions while Convergys billing products manage operations that include billing, invoicing, and event rating. It is intended that by streamlining the delivery of this customer data, agents can reduce their average handle time and build customer satisfaction and loyalty, while carriers can reduce churn and their cost of servicing customers.

The new product option for Atlys became available from Convergys this month (April 2002). This new option should help customers shorten initial integration time to as few as 90 days, down from an average of six to 18 months. Clients of Convergys and Siebel Systems use the power of both applications into a single solution with less risk and cost than typically associated with complex billing and customer care integrations say the companies. This product option includes data mapping, data configuration, data transfer, and screen configuration.

"In order to effectively manage customer relationships, communications carriers need seamless access to billing information," said Richard Campione Vice President and General Manager of Siebel Communications, Media, and Energy. "By leveraging best-in-class applications such as Atlys and Siebel eCommunications 7, service providers can maximize system flexibility while minimising the total cost of ownership."

"Meeting the challenges of today's dynamic communications market requires the absolute best billing and customer care application support," said Dave Dougherty, Chief Development Officer of Convergys. "Working in concert, Convergys and Siebel Systems are bringing together the superior capabilities of our respective solutions into a pre-packaged, reliable product option backed by market leaders with proven delivery capabilities."

Convergys' modular and scalable product line of end-to-end billing products, application modules, and pre-integrated application suites enable communication providers to create fully integrated billing and customer care environments that are highly adaptable, reliable, and cost-effective. Convergys says its products are based on its proven and innovative next-generation framework, a convergent component-based architecture that provides flexibility, investment protection, and support for convergent services.