IDEA, IBM ink deal on IVR project

BANGALORE, INDIA: IDEA Cellular Ltd (IDEA) and International Business Machines (IBM) today announced a ten-year contract to deploy, integrate, innovate and transform IDEA’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) self service infrastructure and processes.

The agreement is designed on an innovative risk - reward model based on a price per minute.

The ten-year contract, signed in June 2007, is valued at Rs 220 crores ($53 Million). This deal is in addition to the ten-year IT outsourcing agreement between IDEA and IBM, valued at more than Rs 2500 crores ($600 million to $800 million) signed earlier this year, IDEA said in a statement.

According to the contract, IBM would transform IDEA’s customer contact channels through the addition of an IP based IVR system for end user self-service. IBM would provide consultancy for IVR optimisation, operate and manage the systems and provide continuous improvements for IDEA subscribers self service experience.

Announcing the agreement, Sanjeev Aga, managing director, IDEA Cellular Ltd, said, “Our latest agreement with IBM will set a new standard in Service Delivery Quality and Customer Contact. We will harness IBM’s knowledge and experience in the areas of contact center and voice response, to achieve our objective of having the most advanced infrastructure and processes to support IDEA’s business.”

This is the first end-to-end IVR Self Service transformation project in the Indian telecom industry. Through integrating IVR self service with IDEA's business support and IT systems, leveraging a common process and operations, IBM would enable IDEA to deliver an enhanced customer contact experience to its subscribers, IDEA statement added.

Vivek Gupta, director, Communication Sector, IBM India/SA, said, “This agreement further strengthens our relationship with IDEA. Interactive Voice Response is a first of its kind project and will make IDEA’s contact centre management resilient, scalable and cost effective.”