OREANDA-NEWS. January 31, 2013. Tesco, one of the world's largest retailers, is using BT’s Cloud Contact solution to give its UK customers an enhanced, more flexible and more responsive contact centre service.

 The services, which BT started to provide under a three-year agreement signed in June last year, sees BT Cloud Contact serve Tesco’s main contact centre operations in Dundee and Cardiff, which employ more than 1,800 customer service staff and handle more than 90 million minutes of calls each year, including Club card and online shopping enquiries.

 BT Cloud Contact enables calls to be directed efficiently and to the most appropriate agent with the skills to assist the caller. It can be quickly scaled up and down to meet the peaks and troughs of retail trading, meaning that Tesco will only ever pay for the resources it needs at any given time.

 Mike McNamara, CIO of Tesco, said: “Customer service is central to everything we do. We want to make shopping at Tesco simpler and more convenient for our customers, so BT’s great new cloud solution will help us to do that.

 “By connecting our contact centre colleagues with our customers, we can give them the support and advice they need, in the way they want, when they want it. We believe that’s key to great customer service.”
 Emer Timmons, President of BT Global Services UK, said: “We’re delighted that our solution is playing a part in helping Tesco deliver a world-class retail experience to its customers.

 “Our solution gives Tesco flexibility particularly during peak periods when demand on their contact centres can double compared with other times of year. Tesco needed a solution that could handle these seasonal spikes and BT Cloud Contact gives it all the functionality and scale it needs.”

 The new solution will also enable Tesco to virtualise its contact centre services, providing more than 200 home workers with an effective contact centre environment at their desk in their own flat or house.