InformationWeek

For Eddie Bauer, an upgrade of an aging IT infrastructure was in order to move the Bothell, Wash., retailer's customer-service plans forward. The company has spent millions during the last couple of years on its call-center infrastructure, including new Windows NT servers, as well as a high-powered automated call-distribution switch and infrastructure software from Aspect Telecommunications Corp. and Servicesoft Inc., respectively.

The key technology purchase was the switch, a six-figure investment, says Luke Friang, director of Web design and engineering for Eddie Bauer, a division of Spiegel Group. "We bought the switch to take the next big step in integrating our computer and telephony applications," he says. "That has moved us forward and really synergized us."

Eddie Bauer isn't the only company spending big money to support a move to integrate computer and telephone networks. A recent report by research firm Frost & Sullivan indicates spending for IP telephony equipment will grow to $23 billion in the next five years; much of that spending will go for call centers and their associated infrastructure.

Eddie Bauer's older switching system, which took up 1,000 square feet, couldn't satisfy the needs of today's integrated voice and data environments. But during peak shopping periods with the new system (which is about the size of three refrigerators), the E-retailer can process as many as 5,000 E-mail messages per day and an ever greater number of phone calls.

The automated call-distribution switch has helped pare response time to those E-mails from 24 hours to just a few minutes. It has also improved voice response, thanks to a blended routing feature that sends queries to agents from all points of origin, Friang says. "Incoming phone, E-mail, and fax messages are directed to specific agents who can best handle that particular kind of incoming message," he says. That means an agent who's an expert on men's shirts can handle queries regarding that topic, while an expert in women's garments can field those queries. "All incoming messages are directed to the most appropriate agent," says Friang, which saves time for the company and the customer.

The functionality of the automated call-distribution switch can be expanded with add-on software, a feature that appealed to Eddie Bauer. "The old system was homegrown," Friang says. "To upgrade it, you had to replace hardware. With the new system, upgrades and changes are more software-based." For example, the retailer added eCenter software from Servicesoft, which sells for $150,000 to $250,000. This knowledge-driven package provides applications for online self-help customer service, including E-mail and live chat with customers. The package consists of four integrated applications, including the Web Advisor.

The Web Advisor powers the "Ask Eddie" feature on the Web site, an interactive, self-service engine that lets consumers enter natural-language queries. This offering replaces the tired, old Frequently Asked Questions. The engine mines a knowledge base and returns customized responses to online shoppers' questions. "It's much more than a FAQ," says Friang. "Data is supplied by a knowledge base. Responses to the query are ranked, just like on a search engine. But if we don't have the answer in our knowledge base, the customer is routed to customer service agents, and they can handle the query by E-mail."

The software prioritizes messages by searching for words in the text that match its preprogrammed tags, so hot-button issues can be answered within minutes. Less-important queries are answered within 24 hours.

Another new feature on the EddieBauer.com site that eCenter has enabled is LiveContact, an online chat and collaborative browsing function. If customers come to the site looking for a certain type of item but can't find it there, customer-service representatives can chat with them and push pages to them with the content that is being requested. "We can direct customers to the products on our site," Friang says.

These technologies have revamped Eddie Bauer's Web operations very quickly, executives say. Twelve customer-service employees have expanded to more than 100 to handle the traffic flow and to support new features such as LiveContact, but the company says those staffers now can do their jobs much more effectively. "We're seeing a reduction in our overall volume of

E-mail as a percentage of orders," Friang says. "We're seeing a real return on that investment. It's really great."