AT&T BusinessDirect® Named Best Customer Portal by The Yankee Group

March 10, 2005; 04:14 PM

BEDMINSTER, N.J. - March 10, 2005 - AT&T today announced that it has been recognized by the Yankee Group for providing customers with the strongest online support and service experience in the industry with its Web portal, AT&T BusinessDirect®.  In a review of several carriers, AT&T BusinessDirect demonstrated the highest overall level of product integration, provisioning, tools and feature support. 

AT&T BusinessDirect combines service management and support reporting tools into a single, secure extranet site that provides users with increased visibility and cost control over their network performance and investments. 

The Yankee Group review, which compared ordering, maintenance, billing and network-management functionality, positioned AT&T as having the strongest portal across all of these areas with "exceptionally well-developed integration with its network map" for trouble ticketing and maintenance.   

"AT&T establishes the industry standard for online customer service and support with AT&T BusinessDirect," said Bryan Van Dussen, Director Telecommunications Strategies at the Yankee Group.  "The level of feature support and integration, as well as AT&T's use of e-bonding tools, sets them apart from the rest."

Customers, such as Florida Power and Light Company, find value in the simple and intuitive means AT&T BusinessDirect provides to support and manage their network infrastructure. 
"4.2 million customers across the state of Florida relied on us for continued service during the unprecedented hurricane season this past year," said Ben Thompson, systems analyst, Florida Power & Light Company.  "AT&T BusinessDirect gave us the visibility and control to route incoming calls, allowing people to reach us during their time of need.  As a customer-driven organization, we consider this level of service and support to be invaluable."
The portal supports an average of 2.7 million transactions per month from over 620,000 users.  About 43% of AT&T Business maintenance requests and over 37% of all orders originate electronically.
 "This acknolwedgement from the Yankee Group further proves AT&T's ongoing commitment to and investment in providing a superb customer experience," added Bob Sloan, AT&T eSales & Service vice president.  "Our e-servicing capabilities help customers enhance productivity and reduce costs - a real winning combination." 
About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.

The Yankee Group (http://www.yankeegroup.com)

The Yankee Group is the global leader in communications & networking research and consulting. The company helps businesses understand the opportunities, risks and competitive pressures of developing, deploying and consuming products and services that drive communication or information exchange. Now in its fourth decade, the Yankee Group is based in Boston with offices throughout North America and Europe.