BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Verizon Business is making it easier than ever for large-business and government customers to do business with the company through its online portal, the Verizon Business Customer Center (VBCC). Enhancements to Verizon Business' popular Dashboard and a new document-management capability enable customers to better collaborate and more closely manage their relationship with the company.
The VBCC Dashboard - a customized network-monitoring tool that provides customers a comprehensive, at-a-glance view of their communications landscape - now features two major enhancements. The first enables customers to track how well Verizon Business' IP services performed against service level agreement (SLA) standards. The second new feature, called the LEC/PTT Performance Report, provides Verizon Business customers visibility into Enterprise Trouble Management System tickets referred to local exchange carriers (LECs) and foreign carriers (or PTTs) for resolution.
The company has also launched a document-management capability for the VBCC - a one-stop tool for customers to manage their documents in a secure, centralized location.
"The VBCC has become an integral tool for our customers to effectively command and control their Verizon Business services and day-to-day business dealings with the company," said Tom Vitale, vice president of customer enablement and cross-product support for Verizon Business. "Our customers are clearly embracing the VBCC. With the new user-friendly Dashboard applications created to increase customers' visibility into their network performance and the document-management tool designed to meet escalating demand for enhanced intra-company collaboration, we anticipate that VBCC usage will continue to climb."
VBCC adoption continues to increase dramatically, with the number of users increasing by more than 200 percent in the past year alone and customer adoption of the Dashboard feature jumping 363 percent since January.
A global tool, the portal is available in nine different languages, and VBCC users can view their services across all geographies with a single log in. The company has synced its portal capabilities across the globe, and users can view orders and submit change requests across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific region. Users can also open and view inquiries in these regions.
Dashboard Puts Customers in the Driver's Seat
VBCC users benefit from Dashboard -- a single, near-real-time overview of their network topology on a single screen -- to help them manage and monitor their voice, data and Internet network resources and troubleshoot areas of improvement. Through the Dashboard, customers can also retrieve summary-level network performance metrics to track utilization trends and to pinpoint potential network issues.
The new LEC/PTT Performance Report details the total number of Verizon Business trouble tickets referred out to the LEC and PTT for resolution. The performance report also provides the associated mean time to repair (MTTR) performance for all the tickets sent to each LEC and PTT. In addition, the report allows users to obtain additional details and can provide a history for the previous 12 months.
The new SLA reporting enhancement shows customers the Verizon Business IP network performance through a global network topology map. This feature graphically depicts actual performance measurements compared with the Verizon Business SLA standards.
"Verizon Business has greatly enhanced its Dashboard; in particular, the interface is now easier to use, is very well outlined and provides good depth of information," said Paul Hughes, vice president of Yankee Group's Enabling Technologies Service Provider Group. "Having a bird's-eye view of your network, combined with the ability to capture close-up information for analyzing and reporting network usage and performance, is extremely valuable for portal users."
The document-management capability enables users to upload and edit documents such as contracts, organizational charts, memos and network plans; create and delete folders; and organize significant information. It was developed to improve day-to-day communications and reduce errors associated with multiple users editing documents.
Highlights of the new document-management tool include the ability to upload, download and share documents among different users as well as a feature to receive notifications through e-mail based on actions performed such as documents added and deleted. To provide a layer of security, administrators maintain the materials labeled as "protected documents" so that only authenticated individuals can view or edit certain documents.
The VBCC is an integrated global customer portal that offers a one-stop desktop resource to order, monitor, report on, view bills and pay for Verizon Business services - from virtually anywhere at any time. It allows users to obtain seamless access to critical data and tools, help improve productivity and control costs, and self-manage their products and services. The VBCC also features advanced online billing applications that provide users with supervision over all aspects of their monthly billing process, including detailed reports.
Verizon Business has been recognized as a leader harnessing the power of automated technology to enhance its customer relationships. For example, its eBonding services were recognized by Customer Inter@ction Solutions' 2007 CRM Excellence Awards in May; and Invoice Insight assigned the company its top ranking, among telecom vendors, for electronic billing excellence in March 2006.
For a virtual tour of the VBCC and more information, visit http://customercenter.verizonbusiness.com.
About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a leading provider of advanced communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced communications, security and other professional service capabilities, Verizon Business delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. For more information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.
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