Company: AT&T BusinessDirect, San Antonio, TX
Company Description: AT&T Inc. is a leading global provider of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Use of Technology in Customer Service

Nomination Title: AT&T BusinessDirect® Mobile Capabilities

1. Tell the story about how technology has improved your customer service initiatives since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

In today's business world, certain events cannot be planned or anticipated.
Degradation in network performance shouldn't resign a telecom manager to his
desk awaiting status. With an increasingly mobile and geographically dispersed
workforce, mobile devices are now considered a key component of the connected
enterprise.

With AT&T BusinessDirect® Mobile Capabilities, customers get "anytime,
® anywhere" maintenance and performance-monitoring of networks that carry
critical data and applications. Customers can initiate network tests from
their mobile device, and take advantage of AT&T's sophisticated circuit-
testing technology that speeds trouble isolation, resulting in faster service
restoration. The user interface offers drop-down menus, so data entry and
transcription errors are eliminated.

AT&T BusinessDirect® users are now able to access the portal's eMaintenance
application allowing customers to request network maintenance and remotely
monitor the network maintenance process from beginning to end. For the first
time, network administrators can help maintain optimal performance of
corporate networks via their mobile device while juggling offsite meetings or
unexpected travel that prevents them from handling tasks they would otherwise
oversee from the office. The service can be accessed by any mobile device on
the market today, as long as the device is wireless Internet-enabled.

AT&T surveyed its large enterprise customers to determine which features were
most critical for them to access on the go. Customers responded with
overwhelming support for mobile eMaintenance because of its unmatched ability
to help keep revenue-generating networks and applications performing optimally
at all times. Customers also noted that the expanded mobile capabilities added
significant value to network management and billing update e-mail alerts that
AT&T has long provided to customers via their mobile devices.

AT&T BusinessDirect® Mobile Capabilities also allows customers to get status
on their network trouble, escalate, and view test results. Customers can also
monitor their network for key metrics such as % of calls blocked, % out of
service, and average call length. And text messages are provided when there
is any change in network status.

While other industry players have introduced limited functionality, AT&T
BusinessDirect® Mobile Capabilities supports mobile devices utilizing the
iPhone, Windows Mobile (Smartphone), Symbian, Palm, Blackberry, and Pocket PC
platforms.

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://hosted-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-comm/articles/43989-att-recognized-frost-sullivan.htm

http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?docid=31108

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS132814+18-Jun-2008+PRN20080618

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:

John Cushman is a twenty-five year veteran in the information technology
field. His background includes extensive sales, marketing and operations
experiences that span a number of major defining points in the industry
including the Bell System divestiture, 800 Number Portability and the
expansion to new toll-free area codes such as 888.

John is currently responsible for all aspects of B2B eCommerce for AT&T
including AT&T BusinessDirect®, an award winning business-to-business portal
to over 300 command and control Customer applications and an online channel
that has grown to represent more than $1.7B annual revenue and over $350M
annual productivity savings.