Thomas M. Gartland, Avis Budget Group: Microsoft Tellme Selected for Customer Care

August 4, 2010

Avis Budget, parent company of Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car recently deployed the first in a series of new customer care solutions. By taking advantage of Microsoft Tellme’s speech cloud platform, Avis and Budget are delivering improved service to their customers during the peak summer travel season.

“Delivering new, streamlined customer care experiences can help save our customers time while giving them greater control over managing their vehicle rental arrangements,” said Thomas M. Gartland, executive vice president, sales & marketing, Avis Budget Group. “By working with Microsoft Tellme, we are able to deliver immediate improvements to our customer experience, while also keeping long-term technology costs in check.”

The second phase of the solution will add new reservation booking capabilities and expand integration to customer data systems to deliver enhanced caller personalization. By choosing the Microsoft Tellme cloud-based speech platform, Avis Budget will be able to roll out additional services to customers in an accelerated timeframe with minimal demands on its own internal system.

Also at SpeechTEK, Microsoft Tellme was honored with Speech Technology Magazine’s 2010 Speech Engine “Winner” Award, which is given to the year’s best speech recognition engine. In naming Microsoft its Winner, Speech Technology Magazine noted the company’s strengths in cloud-based speech and its focus on the enterprise, mobile and automotive markets. In addition, Microsoft Tellme was named “Leader” in the Speech Self-Service Suite category, in which the company’s depth in functionality and customer satisfaction were highlighted.

“2010 is the year speech hits the mainstream. Speech is changing the way we interact with technology in our homes, in our cars, on our mobile devices and on our PCs,” said Zig Serafin, general manager of Microsoft Tellme. “We are honored to be recognized as leaders in speech technology and will continue our efforts to make speech a natural part of everyday interaction with technology.”