Sumitomo Trust & Banking Deploys Okis CTstage 4i for its IP Contact Center System

Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. selected Okis CTI (Computer Telephony Integration)(1) server, CTstage(R) 4i for .NET, for its contact center system. This 120-seat system, operating from December 2004, became the first Japanese bank to fully operate a 100-seat scale IP contact center (2). We believe our CTstage 4i, the top share product in contact center market in Japan, enables Sumitomo Trust & Banking to achieve an IP contact center that contributes to a closer relationship with their customers, said Takahashi Hattori, President of Financial Systems Company at Oki Electric. Based on the track record with Sumitomo Trust & Banking, we plan to actively deploy sales for IP contact center systems to banks to strengthen their retail strategy. As financial institutions actively enhance retail banking, Sumitomo Trust & Banking reconstructed its contact center system as a retail business strategy to further improve products and service convenience for its individual customers as well as strengthened its direct channels, which is one of the pillars of the sales channel. By selecting CTstage 4i, Sumitomo Trust & Banking can utilize the contact center functions from sales offices and other locations and can freely allocate the system such as increasing the operator seats. This enables Sumitomo Trust & Banking to flexibly respond to changes that are difficult to predict at the installing stage. The softswitch(3)-type CTstage 4i at Sumitomo Trust & Banking includes inbound operations such as telephone banking and helpdesk to respond to questions regarding Internet banking as well as outbound operations such as automated dialing. CTstage 4i also provides for flexibility, reliability that is required in mission-critical contact center operation, and compatibility as it is a Windows(R)-based open architecture CTI system, which includes easy management and maintenance features, such as user interface that enables users to change system configurations. In addition, by linking with the centralized customer database and utilizing CTI functions, operators can respond by looking at the customer information.