PLANO, Texas, March 12, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — EDS today announced it will offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM as an EDS enterprise application solution to its clients globally. With this announcement, EDS becomes Microsoft’s enterprise partner to deliver Microsoft Dynamics CRM consulting and solutions that will reduce time-to-market, lower total cost of ownership and give clients a competitive edge. EDS’ services, which include consulting, implementation, integration, management hosting, contact center outsourcing and managed services, will allow clients to confidently purchase and deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM in enterprise scenarios, such as contact centers and sales force automation.

“The expanded Microsoft-EDS alliance will provide clients with the ability to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM in whatever model best meets their business requirements, whether on-premise, hosted or by outsourcing the entire business process and solution,” said Sean Finnan, EDS global vice president of CRM Services. “We expect that this strengthened relationship with an EDS Agility Alliance partner will bring together best-practice processes, models and techniques to our leading enterprise clients globally.”

EDS and Microsoft Dynamics CRM were selected by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for a 6,500 diary management solution for its Jobcentre Plus system, when the UK-based client sought a more efficient system to prioritize and manage its call backs for proportion of its 5 million First Contact calls per year. Jobcentre Plus supports people of working age from welfare into work and helps employers fill their vacancies.

EDS and Microsoft provided DWP with a joint solution which supported virtualization to 22 First Contact Centers, improving the effectiveness of the handling of calls of customer service agents. Some 30 percent of contact center locations have now rolled out, with full roll out due by the end of June 2008.

As part of its expanded alliance, Microsoft and EDS will collaborate in developing and delivering new,…

As wildly popular as the Do Not Call List has been
with consumers, it’s among the things that have been rough on
telemarketers, who have lost more than a million jobs nationwide.

The list, which will be 5 years old in June, covers 150 million
phone numbers.

That’s a vast swath of potential customers and their removal has
been a key factor in shrinking the telemarketing industry. The
industry still employed 5.3 million Americans in 2006, down from 6.5
million in 2001, said Tim Searcy, CEO of the American Teleservices
Association. Still, the industry generates sales of more than $900
billion a year, according to association figures.

Telemarketing jobs may be in for a rebound. While the outbound,
or sales call, portion of the industry has deflated, the inbound, or
customer service call centers, are growing, Jonathan Means, senior
vice president for Kelly Services Inc. in Troy, Mich., the global
staffing company, said last month.

Of the 110,000 call centers in the United States, 82 percent are
inbound contact centers with customers calling for help or
information. Just 18 percent are outbound centers, he said.

Employment at U.S.-based contact centers is growing at a rate of
9 percent a year, Means said. He said that’s because of companies
retreating from India and other countries and a rise of home-based
call center agents.

“Contact center business is coming back to the United States,”
Means said. “There was a trend of outsourcing those calls to India,
and you know the horror stories. Companies have discovered that
there is lost business when people have a bad call experience.”

According to figures compiled by the job placement company
Manpower Inc., telemarketing jobs are expected to decline by 3
percent through 2011. On the flip side, however, customer-service
representative jobs are expected to grow by 6 percent through 2011
as the telemarketing industry switches from making calls to taking
calls.

Manpower spokesman Paul Holley said last month that unlike many
telemarketing jobs, the customer-service jobs require more skilled
employees because…