Accident Fund Selects Siemens OpenScape(R) Contact Center Portfolio to Help to Improve Customer Experience While Reducing Costs

HiPath(R) ProCenter(R) Enterprise Solution Plus HiPath(R) 4000 Deliver Scalability and Reliability

BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, one of the leading workers compensation insurers nationwide, prides itself on helping to protect employers and employees from issues stemming from work-related injuries. In an effort to enhance their ability to serve customers calling in to their support centers more quickly and efficiently, Accident Fund has deployed the HiPath ProCenter Enterprise solution, a key component of the OpenScape Contact Center portfolio from Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. The solution has helped Accident Fund in its efforts to improve call routing capabilities, significantly reduce call-abandon rates, better manage the workload of call center representatives and help assure that all calls will be answered by the most skilled representative available.

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Based in Lansing, Mich., Accident Fund has approximately 150 call center agents in two locations. These call representatives are responsible for handling contacts from customers with a variety of questions on workers' compensation claims, policies, billing and other concerns. Therefore, Accident Fund needed a more efficient way to ensure that customers were directed to the appropriate representative to respond to their needs.

HiPath ProCenter provides Accident Fund with a unique intelligent skills-based routing process that helps ensure callers are directed promptly to the representative best suited to help them, while minimizing wait times and improving productivity for the representatives. According to Accident Fund, the solution has enabled them to reduce their call abandon rate by almost fifty percent, since callers can reach representatives more quickly and, even at times when there are fewer resources available, callers will still reach a live person. In addition, the new routing and dynamic queuing capabilities based on a unique skills resume for each representative enables Accident Fund to better manage the workload and pay scale in their call center.

"It is incredibly important to us that our customers feel valued and are able to have their questions and concerns addressed in a timely manner," said Rita Ramsey, Business Development Service Center Manager for Accident Fund. "Siemens HiPath ProCenter has not only given us the tools we need to make that happen, it was the most user-friendly and cost-effective package we considered."

HiPath ProCenter has provided Accident Fund with robust reporting and real-time management capabilities, helping them enhance each caller experience. Using more effective performance data, Accident Fund can utilize representative resources more efficiently, freeing them to focus more on customer care. Presence and collaboration tools deployed on the representatives' desktops streamline communication among different lines of business, helping to increase individual productivity and contributing to higher first contact resolution. HiPath ProCenter will also enable Accident Fund to more easily expand their center virtually to support multiple time zones as they seek to address new markets outside of their current region without adding expensive resources.

Accident Fund also deployed Siemens' HiPath 4000 real-time IP platform to provide digital, analog and VoIP functionality on a single platform. The HiPath 4000 solution delivers the resiliency, scalability and distributed infrastructure that Accident Fund required for their environment. Accident Fund said they were also able to reduce the total number of systems they needed to support, simplifying management and reducing their total cost of ownership.

"Using HiPath ProCenter, Accident Fund has been able to dramatically improve customer service while increasing the efficiency and productivity of its contact center representatives," said Don Greco, Director of Solution Management for Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. "Our extensive contact center expertise coupled with the comprehensive solution that Siemens was able to deliver, comprised of the OpenScape Contact Center solutions portfolio and HiPath 4000, provided the superior features, performance and pricing that Accident Fund required."

About Accident Fund

Headquartered in Lansing, Michigan, Accident Fund Insurance Company of America is one of the nation's leading workers compensation insurers with more than $3 billion in assets. Founded in 1912, Accident Fund is rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Accident Fund Insurance Company of America and its subsidiaries (Accident Fund National, Accident Fund General, United Wisconsin Insurance Company and CompWest) are licensed in 49 states plus the District of Columbia*. More information can be found at www.accidentfund.com.

*Licensing per state varies by subsidiary.

About Siemens

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $107.4 billion in 2006. Founded 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $21.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com.

About Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.

Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. is an affiliate of Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, one of the world's leading suppliers of Unified Communications technologies. The company's unique Open Communications approach to providing software, solutions and services for enterprises of all sizes enables business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure - with any device, network or information technology infrastructure. Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. and Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG are wholly owned subsidiaries of Siemens AG with global headquarters in Munich.

For more information about Siemens Enterprise Communications, visit: http://www.siemens.com/open.

Note: OpenScape, OpenStage, ProCenter and HiPath are trademarks of Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG. Siemens is a registered trademark of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.