Utility Mutual Assistance - Now Available for Call Centers

Twenty First Century Communications, Trusted Provider of Industry Standard
High Volume Call Answering, Introduces Patent Pending 'Mutual Assistance
Routing System'

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty First Century
Communications (TFCC) is proud to announce its newest utility communications
solution for customer service, the Mutual Assistance Routing System, or MARS
(patent pending).
TFCC revolutionized utility outage reporting when it introduced High
Volume Call Answering (HVCA(R)) in 1989. An automated interactive voice
response system, HVCA(R) receives high volumes of power outage calls and
integrates with utilities' Outage Management Systems. Today, TFCC's industry
standard HVCA(R) is in place in 80 U.S. utilities, covering 70% of American
households.
Now Twenty First Century Communications transforms the landscape of
utility outage response once again -- this time by enabling utilities to
automatically redirect high volumes of outage calls to other utilities during
crises and times of peak activity.
Mutual Assistance is the cornerstone of the utility industry -- for power
restoration. Until now, there has been no practical, cost-effective way for
utilities to help each other in the call center.
While HVCA(R) handles incoming calls with automation, TFCC recognizes that
during extended outages utility customers eventually need to speak with live
agents. However, utility call centers do not necessarily have enough agents
available to meet that need. MARS enables utilities to re-route their customer
calls to actual utility Customer Service Representatives with experience and
industry knowledge.
How does MARS work?
Through MARS, disparate telecom carriers are no longer obstacles to
re-routing calls between utilities. During a major power outage, "Requesting
Utilities" call upon "Responding Utilities" to answer a designated number of
their incoming customer calls.
MARS enables Responding Utility Customer Services Representatives (CSRs)
to gather information from customers via a simple web-based form. Through
MARS, the CSR is able to provide restoration information directly to the
customer. Then MARS seamlessly feeds data directly into the Requesting
Utility's internal systems and generates outage tickets.
About TFCC
Founded in 1989, Twenty First Century Communications is the national
leader in crisis communications. TFCC provides urgent high-speed, high-volume
telecommunications solutions, powered by the largest and fastest telecom
network in North America. Twenty First Century serves hundreds of
organizations nationwide, from electric and gas utilities to federal, state
and local governments.
Visit TFCC on the web at: http://www.tfcci.com.

Contact
Ellen Grevey
Director of Corporate Communications
614-442-1215 ext. 262
ellen.grevey@tfcci.com

SOURCE Twenty First Century Communications

Ellen Grevey of Twenty First Century Communications, +1-614-442-1215 ext. 262,
ellen.grevey@tfcci.com