Automating The Business-AT&T Tackles Its Toughest Customer

AT&T has designed a new program that will put business and office automation in all the field sales offices and operations work centers of its Business Markets Group, Federal Systems Group, and Data Systems Group. Called the Business Automation Platform (BAP), the program uses new systems, networks, and software applications to link previously incompatible support systems. The BAP will give 22,000 field sales and support personnel in the Business Markets, Federal Systems, and Data Systems Groups a single, efficient, and universal user interface that accesses all the information needed to sell, provision, bill, and collect for AT&T products to customers. The BAP incorporates virtually all major AT&T products and services in a distributed, UNIX(R) System V-based architecture that turns cumbersome user-hostile applications into easy-to- use automation tools.