Company: AT&T BusinessDirect, San Antonio, TX
Company Description: AT&T Inc. is a leading global provider of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers.
Nomination Category: Sales Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Online Sales Team of the Year

Nomination Title: AT&T BusinessDirect Premier Onlines Sales

Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The AT&T BusinessDirect® Premier Online Store streamlines the purchasing and
management activities of any organization's wireless program with a customized
storefront.; Companies offer employee discounts and benefits on the latest
rate plans and phones, as well as features such as international calling,
messaging, data, and more.; Customers customize their store to display
products and services based on the company's telecom policies, employee
permissions, and contract specifications. All of the transactions, settings,
and permissions available to employees in a Premier Online Store are
controlled by the company's telecom manager or other designated administrator.

The Premier Online Store enables companies to choose from over a hundred
products, dozens of rate plans, and thousands of accessories to create a
customized storefront.; The Premier Online Store allows each company to create
distinct online shopping experiences based on employee roles and level of
financial responsibility. There are over 150 different settings to choose from
so companies can manage the shopping environment of their stores.

Companies can incorporate their internal approval processes to simplify
ordering and help prevent unauthorized purchases. Telecom Managers can specify
the required approvals, from simple email approval to an automated, multi-
tiered approval process.;; There is streamlined procurement that works
seamlessly with internal ordering and approval structures that use cXML/Open
Communications Interface-based integration to Premier.; The site can be
customized by user type. For example, the Sales force may be eligible to only
choose from certain devices, such as Blackberrys, while senior executives may
have access to more sophisticated devices, such as iPhones.; The Telecom
Manager (or designated Administrator) can add and remove features available,
as well as suspend or reinstate service on an account.; There is also the
option to offer split billing (user pays a portion of bill, such as voice) or
company-responsible billing.

The site offers the ability to capture valuable user information for each
order with user-defined fields such as cost center, region, market, and
department—and run custom reports to see a summary of the data.; The site is
also integrated with Premier Online Care that allows administrators to view
and manage the company’s inventory of corporate-responsible devices.; There is
easy access to viewing billed and unbilled usage.; There are over 25
predefined reports and customized reports.; Data can be downloaded to Excel
spreadsheets to generate perform detailed analysis of usage and expenses.

End users receive promotional pricing automatically on qualified transactions
with the built-in pricing engine.; They can also compare feature and
specification information side-by-side on phones, smart phones, LaptopConnect
cards, netbooks, and more.; Click-to-Chat is available whereby online service
representatives are ready to answer questions, providing users the option to
save a transcript of the conversation.

The Premier Online Store has been an effective engine in reducing costs and
providing process benefits to customers.; Order cycle time has been reduced
from 3-5 days to just 48 hours for shipping.; Over 122K transactions per month
are automated, representing a 75% automation rate.; Automation is yielding
$1.83M/month in cost savings, the equivalent of $22 annually.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/premier/PremierShop.jsp?wtLinKName=Learnmore&wtLinkLoc=BDY

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

John Cushman is a twenty-five year veteran in the information technology
field.; His background includes extensive sales, marketing and operations
experiences that span a number of major defining points in the industry
including the Bell System divestiture, 800 Number Portability and the
expansion to new toll-free area codes such as 888.

John is currently responsible for all aspects of B2B eCommerce for AT&T
including AT&T BusinessDirect®, an award winning business-to-business portal
to over 300 command and control Customer applications and an online channel
that has grown to represent more than $1.7B annual revenue and over $350M
annual productivity savings.