FTD

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FTD Delivers—Thanks to Reliable Sprint Connections

Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD) Inc. is a leading provider of flowers. Through its FTD brand, the most recognized brand in the floral industry, the company connects about 20,000 florists in North America and more than 28,000 florists in another 150 countries. FTD provides same-day delivery to nearly 100 percent of North American households. Call centers are in Connecticut, Oregon and Illinois where FTD also has headquarters. To order flowers, visit your local FTD Florist, call 1-800-SEND-FTD or shop online at FTD.COM. For more information on FTD, visit www.FTD.COM.

Challenge

Making moms smile the world over isn't easy. But it's precisely what FTD does every Mother's Day by delivering hundreds of thousands of flowers worldwide. FTD's global floral business thrives on always-available communications. Customers place orders by visiting their local FTD Florist, dialing a toll-free number or going online to the Web site, FTD.COM, which is open 24 x 7.

During holidays, like Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas, traffic on the FTD network spikes to 10 times the daily average, and it must flow flawlessly. Downtime could be devastating. FTD looks to Sprint to keep its network—and its business—running better.

Solution

Sprint designed a voice/data solution with built-in redundancy so FTD can reliably handle millions of orders every year. All FTD call centers rely on Sprint toll-free numbers. Enhanced call routing gets callers to the most-available agent for responsive service. A menu of options presented to callers aids them in finding the service they need—saving time and keeping agents focused on selling products. A robust IP backbone links call centers, corporate headquarters and florists to customer-service and order-entry applications. Reliable frame relay connects the warehouse in Ohio for accurate fulfillment. Agents also use Sprint Web connections for e-mail and to view product information online with callers.

Bottom line

Business is blooming at FTD thanks in part to the reliability of the Sprint network. FTD's benefits from working with Sprint include:

• 100 percent availability—no network outages
• Improved consumer confidence—with a reliable network, FTD can meet its 100 percent satisfaction guarantee
• Global coverage—strategic to FTD's growth internationally
• Stability—FTD and Sprint have a 14-year relationship that continues to flourish

Why Sprint?

When you choose Sprint, you're in good company. In fact, 95% of the FORTUNE 1000® use Sprint for combinations of data, Internet, voice or wireless solutions as do more than 26 million customers of all sizes in 100 countries around the globe. The reasons are clear and compelling:

• Sprint is truly dedicated to understanding your needs and challenges and committed to developing tailored solutions that can help improve your productivity and effectiveness
• Sprint is the service provider best positioned to offer a total networking solution—one that integrates wireline and wireless services—so your employees can be connected seamlessly and securely, virtually anywhere their jobs take them
• Sprint remains one of the most financially stable companies in the industry with the resources required to maintain high service levels
• Sprint is a recognized leader in quality customer care, service reliability and product innovation

"Sprint has dedicated numerous resources to keeping us as a satisfied customer for more than a decade, proving time and again its commitment to our business."
Scott Thomas, Director - Information Technology
Florists' Transworld Delivery Inc.

FORTUNE 1000® is a registered trademark of FORTUNE magazine, a division of Time inc.

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