May 2000
A Delicious Medley Of
Products & Services For The New Economy
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ERM
Solutions From Talisma |
Talisma Corporation offers a range of modular products and services for
customizable electronic relationship management (ERM), designed to give
e-businesses immediate benefits regardless of the scope or complexity of
e-service operations. Talisma gives its clients the flexibility to
purchase a portion of overall solutions, a blend of services and products
or entire end-to-end solutions.
Talisma's software products aim to offer effective customer e-mail
management, outbound electronic marketing and Web-based customer service.
Talisma Business Edition is constructed to enable companies to organize
high volume customer service requests sent to corporate aliases (such as
[email protected]) so that they can be efficiently assigned, tracked
and reported on. Small- to mid-sized businesses typically use Business
Edition to electronically connect their customers to provide e-sales,
marketing and services.
Talisma Enterprise Edition Version 2.02, successor to Business Edition,
is a scalable, enterprise-architected customer service and ERM package
designed to decrease support costs and improve customer satisfaction by
increasing connection and information delivery to customers. Enterprise
Edition is comprised of Talisma Dialog, a customer communication
management application; Talisma Integrate, a complete software developer's
kit (SDK) module; and Talisma Campaign, an outbound marketing module
available in either a basic or premium version. Features include: inbound
customer communication tracking and integrated electronic direct marketing
functionality; automation and productivity features in user-defined rules,
canned responses, auto text and categories; recognition and
personalization with a customizable customer database; monitoring and
analysis tools to track customer trends and job performance; and
integration capabilities with knowledgebase, CRM and e-commerce
applications.
Talisma also offers its solutions through Talisma Online, a Web-hosted
system that leverages Talisma Enterprise and is intended for companies
that recognize the benefits of deploying online customer service, yet have
limited resources to do so. All of the software version's functionality
and features are available. Customers can also engage Talisma Professional
Services (TPS), its customer service application team for providing
clients strategy, integration services, training and custom development.
TPS offers a one-week deployment of Enterprise Edition through the Talisma
QuickStart program, providing installation and set-up expertise, help with
staffing and mailbox organization for different groups, routing rules,
categorization, product knowledge transfer and administration training.
No. 526, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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Hipbone
Internet Co-Navigation Service |
Increasingly, e-commerce companies see a demand from customers for a
blend of Web and personal interaction. As Web-based commerce grows, so do
the number of customers and their level of sophistication. Increasingly,
they demand more than FAQ pages, waiting several hours for an e-mail/fax
response or point-and-click options that only redirect them to another
page on the site. Hipbone, Inc.'s Internet co-navigation technology is
intended to provide a solution for companies who want to conduct business
on the Internet and offer their customers personal, real-time interaction.
The service is meant to allow companies to improve their customers'
experiences, more effectively demonstrate online products and services,
increase sales and shorten the sales cycle. Internet co-navigation enables
two or more people to connect browsers, visually interact and navigate the
Web together. Hipbone's Java-based co-navigation technology allows sales
and customer service agents to connect browsers with customers for joint
Web navigation. Agents and customers can view Web-based applications,
complete online forms, and walk through Internet transactions while
communicating using text chat, voice over IP or standard telephony.
Hipbone's service is designed for easy deployment so that companies can
improve customer interactions without adding expensive software and
systems to their infrastructures or making expensive changes to their Web
sites. Similarly, users can co-navigate without time-consuming downloads
or plug-ins, yet have instant connectivity. According to the company,
deployment takes an hour at most, and training generally requires about
twenty minutes.
Hipbone is set up by "cutting and pasting" an HTML
link/connect button onto a company's Web site. The service connects
customers whether a company or customer is behind a firewall; and supports
SSL 2.0 and 3.0, and uses the encryption to encode sensitive information
while in transit on the Internet. Customers can customize and co-brand the
service to make it match a company's "look and feel." Hipbone
adds updates or new functionality to its service every month. Users have
access to the newest features and tools without waiting for software
upgrades that must be installed and configured. The service is a 24x7
operation, utilizing servers run by AboveNet Communications, featuring the
latest in security, network management tools, fire safety and emergency
backup. Minimum system requirements are Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT with
Internet Explorer 4.x or Netscape 4.06, or Mac OS 8.x with Netscape
Communicator 4.06.
No. 527, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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Web-Based Issue Tracking System: FootPrints
4.0
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UniPress Software Inc.'s FootPrints solution is a Web-based issue and
problem tracking system that is designed to support a broad range of
business applications, including help desk and customer relationship
management, supply chain, product development and sales operations.
Targeted at small and medium-sized businesses and departments within
enterprise organizations, FootPrints is meant to provide a scalable,
cost-effective solution to automatically track, manage and report customer
problems and activities and build a comprehensive knowledge base for
self-directed help. Its Web-based orientation also is intended to support
centralized information access and allow customers and end users to
rapidly submit issues or query the knowledge base from any location.
Internal and external helpdesk/support technicians, customers and
end-users can log onto FootPrints via the Internet/Intranet to instantly
manage and share information. All activities are controlled by
comprehensive security facilities to ensure authorized access. FootPrints
4.0 features a completely redesigned interface, improved customer support
features, expanded search capabilities and advanced customization
abilities.
According to UniPress, this latest version has been improved to allow for
easy deployment on a central Web server, with no additional programming or
software necessary. Users can log on from any standard Web browser. An
intuitive interface is designed to make it easy to quickly locate project
status, action items and new developments. By supporting file and e-mail
attachments, version 4.0 helps users access screenshots, documents and
other files to expedite problem resolution. Additionally, it offers
built-in search and reporting capabilities to facilitate faster access to
critical information. Users can search on a variety of criteria, sort
results by any data field and save searches directly to their workstation.
FootPrints 4.0 is also designed for simple customization to support a wide
range of individual and organizational needs. The system's Project Wizard
provides simple menus and pull-down lists to help create and manage a
variety of different activities; for example, managing the steps and
details in a project or tracking sales leads, keep records of customer
progress through the sales cycle and provide forecasting reports. Activity
fields and nomenclature can be changed to reflect specific functions.
No. 528, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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The
Intelligent Communications Network From Telera |
Providing a communications infrastructure on which companies can transact
business is the mission of application service provider Telera. Its
Intelligent Communications Network is designed to provide both Web and
voice communications into the enterprise over Telera's wide area,
distributed, private IP (Internet protocol) network. Telera's Intelligent
Communications Network connects nationwide service locations where phone
calls are received, and enterprise locations that implement Web
applications that control the handling of the received phone calls, which
gives customers the ability to put business intelligence and application
delivery at the edge of the network, at the call's point of origin. Among
the advantages of this approach are a unification of Web and telecom
application development environments, the reduction or elimination of many
telecom costs and equipment expenses, and the ability to provide
personalized applications for each end user.
Using the Telera network, browser software on desktops connects with
business Web applications running on Web servers housed at the enterprise.
The Telera Web servers run the call handling software using XML pages
using XML specifications defined by Telera and implemented by the call
handling software on Telera's Intelligent Communications Servers, which
are integrated with premise-based call routing software that implements
the business rules of customer contact workflow.
Telera provides various service offerings, designed to give voice
applications the same level of customer personalization as Web
applications: they include Talk@Net, which provides local delivery of self-service
applications; Route@Net, which provides local queuing plus intelligent
routing to an agent using least-cost routing over the PSTN or VoIP;
Notify@Net, which provides outbound customer notification driven by Web
applications; and Click@Net, which connects Web customers to a contact
center agent through a click-to-talk button on a Web page.
Telera also provides options for application development and hosting
services for the rapid deployment of personalized customer contact
applications and a service management portal that allows customers to
monitor their applications and network activity using a standard Web
browser.
No. 529, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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Voyant's
Conference-Now! |
To help solve the demand for Web-based conferencing products for the
service provider market, Voyant Technolo-gies has released its
ConferenceNow! system, which is designed to give service providers the
ability to customize and private-label many of the features and functions
of the system.
Using the ConferenceNow! system, service providers can customize the look
and feel of end-user interfaces to the system or integrate voice
connections to existing Web applications. For example, the HTML in the
ConferenceNow! Moderator interface can be adapted to use customer-specific
information, hotlinks, advertising information, instructions for support
and other information to differentiate the service provider's offering.
Each customer or subscriber on ConferenceNow! is a member of a Subscriber
Group, which allows the account to be customized to the group or company
level. Access Phone Numbers, voice message sets, feature sets, company
names, billing information and the graphic displayed on the Moderator
interface can all be designated here.
ConferenceNow! also provides: multiple language and message support;
customer welcome messages that are associated with the Access Phone Number
dialed by the conference subscriber and participants; the ability to
customize several of the GIF or JPEG graphics; the ability to input an
attendant or operator script at the Subscriber Group level; and the
ability to initiate a conference anytime, 24/7; a Participant Count
function; entry/exit announcements; a roll call feature; and Internet
connections that can utilize Secure Socket Layer encryption.
The ConferenceNow! platform is designed to scale up to 9,600 voice
connections.
No. 530, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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Rainmaker
eCRM Program |
As more and more technology companies are flying into e-commerce without
fully establishing their sales and marketing practices, Rainmaker Systems
has launched its Web-based customer relationship management (eCRM) program
that is aimed at increasing revenues, strengthening customer loyalty and
retention, and improving customer awareness of clients' products and
services. Rainmaker is currently targeting technology clients in the
software, subscriptions, hardware support and training fields.
Designed to be up and running in a week and providing a return in six
weeks, Rainmaker will design a customized Web-based program that includes
sales, marketing and other customer relationship programs using the
Internet and other communication channels. Once a client provides
Rainmaker with a list of its customers it wants to contact, Rainmaker
launches the encourage phase. In the encourage phase, either banner ads or
e-mail will encourage customers to go to the Rainmaker-supported Web page
where they can, for example, download a demo of the client's software for
evaluation or talk to a representative through a Web page "call
me" button. After the trial, representatives from Rainmaker will
consult with the potential customer to persuade them to buy. Rainmaker
also provides Web-based solutions companies can use for their channel
partners.
Michael Silton, CEO at Rainmaker, said the idea is to provide,
"results-driven, one-to-one CRM" that delivers the right product
to the right person.
No. 531, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo
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