[February 11, 2005]

Nice Toys = More Friends for InstantService

By David Sims, TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist

Having nifty online communications technology seems to be a great way to meet new friends, as InstantService welcomed the most new customers they’ve ever seen in a quarter and lots of old friends came back, including H&R Block, LendingTree, Penske and FindWhat.com.

Mainly these companies like playing with InstantService’s toys: An integrated suite of live chat, email management, knowledge base, website analytics and lead capture products that could help companies increase sales and improve their customer service. InstantService is a hosted application that plays well with others, including existing e-commerce and CRM systems.

That so many industries are represented heartens Mike Lande, CEO of Instant Service: “Their addition has led to over 60% revenue growth over Q4 2003,” Lande notes. Thanks for playing, guys. Hey let’s meet at your house tomorrow, okay?

Some of InstantService’s new best friends:

Micron, a big provider of advanced semiconductor solutions. Micron's DRAM and Flash components are used in today's advanced computing, networking, and communications products, including computers, workstations, servers, cell phones, wireless devices, digital cameras, and gaming systems. Or you might know Micron for their CMOS image sensor solutions to the handset camera, digital still camera, and PC video camera markets.

Micron uses InstantService Chat on the Crucial Technologies website to offer customer support.

SunGard, provider of integrated software and processing solutions, primarily for financial services. It says here that “SunGard also helps information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the continuity of their business,” and if anyone knows what that means please help a dirty-shirt reporter out here.

Whatever it is they’re turning a buck on it, as SunGard is on the S&P 500, kind of a New York Social Register for businesses, and makes three billion bucks a year off 20,000 customers in more than 50 countries. This is the kind of friend you want to have, folks. And they appreciate InstantService’s Chat and Mail helping them take care of customer service needs.

Retek, a provider of mission-critical software and services to the retail industry. Retek’s products help businesses integrate collaborative software with patented predictive technologies, consulting services and the best practices of customers and partners so retailers can better create, manage and fulfill consumer demand.

Retek will use InstantService Chat to turn website visitors to leads and improve their customer support.

And there’s XACT TeleSolutions, a provider of contact center solutions and other teleservices, specializing in the customized design, development, and delivery of complex call handling solutions for over 30,000 customers nationwide. Near as this reporter can figure, XACT TeleSolutions develops customized products to combine live customer service with the appropriate technology.

They’re offering InstantService Chat as part of their online customer service.

Y’all play nicely, now.

David Sims is contributing editor and CRM Alert columnist for TMCnet.