(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
RDATE:16102008

Cambridge, UK -- CreditExpert, the online credit monitoring and
identity fraud protection service from Experian, has rolled-out a
dynamic web self-service technology to help customers immediately
locate information on its website. Transversal's (www.transversal.com)
Ask a Question solution uses neural network technology to enable users
to get accurate and instant answers to questions that can be asked in
everyday language, improving customer service.

The current economic climate and the ongoing threat of identity fraud
means that people are paying closer attention to their finances. Part
of the Experian Group, CreditExpert receives more than 2 million
visitors each month. It helps people keep track of their credit
commitments, status and credit history, enabling them to ensure they
are in the best possible position when applying for credit, such as a
new mortgage or credit card.

CreditExpert is also using Transversal's Ask a Question as a way of
answering questions quickly, allowing it to free up its contact centre
agents to handle high-value and more complex customer enquiries. Each
month Transversal's technology helps answer the questions of 75,000
customers online, cutting the number that need to subsequently phone or
email.

"Keeping on top of personal finance and credit ratings can be complex
and in the current economic climate we're helping more people than ever
before," said John Jennings, Operations Director, CreditExpert. "We
therefore wanted to make it as easy as possible for our users to locate
the information they need. Working with Transversal enables us to
provide the right answers instantly, increasing customer satisfaction
and overall retention."

The Ask a Question system covers the full range of potential queries
that customers may have. These include "How do I find out my credit
score?", "How do I improve my credit rating?" and "How can I tell if I
am the victim of identity fraud?".

By using the dynamic knowledgebase behind Ask a Question, new queries
can be automatically added, cutting administration. By analysing
questions asked, Experian is able to understand customer needs and add
content and services to ensure users always receive the highest levels
of customer service.

"In the current economic turmoil customer service is an even higher
priority than before. With the web becoming the primary point of
contact for financial services organisations it is vital that customers
can receive accurate, fast answers to their queries," said Davin Yap,
CEO, Transversal. "CreditExpert is strengthening its relationship with
customers by making information as accessible as possible, increasing
trust and providing the help and information that they need to get to
grip with their finances."

About Transversal

Transversal is a Cambridge-based developer of multi-channel eService
solutions for customer-facing websites and contact centres that achieve
high-impact wins on improved service, reduced costs and increased
sales. Transversal's flagship Web Self-service Sales EngineTM solution
uses the online customer service interaction to deliver targeted offers
and advertising based on what customers ask about - a customer service
strategy proven to produce high response rates and sales, while
simultaneously improving customer service quality and efficiency.
MetafaqTM reduces the volume of call and email queries to contact
centres by automatically answering customers' questions online.
Transversal customers will typically see immediate and dramatic email
reductions, by around 60%, and improvements in email response times,
from days to minutes. Intrafaq, Transversal's knowledge management
solution for contact centres, delivers information to agents in a
unique way from a dynamic natural language knowledgebase. Simply by
typing a question, in their own words, agents can access answers to
customer questions; providing fast, accurate and consistent responses.
Organisations benefit from increased first call resolution and
efficiency by improving the knowledge and quality of service provided
by customer service and help-desk agents. Transversal's Memory Engine
is the result of research and development by top researchers in
Information Theory and Machine Learning from Caltech and Cambridge
universities. Transversal co-founder, Prof. David MacKay, is a world
renowned expert in Artificial Intelligence. He pioneered Bayesian
Neural Networks in the late 1980s and remains at the forefront of the
field.

About CreditExpert.co.uk

CreditExpert.co.uk is a subscription membership service priced at
GBP6.99 per month, allowing members unlimited online access to their
credit report. The service comes with a free trial period that allows
members to see and sample the service's benefits.

CreditExpert.co.uk provides UK consumers with their complete Experian
credit report, the UK's number one, including details of loans and
revolving credit with the accounts' repayment history going back three
years, the sources of the information, records of any organisations
that have accessed the report and public information such as county
court judgments, bankruptcies and electoral roll entries.

Experian responded to 1.7 million requests for credit reports from
consumers last year and helps many consumers with credit-related
issues, including giving assistance to the victims of identity fraud.
As the threat of identity fraud shows no signs of slowing down and the
use of credit continues to grow in the UK, services like
CreditExpert.co.uk will become more and more important as consumers
want help to manage their personal credit information and want to be
alerted to changes on their credit reports that could affect their
financial future.

About Experian

Experian is a global leader in providing information, analytical and
marketing services to organisations and consumers to help manage the
risk and reward of commercial and financial decisions.

Combining its unique information tools and deep understanding of
individuals, markets and economies, Experian partners with
organisations around the world to establish and strengthen customer
relationships and provide their businesses with competitive advantage.

For consumers, Experian delivers critical information that enables them
to make financial and purchasing decisions with greater control and
confidence. Clients include organisations from financial services,
retail and catalogue, telecommunications, utilities, media, insurance,
automotive, leisure, e-commerce, manufacturing, property and government
sectors.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a
constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Experian has corporate headquarters
in Dublin, Ireland and has operational headquarters in Costa Mesa,
California and Nottingham, UK. The Group employs approximately 15,500
people in 38 countries worldwide, supporting clients in over 65
countries around the world. Continuing sales for the year ended 31
March 2008 were $4,059m (GBP2,020m / EUR2,858m).

CONTACT: Experian plc
WWW: http://www.experianplc.com
Chris Measures / Sam Grace, Rainier PR
Tel: +44 (0)20 7494 6570
e-mail: transversal@rainierpr.co.uk
WWW: http://www.rainierpr.co.uk

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