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Call Center News
June 2000

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Expansions


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eLoyalty Launches Service Provider Model: Loyalty Foundation
eLoyalty, a global business/management consulting and systems integration organization, announced the availability of Loyalty Foundation, a comprehensive, hosted eCRM solution. eLoyalty said that the solution is designed to help companies achieve customer loyalty by providing a single view of the customer across all channels. The company expects Loyalty Foundation to deliver several benefits, such as: an alternative to on-premise systems, removal of operational and technical complexity, faster time to market, cost reduction by leveraging infrastructure and applications and establishing baselines for customer channel performance management and measurement. eLoyalty assumes responsibility for maintaining, upgrading and operating the offering, creating a scalable, cost-effective solution that minimizes risk and can be deployed within four to six months. Loyalty Foundation services are: initial setup and conversion, consisting of configuration, resource administration and network cut-over to the hosted site; daily operations, including resource, channel, network and performance monitoring and change control; monthly consultation for review of the reporting package, business issues/requirements and capacity planning; and technology upgrades, consisting of current releases, annual software upgrades and hardware upgrades.
No. 510, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

Pivotal Announces eSelling 2000
Pivotal Corporation announced the availability of Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000, an Internet application suite based on Exactium Ltd.'s technology for establishing eSelling operations (see Mergers & Acquisitions for related story). Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000 will be fully integrated with the Pivotal eRelationship 2000 solution for e-business relationship management (eBRM). The product leverages Exactium's technology and aims to offer intelligent features for performing needs analysis, recommending products and services, advising customers on features and options and simplifying the configuration of complex orders. Pivotal expects the product to deliver state-of-the-art capabilities for single and multivendor product/catalog aggregation, personalization, proactive notification, recommendation, quoting and order management. Intelligent eSelling 2000 is built on a distributed Internet architecture based on the Windows DNA 2000 framework. This multi-threaded architecture is designed to deliver enterprise-class scalability and reliability, including dynamic load balancing and fail-over protection, and leverages standards-based technologies, including XML, XSL, SQL Server 7.0 and COM+. The product uses XSL templates for creating personalized Internet buying experiences. A template server selects templates and dynamically merges them with content and data to create a personalized browser view. Intelligent eSelling 2000 can simultaneously support multiple languages, currencies, units of measure, products and pricing. When integrated with Pivotal eRelationship 2000, Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000 will use customer and product knowledge from the Pivotal database to create personalized buying experiences for each customer. The multiuser authoring environment allows distributed workgroups to share management of the solution in real-time using a Web browser. The solution presents a user interface and functionality appropriate for individual responsibilities. Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000 is expected to be available to customers after the closing of the acquisition of Exactium by Pivotal.
No. 511, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

eCreator: Medicine For MIS Melancholy
American Tel-A-Systems, Inc. (Amtelco), a provider of computer-based messaging equipment and solutions, recently introduced eCreator, its rapid development tool for simplified agent scripting and application building for contact centers. eCreator is designed to help users create customized Web-based agent scripts for contact center agents that can be used internally or published on the Internet. eCreator has database connectivity intended to save MIS time and the need for programming. The customized agent scripts are meant to replace the proprietary applications a center may be running. The key components are the eCreator Palette and the eCreator Response Elements. The Palette is designed to simplify the creation of Web-based scripts and tailor them for the numerous applications that a contact center's clients might require. The Palette can be customized to group objects into folders that you designate and works closely with Microsoft's FrontPage application. Response Elements are drag and drop items designed, in part, to allow nontechnical people to create both custom scripting and Web applications. One immediate benefit is that special programming or valuable MIS resource allocation to an application development project is not required. Additionally, the Response Element(s) integrates with an existing database so that, when an agent performs a lookup to a client's information database, eCreator populates fields with the correct information. Some of the fields include credit card, address, ZIP code, phone number, state/province name and abbreviation and e-mail address. Some of eCreator's uses include appointment taking, CRM, data collection, event registration, referrals and order entry. eCreator is available in three forms: eCreator System; eCreator System Applications, applications provided by Amtelco for use "as-is" or customizable; and eCreator Web Hosting Services, by which Amtelco will build and host your Web applications on its server.
No. 512, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

e-talk Enhances e-talk Advisor
e-talk Corporation, a provider of customer care center performance technology, unveiled e-talk Advisor 3.4, the latest version of its agent evaluation and reporting software. The company said that it has added skills mining and Web-based surveying capabilities to the product. Advisor 3.4 is designed to take agent performance data and translate it into numeric values used to drive skills-based call routing, agent scorecards and training management systems. These scoring values are generated in real-time, eliminating the need for manual processing of call routing data. The e-talk Advisor 3.4 browser-based, skills-mining module is meant to promote the growth and retention of competent, friendly and productive agents by combining monitoring, evaluation and computer-based training that is tailored to an individual agent's skill set. By simultaneously updating the agent's quality and productivity ratings, Advisor's skills-mining module is able to communicate performance information to ACDs and training systems that will match and route calls to the appropriate agent and provide appropriate training based on agent skill level and quantified strengths and growth areas. The skills data is also useful for other skill-dependent CRM applications, such as skills-based workforce scheduling. In addition, the product has Web-based surveying capabilities, intended to allow customer care centers to collect real-time data from employees, customers and vendors. Surveys capture both response data and demographic data using a variety of question and answer types. The survey module includes a selection of reports designed for easy analysis of survey results. e-talk Advisor 3.4 also offers unlimited, customizable score sheets, a wide selection of charts and reports, and easy access through a company's Intranet. e-talk Advisor 3.4 is part of the e-talk Performance System, a performance management package designed to help managers recruit, record, train, measure and evaluate.
No. 513, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

Selligent Enters B-To-C Market With Contact Centre Module
Selligent, a Belgium-based developer of multilingual e-business and CRM software solutions, announced the availability of its new Contact Centre Module. This offering marks Selligent's entry into the business-to-consumer marketplace. The Selligent Enterprise Contact Centre solution combines Selligent's marketing, sales and support offerings with out-of-the-box CTI functionality. The intended result is a multimedia customer contact solution for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer environments. The new module is designed to enable companies to create a unified view of the customer and provide data analysis enhancements for greater customer personalization. Tailored to meet the users specific workflow needs, the system delivers real-time customer information, direct to the customer service, sales and telemarketing agent's desktop. Combining with Selligent's marketing, sales and support offerings, the solution's features include automatic number identification, intelligent call routing, simultaneous transfer of calls and customer records, outbound call and predictive dialing, call campaign management and desktop screen-based telephony controls.
No. 514, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

FulFillment PLUS Provides Back-End Fulfillment Solution
Fulfillment PLUS, Inc. (FFP), a provider of turnkey e-commerce fulfillment, introduced its interactive customer service and fulfillment solution for e-business. Designed to enhance consumer loyalty for "dot-com" merchants, FFP's technology-based solution provides online order fulfillment and personalized customer care. By integrating Web technologies, automated business processes and a quality customer service program, FFP offers a back-end solution designed for handling the scale and complexity of the Internet. With its real-time order fulfillment software system, FFP manages the physical logistics of delivering merchandise to cybershoppers. This automated system is designed to process high volumes of orders every day. Additionally, the FFP system regulates inventory management, shipment tracking and merchandise returns management. Through its proprietary software systems and infrastructure, Fulfillment PLUS integrates operations logistics with Web technologies to provide and facilitate warehouse and inventory management. Fulfillment PLUS also provides multilingual customer service for handling all customer inquiries via the telephone and Internet.
No. 515, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

Cincom Encompass 3.3 Released
Cincom Systems, Inc. released its Cincom Encompass 3.3: Multi-Media Contact Center at the Communications Solutions EXPO� Spring 2000 held in April in Washington, D.C. Cincom Encompass is a CTI-enabled customer interaction software solution intended to help organizations provide efficient Customer Relationship Management in their contact centers. The latest release, featuring Web integration and unified messaging, is designed to enable organizations to evolve their call centers into customer interaction centers through the management of multiple customer contact channels. Encompass Web is designed to manage all aspects of customer contact within a call center, including Web chats, Web callback requests, voice over Internet requests and Web page customization. The intent is to allow customers to request a callback or communicate in real-time with a customer interaction center, route the request into the appropriate queue and deliver it to the appropriate agent. Additionally, Web pages may be customized to gather information and associate it with outbound marketing campaigns. Cincom Encompass Unified Messaging is designed to allow customer interaction centers to receive incoming e-mail, faxes and voice mail into an integrated inbox, and then queue, distribute, track and report them the same way as telephone calls. The feature helps manage the history of e-mail, voice mail and fax interactions; simplifies message forwarding with combined media; enables remote retrieval of messages; and increases productivity through integrating message delivery and saving agent time through prioritization.
No. 516, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

HoldWare From IntelliTouch
IntelliTouch Communications, designer and manufacturer of message/music-on-hold hardware and software, announced the availability of its HoldWare product. HoldWare is intended to provide businesses with a tool to enhance their images and improve customer communications. HoldWare is meant to allow even the smallest companies to entertain, educate and inform customers while they are on-hold. HoldWare includes a digital music-on-hold player-recorder and MessageStudio software that is designed to enable users to create their own custom on-hold audio from the desktop of any Windows-based PC and digitally transfer the audio to the HoldWare player-recorder for continuous playback. HoldWare is compatible with keyswitch, PBX and both single and multiline phones. HoldWare digital player stores up to eight minutes of CD-quality music and voice in digital memory. The nonvolatile flash memory retains its content, even in the event of power failure, yet may be instantly changed. The MessageStudio software also offers a wide variety of music choices and prerecorded "thank you for holding" messages in both English and Spanish. The royalty-free music tracks include several musical styles, such as classical, country, pop, new age and jazz. An optional Deluxe Music Package adds 50 additional music tracks from which to choose, enabling users to select just the right music for their customers, style and projected image. MessageStudio also includes a variety of different preformatted message templates to which users can add their own text or edit or to create customized scripts.
No. 517, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

TeleManagement Search Publishes Salary Guide
TeleManagement Search, a national executive search firm that recruits managerial call center, telemarketing and customer service personnel, has published its 15th annual edition of the Call Center, Telemarketing & Customer Service National Salary Guide. Positions covered in the Guide are in three sections: corporate, service agency and other telemarketing support. In her introduction to the Guide, Connie Caroli, president of Telemanagement Search, cites the steady growth of call centers in the U.S. driving a projected annual growth rate of 20 percent for agent positions. She also points out that e-commerce is fueling a demand for articulate, trained agents who can adapt to the increasing level of technology required in the new call center. This demand, in turn, is driving salaries upward. The full report with 22 job descriptions and salary ranges is available from the company for a fee and your business card. The address is 114 East 32nd Street, Suite 927, New York, NY, 10016.
No. 518, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

ResQPortal Debuts
ResQNet.com, Inc., a software firm that provides intelligent Web-enabling technology, launched ResQPortal, its server-based HTML Web-to-host connectivity solution for e-businesses. Written in Java for the broadest possible cross-platform server compatibility, the super-thin client is designed to work with all browsers. ResQPortal is designed to allow companies to provide graphical access to critical host-based information to anyone with Internet or Intranet access. ResQPortal runs on the Web server and requires no local installation, configuration, host code changes or plug-ins. ResQPortal is intended to enable companies to give mobile and occasional users simple customized access to host-based information. The product complements ResQNet, the company's Java applet-based Web-to-host solution. Both products use ResQNet.com's drag-and-drop Customization Studio, designed to add the conveniences of the Windows environment. ResQPortal presents legacy host screens graphically with defined input fields, clickable hot spots and menu buttons. It requires only one HTTP port and can be integrated with most popular application servers, including IBM's Websphere, Bluestone Corporation's Sapphire/Web, Netscape's Application Server and Sun Microsystems' NetDynamics.
No. 519, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

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Voter.com announced that Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Carl Bernstein has joined the company as executive vice president and executive editor. Bernstein's responsibilities include content acquisition and distribution, Web site content and business development strategies.

Comverse Infosys, Inc., a provider of multimedia contact center recording and CRM, appointed Karen Ferraro vice president of global marketing. Ferraro's most recent position was with Nortel Networks. She will have responsibility for all strategic marketing across Comverse Infosys' recording divisions.

Mary E. Thomas was named chief financial officer of Wrenchead.com, a provider of automotive aftermarket e-commerce tools. Prior to joining Wrenchead, Thomas was managing director in Citicorp North America's media and telecom department.

The Telecommunications Industry of America (TIA) announced that it has hired Jason Leuck as its director of global technology policy and Latin America programs. Leuck comes to TIA from the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he served as an international trade specialist.

Anthony Arote has joined Telrad Networks as vice president of sales and marketing. Arote held several key positions with the NYNEX Corporation, bringing 30 years of experience to his new position.

ICT Group, Inc. announced that Timothy F. Kowalski was appointed president of ICT ConnectedTouch.com LLC, its subsidiary company that provides integrated CRM solutions for e-commerce sales and service. He was most recently chief e-commerce officer and chief information officer for the ICT Group. Additionally, ICT Group named John P. McCabe president of ICT Management Services, the company's division that provides business and consumer customer care. McCabe's prior position was president and chief operating officer of Global Telecommunications Solutions, Inc. Karen Arsenault joined ICT Group as vice president of marketing. She was most recently vice president of global marketing communications for Dun & Bradstreet.

Servicesoft Inc. appointed Joseph Kain vice president of professional and alliance services. Kain was most recently an executive with Darwin Partners. Servicesoft also named John Malanowski vice president of employee care. Prior to joining Servicesoft, Malanowski was vice president of human resources at Fidelity Investments.

Witness Systems, Inc. announced that Deon De Villiers will manage its new sales office in Sydney, Australia. De Villiers most recently was sales manager for value-added resellers and systems integrators of specialized products for the call center and financial markets.

AFFINA Corporation, a provider of integrated marketing services, promoted Mark Entenman to president and general manager of consumer electronics. Entenman previously served as AFFINA's senior vice president.

Dallas businessman Lynn A. Barringer has joined Media Fusion LLC as senior vice president. He will oversee the rollout of the company's patented powerline communications technology (Advanced Sub-Carrier Modulation) in the United States. Barringer is co-owner of SFO Corporation, a plastic molding company, and has owned or presided over several business ventures.

Aegis Communications Group, Inc., a provider of integrated customer solutions for large corporations and e-commerce businesses, announced the appointment of Michael J. Graham as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Graham was most recently vice president and chief financial officer of Club Sports International.

Stonebridge Technologies, Inc., a provider of e-business solutions, named Greg Clark vice president brand relationship management. Prior to joining Stonebridge, Clark served as principal for The Richards Group and founded Click Here Interactive Communications.

SITEL Technology Services, a business unit of eCRM services provider SITEL Corporation, appointed John Barnes as director of business development. Barnes was previously business development manager at Sykes Enterprises.

Peter J. Hopfensberger was named vice president of sales by MessageMedia, Inc., a provider of e-messaging solutions and services. Hopfensberger comes to MessageMedia from TransUnion, where he served as group vice president.

Cincom Systems, Inc. recently named David Graham director of worldwide professional services for the company's call center technology group, Cincom Encompass. Graham will be responsible for developing a complete solutions delivery and consulting capability for the group's client base. Graham joins Cincom Encompass from Lucent Technologies, where he developed call center solutions for that company's customers throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

Larry Fromm was appointed vice president of business development at CELLIT, Inc., a provider of contact management systems for e-business. Fromm was most recently an executive at Dialogic Corporation, credited with creating and managing Dialogic's IP Telephony business unit.

Plan B Communications, a telecommunications and Internet access provider, announced several executive appointments. Richard Yalen, former CEO of Cable & Wireless USA, was appointed chief executive officer of Plan B Communications in addition to his position as chairman of the board. Yalen held a series of senior positions with Cable & Wireless, including CEO of the company's U.S. business. Paul Burgess was appointed chief operating officer. Burgess was previously director of operations with MetroNet Communications in Canada, where he was responsible for deploying the company's coast-to-coast and intra-city networks. MetroNet recently merged with AT&T Canada. Jim Hogan has joined the company as executive vice president of sales and marketing. Hogan, who previously held senior executive positions with AT&T and Teleport Communications Group, currently serves as co-chairman of the Communications Sub-Committee for the New Jersey Technology Council.

IMAGINE USA, a developer of communications software solutions that provide live customer interaction via the Web, named Jesse Knowles as vice president of sales for North America. partnerships. He brings to IMAGINE a solid background in the call center/customer support industry and extensive leadership experience.

Tim Caulfield joined EnvisioNet Computer Services, Inc. as vice president for sales and marketing. He will be headquartered at EnvisioNet's new office in Irvine, California. Caulfield was most recently senior manager of service product marketing at Gateway Computers.

Todd Dale was named vice president of operations by CustomerLinx. Dale will be responsible for managing the company's LinxCenters, its Web-based customer support centers. Prior to his appointment, Dale was vice president of commercial marketing and sales at Lionhearth Technologies.

Berkeley Enterprise Partners, a professional services firm specializing in connecting customer communication channels to the Web, appointed Bob Couture to the position of chief operations officer. Couture will spearhead rapid infrastructure growth to meet Berkeley's expanding enterprise client base. His most recent position was senior vice president with Xerox's Documents Solutions Group.

Pete Sherrill was named vice president of European business by eFORCE, an e-business solutions integrator. Prior to this appointment, Sherrill was senior vice president of Technology Solutions Corporation-Europe.

network intelligence inc., a provider of integrated telecommunications products and services for small businesses, appointed Kenneth F. Melley, Jr. vice president of market research. He will be responsible for regulatory affairs and direct the company's market expansion efforts. Previously, Melley was vice president of regulatory affairs at WorldxChange Communications.

Glenford F. Griffin was named president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors for 3iNet, Inc., a Linux Internet applications provider. Griffin has many years of experience as a chief executive officer and chief marketing officer of public and private corporations. He has taken many companies public and negotiated several mergers and acquisitions, primarily in the technology and biotechnology industries.

Eric Doescher was named vice president of marketing by Ukibi, a provider of contact management engines. Doescher was most recently vice president of marketing with International Telcom Ltd.

Direct marketing agency DataMark, Inc. named Dean Lukehart senior vice president of new business development. Lukehart comes to DataMark from Grizzard Communications, where he was senior vice president and a member of the executive committee.

IPC Information Systems, Inc., a supplier of voice and data telecommunications products for the financial services industry, announced three managerial appointments for its Information Transport Systems (I.T.S.) division. Richard Bono, a former assistant vice president with Lehman Brothers, will head I.T.S.'s estimating, finance, purchasing and warehouse operations. Thomas Carino will lead the I.T.S. project management and field operations teams. James Vinci, formerly with Conserv Corporation and Neptune Marketing Technologies, will lead the I.T.S. sales effort.

OneVoice Solutions and OpNow!, operating units of Teltrust, Inc., announced the appointment of five senior management executives. Blaine Colton was appointed vice president of sales and account management for OpNow!, Teltrust's call center outsourcing unit. Colton has served in executive positions with France Telcom, Cirque Corporation and Sorenson Vision. Tim Dorr was named vice president of marketing for both OpNow! and OneVoice Solutions, Teltrust's multimedia inbound customer relationship management outsourcing unit. Dorr was most recently a senior consultant/technologist with the Center for Concept Development of Princeton, New Jersey. Additionally, Chris Plato was named vice president of product development. Prior to joining Teltrust, Plato was director of product and service development for Net Exchange. Keith Reynolds was appointed vice president of call center operations. Reynolds brings 21 years of experience in the call center industry to the position. Bill Palafox was named vice president of customer service. Palafox was previously with Net Exchange, Inc

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Contigo And Evoke Plan Merger
Contigo Software, Inc., a provider of Web collaboration software, announced that it entered into a merger agreement with Evoke Incorporated (formerly Vstream), an Internet communications service provider. Under terms of the agreement, Contigo will become a subsidiary of Evoke. Both companies said that the proposed merger will provide their customers with an integrated, Web-based solution for Internet communications services. Contigo offers Web collaboration tools, such as whiteboarding, text chat, application viewing, Web touring and polling, that allow real-time interaction among participants in a Web conference.

NICE Acquisition Of CenterPoint
NICE Systems Ltd. announced that it has completed its acquisition of CenterPoint Solutions, Inc., an application developer of Web-enabled solutions for statistical tracking, digital recording and automated customer surveys for contact centers. NICE expects to integrate several of CenterPoint's products into its CRM solutions, including data mining tools, customer callback automation and voice response survey tools using interactive voice response (IVR) technology. NICE said that the acquisition is a major step in its commitment to delivering solutions that enhance customer relationship management.

Pivotal To Acquire Exactium
Pivotal Corporation, a provider of customer relationship management solutions, signed an agreement to acquire Exactium Ltd. Exactium, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a provider of e-sales solutions optimized for Internet and Microsoft standards. Exactium has been majority-owned by publicly held Industrial & Financial Systems AB, which is active in the enterprise application marketplace. As part of the transaction, Pivotal and IFS have established an alliance agreement whereby IFS will distribute Pivotal's eBRM solution and Pivotal will provide support services for IFS's customers and prospects. Pivotal expects the acquisition to afford them a strong position in what they describe as two mission-critical areas: e-selling and e-business relationship management. The company also said that, upon completion of the acquisition, Exactium will be established as the Pivotal Intelligent eSelling product division and Eli Barak, presently Exactium's president and CEO, will be appointed to the position of vice president and general manager of the product division. Pivotal simultaneously announced the availability of Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000, an Internet application suite based on Exactium's technology for establishing e-sales operations. Pivotal Intelligent eSelling 2000 will be fully integrated with the Pivotal eRelationship 2000 solution for e-business relationship management (eBRM).

QSM And ConsortiaAnnounce Merger
James Schinco, CEO of Quality Service Management, Inc., a customer care and CRM solutions company, and Mike Browne, founder and CEO of Consortia Ltd., a data-driven database marketing organization, announced the merger of the companies. QSM said that Consortia's strengths in database marketing, quantitative services, creative services and direct mail marketing services complement QSM's offerings, such as strategic planning, tactical implementation, outsourced call center solutions, Internet marketing program management, e-commerce and quality assurance benchmarking. Additionally, both companies share a focus on clients in the financial services industry. Mr. Browne will join the board of directors of QSM and will remain with the company as a senior partner.

MUSE Set To Acquire AVS
MUSE Technologies, Inc., a developer of advanced perceptual computing and collaboration software, announced that it signed a letter of intent to acquire Advanced Visual Systems (AVS), a provider of data visualization. The new company is expected to focus on developing and integrating software and solutions using 3D graphics technology. MUSE and AVS produce products used by software developers to build customized visualization solutions. The combined companies plan to leverage their industry experience to create new software to meet the demand for desktop visualization applications, and establish visualization and perceptual computing as the standard for business intelligence and collaborative decision making.

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ANTARA Changes Name, Launches New Product Line
ANTARA, a firewall provider, has changed its name to ANTARA.net, to reflect its expanded role as an Internet infrastructure enabler. ANTARA.net introduced a new line of e-business infrastructure stressing and testing tools, ANTARA.net/FlameThrower. The product family is intended as scalable attack and multilayered traffic emulation tools for supporting e-business networks. The products are designed to perform accurate transaction-level tests on networks, helping IT professionals know what their e-business networks can handle so that their company's infrastructure can be optimized and security breaches prevented. The intent is to allow e-businesses to conduct real-world performance validation of their sites, from emulating actual user volumes during peak periods to denial-of-service and security attacks.

TSYS To Support Outsourcing For AT&T
Total System Services, Inc. and its subsidiary TSYS Total Solutions signed an outsourcing agreement with AT&T to offer account management and customer care services for AT&T's long-distance Direct Bill Card (DBC) consumer accounts. AT&T's DBC accounts were converted to TSYS' TS2 Processing System, and TSYS will provide credit, customer service collection and fraud management solutions.

Roska Selected As Beta Site For USPS "MailTrak - PLANET Code" Service
Roska Direct, a full-service direct advertising agency serving clients in a variety of markets, was selected by Communication Packaging Services, Inc. of New Jersey as a Beta site for the newly launched U.S. Postal Service "MailTrak - PLANET Code" mail-tracking service. According to Communication Packaging, Roska was chosen because it (Roska) has shown aggressive assimilation of new technologies within its business model. MailTrak is a mail tracking and reporting system designed to help direct marketers take advantage of Confirm, a new USPS product that uses PLANET Code technology, to capture time-based direct marketing information. The combination of MailTrak and PLANET Code technology aims to provide direct marketers with fast and inexpensive access to their mailing delivery statistics. MailTrak offers tracking through fax or e-mail enclosure, reporting on both outgoing and incoming automated, letter-size mail, while distributing statistics 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Roska Direct will know when the recipient has received its direct-mail solicitation, eliminating the guesswork and ultimately helping to streamline its marketing efforts.

Community Voice Mail Reaches Out To Homeless
In 1991, a Seattle non-profit organization, Community Voice Mail (CVM) was created in response to the need for a communication link for homeless job seekers. Today, CVM is operating in 33 U.S. cities, connecting over 15,000 homeless and poor people to job opportunities, housing availability, medical test results, family and friends. Washington State Senator Lisa Brown, chairwoman of the Energy, Technology and Telecommunications Committee, has championed Community Voice Mail in Olympia, Washington, citing increased state access to CVM as one of her priorities. Robert L. Richmond, chairman of unified messaging and computer-telephony solutions provider Active Voice Corporation, has been instrumental to CVM's growth across the country. He was the first corporate executive to receive the United State's Presidential Service Award for his efforts in providing voice mail technology access to the country's homeless and poor. Community Voice Mail is a nonprofit program that provides access to voice mail messaging systems for persons out of touch and out of the economic mainstream. It offers 24-hour access to telephone messages they might not otherwise receive from potential employers, landlords, case managers and family, while protecting the user's privacy. CVM and the Repartee voice messaging system, developed by Active Voice, are the tools that help people conduct their business with dignity and motivation. For more information, contact the Community Voice Mail Web site at www.cvm.org.

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SITEL And Bellsystem24 Form Strategic Partnership In Japan
SITEL Corporation, a provider of electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) solutions to large corporations, and Bellsystem24, Inc., a Japanese provider of total marketing solution and Internet-related services, announced an exclusive strategic alliance. Under the terms of the agreement, Bellsystem24 will provide and implement eCRM management, services and support in Japan for SITEL's present clients and other SITEL clients entering the Japanese market. In return, SITEL will provide eCRM solutions for Bellsystem24's clients in the United States. Within the partnership agreement are terms to encourage cross-border growth of existing clients as well as the mutual pursuit of new business. In addition, both companies are agreeing to an active program of knowledge sharing and personnel exchange programs. The agreement includes terms for revenue sharing, but more specific financial details were not disclosed. In connection with the formation of this partnership, Bellsystem24 will acquire the assets associated with SITEL's contact center in Kawasaki City. Bellsystem24 services in Japan include contact center design and management, e-business and e-business-related services, sales leads and sales promotion, content and information services and new business services.

varetis LaunchesHungarian Subsidiary
varetis AG of Munich, Germany, a provider of directory solutions for the telecommunications, call center and Internet markets, announced the opening of a new subsidiary in Hungary. The company stated the new office is an important step toward its development of the growing Eastern European market. varetis Communications HU Kft. will be located in Budapest. The initial focus of the office is the further development of varetis software, although plans are being formulated to provide sales, consulting and customer services at the site. varetis offers telcos and information service providers directory solutions for the Internet, customer care and directory assistance call centers and for data purity and integration. The Group's services include development and implementation of technology, consulting, project management and customer support.

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Lucent's Enterprise Networks Group And Blue Pumpkin Ally
Blue Pumpkin Software and Lucent Technologies' soon to be spun off Enterprise Networks Group announced an alliance to provide solutions for managing human resources in multichannel customer contact centers. Blue Pumpkin develops, markets and supports the PrimeTime suite of products designed to help companies provide customer service across a variety of contact media, including phone and e-mail, and tools meant to efficiently schedule and manage customer contact personnel, ensuring the right person with the right skills handles customer interactions. Under the agreement, the Enterprise Network Group will resell Blue Pumpkin's workforce management software, incorporating it into Lucent's suite of CRM solutions. Blue Pumpkin Software's workforce management products are designed to optimize the forecasting and scheduling of agents in contact centers. The companies will also embed the Blue Pumpkin products into the Enterprise Network Group's CRM solutions products, which include information routing and workflow capabilities with products such as CentreVu Advocate, CRM Central 2000 and CentreVu Internet Solutions. Lucent Enterprise Networks Group's CRM solutions include a range of systems, software and professional services, including multimedia customer care and computer-telephony applications, CRM software, predictive dialing solutions and interactive voice response (IVR) products. The Enterprise Networks Group will start reselling Blue Pumpkin's workforce management products in the third quarter of this year. The companies' combined solutions will be introduced during the fourth quarter.

iPass And Terra In Alliance For Global Internet Roaming
iPass Inc., a virtual network provider, announced an agreement that makes the iPass Internet Roaming Service available to customers of Terra Networks S.A. , the Internet business unit of Telef�nica S.A. The agreement is intended to give Terra customers secure and reliable access to the Internet at the cost of a local phone call through iPass' more than 5,000 access points in 150 countries. The iPass service will also allow Terra Networks' business customers to use the iPass virtual global network with a virtual private network (VPN) for secure, Internet-based connectivity to their corporate networks. Terra currently provides Internet access services in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Guatemala and the United States and operates Internet portals serving those countries and Argentina. Terra plans to launch news portals in other Latin American countries. The iPass network includes more than 145 active Internet service provider partners offering iPass services throughout Latin America and more than 650 Internet service providers offering iPass services worldwide.

Interactive Intelligence, Sapphire Partner For Distribution In India
Interactive Intelligence, Inc., a developer of multichannel customer interaction management software, announced that Sapphire Infotech, an integrated end-to-end solutions and services provider, will sell, market and support Interactive Intelligence's Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC) throughout India. Sapphire Callnet, an affiliate of Sapphire Infotech, will offer EIC as its premium platform for Web-enabling its call center customer base. EIC allows organizations to handle Web-based interactions, such as telephone, text chat, Web callback, voice over Internet, faxes and e-mail. A single server running EIC is capable of replacing a variety of legacy devices, including PBXs, call distributors, voice response systems and fax servers. The agreement is intended to facilitate Sapphire Infotech to enable its call center customers rapidly and easily, based on the EIC unified architecture. The company plans to establish India's largest integrated network of server-based, Web-enabled call centers in India. The network would be used to offer various IT-enabled services and CTI solutions, and would host ERP, CRM and other applications. The partnership is Interactive Intelligence's third distribution agreement in India.

Tundo And Telephony@Work Form Strategic Alliance
Tundo Corporation, a provider of open IP telephony platforms, and Telephony@Work, a provider of open call center and e-contact technology, have entered into a strategic technical and marketing alliance. The alliance is intended to allow application service providers (ASPs), dot-coms and enterprise customers to rapidly implement call center and e-contact solutions using Telephony@Work's CallCenter@nywhere technology running on Tundo's Network Telephony System. The CallCenter@nywhere solution is integrated as an application working on top of Tundo's Distributed Open Telephony�Operating System (DOT-OS). The combination provides enterprise customers, both e-businesses and traditional call centers, with a large-scale, fault-tolerant environment for handling multimedia customer contact interactions, including phone, fax, e-mail, chat sessions, Web calls and Web callback requests. Tundo's Network Telephony System is a scalable, IP telephony platform designed to provide an open, standards-based service creation environment for converged network applications developers. The alliance expects to provide the additional capability of partitioning subscribers on a common network infrastructure while maintaining the privacy of individual subscriber companies.

Davox, Knowledge Impact Sign Partnership Agreement
Davox Corporation, a developer of customer contact solutions, and Knowledge Impact, Inc., a provider of e-learning and performance support solutions, announced an agreement to jointly market their offerings. Knowledge Impact's e-learning solutions are expected to complement Davox's solutions by providing Web-based, customized application and business process training to end users. Both companies said the training component will help customers' agents learn more about the automation capabilities of Davox's Ensemble suite and other Davox solutions. The Ensemble customer contact suite consists of integrated software modules designed to help companies manage inbound and outbound customer contact, generate real-time and historical reports and provide customer information to agents.

AMO Allies With RecoverDebt.com
Asset Management Outsourcing, Inc. (AMO), a provider of receivables management solutions, and RecoverDebt.com, an Internet portal company providing outsourced debt collection coordination for small- to mid-sized businesses, announced the formation of a strategic alliance. AMO will benefit through direct access into this market, while RecoverDebt.com will add AMO's accounts receivable optimization services to its offerings. RecoverDebt.com acts as a coordinator for creditors of all sizes in a variety of industries. By bundling their receivables into large groups by specific areas of debt and collection method, it makes it possible for smaller businesses to be served by national service providers, such as AMO. RecoverDebt.com's Web-based product provides creditors with greater control of receivables and diminishes administrative costs for a service provider. The ability to track performance results and report payments online through RecoverDebt.com makes it economically viable for AMO to service these accounts.

Spotfire And Tripos Deliver Data Management Solution
Spotfire, Inc., a provider of decision analytics solutions, announced a partnership with Tripos, Inc., a provider of integrated data and discovery research. Under terms of the agreement, the companies will build a product interface that links Spotfire.net, Spotfire's Web-based decision analytics solution, to Tripos' MetaLayer data integration and analysis system. The partnership is in response to a demand for improving access and analysis of life sciences information from disparate data sources. Spotfire.net is structured to provide a decision analytics portal for scientific and industrial decision-making communities, and aims at accelerating the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing processes in a variety of industries. Tripos' MetaLayer architecture is designed to provide life sciences researchers with a single view of their data by enabling access to all information available in a company's databases, regardless of location or format.

DAX Partners With Sun For SPARCs
DAX Systems, Inc., a manufacturer and systems integrator of CT solutions, announced an agreement with Sun Microsystems to provide the SPARCengine family of products as part of their CT solutions package. The SPARCengine solutions include three motherboards, the AXe, AXi and AXmp, and the Compact PCI Single Board Computer. The AXe single processing engine is targeted at the low-end CTI market. The AXi, also with a single processing engine, is targeted at the mid- to high-end CTI and call center markets. The AXmp, with up to 4 multiprocessing engines, is targeted at the high-end unified messaging and PC-PBX markets, while the Compact PCI Single Board Computer is intended to support ultra-high reliability requirements in the PC-PBX, Internet telephony and ISP space. DAX supports both Sun Solaris and Linux on the SPARCengine platforms. It is currently working with several software vendors to provide their UNIX-based applications as part of DAX's bundled solutions program.

Expansions

Witness Australian Expansion
Witness Systems, Inc., a provider of recording and analysis software, announced the opening of its new operations base in the Asia/Pacific region. As part of its strategy to capitalize on the growing international contact center market, Witness Systems established an office in Sydney, Australia. The company intends to focus on Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand, citing strong demand for its eQuality suite in the region. A major factor in Witness Systems' selection of Australia as its Asia/Pacific base is Australia's burgeoning, multibillion-dollar contact center industry.

LinxCenter Opens In Durant
CustomerLinx, a provider of e-commerce customer management services, recently opened a new $1.5 million customer care center in Durant, Oklahoma. The state-of-the-art LinxCenter facility has traditional customer care capabilities, such as fax and voice, and integrates those with e-mail, interactive Web chat and other Web site support services. The center aims to offer its clients a flexible range of outsourced support options capabilities based on the latest technologies.

eFORCE In Europe
eFORCE, an e-business solutions integrator, opened an office in London, U.K. The new overseas operation will concentrate on launching and developing eFORCE's integration services for European businesses. eFORCE said that this move is part of its strategy to provide its solutions to a global customer base, helping European companies to establish themselves in e-commerce while supporting U.S. multinationals' overseas requirements.

TMNG Expands Into Argentina
The Management Network Group, Inc., a provider of management consulting services for the global telecommunications and e-business industries, announced the opening of a branch office in Buenos Aires, Argentina. TMNG said that the decision is in response to demand for Internet and more efficient telecom capabilities as the Latin American telecommunications market undergoes deregulation. Carol Bleecker, a principal with the company, will lead the Latin American practice.

EnvisioNet Adds West Coast Office
EnvisioNet Computer Services, Inc., a provider of customer care solutions for Internet business, established a West Coast office in Irvine, California to solidify its sales efforts for western U.S. and Pacific Rim clients. EnvisioNet staffs contact centers in Winthrop, Augusta and Brunswick Maine, with centers opening in Orono, Maine, New Brunswick, Canada and Scotland by August. An additional contact center is planned for the West Coast later this year. The company handles technical calls on installation and software and customer service questions on products and services. It employs over 1,500 Internet specialists year round with additional representatives added to handle calls during seasonal peaks. The new contact centers are expected to add about 1,000 employees by next year.

Advanced Data-Comm Opens New Sites
Teleservices provider Advanced Data-Comm, Inc. recently opened two new call centers in Moline, Illinois and Ashland, Wisconsin. The Moline site is being used to complete survey interviews with Fortune 1000 companies and is set up to handle outbound calling. The Ashland site is equipped to handle both inbound and outbound projects. The centers provide Advanced Data-Comm with an additional 122 workstations and allow for future expansion.

Grand Opening For Convergys Contact Center In Texas
Convergys Corporation, a provider of outsourced, integrated, billing and customer care services, officially opened the doors of its Brownsville, Texas contact center. The 43,000- square-foot center houses 400 workstations and employs about 700 people. The center is dedicated to providing customer service support for inbound AT&T customer inquiries. Convergys also operates contact centers in four other Texas cities, employing over 5,300 people statewide.

Telex Locates To Arkansas
Telex Communications Inc., a manufacturer of audio, wireless and multimedia communications products, will open its doors in Morrilton, Arkansas this month. The company said that Morrilton was chosen due to its proximity to many of Telex's key markets, its strong workforce and potential for growth.

Atento To Launch Multimillion Dollar Call Center In Puerto Rico
Atento, a worldwide telemarketing company, has selected Puerto Rico as the site of its Caribbean interactive customer service call center. Atento's investment will amount to $25 million and is expected to create 3,000 jobs over the next five years. Atento, based in Miami, Florida, manages call centers in several countries, including Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Morocco and Spain.

Precision Response In Dade County, Florida
Precision Response Corporation, a provider of outsourced customer care, announced the opening of its new multimedia interaction center in Perrine, Florida. The facility will house 450 workstations (with expansion to over 600 possible) and create over 800 jobs. The center is the first major expansion in the area since the devastation of Hurricane Andrew and is viewed as an important economic component for the community.

Americall Opens In Tinley Park
Americall Corporation opened a new calling center in Tinley Park, Illinois. The company notes that the 250 calling stations represents a significant expansion in its telemarketing operations. The center will integrate technology for a number of programs, including direct sales, product information, user assistance, cross-selling and collections.







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