October 17, 2006

Call Center News for 17 October: CGS Inc., EasyCall, Kana, MarquisNet

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Computer Generated Solutions, Inc. has announced that it has acquired EasyCall, a Bucharest, Romania-based call center solutions vendor.

EasyCall, with more than 600 employees, is one of Romania's biggest providers of outsourced technical support and call center services. The company's call center teams offer application expertise and multi-language capabilities, including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Phil Friedman, president and CEO of CGS, said the acquisition is "a major step in our global growth strategy, the move expands our presence in the European community and reinforces our commitment to providing consistent, reliable support to our multinational customers. It also opens new opportunities in the BPO space."

CGS currently has call centers in Atlanta, Tampa, Dallas and Edison, New Jersey.

Kana Software Inc. has announced that it has added new features and enhancements to the company's integrated suite of multi-channel customer service solutions.

According to company officials the Kana Suite 9 "expands the depth and breadth of Kana's multi-channel capabilities with significant upgrades to Kana Response," Kana's e-mail response management application; Kana Response Live, the company's product for live chat and Web collaboration; Kana Contact Center, its universal agent desktop; and Kana IQ, an award-winning knowledgebase for agent-assisted and Web self-service.

In a research report published by the Service & Support Professionals Association, Vice President of Research John Ragsdale writes that "the monthly average of incidents created via electronic channels (e-mail, chat, web self-service) has caught up to phone incidents, and we expect this 'eChannel' volume to bypass phone by the end of 2006."

Given the rapid adoption of eChannels, Mr. Ragsdale recommends that organizations "step up support for non-phone channels to create an 'omni-channel,' meaning an identical service experience is delivered for all channels offered to the customer."

Las Vegas-based MarquisNet, operator of a 125-seat corporate disaster recovery service center, has announced a hefty year-end discount promotion.

Companies that might face a crisis situation can purchase a minimum of 40 seats at $65 per seat per month through Nov. 30, said Mark Hansen, chief technology officer for MarquisNet.

"Clients taking advantage of this offer will receive, in addition, a cabinet in MarquisNet's N+1 data center with one 20 amp power source and one megabit of tier one bandwidth," Hansen said.

MarquisNet's disaster recovery service center offers a home away from home where companies can send personnel to deal with recovery by using real-time back-up redundant data to maintain critical business operations and thereby prevent loss of revenue.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

(source: http://news.tmcnet.com/news/2006/10/17/1986210.htm)