[June
16, 2000]
Motive AnswerWeb Addresses High-Touch Customer
Service Needs For Complex Online Applications
Motive Communications, Inc.
announced Motive AnswerWeb, a new application that enables companies to
provide efficient, high-touch service and support for e-business
applications.
Motive AnswerWeb addresses a business-critical problem faced by
thousands of companies implementing e-business applications -- the need
for a high-touch service model for supporting valued customers engaged in
complex and high-dollar business processes. For example, companies need to
be prepared to answer customers' highly-detailed questions online about
the products being configured and sold or the business terms set up for a
company. If customers can't get these issues resolved quickly,
efficiently, and as part of the online experience, they will revert to old
methods such as the telephone, defeating the purpose of the online
application and setting it up for failure.
While many organizations are considering using their existing call
center as the service arm for their online business, companies
implementing e-business applications must expand and adapt their service
model to effectively compete in the online world. Motive's e-service
software allows e-businesses to deliver the very best traditional customer
service online and creates a competitive advantage by increasing customer
loyalty, revenue opportunities, service capacity, and market share.
Motive AnswerWeb provides a complete Internet-based service and support
infrastructure specifically designed for e-business applications. Current
Internet-based service solutions offer access to basic answers or generic
customer service representatives, but this model can't effectively address
the depth and variety of questions that arise in e-business transactions
such as ordering hundreds of computers, buying a complex piece of
industrial machinery, or completing a complicated online form. Motive
AnswerWeb enables companies to build an e-service network that seamlessly
links internal service information and personnel as well as external
suppliers and partners into a single web of high-touch service for
customers. E-service networks, powered by AnswerWeb, uniquely employ
in-depth context about users and what they are doing to automatically
provide highly targeted self-service solutions or connection to a service
expert.
"Instead of service being a source of failure for online
initiatives, Motive AnswerWeb enables companies to turn high-touch service
into a competitive weapon for attracting and retaining customers, and
ultimately, growing their e-business," said Scott Harmon, CEO of
Motive Communications.
"As a supplier of e-business solutions to interconnect business
communities, Great Plains believes Motive's AnswerWeb solution and its
e-service network capabilities are highly complementary to our corporate
strategy," said Tom Ableidinger, director of global support for Great
Plains. "AnswerWeb provides us with a scalable, online service
solution that will enable us to network service personnel at our company
and our partners to collaborate on answering customer's questions and
solving their problems," Ableidinger added. "Motive's technology
can help us tackle the intensely competitive landscape by using service as
a key differentiator in attracting and retaining customers."
Motive AnswerWeb Key Technologies
Motive AnswerWeb provides a set of unique technologies that enable
companies to build e-service networks to deliver high-touch service and
support for their e-business initiatives. The three key technologies are:
- e-Service Business Rules - When taking business online,
companies must be able to take along the business rules that define
their current service relationships with customers. Examples could be
company discount schedules, credit terms, or shipping options for each
customer. Individual customers may have further rules that govern the
access provided to procurement agents versus IT operations staff.
AnswerWeb's business rules enable companies to set up fine-grained
e-service delivery based on a company, department or individual and
then deliver answers and experts based on these rules.
- Fulfillment Network Engine - AnswerWeb provides a
sophisticated infrastructure that enables companies to bring together
new and existing personnel to provide service and support for an
e-business initiative. Any person either inside the company or
externally at business partners or suppliers can be linked into the
Motive AnswerWeb e-service network to act as an expert resource for
users. For example, a business-to-business trading exchange may have
thousands of suppliers along with the company hosting the exchange.
The fulfillment network syndicates service requests according to
business rules and connects users to the correct expert or group,
regardless of whether the request relates to the exchange itself or
requires the aid of an expert who works for one of the many suppliers
to the exchange.
- SmartBridge - This technology creates a bridge to the
e-business application server or the user's browser and gathers
in-depth contextual information about the user and what they are
doing. For instance, if a customer is purchasing an automobile and has
a question about tire options, SmartBridge can delve into the
application server and determine the exact field where the user
experienced the problem and the dependencies surrounding it. AnswerWeb
then uses the information to deliver highly targeted self-service
solutions or a high-touch connection to an appropriate expert. Motive
is partnering with Trilogy, webMethods, Tradeum, and other leading
suppliers of e-business application solutions to enable tight
integration between SmartBridge and applications built on their
commerce platforms.
Motive AnswerWeb In Action
Motive AnswerWeb can be easily integrated into any online application and
is surfaced as a service button within the Web application. When a
customer needs assistance, he or she clicks on the service button and
Motive AnswerWeb, using the SmartBridge technology, delivers self-service
solutions that are highly customized to the user, the business rules
associated with their company, and the exact point in the application
where the problem occurred. If the self-service solutions don't address
the problem, using the same interface, the customer clicks on a contact
button for one of several experts; again, this connection to a specific
expert is delivered based on the context of the problem and the user. When
the expert receives the question, SmartBridge delivers detailed contextual
information about the user and the application. The user and expert can
then engage in an efficient electronic dialogue to address the problem or
question. Once the problem is solved, the answer can be captured
dynamically in a variety of document and media formats and reused for
self-service in the future, according to the appropriate business rules.
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