AWSJ: EGain Launches Push Into Asia
Updated: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 03:34 PM ET
Staff Reporter
EGain Communications Corp., a Silicon Valley maker of software that manages companies' call centers, customer e-mail and Web-site replies, has launched a push into Asia, opening offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.
The launch comes in conjunction with the introduction of Chinese-, Japanese- and Korean-language versions of its software.
The three-year-old company, which is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, has struck partnerships with several companies to extend its reach in the region.
In Japan, eGain will work with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., while in Hong Kong the company has reached an agreement with the U.S.-based consulting firm Arthur Andersen. It also is in discussions with telecommunications company Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.
EGain occupies a relatively new niche between the many call-center companies that handle customer inquiries over the phone and companies, mostly Internet start-ups, that specialize in returning customer queries delivered via the Internet and corporate Web sites.
By combining both services, as well as offering reply services through emerging technologies that allow people to speak to one another over the Internet, eGain hopes to appeal to companies looking to integrate the ways they communicate with their customers.
EGain targets companies that need to respond to business customers as well as those that primarily interact with consumers. But business-to-business communication is considerably more lucrative for eGain, according to Ashutosh Roy, eGain's chief executive.
While a phone call or electronic query from a single consumer typically accounts for a minuscule portion of a company's revenue, business customers have the potential to represent a much more significant slice. "A single business customer for a multinational corporation can represent a million dollars in sales," says Mr. Roy.
For that reason, Mr. Roy believes Asia, which has leaned away from online strategies that target consumers and toward business-to-business electronic commerce, is the region offering eGain the biggest potential.
Indeed, business-to-business communications through corporate Web sites is expected to mushroom over the next several years. The consulting company Gartner Group says such interaction makes up 15% to 20% of communications, compared with other means such as picking up the telephone. Gartner predicts that number will jump to 60% world-wide by 2004.
Mr. Roy also predicts the possible slowdown in the U.S. and European economies means a "global shift away from (companies focusing on) customer acquisition and moving toward a focus on customer retention, which makes eGain's service all the more tangible for people to understand," he says.
EGain enters Asia with several regional customers already signed, including Toyota Motor Co., Global Sources Ltd., a large online and paper-based publishing company in the Philippines, and Asia Travel Network in Malaysia. Key customers in the U.S. include Microsoft Corp., RealNetworks Inc., Home Depot Inc., and Walgreen Co., a nationwide pharmacy chain.
In midmorning trading Thursday, eGain's shares were trading at $3.03 each, down 12 cents, or 4%, and well off their 52-week high of $74 hit last March.
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