Excellent news from one of PERI's partners:
Inference Ships k-Commerce Support 4.0; First Application that Delivers Integrated Access to Customer Service and Support via Call Centers, Web, E-mail, Chat and IVR
NOVATO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 1999--Delivering upon an earlier commitment, Inference Corp. (Nasdaq:INFR) today announced the availability of k-Commerce(TM) Support Release 4.0, the first knowledge-based customer service and support application that delivers conversation-based access to answers and solutions across the evolving customer Contact Center -- including Call Centers, the Web, e-mail, chat and interactive voice response (IVR) systems.
"Inference's k-Commerce software helps organizations better understand their customers when it is most valuable -- during the interaction," said Christopher Pavlic, director, Industry Applications at the Aberdeen Group. "In doing so, Inference helps bolster customer satisfaction and increases the ability of organizations to capitalize on fleeting revenue opportunities that only exist at the point of contact."
k-Commerce Support is the first application released as part of Inference's k-Commerce product line. k-Commerce Support captures the experience of the company's best customer service representatives to enable rapid problem resolution and consistent service across the Contact Center, improving customer satisfaction and increasing revenues while reducing costs.
"Customers have distinct preferences about how to contact companies to receive the information they need, but until now, companies have not been able to offer them the breadth of access methods," said Charles W. Jepson, president and chief executive officer of Inference Corp. "Companies who value leadership in customer service can now offer superior support across multiple access methods. k-Commerce Support gives you a competitive advantage."
Inference k-Commerce Support
k-Commerce Support 4.0 is the only knowledge-based customer support application that integrates Call Center, Web, chat, e-mail and IVR customer access for unparalleled flexibility and scalability. k-Commerce Support uses patented Inference technology that intuitively recognizes the content of customers' questions rather than just simple key words.
Leveraging assisted- or self-service access methods, customers ask their questions in everyday language and then answer a set of questions designed to refine the search and present the best solution.
"Our latest research shows that leading organizations are seeing a lot of value in their knowledge-based applications, while looking to extend these solutions across multiple touchpoints, starting with telephony, e-mail, and the Web," said Allen Bonde, director of advisory services at The Extraprise Group. "With k-Commerce Support, Inference has taken the lead in providing this capability that offers to not only enhance customer service levels while lowering costs, but also to redefine the delivery of e-commerce."
Inference k-Commerce Support application includes the following assisted- and self-service access products available today: -0- *T
-- k-Commerce Desktop -- k-Commerce Desktop enables customer service
agents to simply enter problems as the customer describes them in
everyday language. k-Commerce Desktop uses Inference's patented
technology to suggest additional questions and recommend
solutions. Experienced users can also opt for a visual
folder-based view of content. Either way, customer service agents
are free to interact with customers and have a natural dialog
while the system quickly searches and guides them to the correct
answer.
-- k-Commerce Web -- k-Commerce Web provides customers with the
ability to answer questions and troubleshoot problems by
themselves, when it's convenient for them. Customers simply type
in their requests in natural everyday language. k-Commerce Web
responds to your customers with additional questions until
answers are found. k-Commerce Web provides solutions that can
link to other Web pages, graphics, illustrations or even software
updates.
-- k-Commerce E-Mail -- k-Commerce E-Mail provides automated
first-line support to help companies handle growing e-mail
volume. Customers make their inquiries using everyday language.
Then, k-Commerce E-Mail analyzes the customer inquiry, searches
the k-Commerce Knowledge Base and suggests answers and solutions.
Inference has partnered with Kana Communication to integrate
k-Commerce E-Mail with Kana's Customer Messaging System (Kana
CMS), the leading customer e-mail management application.
-- k-Commerce IVR -- k-Commerce IVR combines the expedience of
self-service, the convenience and consistency of the k-Commerce
Knowledge Base and the security of escalation to the Call Center
from any telephone. Inference has partnered with Periphonics
Corp., a world leader in interactive voice response (IVR) and
advanced speech recognition systems. Using speech recognition, k-Commerce IVR searches the knowledge base and speaks back the
most appropriate response to the caller, delivering an
easy-to-use, high-performance speech recognition and IVR system.
-- k-Commerce Chat -- With k-Commerce Chat, each customer enters
their own unique and private chat session with a support agent
who can push questions, detailed files, Web pages and graphics
from the k-Commerce Knowledge Base. Inference has partnered with
eShare Technologies to integrate the market-leading customer
interaction capabilities into k-Commerce Chat. Inference provides
a single-vendor solution by selling and fully supporting eShare's
NetAgent(tm) product.
Inference Professional Services offers integration and customization expertise to help customers quickly implement k-Commerce products and applications throughout the Contact Center.
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Pricing and Availability
k-Commerce Support 4.0 is available today and supports Windows 98, Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, Informix, Raima Database Manager and DB2 databases. K-Commerce Support 4.0 is Y2K Ready.
Pricing for k-Commerce Support 4.0 starts at $1,495 per agent seat for assisted service deployment and $50,000 per server for 100 concurrent connections for self-service deployment.
Inference Corp.
Inference Corp. (Nasdaq:INFR) is a leading provider of knowledge-based customer service and support systems that deliver conversation-based access to a comprehensive knowledge base. Inference's k-Commerce product suite is the first customer relationship management software that incorporates Internet-based and telephony-based communication channels.
From Call Centers, the Web and e-mail to IVR and chat, k-Commerce provides consistent and accurate answers from a centralized knowledge base that contains the most up-to-date information that customers demand.
Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area, with international headquarters near London, England, Inference supports its customers from offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific through a global professional service and support organization. For further information, contact Inference at 415/893-7200, send an e-mail to info@inference.com or visit www.inference.com.
Note to Editors: The Inference logo, the k-Commerce logo and k-Commerce are trademarks of Inference Corporation. All other company names and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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CONTACT:
Inference Corp.
Nobby Akiha, 415/893-7210
nobby.akiha@inference.com
or
Phase Two Strategies
Kathleen Noonan, 415/772-8434
kathleen_noonan@p2pr.com |
