Lance, I know you mostly deal with OTC stocks, however, I wonder if I could get your opinion on this one. It seems to be a great news release and after talking with the company they assured me they would be making money again at the end of the quarter.
Sento Announces Plans to Establish Independent Internet Technology
Company
AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Sento Corporation (Nasdaq: SNTO) today announced that is has filed a
proxy statement to seek shareholder approval to form an independent Internet technology company that will pursue
development and commercialization of Sento's integrated voice and Internet customer care technology.
According to the terms of the proposed transaction, Sento would contribute its integrated voice and Internet customer care
technology and related assets to a recently-formed corporation in exchange for preferential rights to use the technology, 47
percent of the new company's stock and a promissory note in the amount of approximately $900,000. The new company,
ECP.com, intends to enter into a license agreement with Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: GCTI) in
order to license the Genesys Internet Suite to help ECP.com manage its Internet and voice interactions capabilities.
The Sento proxy statement proposes a special meeting of shareholders to be held later this year.
ECP.com would commercialize Sento's integrated voice and Internet customer care technology and provide related products in
an application service provider ("ASP") environment. The ASP business model is a hosted application outsourcing service
designed to help companies quickly deploy solutions with minimal capital infrastructure, implementation and ownership costs.
With the addition of Genesys' leading interaction management solutions, ECP.com would offer an integrated voice and Internet
customer care solution that customers can access using a standard Web browser. Customers access product functionality
through Web-based access eliminating the need to install proprietary or specialized hardware and software.
Today, Sento extensively uses this technology in its technical support division with more than 300 customer service agents and
has multiple external customers using the customer care technology via the ASP environment. The external customers' agents
access the service over the Internet through their Web browser and benefit by having integrated voice and Internet customer
interactions capabilities without the up-front and ongoing costs associated with building their own environment. The external
customers are charged on variable monthly costs determined by voice call minutes and Internet-based customer interactions
engaged.
The integrated voice and Internet customer care technology transferred to ECP.com is expected to be commercialized and
ready for general availability in early 2000. Voice and Internet media capabilities are proposed to include:
-- Telephone Interactions -- Customers still want to be able to use the
telephone to contact a company for immediate needs.
-- E-Mail Interactions -- Allows contact center representatives to respond
to customer e-mail inquiries with the same efficiency and personalized
care as telephone interactions.
-- Web Call Back Interactions -- Allows customers visiting a company's Web
site to request a telephone call from a contact center representative
either immediately or at a more convenient time.
-- Web Text Chat Interactions -- Allows customers to enter questions into
their Web browsers and engage in real-time dialogue with a contact
center representative.
-- Web Call Through (voice-over-IP) Interactions -- Allows Web users to
speak to contact center representatives via their computers through the
Internet. Customers who prefer Internet-based communications can be
connected to a company using standard Internet software.
-- Browser Collaboration Interactions -- Allows contact center
representatives and customers to synchronize Internet browsers and
simultaneously view and navigate a company Internet site to aid
customers in pre and post-sales support.
-- Skills-based Routing -- All media is routed to the right agent at the
right time providing immediate and accurate customer care.
-- Customer Interaction Management Software -- Inbound customer
communications are slaved to Web-enabled customer interaction
management software, providing agents with detailed customer history
and issue resolution tools to provide customers a personalized
experience regardless of the communication media.
-- Management Tools -- Web-enabled tools provide management real-time
analysis, reporting and monitoring capabilities into their customer
service operations.
"The ability to take our customer care technology and base it on the ASP model is exciting. Creating a venture based on this
technology improves our ability to quickly penetrate the multi-billion dollar customer care market," said Arthur F. Coombs,
Sento chief executive officer. "This service would provide emerging, high-growth e-commerce companies and e-businesses the
ability to deploy a functional eCustomer Contact Center in less time and cost than the traditional build-out approach. We would
be the first to market with a complete, integrated multi-media solution, which will help us further maximize the potential of this
solution."
"The integration of Genesys' Internet-based and traditional voice contact center technology, combined with ECP.com's hosted
customer support offering allows small and medium-sized companies to benefit from an advanced, enterprise-class customer
contact center solution," said Rick DeGolia, senior vice president, Business Development and Strategic Planning of Genesys.
"Through this unique offering, Genesys would extend its reach beyond large enterprises to offer smaller businesses the reduced
costs and increased efficiencies associated with hosted customer contact center solutions."
Sento Corporation provides technical services for organizations using Windows NT and UNIX client-server computing
environments. These services include Contract Technical Support, Help Desk Services, Technical Training and Education.
Sento conducts its business through its operating divisions, including Sento Training and Sento Technical Services. For more
information, visit Sento's home page at www.sento.com.
Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements encompass Sento's beliefs, expectations, hopes or intentions
regarding future events. Words such as "expects," "intends," "believes," "anticipates," and "likely" also identify forward-looking
statements. All forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof and are based on information
available to Sento as of such date. Sento assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Actual results could
differ materially from those anticipated for a number of reasons, including, among others, demands associated with the
Company's redirected strategy to develop and market new and additional information technology services and products,
uncertainties and expenses resulting from the implementation of the Company efforts to identify, acquire and integrate additional
businesses, unavailability of capital to fund the Company's growth strategy and acquisition plans, the highly competitive
environment faced by information technology businesses, a downturn in the market for hardware and/or software products,
economic fluctuations and other unanticipated factors. Risk factors, cautionary statements and other conditions which could
cause actual results to differ from the Company's current expectations are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB.
SOURCE: Sento Corporation
CONTACT: Dave Clifton of Brodeur Porter Novelli, 801-765-1500, dclifton@brodeur.com, for Sento Corporation; or Robert Sorenson of
Sento Corporation, 801-492-2204, robert_sorenson@sento.com; or Peter Wermter of Genesys, 415-437-1184, pwermter@genesyslab.com |
