Vantive Announces Web Strategy and Products; VanWeb Offers Universal Customer Interaction on the Web

Business Wire, Oct 16, 1995

Corporation (NASDAQ:VNTV), the leading provider of client/server customer interaction software, today unveiled its technology solution and strategy to enable customer information management on the World Wide Web. In a move that marks a first for customer interaction application providers, Vantive's new VanWeb product offering enables universal access to information for sales, marketing, customer support, defect tracking and help desk functions on the Web.

Today's announcement highlights Vantive's ability to:

-- Publish client/server applications on the Web;

-- Integrate the universal access of the Web with the performance and flexibility of client/server applications; and

-- Leverage the technology strengths of Vantive applications, three-tier architecture, Vantive's open API and Vantive development/reporting tools.

VanWeb is a seamlessly integrated solution comprising Vantive Web Agent and Vantive Web Publisher. VanWeb enables any Web user to access, report, browse and retrieve information from Vantive Enterprise, an integrated suite of client/server applications for customer information management. This announcement combines the functionality of Vantive Enterprise with the universal reach of the Web to offer a new level of breadth and depth to customer interaction and service. For the first time, VanWeb users can create and update data, drill-down on detail information, link data together and use locators to set-up and perform complex queries on the Web.

"We believe that the Internet in general, and the World Wide Web in particular, will revolutionize the interaction businesses have with their customers, specifically customer support and help desk operations," said John Luongo, president and CEO, Vantive. "Vantive users and their respective customers will have access to a wealth of information over the Internet. As a result, this enables the forward deployment of support."

Enthusiastic Customer Response

For organizations improving customer lifecycle management, VanWeb enables universal access to information beyond the traditional customer service model. According to Tim White, manager, US West Communications, "Vantive's Web strategy maps well to US West Communications' direction. For example, we are considering the possibility of extending help desk support over the Internet to our 65,000 employees. We believe that VanWeb offers the capabilities of the World Wide Web plus all the performance, security and flexibility of Vantive client/server applications."

The opportunities for Vantive users on the Web are tremendous. For example, Web users can search resolutions regarding a support concern, register for training or a seminar program, request new product literature, update personnel or corporate information, retrieve competitive information on a prospect, or companies with their own internal web can check a case status internally with the help desk department.

"Vantive's VanWeb product is an excellent demonstration of the power of Vantive applications, particularly Vantive's API," said White. "Any user or customer with access to the Internet and a web browser can access a range of information relating to the customer enterprise. This offers tremendous functionality for an organization like US West."

With VanWeb, Vantive Enterprise users have a myriad of opportunities, such as: a customer accessing resolution information on the status of a case in Vantive Support; an employee logging a problem report in Vantive HelpDesk; an engineer browsing the Failure database in Vantive Quality; or a sales representative retrieving new information about a prospect in Vantive Sales.

About VanWeb

VanWeb, the newest member of the Vantive Enterprise product family, enables anyone with a World Wide Web browser to interact dynamically with a Vantive database from any location around the world. Customers, partners, prospects and employees, with sufficient permissions, can create, update and browse data as if they were using a Vantive desktop client.

Vantive integrates two concepts of Web interaction through VanWeb: first, normal hypertext page linking to provide the standard capabilities that users expect from the Web such as universal access and embedded links to other pages; and second, Vantive relational database navigation provides a wide range of powerful, full-featured capabilities that duplicate the capabilities of a Vantive client.

VanWeb users can create and update data, drill-down on detail information, link data together and use locators to set-up and perform complex queries. VanWeb extends security offered in the Vantive Enterprise to users of the Web and leverages the power of hypertext in addition to client/server navigation.

VanWeb: Core Technology

VanWeb comprises the Vantive Web Agent and Vantive Web Publisher to offer Web users vast new service and support capabilities.

-- Vantive Web Agent handles communication between a customer's Web server and the Vantive Enterprise. Vantive Web Agent allows browsers to navigate within the Vantive Enterprise as easily as within the Vantive client. Vantive Web Agent offers the Web user broad functionality to improve information access. For example, a Web user can focus on detail information, link data together, and use locators to set-up and perform complex queries.