Customers Achieve Significant ROI Using Echopass Hosted Call and Contact Center Services

Business Wire, Oct 16, 2006

Infinite Mind, Provident and Outrigger Achieve Rapid Growth and Substantial Savings with Echopass; Nucleus Research Validates Echopass' Value Proposition

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Echopass customers are reporting significant ROI on their call center investment, often less than 90 days, after deploying Echopass Call and Contact Center On Demand solutions. Echopass, the experts in always-on, on-demand, hosted contact center and CRM solutions, announced three customers Co Infinite Mind, The Provident Bank and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Co have either doubled revenues, lowered operating expenses, or saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs after implementing an Echopass solution. Equally notable, all three customers have reported significant increases in their customer satisfaction rates.

Echopass' on-demand contact center solutions enable companies to maximize ROI by managing contact center activities with greater speed and flexibility, and lower cost, than premise-based contact center alternatives. As a result, Echopass is enabling companies to reduce costs, support growth and improve both bottom and top line results, according to a recent report by Nucleus Research1, a global provider of research and advisory services.

"In today's competitive business environment, leveraging hosted services, as opposed to investing in hardware and software, is a 'must have' for staying competitive and maximizing the bottom line," explained Rebecca Wettemann, vice president, research, at Nucleus Research. "Companies with existing contact center technology, as well as those looking to improve or grow their contact center operations, should investigate the potential ROI from moving to an on-demand contact center provider, such as Echopass."

Echopass has enabled customers like Infinite Mind, The Provident Bank and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts with the ability to leverage their substantial financial and technology investments while eliminating concerns about their call center infrastructure so they can focus on the core initiatives of their business. Echopass understands the critical role that complete customer-care solutions play in driving today's successful companies. By integrating a variety of these applications such as CRM software in the EchoSystem[TM] Service Integration Platform, Echopass is making it easier for call center agents to satisfy customer requirements more rapidly and effectively, resulting in substantially improved customer satisfaction rates.

"Our research demonstrates how hosted call and contact centers enable companies to streamline and improve customer and vendor communications while reducing call center costs. For example, Outrigger increased call center staff productivity, reduced telecommunications and technology costs, increased flexibility and improved hotel management," said Wettemann.

Infinite Mind Doubles its Sales Revenues

Infinite Mind, maker of educational software that increases reading speed and retention, selected Echopass to help better manage its sales team and telesales processes. Per agent revenues now average $2,400 per week for Infinite Mind's 60 agents using Echopass technology. Largely because of the agents' ability to generate more revenue through their use of Echopass, Infinite Mind's agent turnover has virtually vanished. Echopass has enabled Infinite Mind to:

* Increase revenues from $1,200 to $2,000 per agent per week within three months

* Continue to grow per agent revenues, which now average $2,400 per week

* Telemarketing efforts now account for nearly 15 percent of the company's annual revenues

The Provident Bank Cuts Customer Wait Time in Half

The Provident Bank, a New Jersey-based community- and customer-oriented bank, selected Echopass to significantly upgrade its call center technology. With its call center agents handling over 350,000 customer interactions per month, Provident was in need of a cost-effective, flexible solution that would offer its customers fast, accurate and professional service. After implementing Echopass, Provident significantly increased customer satisfaction rates and decreased abandoned calls without adding staff, all while lowering its operating expenses. Echopass Advanced Call Center On-Demand enabled the bank to:

* Reduce customer call duration by 40 percent

* Answer 80 percent of all inbound calls within 20 seconds

* Cut customer wait time in half

Outrigger Achieves 300% ROI in Just 2 Months

Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, the largest locally-owned hospitality chain in Hawaii, selected Echopass to upgrade its contact center technology, improve both customer service and agent utilization, and provide the additional customer touch points of chat and email in addition to phone Co all while reducing costs. Through better staff utilization, lower maintenance costs and the elimination of major infrastructure expenditures, Echopass Contact Center On Demand enabled Outrigger to:

* Increase the percentage of calls converted to bookings to nearly 60 percent, unusually strong for the hospitality industry