Thomson Education Direct Deploys eGain's Email Management Solution to Process Cross-Lifecycle Student Inquiries

Market Wire, December, 2005

eGain Communications Corporation (OTC BB: EGAN), provider of the industry's top-rated* customer service and contact center software for in-house or on-demand deployment, announced today that Thomson Education Direct, one of the oldest and largest distance learning institutions in the world, has deployed eGain® Mail(TM), the industry's top-rated email management software**, to manage relationships with prospective and enrolled students. Thomson Education Direct is using the solution to manage inbound and outbound interactions with students regarding grades, shipments, fees, financial aid and related issues. With eGain Mail, Thomson Education Direct provides additional interaction choices to students, while improving response times and controlling operational costs.

Thomson Education Direct selected eGain Mail over solutions from a variety of other high-profile providers due to its scalability, sophisticated knowledge base, ease of use, ease of integration with legacy systems and unified multichannel interaction capabilities enabled by eGain Service(TM), eGain's award-winning software suite for building unified multichannel customer interaction hubs.

Currently used by over 60 agents, the solution has already enabled Thomson Education Direct to reduce response times by half. Furthermore, the institution expects to be able to handle a 50% increase in email traffic while curbing service costs. Thomson Education Direct is also using eGain Mail to automate service processes across organizations when student inquiries require resolution that extends beyond the initial interaction. As part of its student interaction hub vision, Thomson Education Direct plans to implement eGain's chat and web self-service solutions in 2006 to further improve connectivity with its students.

"We are committed to meeting the lifelong learning needs of adults," said Rob Bruno, Director of IT at Thomson Education Direct. "eGain's customer service software will enable us to provide prompt and effective service to our student-base. This service level, together with the quality of our education offerings, will help ensure that we are the preferred institution for distance learning."

"Lifelong learning has become an imperative in today's business environment of rapid change and global competition," said Ashu Roy, CEO of eGain. "We are pleased to enable Thomson Education Direct to help professionals reinvent themselves for continued relevance and value addition."

About Thomson Education Direct

Thomson Education Direct is one of the oldest and largest distance learning institutions in the world. The school provides programs and services that are designed to meet the life-long learning needs of the adult learner. Programs of study lead to specialized associate degrees and career-specific diplomas.

The mission of Thomson Education Direct is to empower adult learners to advance or change their careers, learn a new skill, or gain personal satisfaction. The school strives to fulfill this mission by providing breadth and depth of courseware, applicable technology, and a wide array of flexible services aimed at the needs of the adult learner. Programs not only teach current marketplace skills, but also present liberal arts offerings and develop critical thinking, writing, and mathematical abilities. The mission is supported by an admissions policy that allows students with appropriate prior education to enroll in programs without regard to race, religion, gender, age, color, national origin, or physical disability.

Thomson Education Direct assesses fulfillment of its mission and achievement of institutional effectiveness through ongoing studies of student academic success, measurement of student satisfaction, and evaluation of the career outcomes of graduates. For more information, visit: http://www.educationdirect.com/index.html.

About eGain®

eGain (OTC BB: EGAN) is a leading provider of customer service and contact center software for in-house or on-demand deployment. Trusted by prominent enterprises and growing mid-sized companies worldwide, eGain has been helping organizations achieve and sustain customer service excellence for more than a decade. Twenty-four of the fifty largest global companies rely on eGain to transform their traditional call centers, help desks and Web customer service operations into multichannel customer interaction hubs. These hubs enable dramatically improved customer experience, unified multichannel customer service, end-to-end service process efficiencies, and enhanced contact center performance.

eGain Service(TM) 7, the company's software suite, includes integrated, best-in-class applications for Web self-service, e-mail management, knowledge management, live Web collaboration through chat and cobrowsing, automation of fax and paper-based service interactions, case management and service fulfillment. These robust applications are built on the eGain Service Management Platform(TM) (eGain SMP(TM)), a scalable next-generation framework that includes end-to-end service process management, multichannel, multisite contact center management and certified out-of-the-box integrations with leading call center, content and business systems.