Aspect Software Launches PerformanceEdge(TM), First Fully Synchronized Contact Center Optimization Suite

Market Wire, September, 2007

Aspect Software, Inc., the world's largest company solely focused on the contact center, today announced the launch of PerformanceEdge(TM), the industry's first contact center optimization suite that synchronizes workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and eLearning to holistically improve business performance. By bringing critical performance optimization functionality together, PerformanceEdge enables businesses to control costs, enhance service levels and align contact center performance with strategic company goals.

"Both inbound and outbound focused contact centers are struggling to meet the growing demands of the consumer and the business due to a number of factors, including increasing transaction volumes, limited insight into real-time events, siloed systems requiring manual report compilation and too many technologies that don't support business process initiatives," said Bob Kelly, vice president, PerformanceEdge Group at Aspect Software. "Now, for the first time, with PerformanceEdge, managers are able to tap into historical data, evaluate real-time intelligence and plan future scenarios to gain a complete, end-to-end view of contact center performance and, with the benefit of that information, take immediate action in the face of changing business conditions."

PerformanceEdge offers existing integrations to all leading ACDs and predictive dialers, including those from Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, as well as Aspect Software. The solution also includes integrations to customer relationship management (CRM) systems and other back office solutions allowing organizations to leverage a complete range of information about their company-customer interactions. PerformanceEdge consolidates data on agent performance, response times, average handle times, call recordings and campaign metrics, empowering managers to make decisions that lead to better operational efficiency and agent effectiveness with optimal resources.

"PerformanceEdge has enabled us to optimize our contact center workforce through better forecasting, more accurate planning and improved scheduling, all of which helps us ensure that the right number of agents with the right skills are available across all locations. In particular, the solution's real-time adherence capability helps us leverage complex agent data to get the most from our staffing efforts," said Aaron Jacobs, contact center section manager at VW Credit, Inc. "We see great value in the integrated data collection and reporting capabilities offered by PerformanceEdge, and look forward to further synchronizing our performance optimization initiatives to achieve our revenue and service objectives."

Unifying the Leading Contact Center Optimization Solutions

PerformanceEdge offers unified management, administration, data collection, workflows, reporting and data sharing across multiple applications and sites. By bringing together Aspect® eWorkforce Management(TM), Aspect® Quality Management(TM), Aspect® Performance Management(TM), Aspect® Enterprise Campaign Manager(TM) and Aspect® Campaign Optimizer(TM), PerformanceEdge provides:

--  Workforce Management - enables organizations to plan and manage the
    performance of inbound, blended and outbound staff.

--  Performance Management - measures, analyzes and communicates
    performance results to continuously improve business processes and ensure
    they are aligned with business goals.

--  Recording and Quality Management - records, evaluates and analyzes
    agent interactions and captures real-time customer feedback to deliver
    insights into business issues and agent performance.

--  Campaign Management - optimizes outbound and blended campaign
    strategies and increases productive contacts by pinpointing best time-to-
    call.

--  Coaching and eLearning - provides needs-based coaching capabilities,
    as well as eLearning management and content authoring tools.
    

"Enterprises need to do what they can to maintain a competitive edge and that includes making sure customer service is not compromised by poor contact center performance," said Paul Stockford, president and chief analyst of Saddletree Research. "With PerformanceEdge, Aspect has redefined and brought together the key ingredients for complete performance optimization to ensure the contact center is firing on all cylinders. The sheer quality and quantity of data -- spanning both inbound and outbound contacts -- that can be parsed, analyzed and leveraged will truly bolster an enterprise's ability to react immediately to customer demands."

Now globally available through Aspect Software and its channel partners, PerformanceEdge quickly transforms results and metrics into actionable information, such as forecasts, schedules and key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be leveraged by a diverse array of stakeholders in the contact center. Users can also initiate manual actions or control inter-application workflows according to permission levels and business rules.