Customer service software vendors face a tough challenge these days. Clients are looking for better products, improved satisfaction from their customers, and services that minimize costs and maybe even turn customer service into a profit center.
eGain Communications Corp. , a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based customer service management software provider, appears ready for the challenge. Today at the Annual Call Center Las Vegas Show eGain announced the availability of eGain Service 6, the sixth generation of the company’s Internet-architected customer service management software. eGain first introduced the service in 1998.
eGain Service 6, which is available either as a hosted or installed on the customer’s premises, includes integrated suites for customer contact center and Web self-service that incorporate hundreds of newly implemented, best-of-class features, according Anand Subramaniam
vice president of marketing at eGain.
Subramaniam said eGain Service 6 is based on eGain’s Service Management Platform (SMP), which includes a knowledge engine, a service process engine and infrastructure components shared by all of eGain’s applications. It also features eGain’s Universal Information Exchange integration framework. eGain SMP is J2EE-compliant and supports XML, Web Services, HTTP, HTTP(S), SSL and JDBC, and incorporates security and auditing features, according to eGain.
Market research firm META Group estimates that demand for knowledge-enabled solutions for customer service will grow 15-20 percent in 2003. “Enterprises must reduce service costs by improving customer self-service and reducing the time agents spend searching for solutions, to remain competitive in this difficult economy. Leveraging knowledge is key to accomplishing these goals but customers should look for multi-channel service solutions that use a common knowledge platform to ensure service consistency across channels and in-house or outsourced agents,” said Tim Hickernell, senior program director at META Group.
eGain Service 6 includes an integrated suite of applications for the contact center and Web self-service.
eGain Contact Center Suite includes the following applications:
eGain Email: A scalable system for processing e-mails and Web-form requests that is currently used for mission-critical and often multi-lingual e-mail customer service.
eGain LiveWeb: Real-time Web-based customer service and support designed to enable best-in-class Web customer service through advanced chat and co-browsing.
eGain KnowledgeAgent: Guides agents through a simple, step-by-step dialog to answers within structured knowledge. It also enables intelligent searches of unstructured information.
eGain WorkDesk: Integrates contact centers with back-office fulfillment for enterprise-wide, multi-channel, multi-lingual case management. Other capabilities such as multi-tenancy, departments, multiple language support and role-based access allow organizations to use a single installation throughout the enterprise or with partners and suppliers.
eGain SelfService is based on the same platform as the contact center suite and is designed to integrate with the contact center suite and enable Web self-service via FAQs, virtual agent technology, intelligent search, knowledge-guided resolution, and customer self-service case management capabilities.
eGain Service 6 includes adapters to work with leading computer-telephony-integration (CTI) systems, business and unstructured knowledge systems. eGain also provides SDKs for application customization, custom integration, custom reports and semi-custom development use.
eGain Service 6 will be available in phases starting with the immediate availability of eGain Email, to be followed by other applications in the second quarter of 2003.
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