March 17, 2005

CUSTOMER WINS Pivotal announced today that Gatineau, Quebec, will deploy its Pivotal CRM software to power the city's 311 nonemergency citizen request and inquiry system beginning this summer. The new system will, according to the company, allow residents to dial a single number for access to all nonemergency municipal services and information, will reduce service delivery costs while enhancing the speed and quality of service, help the city's public works departments to serve people faster and more efficiently, and allow field service workers to update their CRM system via wireless devices. Nortel Networks signed a contract with the city of San Jose this week to provide a new converged network for San Jose's new City Hall. The system will allow officials who are on the road to communicate as though they were in the office by using applications like video-conferencing, document and Web-session sharing, and white board collaboration. Call centers will provide voice-recognition capabilities, allowing residents to access services from the city government. Nortel says the system will be delivered by June 9. CallScripter and Interactive Intelligence signed an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) deal this week. Under the terms of the deal Interactive Intelligence's Custom Interaction Center (CIC) contact center software is available with a connector to the CallScripter software tool, which interactively scripts conversations for agents. It is also the company's first OEM deal driven outside the United States, as MediaLine, a Switzerland-based teleservices operation that supplies multilingual call center services, becomes the first customer to use the functions. IN THE NEWS SAP AG boosted its cash tender offer price to software maker Retek to $11 per share today, and Retek's board recommended shareholders accept the offer. Shares of Retek shot up $1.27, or 12.1 percent, to $11.79 in premarket activity. Shares were halted from trading pending the news. The deal indicated an increase in SAP's offer price from $8.50, and also raised the termination fee from $15 million to $25 million. NEW PRODUCTS Merced Systems next week will announce the release of its Merced Performance Suite 2.5. Enhancements included in this version are Staff Manager, a tool for supervisors that provides a single, unified view into agent performance; pre-configured workflows; and best practice processes for coaching and agent recognition. Related articles: Has SAP Finally Caught Up to Siebel? VoIP in the Contact Center: Another Fad or Here to Stay?