The Week in Review: June 18, 2004

In the news... Onyx Software has partnered with Interactive Intelligence, a global provider of Microsoft-based business communications solutions. The partnership, the companies say, will reduce the cost and complexity of contact center automation and CRM integration. Under this agreement the companies will deliver a connector between the latest version of Onyx Employee Portal, a Web-based CRM solution, and Interactive Intelligence's Customer Interaction Center, a contact center automation software product. Callidus Software announced an alliance with IBM to deliver comprehensive incentive compensation solutions to the pharmaceutical and life sciences markets. Under the terms of the agreement the two companies will jointly market the Callidus TrueCompa solution using IBM's e-business on-demand infrastructure and Callidus' rules-based grid computing architecture for on-demand scalability. Additionally, IBM will provide business consulting, customization, and integration services for the joint IBM and Callidus solutions. Unica Corporation has formed an alliance with Biz360, a provider of global reputation and brand analysis, to help customers enhance marketing performance measurement. Biz360's Market360 application enables users to measure, understand, and compare the public perception of their companies, brands, products, and competitors. The companies will integrate Market360 with Unica's Affinium Suite to allow marketers to monitor their integrated marketing and communications programs' effectiveness and ROI. Allenbrook, a provider of processing software and consulting services for the property and casualty insurance industry, has partnered with QAS, an international address management software company. The companies have joined to offer insurance carriers enhanced address verification. Allenbrook will incorporate QAS' QuickAddress Pro software--which verifies addresses in real time as they are entered--into the company's Phoenix system. Deals of the week... Witness Systems announced that O2 Ireland has implemented the Witness eQuality solution to support its entire 400-seat call center site in Limerick. Edocs announced that Avaya, a global provider of communications networks and services for businesses, has selected edocs' technology platform for online invoicing, payment, reporting, and self-service. SupportSoft has entered into an agreement with BellSouth for the development of software tools to help automate the activation of and support for BellSouth's digital product offerings. Executive changes... Callidus Software has appointed David Pratt to its board of directors. Pratt comes from over 35 years of senior management, and currently serves on the board of directors for Plumtree Software, the Mid-Peninsula YMCA, and the SETI Institute. Touchpoint announced the appointment of three new sales executives: Bob Frady as vice president of sales, Western Region; Brian Becker as vice president of sales, Eastern Region; and Gregg Dittoe as vice president, account development. All three will be responsible for new business development and management of strategic corporate accounts. Vidus, a field service automation solution provider, announced that Martin Knestrick has been appointed CEO. Knestrick has been involved with Vidus in an advisory role for the last twelve months. Zilliant has appointed Beth Weeks its senior director of engineering, and Scott Royston chief architect. Prior to Zilliant Weeks worked at Vignette Corporation; Royston comes to the company after nine years at Trilogy Software. New products... WiredContact introduced a new feature set to its Web-delivered solution for ACT!. New capabilities include enhanced reporting, mass mail-merge letters, automatic lead capture, improved letter and labeling features, scheduling and calendar enhancements, and email upgrades. WiredContact allows users to access, share and update information while changes made online are automatically updated in ACT! on the server. Extraprise has introduced Insight-to-Interaction, an integrated set of services to manage the customer life cycle from raw data, to a lead, to a target prospect, to a high value account. The services allow clients to consolidate multiple data sources, segment customers by value, develop predictive models, manage demand generation campaigns, and automate their customer channels. Empirix released the newest version of its Web application performance management solution, OneSight 5.0. New capabilities of the solution include benchmark reports to compare current performance against business expectations for realistic Service Level Objectives; a new service level management module; change management support, deeper visibility into the end-user experience with object-level performance details; and visual scripting enhancements. Conversagent launched the Conversagent Automated Service Agent (ASA) System, Version 3.0, a solution that allows users to type questions in their own words into a text-chat interface and receive immediate responses to their natural language inquiries. The ASA can also provide a live customer service representative if customers require immediate professional support.