November 29, 2004

NEWS Concerto Software has announced financial results for the third quarter of 2004. The contact center solutions vendor "achieved its most substantial growth in the company's history," according to company executives. Concerto also increased profitability and expanded its customer base through the acquisitions of Rockwell FirstPoint Contact and Positive Software Systems. Revenue for the third quarter of 2004, which includes the results of Rockwell FirstPoint Contact from the September 3 acquisition date, was $50.4 million, an increase of 85 percent, compared to $27.2 million in third-quarter revenue last year, and an increase of 26 percent compared to $40 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2004. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of revenue growth for Concerto, and includes the addition of 29 new-customer wins. CUSTOMER WINS LifeWay Christian Resources has selected TotalView Small Center (SC) Workforce Management system from IEX Corporation. LifeWay, a religious nonprofit organization that is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, will use TotalView SC to streamline its contact center operations. LifeWay expects to increase agent productivity and improve service levels using TotalView to plan and manage the use of its agent resources. According to Jon McShurley, LifeWay's systems coordinator, the nonprofit selected TotalView in part because of its "user-friendly interface and patented forecasting methods." Additionally, McShurley said the system has the "flexibility and scalability we need to meet both our current and future needs." Direct marketing company Harte-Hanks has announced that Zions First National Bank has selected the firm's event-based marketing solution, Allink Daily Deposit Builder, to increase the retention of its high-value customers. Zions Bank, which operates more than 130 full-service branches and 200 ATMs throughout Utah and Idaho, chose Allink partially for its industry experience. According to Steve Thomas, senior vice president, Zions Bank, a key reason for selecting Allink is its "ability to detect anomalies or shifts/changes in deposit patterns, and proactively push leads in real time to prevent major withdrawals." Using Allink to monitor customer account activity, Zions plans to build better relationships with its most loyal customers by assessing those customers' needs and responding with appropriate, tailored service offerings. The bank expects to increase loyalty and improve customer retention as a result. NEW PRODUCTS Marketing technology company Upper Quadrant has announced the release of UQube 2.0, its hosted marketing performance management (MPM) platform. It includes campaign management, data management, forecasting, modeling, analysis and reporting, and geographic mapping. UQube is designed to correlate data from various sources and channels to help users determine which marketing campaigns are delivering the highest returns, as well as to predict demand levels. By providing a centralized data repository that enables organizations to share information across their marketing supply chain, UQube also allows marketers to link demand generation responses across channels and to standardize unstructured marketing data. UniPress Software, a provider of Web-based service desk automation software for the midmarket, has released the latest version of its FootPrints Live eSupport solution. FootPrints Live eSupport, an add-on module to the company's flagship FootPrints service desk solution, adds a Web-based interface with VoIP, white board, and file transfer capabilities to the existing screen-sharing and chat features. The new offering is designed to make it easier for agents to troubleshoot and resolve support issues. FootPrints Live eSupport is available in a hosted format, and offers several one-to-one and one-to-many collaboration features designed to "help organizations expand the capabilities, efficiency, and effectiveness of their service and support operations," says Mark Krieger, president of UniPress. Related article: Concerto Acquires Legendary Contact Center System