1. What do you anticipate will be the major technology trends for 2007?
- Convergence of web and voice channels through multi-modal interactions. For instance, initiate interaction on the web, then move to voice. Another example would be an agent co-browsing web content while speaking with the customer on the phone.
- Customer interaction hub architecture will become the preferred way of retooling the enterprise contact centers
- Intelligent advisory capability to generate revenue through cross-sell and up-sell during service interactions
2. Please explain the practical benefits of the use of your technology. What are the main applications? What are eGain’s differentiators?
eGain Service suite, built on the innovative eGain Customer Interaction Hub platform, helps businesses reduce cost, manage service levels, and deliver optimal customer experience across the phone, email, and web channels.
eGain applications are bundled in four categories:
- Self Service products – eGain Chatbot, eGain Message Center, eGain Self Service
- Assisted Service products – eGain Mail, eGain Chat, eGain Cobrowse, eGain SMS, eGain Calltrack
- Knowledge Management products – eGain Advisor, eGain KnowledgeAgent, eGain SME
- Process Automation products – eGain Auto-classify, eGain Auto-workflow, eGain Notify, eGain Campaign, eGain Survey
eGain’s key differentiators are:
- Comprehensive Customer Interaction Hub platform for end-to-end service process automation across self-service, contact center, and enterprise.
- Proven solution used by blue-chip global clients like ABN AMRO, Aliant, Barclays, Charles Schwab, Orange, Verizon, and Virgin
- Pioneer and innovator in customer service and knowledge management software with well over a decade of experience in the space and an array of industry-first innovations
- Best of breed applications for self-service, call center knowledge management, email management, web collaboration, and call tracking.
3. Lately there has been a movement for vendors in the market to be the sole provider of Unified Communications. What are your feelings on this trend? What are the most critical issues that I company needs to address in order to implement UC? Can UC be realistically implemented?
This is an inevitable trend, now that VoIP adoption is accelerating - first through consumer apps like Internet Telephony and then with business communication infrastructure overhaul to replace switched equipment with IP products. This change presents a consistent world of all digital interactions - across voice, instant messaging, emails, and web.
To implement UC successfully, a company must begin by examining the behavioral changes required to drive user adoption. The biggest impediment to UC is changing user behavior. If there is sufficient benefit to changing behavior and it is communicated well enough, UC projects can be successful. Also, it is important to architect broadly but implement modularly, so that user feedback can be iteratively used to guide the paradigm shift.
4. Please tell us about one of your customer’s biggest successes due to the use of your technology.
One of our most successful customers is a large wireless service provider who saves more than $5M annually in their contact centers by using our knowledge management application to dramatically reduce wireless handset returns with “No Fault Found”. The “No Fault Found” handset return is one of the most expensive areas for wireless service providers. By capturing best-practice troubleshooting know-how into the eGain application, this customer has enabled all its contact center agents – novice and expert – to consistently and accurately resolve customer issues, thus reducing handset returns.
ABN AMRO has delivered differentiated customer experience for its treasury management clients by leveraging eGain’s innovative eService platform. By offering multi-channel service options – chatbot, email, collaboration, and phone - that are integrated to deliver a seamless experience, ABN AMRO has received multiple industry accolades for its distinctive customer service.
5. In your experience, what percentage of companies today hold a unified view of the customer?
Less than 5% of companies have a single repository to hold all its customer interactions across channels. However, about 20% of the companies are now able to leverage a service oriented architecture to link up relevant customer records across multiple repositories (in real-time or batch) to deliver a unified view of the customer. The unified customer view is not complete by any means, but it is sufficiently rich so that self-service or agent-assisted service can meet customer expectations.
6. eGain was recently named to Software Magazine’s 24th annual “Software 500” list for fourth year in a row. What do you account for your staying power on this list?
We have always focused on finding and addressing customer needs in our target market faster than competition. This spirit of relentless innovation keeps us energized and gratified.
7. eGain has distributors worldwide. What are differences in user requirements, if any, in the various global regions?
In general, businesses in the U.S. look for quick solutions and rapid ROI. This leads them to invest more in tools that can be quickly adopted. This makes U.S. business open to try out innovative tools for quick wins. On the other hand, business process reengineering projects tend to be seen as longer term and involved in the U.S., hence risky.
In contrast, European clients tend to be more process-oriented and methodical in their approach to productivity improvement through technology investment. Process reengineering and automation is seen as a better route to sustainable, longer term benefit. But when it comes to quick adoption to innovative tools, European clients tend to be 18-24 months behind their U.S. counterparts.