ATLANTA--Nov. 6, 2002-- Millions of dollars have been spent on CRM solutions that promised organizations they would be able to get closer to their customers and better service them in order to increase lifetime value and loyalty.

However, according to a recent study by Aberdeen Group, a leading market analysis and positioning services firm, there is a fundamental disconnect between CRM applications and the contact center. More than 71% of those participating in the report identify increasing customer retention and value per customer as the highest priorities. This emphasis on customer retention and maximization of customer value has led to an emphasis on technologies and processes that make the contact center more effective, rather than simply efficient. The study, "What Works: Ten Significant Implementations in CRM-Call and Contact Centers," highlights ten customer contact centers that have successfully integrated new technologies to reduce costs, improve agent effectiveness and increase customer retention.

Knowlagent, the exclusive provider of contact center e-Learning solutions that align employee performance with company objectives, is showcased in the report and highlights the results generated for CitiFinancial, the retail-lending arm of Citigroup Consumer Group. In its largest contact center, CitiFinancial agents were accustomed to selling the handful of products they were most comfortable with, leaving 50 others unsold. As a result, the company was not realizing the full potential of sales opportunities. With Knowlagent, CitiFinancial was able to increase cross-sell and up-sell effectiveness, doubling monthly sales from $2.4 million to more than $4.4 million.

"We needed to increase our agent knowledge and skills while reducing the time it took us to deliver training," said Wendy McCandless of CitiFinancial. "Knowlagent gave us the means to take advantage of missed revenue opportunities and increase the amount of training we could deliver because we didn't have to move anyone into a classroom. The training was delivered right to the desktop and addressed individual knowledge and skill needs, which made it easier for the agents to understand the material and immediately implement it into their customer interactions."

CitiFinancial's adoption of contact center e-Learning demonstrates that the shift from efficiency to effectiveness brings with it a vast opportunity to improve the customer experience while meeting company objectives. Aberdeen reports that - in tandem with the shift to effectiveness - business and IT decision-makers have found that it is possible to control costs and improve efficiency as reflected in several of the key findings:

• Changing metrics from operational performance metrics such as call volume and hold time to customer-focused metrics such as improved first call resolution as a means of increasing customer satisfaction.
• Agent empowerment initiatives clearly indicate that companies are looking to improve the customer experience by increasing agent skill level, knowledge, and training.
• Moving the contact center from cost center to profit center requires the delivery of detailed information and knowledge to agent desktops in order for them to drive cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

About Knowlagent

Unlike any other e-Learning system, Knowlagent's platform integrates with every major ACD, Workforce Management and Quality Monitoring system to leverage previous call center investments. Through its patented integration engines - RightTime and RightContent(TM) - Knowlagent identifies individual agent performance gaps and skill deficiencies and addresses them by delivering high-impact, customized content directly to the desktop, at the most teachable moment, during forecasted and un-forecasted workflow downtimes. This allows organizations to improve agent knowledge and skills before they adversely affect customer service, which ultimately leads to a predictable, consistent customer experience. Each year, Knowlagent delivers more than 5 million individualized Learning Breaks to contact center agents globally. For more information, call 888-566-9457 or visit www.knowlagent.com.

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Contact:

Knowlagent
Caran Snitz, 678/356-3465
csnitz@knowlagent.com