Significant enhancements drive automation and agent productivity; Application automatically pulls relevant information from any source for faster email resolution
MENLO PARK, Calif. — September 26, 2005 – KANA Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: KANAE), a leading provider of Service Resolution Management (SRM) solutions, today announced significant enhancements to its industry-leading email response management application, KANA Response. KANA Response allows companies to manage and respond to all email inquiries and is the most scalable email response management application on the market. With the newly unveiled Active Framework customer information is pulled automatically in real-time from any data source, including KANA�s knowledge-base application, KANA IQ. The latest version also includes increased security layers and agent management and monitoring tools.
�The number of emails sent daily is growing exponentially and we do not see it slowing down as more and more consumers rely on the Web as the primary method of contact with companies. There is still a critical need for ERMS with deep functionality and capabilities,� said Esteban Kolsky, Research Director at Gartner. �The email solutions that organizations demand have to integrate and leverage other customer service functions and systems, such as a Customer Interaction Hub can do, to increase agent productivity.�
KANA Response is designed to handle up to 500,000 emails, in virtually any language, every day, guaranteeing almost immediate response and resolution to customer queries. The latest version dramatically reduces customer service costs by providing agent productivity capabilities such as a unified agent view and access to content and knowledge wherever it resides. Now, with KANA Active Framework, a rules-based desktop integration framework, Response automatically pulls data from multiple back-office systems, based on keywords in customer emails, to automate the resolution of transactional inquiries, including questions regarding order status, shipping and billing. By allowing agents to access customer context sensitive information from anywhere in the enterprise, it enables agents to more quickly and accurately handle customer questions in a consistent manner.
�KANA Response enables us to consistently meet and exceed aggressive internal benchmarks for timeliness and quality of e-mail responses, in addition to allowing us to provide consistent, first class customer service,� said Lou Orsi, Director of Vendor Relations and Strategic Projects at 1-800-Flowers.com. �Moreover, because of KANA Response�s integrated knowledge base functionality, our contact center agents can effectively provide personalized, high-volume e-mail response across multiple brands, including 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, The Popcorn Factory, Plow and Hearth, and HearthSong, without incurring high costs.�
The new version of KANA Response also includes the following enhancements:
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Improved Knowledge Management and Increased Agent Productivity: Agents now have easier access to important information that can help them answer e-mail inquiries immediately. This includes address book sorting, professional rich text email templates, efficient WYSIWYG authoring, advanced external content and integrated desktop search capabilities using KANA IQ.
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Enterprise Application Interoperability: Agents need to access content and knowledge from back-end systems to the desktop in order to provide the most current responses. The KANA Active Framework leverages innovative new standards for enterprise application interoperability in a new rules-based desktop framework for data retrieval from disparate systems across the enterprise. It also provides enhanced enterprise administration for email forms.
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Advanced Email Security: With data sensitivity a top priority for many organizations, KANA Response enables enhanced password controls, configurable secure roles, advanced secure departments and secure public portals for private email retrieval in information-sensitive industries like financial services and healthcare.
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Analytical and Reporting Capabilities: Companies are focused on reducing inquiry resolution times, and increasing first contact resolution rates. KANA Response provides over 100 operational reports for sales and service managers to measure, analyze, and control contact centers based on real-time information. It also provides replication functionality to keep test and production servers in synch, and allows for remote system administration.
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Enhanced Quality Monitoring and Management: Contact center managers need to ensure messages are consistently delivered and questions are answered correctly and appropriately. The new version provides outbound email rules to ensure professional levels of control for quality assurance and consistency, and witness integration to help optimize workforce performance and quality.
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KANA provides the widest platform support tailored to meet the IT requirements of both enterprises and mid-market companies. Platform support includes AIX, Solaris, Windows and Linux and databases such as DB2, Oracle and SQL Server.
�With the number of emails sent each day reaching well into the billions, customer support teams and their technical infrastructure have been overwhelmed by a deluge of Web-based inquiries, resulting in a decline in the quality and timeliness of service and overall customer satisfaction,� said Marchai Bruchey, SVP of marketing and alliances at KANA. �The proven scalability and interoperability of KANA Response with Active Framework, coupled with enhanced knowledge management and data security capabilities, enables organizations to substantially improve agent productivity and deliver high-volume support in today�s regulated environment.�
About KANA
KANA is a leading provider of Service Resolution Management (SRM) solutions that improve customer satisfaction, reduce service costs, and increase revenues. KANA�s award-winning suite of customer service solutions for assisted, self, and proactive service enables companies to resolve customer requests quickly and accurately across multiple channels. Built on the industry�s most advanced web architecture, KANA�s solutions are in use at more than half of the world�s largest 100 companies. For more information visit www.kana.com.
