KANA Solutions Bridge the Gap between IT Strategy and Customer Strategy, Enable IT Executives to Support Customer-Centric Business Objectives
MENLO PARK, Calif. – May 8, 2006 – KANA Software, Inc. (Pinksheets: KANA.PK), a world leader in multi-channel customer service, today announced that CIOs and other IT executives seeking to bolster their organizations’ customer strategies and top-line business objectives are turning to its multi-channel customer service solutions. With customer satisfaction increasingly becoming a measure of corporate viability, leading organizations, such as Priceline.com, have adopted KANA’s solutions for email, self-service, and call centers in order to increase the quality and timeliness of service across all channels.
In a March 30, 2006 research report entitled “Why the Best IT Strategy Is a Customer Strategy,” Gartner, Inc. analyst Michael Maoz states: “CIOs continue to list the support of CRM initiatives as a top priority. Leading businesses that execute well on CRM initiatives are being rewarded with higher retention rates and lower marketing spending.” Mr. Maoz goes on to state that “It is in the IT budgets and investments in process improvement where the ultimate moves in customer satisfaction will be impacted, and it is here that we often see the largest (or smallest, for the best organizations) gaps between ‘lip service’ and great customer service.”
Priceline.com CIO Ron Rose first turned to KANA seven years ago when he realized the company had outgrown its homegrown customer service applications. With the online travel industry on the verge of tremendous growth, the company understood it needed to move to a flexible and scalable contact center that could meet this increased demand without impacting the quality of service. To date, Priceline.com has deployed three KANA solutions, including KANA Response, KANA’s industry-leading email response management application; KANA Contact Center, the company’s universal agent desktop; and most recently KANA IQ, its award-winning knowledge base for self- and assisted-service. Together, these applications comprise Priceline.com’s Customer Assistance Resolution and Escalation System (CARES), a single, integrated system capable of delivering a consistent and exemplary customer experience across all channels.
“Because customers can easily switch from one competitor to the next, responsive customer service is critical to success in the online travel industry,” said Mr. Rose. “KANA has been instrumental in our mission to build CARES and support our customers. Each implementation has been highly successful, generating rapid return on investment while supporting Priceline.com’s business objectives with the flexibility, scalability, and stability we need. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner or a superior technology.”
KANA’s applications for email, chat, Web collaboration, self-service and call centers are built on the industry’s most flexible, proven and scalable technologies, enabling IT departments to quickly and cost-effectively deploy solutions that have immediate and substantial business impact. These solutions empower organizations to generate process improvements across all service and support channels, lowering costs while driving double-digit increases in customer satisfaction.
“Today CIO’s are challenged with responding more quickly to the needs of their customers and their corporations,” said Marchai Bruchey, chief marketing officer at KANA. “KANA provides this time-to-market advantage, as well as superior ROI, in a manner our competitors cannot match. KANA’s multi-channel customer service solutions are enabling organizations, such as Priceline.com, to effectively bridge the gap between IT strategy and customer strategy. In other words, these companies are successfully leveraging KANA technology to drive higher customer retention, satisfaction and overall business success.”
About KANA
KANA is a world leader in multi-channel customer service. KANA’s integrated solutions allow companies to deliver consistent, managed service across all channels, including email, chat, call centers and Web self-service, so customers have the freedom to choose the service they want, how and when they want it. KANA’s clients report double-digit increases in customer satisfaction, while reducing call volumes by an average of 20%. KANA’s award-winning solutions are proven in more than 600 companies worldwide, including approximately half of the world’s largest 100 companies. For more information visit www.kana.com.
