KANA Expands Lead in E-mail Response Automation With Banter Server Integration to KANA Response
KANA Customers Using the World-Leading E-mail Response Management Solution Benefit from Banter’s Technology for Understanding and Automating Online Written Communication
SAN FRANCISCO and MENLO PARK, Calif., July 14, 2003 —-KANA® (NASDAQ: KANA), a leading provider of enterprise customer support and communications applications, today announced that it has embedded Banter Server in KANA Response™ software. The integrated technology enables more effective and cost-efficient response to customer inquiries by combining natural language understanding capabilities from Banter with KANA’s market-leading e-mail response management application, setting a new standard for e-mail response automation in the industry.
Banter, a provider of software that understands and automates online customer communication, partnered with KANA to integrate the unique capabilities of Banter Server into KANA Response. An integral part of KANA’s award-winning iCARE™ suite, KANA Response is the most effective and widely used e-mail response management system in the world. Optimized to support specific vertical industries such as telecommunications, high technology, healthcare and financial services, it provides world-class agent-assisted service with fast, high volume, intelligent, automated e-mail, Web, and instant messaging request management.
With the optional integration of Banter Server, KANA Response users have greater capabilities for natural language understanding, ensuring customer requests are more rapidly understood by the application and routed to the appropriate customer service representative. Banter Server combines proprietary technology for natural language processing, statistical and semantic modeling with automatic machine learning distinctively positioned to analyze and understand the content of documents and messages written in everyday, informal forms.
“We evaluated natural language understanding tools and found Banter’s technology to be the only one that offered true understanding of and the capabilities for real-time learning from informal written communication,” said Tom Doyle, president of KANA. “KANA Response with Banter is uniquely suited to be the best choice for Global 2000 organizations needing to meet and exceed customer demand with fast and efficient e-mail response, without increasing costs in the contact center.”
Banter Server focuses on e-mail and offers cross-channel support. And unlike other natural language processing solutions, Banter Server handles dynamic and informal e-mail as opposed to static and formal types of communication. Banter Server also provides: real time feedback for easy maintenance and long-term accuracy; the ability to identify and analyze multiple languages; the ability to understand multiple intents in a single message; and the statistical likelihood that an answer is correct and not a relative ranking, making the Banter score meaningful and actionable.
“We are excited to work with KANA to provide natural language understanding capabilities within KANA Response,” said Chris Brennan, CEO of Banter. “Together, we set the standard for driving better customer relationships and delivering process improvement through e-mail automation.”
KANA provides eCRM applications optimized for specific industries to drive better relationships through effective, efficient interactions with customers at all points of contact (self-service, Web collaboration, phone, e-mail, live chat) and throughout the enterprise. KANA’s industry-specific applications and customizations address the unique needs of Global 2000 organizations in these markets, giving businesses a competitive advantage and increasing their ability to service, market to and sell to their customers. Companies around the world benefit from KANA’s customer-centric approach to managing customer relationships, which combines sophisticated analytics with thin-client Web architecture to deliver extraordinary customer interactions that decrease costs and drive revenue.
About Banter
Banter`s solutions integrate with customer interaction software to better automate the handling of inquiries by uniquely understanding of the meaning of email and other forms of customer communication. Software enhanced by Banter`s technology dramatically reduces support costs while improving the quality of service. Banter`s proven track record includes more than 50 customers, including such global entities as ABN AMRO America, RBC Financial Group, VeriSign and Wells Fargo Bank, and partners such as KANA, Siebel, Remedy, Avaya and others. Based in San Francisco, Banter is backed by Mayfield Fund, FTVentures, RBC Technology Ventures and others. For more information, visit www.banter.com or call 1-877-992-2683.
About KANA
KANA (NASDAQ: KANA) provides enterprise customer support and communications applications enabling organizations to better service, market to, and understand their customers and partners. Optimized for specific vertical industries, KANA`s iCARE applications are in use at more than half of the world`s largest 100 companies. An award-winning, modular suite of eCRM applications available on J2EE and .Net, KANA iCARE applications enable customers to do business when, where and how they want, improving customer experiences while decreasing costs in contact centers and marketing departments. KANA`s partner-centric business model includes strategic relationships with the largest systems integrators in the world to support and sell KANA iCARE. For more information visit www.kana.com .
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Information in this release regarding KANA’s forecasts, projections, expectations, beliefs, and intentions are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include statements about KANA’s expected revenue, operating results, EBITDA, cash flows, long-term success, new business and market position. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to KANA as of the date of this release, which may likely change, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: competition in our marketplace, including introductions of new products or services, or reductions in prices, by competitors; risks associated with lack of market acceptance of KANA’s products or services; inability to enhance and develop our products and services within budget and on schedule; inability to attract and retain qualified employees, to manage cash and expenditures or to expand sales; inability to manage our business in light of recent personnel reductions; KANA’s history of losses; the effect of potential military action and terrorist activities; and slow economic conditions, particularly as they affect spending by our prospective customers on eCRM and similar enterprise software products. These and other factors are risks associated with our business that may affect our operating results and are discussed in KANA’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
NOTE: KANA is a registered trademark, and KANA Software, KANA iCARE, KANA Service, KANA IQ, KANA ResponseIQ, KANA Response, KANA Marketing, KANA iCARE Analytics and the KANA logo are trademarks of KANA Software, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact Information:
Jessica Hohn
KANA
508/598-3356
jhohn@kana.com
Jason Ouellette/Renee Miller
PAN Communications for KANA
978/474-1900
kana@pancomm.com
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