3 Millionth Chat Session Marks Milestone for SupportSoft`s LiveAssist™
Chat-Enabled Problem Resolution Helps Service Providers to Connect Customers with Answers in Real Time
Redwood City, CA, May 17, 2004 — SupportSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRT), a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM™) software, today announced that SupportSoft`s LiveAssist™ chat solution reached a milestone of 3 million end-user sessions since its introduction. Designed to help high-volume call center organizations service their online customers or employees, SupportSoft`s LiveAssist marries patented diagnostics technology with real-time chat capabilities to solve both technical issues as well as "how to" questions quickly for end-users.
Customer demand talks, as more than 48 percent of 550 broadband customers surveyed by independent research firm Zanthus would prefer to use online chat, or other Web-based tools for customer assistance such as provider`s online support portal, for customer assistance. This is encouraging news to service organizations, which can save 43% per resolution by leveraging their web-based call center. Driving this savings even further is the LiveAssist solution`s scalability for concurrent customer sessions, enabling service representatives to host sometimes 3-4 conversations at a time.
"As the consolidated service desk matures, we`re seeing chat becoming a more popular means of interacting with end-users to solve problems, and certainly growing in importance as a fundamental when evaluating and selecting a suite solution for end-to-end service and support automation," said Kris Brittain, analyst with research group Gartner, Inc. "When a service delivery channel can actually solve the problem by marrying diagnostic technology with root cause analysis -- plus the ability to chat with 3-4 customers simultaneously -- the results become especially meaningful to the service organization."
Currently, SupportSoft`s LiveAssist solution facilitates more than 200,000 chats a month between companies and customers benefiting from the software`s use. This number is growing, as more SupportSoft customers, particularly broadband service providers, deploy the solution to help their subscribers and service representatives to be more productive, while boosting satisfaction and lowering operational costs.
"What excites SupportSoft`s customers who use LiveAssist is the ability to make the Web a new cornerstone for customer service and satisfaction. LiveAssist extends their ability to provide more -- and more efficient -- service choices for both their customers and themselves," said James Morehead, senior director of broadband products at SupportSoft. "Our customers can simply click a button for real-time chat to be initiated when they have a question or encounter a problem. There are no plug-ins and no waiting. Once connected, LiveAssist can help to solve the problem quickly, a boon to service representatives and customers alike."
LiveAssist for Multi-Channel Service and Support
As part of the SupportSoft family of products, LiveAssist`s chat capabilities are embedded directly into existing Web sites, allowing support through firewalls in a secure manner. LiveAssist can also be easily integrated with related SupportSoft products. For example, when deployed with SupportSoft`s Knowledge Center Suite, service representatives using LiveAssist can access a knowledgebase to find the most relevant answer to a question and push the result to an end-userto resolve the issue. LiveAssist can also provide the ability for service representatives to take control of a customer`s computing system to promote the solution, or even push a "one click fix" to the customer using SupportSoft`s unique SupportAction™ technology.
About SupportSoft
SupportSoft (Nasdaq: SPRT) is a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSMÔ) software designed to accelerate and automate enterprise technical support, customer service and IT infrastructure management. Enterprises that have purchased our products and services include: ADP, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Siebel Systems, Sony and Thomson Financial. Managed service providers that have purchased our products to provide outsourced services to enterprises include: Accenture, ACS, CompuCom, CSC and IBM Global Services. Digital service providers incorporating our software into their service offerings include: Adelphia Communications, BellSouth, Charter Communications, Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, SBC Communications and TeliaSonera.
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, the expected benefits of our products and the growing use of the product. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our customers` ability to achieve broad adoption and acceptance of our products, the compatibility of our software with hardware and software platforms that are used by our customers and their subscribers or customers now or in the future, system failures that may cause an interruption in our customers` ability to use our products or services, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in our SEC filings. Statements included in this release are based upon information known to SupportSoft as of the date of this release, and SupportSoft assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release.
For Inquiries:
Jennifer Massaro
SupportSoft
650.556.8596
jennifer.massaro@supportsoft.com
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