BEDFORD, Mass., July 21, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- SoundBite Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:SDBT) today announced the Intelligent Communications Platform for Collections. The on-demand solution incorporates field-proven technology to help organizations maximize profits, accelerate the recovery of debt, and mitigate risk. In addition, the company introduced a new set of platform features aimed at increasing agent productivity and enabling virtual contact center operations for collections.
"SoundBite's Intelligent Communications Platform for Collections changes the game in a radical way," said Frost & Sullivan Strategic Analyst Michael DeSalles, author of the 2007 North American Outbound Dialing Market Report. "While, in the past, on-premise solutions have enjoyed the lion's share of the market, this new SoundBite functionality is one of the key reasons that we believe that hosted solutions show greater promise for expansion and market acceptance; perhaps even taking significant share away from on-premise solutions in 2008 and beyond."
"We've been using SoundBite for more than three years and it continues to provide us with a superior solution and first-class client service," said Ron Langford, Chief Operating Officer at Client Services, a leading accounts receivable management company. "Our long-term use of SoundBite and its hands-on approach to client management has enabled us to optimize our campaign results."
New Features Designed to Increase Agent Productivity, Provide Greater Control of Agents
The enhanced Intelligent Communications Platform for Collections incorporates features in demand from collections agencies and collections departments of Fortune 1000 companies.
- Virtual Contact Center Operations Using SoundBite's Agent Skill Group capabilities, organizations can more easily leverage dispersed agents across their entire enterprise and place their best agents on their best accounts. Ultimately, this can result in higher agent utilization and productivity. - Hold Queue and FastConnect The SoundBite Hold Queue and FastConnect features can improve agent utilization through increased direct connect success rates and reduced hold times, resulting in increased agent productivity, more right-party conversations, and a positive customer experience. These features eliminate ring time and hold times associated with dialing an agent which in turn reduces abandon rates of these important calls. - Visibility into Agent Performance SoundBite's Contact Center Control Panel offers managers with greater transparency into on-going campaigns including more detailed reports with key performance indicators such as average hold time. Managers can register and schedule agents and also view the status of individual agents, including real-time information on the current contact if the agent is busy.
Optimizing Collections Results
The SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform for Collections is the only integrated, multi-channel communications platform designed to accommodate the growing needs of collections agencies and collections departments of Fortune 1000 companies. The scalable, hosted solution has been designed to provide a number of unique advantages and tools to improve results including:
- Real-time visibility and control of campaigns across the enterprise through SoundBite's Enterprise Manager - Continual optimization of campaign results using predictive and performance analytics - Robust risk mitigation tools including real-time number suppression, state compliance and PCI compliance - Fully-automated payment transactions and real-time reporting through SoundBite's Payment IVR - Free-to-end-user text messaging to more than 80% of the U.S. wireless population - Customized campaign strategies based on escalations strategies, channel optimization, contact ordering, multiple contact attempts, and reusable templates.
"Today's credit environment is challenging collections agencies to be more innovative and strategic to grow the bottom line. By packaging our domain expertise with this impressive array of collections-specialized features, we are delivering a truly robust solution that enables these organizations to succeed," said Matt Edmunds, General Manager for Collections at SoundBite.
Availability
The SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform for Collections is generally available today.
About SoundBite Communications
SoundBite Communications provides on-demand, integrated multi-channel communications solutions that enable clients to achieve superior business results. Building on its foundation as a leading provider of automated voice messaging services, SoundBite offers integrated voice, text and email messaging solutions that help clients deliver the right message, to the right customer, using the right channel, at the right time. Organizations in industries such as collections, financial services, retail, telecom and media, and utilities rely on the SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform to send over a billion messages annually for collections, customer care, and sales and marketing applications. For more information, visit www.soundbite.com.
SoundBite is a registered service mark of SoundBite Communications, Inc.