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WebEx Announces On-Demand Contact Center Product
TMCnet Contributing Editor
WebEx, a vendor of software-as- a-service business applications, has launched WebEx Remote Support, what company officials describe as "a comprehensive contact center support solution with an automated intelligent routing system and click-to-connect support capabilities."
They're jumping into a pretty warm pool -- according to market analyst firm Datamonitor, the contact center technology market is expected to grow 30 percent a year reaching $4.7 billion by 2009. On-demand products such as WebEx's Remote Support entry, are driving what are known as "virtual" contact centers with geographically dispersed agents. Cuts down on your overhead when your call center agent uses her own lights, drinks her own Diet Coke and isn't called to work except as needed.
WebEx Remote Support is designed to let companies route requests efficiently and deliver web-based support for issue resolution and more targeted resource allocation, the hope being that it'll result in overall increased customer satisfaction.
WebEx Remote Support can be used as a stand-alone contact center solution or integrate seamlessly with applications to add click-to-connect capabilities to existing resources.
A part of WebEx Support Center, WebEx Remote Support delivers call center functionality using an Internet-based console, giving end-users a portal for access to support agents. Via a click- to- connect button, support requests are dispensed to appropriate agents using skill-based routing and "intelligent distribution."
(Evidently the concept of "stupid distribution" never caught on in a big way. Probably a branding issue.)
In late July WebEx reported second quarter earnings down from last year. The Santa Clara, California-based provider of Web conferencing systems reported GAAP net income for the second quarter of $10.7 million or $0.22 per share, compared to $13.9 million or $0.29 per share for the year-ago quarter.
Excluding stock option expenses and certain expenses associated with the acquisition of Intranets.com, Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2006 was $17.1 million or $0.34 per share in the prior year period.
WebEx said revenue for the second quarter increased 23% to $92.86 million from $75.33 million in the same quarter last year. Eighteen analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $93.03 million for the company's second quarter.
About a week ago the company launched a new version of WebEx Presentation Studio, a software-as-a-service product for users to create and deliver business content and communications over the web.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page.
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