Reel In Customers

Software lets users control browsers of Web site visitors

By Gregory Dalton

any companies use both a World Wide Web site and a telephone call center to reach their customers. WebLine 1.0, software introduced last week by WebLine Communications Corp., makes it easier for a company to use the two methods simultaneously to communicate with a customer.

WebLine 1.0 is a Java-based application that lets sales representatives take control of the browsers of users visiting their Web sites and dictate what pages the browser displays. This would let the sales reps, for example, lead customers through product demonstrations or software downloads. The idea is to inc rease the impact of each call placed to a support or sales center.

WebLine, in Burlington, Mass., says its customers include Internet search-engine-maker Verity Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., and ViewLogic Systems Inc., a supplier of electronic design automation software in Marlboro, Mass.

Four sales representatives at Course Technology in Cambridge, Mass., use WebLine to help distribute supplements and updates to computer-based training materials the company sells to colleges and corporations.

"We've found a pretty wide range of Web understanding and Web savvy" among customers, says Matt Kenslea, associate VP of sales at Course Technology. "To some we say, `The file is on the Web,' and off they go. Other folks need some handholding."

WebLine helps Course Technology handle those customers when they call by instructing them to point their Web browser to the company's site. Once there, the representative uses WebLine to lead customers to the download site while talking on the telephone.

No t True Integration
Though WebLine nudges the Web and the telephone a little closer together, it falls short of true integration of voice and data via a single connection. Several companies are developing technology that would make that possible, but it's not yet commercially viable. "I look at [WebLine] as an interim step until we have enough bandwidth and stability to have voice and data" together on the Internet, says Ken Landoline, area director at Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif.

Pricing for WebLine 1.0 server software starts at about $7,500.

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