InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

The software enables customer-service representatives to efficiently respond to customer inquiries, as well as help marketing teams deploy E-mail advertising campaigns based on customer profiles and track the response of these efforts, according to Talisma. For example, when URLs are added to outbound E-mail offers, Talisma can track which customers have clicked on those addresses. The vendor has entered into a relationship with Exodus Communications Inc. to offer its E-service, E-marketing, and E-sales capabilities on secure servers at prices starting at about $4,000 per user, plus a one-time setup fee of $10,000.

Access Authority, a telecom service provider, uses Talisma Enterprise edition but plans to implement the hosted version at its headquarters in Sunrise, Fla. Grant Edick, director of customer service for Access, says that after a few rough spots, the software has done a great job increasing productivity by collecting inquiries and distributing them to service reps based on their workloads, locations, and expertise. At first, "it kept assigning cases to representatives who were out, but Talisma's support has been phenomenal," he says.

Gartner Group research director Joe Outlaw says there's still room to grow. Says Outlaw, "Down the road, Talisma will want to link its services to front-office apps that will let call-center users pull up customer files when necessary and keep them in a Siebel-type system."