etalk Announces a New Integrated eLearning Application for Contact Centers

Expert™ delivers continuous agent education through Web-based training programs, increasing agent effectiveness, productivity and retention

13th Annual Call Center, Las Vegas, NV - February 11, 2003 e-talk Corporation, the global leader of performance impact solutions, today announced its new integrated eLearning solution, etalk Expert. Expert seamlessly interacts with etalk Advisor™, allowing contact center managers to link eLearning directly to performance evaluations. Expert is an integral component of etalk´s suite of Performance IMPACT solutions designed to create a cycle of quality improvement in the contact center. Expert also impacts agent effectiveness through:

• Foundation and Performance Training - According to a recent Yankee Group study agent training is one of the biggest challenges contact centers face. Expert facilitates an effective blended training program for newly hired agents. Combining Expert´s flexible eLearning tools with classroom instruction significantly reduces ramp up time for new agents. Additionally, Expert simplifies the delivery of ongoing training programs such as product and service updates, legal issues or other hot topics, skills training and professional development courses.

• Ongoing Performance Measuring and Coaching - Expert provides simple measurement criteria by allowing managers and supervisors to test the agent´s ability to recall and implement course information. Expert´s innovative quiz feature can be used to help improve coaching techniques by incorporating coaching comments directly into quiz answers.

• Maintaining Production - Expert delivers training directly to the agent´s desktop, which makes training easily accessible and allows agents to continue to be productive, especially during peak periods.

• Improving Analytical Capabilities and Implementing Agent Motivation - Customized reports within Expert allow contact center managers to monitor training, track effectiveness, view trend retention data and correlate data with other contact center metrics. Expert fosters the continuous improvement model and constantly challenges agents to enhance their performance through:

○ Automatic course delivery based on skill and performance levels

○ Supervisor delivery of courses based upon evaluation results

○ Manual delivery of courses based upon training program needs

○ Agent-initiated training to promote professional growth

The increasing number of companies seeking tools to improve business and agent performance today has received a welcome solution to their plight. “With the release of Expert, etalk has established an eLearning solution intended to provide constant tools needed to build skills and knowledge, resulting in improved agent performance,” said David Spindel, Datamonitor technology analyst.

Expert allows companies to deliver online learning directly to an agent´s desktop in a non-disruptive manner. Using the call center´s existing communications and technology infrastructure, training can be completed by agents during downtimes - making them virtually 100 percent productive and available for peak business cycles. By employing a browser-based system, Expert provides consistency from a single source of training content delivery and affords agents the opportunity to reference previously viewed courses for maximum training effectiveness. etalk Expert enables customer contact centers around the world to conduct efficient and effective ongoing training of contact center employees.

About Expert
Expert can be used in conjunction with etalk Advisor, etalk´s evaluation and analysis tool and includes a Windows-based authoring tool for custom content creation. Expert is licensed on a per student basis and ships with a complementary 5 user trial license of Advisor. etalk Expert will be available in February 2003. Please contact etalk sales for further information at 800-835-6357.

About etalk
etalk is a global leader of Maximum Performance Impact trade; solutions for enterprise contact centers. Since its inception in 1983, etalk solutions have been used to build valuable long-term customer relationships at more than 1,500 worldwide contact centers. The etalk suite of integrated solutions, including the Qfiniti trade;, JASS trade;, Recorder reg;, Advisor trade;, Expert trade; and Survey trade;, improve both customer service and the CRM decision-making process. Using his combination of etalk acute;s award-winning products and outstanding services, customer can design, implement and continually refine their quality program initiatives, achieving their overall business objectives. etalk operates in more than 40 countries through its Worldwide Business Partner Program. For more information, contact etalk at www.etalk.com.