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Jointly conceived and developed by eGain and its blue-chip customers, eGain Service7.6 suite includes nine new applications and directly addresses the mindset oftodayÂ's consumers, who expect choice of communication channels and superior servicequality when interacting with their favorite brands. The software suite combinesdeep knowledge management and process automation tools with a rich set ofapplications for managing the ever-growing volume of interactions throughtraditional as well as emerging communication channels. The CIH approach centralizeschannel management, knowledge bases, business rules, and analytical engines in oneplace, and drastically reduces the cost of managing multiple channels whileimproving customer experience and process efficiencies.
eGainÂ's new suite is the first to support short message service (SMS) customerservice interactions, as well as next-generation web self-service, chat, cobrowsing,email, fax, postal mail, notification management, call tracking and resolution,knowledge management, and service fulfillment.
eGain Service 7.6 is built on eGain CIHÂ Platform, the industryÂ's mostcomprehensive, integrated, and flexible customer interaction hub platform. Based ona 100% J2EE architecture, it includes out-of-the-box integration with leadingbusiness applications, content management systems, and call center infrastructuresolutions. The fine-grained service-oriented architecture of the platform enablesrapid development of powerful custom applications.
 To gain competitive differentiation during the next five years, leading enterpriseswill invest in building a customer interaction hub, said Esteban Kolsky, ResearchDirector at Gartner.  The CIH model enables the business to learn and meet or exceedcustomer expectations across all communication channels.Â
Penn Foster Career School, one of the oldest and largest distance learninginstitutions in the world, has recently implemented eGain Service 7.6. Currentlyused by more than 60 agents, the solution has already enabled the institution toreduce response times by half. Furthermore, Penn Foster expects to handle a 50%increase in customer service traffic while curbing service costs. The school is alsousing the software to automate service processes involving subject matter experts,within and outside the contact center, when student inquiries require resolutionthat extends beyond the initial interaction. As part of its customer interaction hubvision, it plans to implement the chat and web self-service solutions in eGainService 7.6 to further improve the quality of interactions with students.
"We are committed to meeting the lifelong learning needs of adults," said Rob Bruno,Vice President of IT at Penn Foster Career School. "eGain Service 7.6 will enable usto provide prompt and effective service to our student base. This service level,together with the quality of our education offerings, will help ensure that we arethe preferred institution for distance learning."
New applications in eGain Service 7.6
Self-service
 eGain MessageCenterÂ: Enables secure communication of sensitive informationthrough email between the customer and the business, and enables customers to viewall their interactions through an authenticated website.
Assisted service
 eGain AdviserÂ: Empowers agents whether they are novice, expert, in-house, oroutsourced to handle complex customer interactions that entail not onlyinformational and transactional customer service, but also contextual upsell andcross-sell, follow-on service fulfilment, and value-added advice throughconversations that are compliant with regulations and corporate best practices. Thesolution includes a highly flexible user interface, integrated workflow, andinteractive process guidance, powered by eGainÂ's Inference reasoning engine, aproven technology used by enterprises for over 15 years. eGain CallTrackÂ: Provides phone call logging, tracking, resolution, and follow-onservice fulfillment. eGain SMEÂ: Allows customer service agents to collaborate with subject matterexperts (SMEs) within and outside the contact center to speedily respond to aninquiry. eGain SMSÂ: Provides a flexible system for managing customer interactions donethrough SMS, an increasingly popular channel of interaction.
Process automation
 eGain AutoClassifyÂ: Helps companies shorten the turnaround time on inquiries byintelligently classifying and routing incoming emails and other inquiries. Thesolution uses eGainÂ's Inference reasoning engine for more advanced and robustclassification of inquiries than simple keyword matching. eGain AutoWorkflowÂ: Works with eGain Workflow Engine and eGain Adapters toexecute service processes that do not need human involvement.  eGain NotifyÂ: Helps manage and deliver event-based reminders, alerts, and updatesat any stage of a customer transaction or the overall customer lifecycle. eGain SurveyÂ: Helps contact centers, ecommerce sites, and customer portalssolicit and act on customer feedback to improve and grow customer relationships.
 eGain continues to win deals on the strength of its platform and an increasinglyprocess-centric message, writes Chip Gliedman, VP of CRM Research at Forrester. The vendorÂ's attention to business processes has made it a leader in eServiceprocess orientation and it is winning deals, particularly in Europe, where modelingand executing processes are key deal attributes. (The Forrester Wave: eServiceSuites Q2 2006, Forrester Research, Inc., May 2006).
 eGain has delivered a series of industry-firsts over the last decade, and wecontinue that tradition with eGain Service 7.6, the most complete customerinteraction hub solution available in the market today, said Ashu Roy, CEO ofeGain.  A direct result of our collaboration with leading clients, who are at theforefront of customer service innovation, the solution can enable any enterprise todifferentiate itself through stand-out customer service.Â
Immediately available on a worldwide basis, eGain Service 7.6 can be deployedon-demand or on-premise. Details on the solution are available athttp://www.egain.com/produc ts/index.asp.
About eGain eGain (OTCBB: EGAN.OB) is a leading provider of customer service and contact centersoftware for on-premise or on-demand deployment. Trusted by prominent enterprisesworldwide, eGain has been helping organizations achieve and sustain customer serviceexcellence for more than a decade. 24 of the 50 largest global companies rely oneGain to transform their traditional call centers, help desks, and web customerservice operations into multichannel customer interaction hubs. These hubs enabledramatically improved customer experience, unified multichannel customer service,end-to-end service process efficiencies, and enhanced contact center performance.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, eGain has an operating presence in 18countries and serves over 800 enterprise customers worldwide. To find out more abouteGain, visit www.eGain.com or call the company's offices: 800-821-4358 (UnitedStates), 1753-464646 (UK and rest of Europe).
eGain, the eGain logo, Inference, and all other eGain product names and slogans aretrademarks or registered trademarks of eGain Communications Corp. in the UnitedStates and/or other countries. All other company names and products mentioned inthis release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.
Media ContactsCarlos MangandyThe Hoffman Agency for eGainTel: 408-975-3004Email: cmangandy@hoffman.com
Maeve Naughton eGain Communications CorporationTel: 650-230-7449Email: pr@egain.com
