SoundBite Introduces SoundBite Preview+ to Provide Contact Centers with Flexible Dialing Strategies to Address Cell Phone Regulations

Enables contact centers to seamlessly transition between dialing strategies for more effective and compliant customer outreach

 Bedford, Mass., November 1, 2011 ─ SoundBite Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: SDBT), a leading global provider of cloud-based, multi-channel proactive customer communications, today announced the immediate availability of SoundBite Preview+, a preview dialing enhancement to SoundBite’s Hosted Dialer offering on the SoundBite Engage Platform.  This provides contact centers with the necessary contact strategies to address regulations that limit the use of automated dialers for certain types of calls to mobile devices.  

SoundBite Preview+ requires the agent to manually launch a preview dial and allows the agent to work in a manual-like state.  As a result, contact centers now have the flexibility to re-introduce mobile devices into their dialing strategies and provide agents with an account preview of pertinent information prior to launching a call.  SoundBite Preview+ functionality provides immediate benefits to contact centers including: 

• Manual Launch: When a mobile phone number is identified, the agent must manually launch the outbound dialing attempt.  Preview+ is specifically designed to require manual intervention in the dialing process as opposed to using a timer that may count down and then launch a call automatically. 

• Enhanced Strategies: SoundBite’s flexible platform enables parallel call passes that seamlessly transition between preview and predictive dialing modes.  This is the most effective dialing strategy to take maximum advantage of permissible calling windows.  Alternatively, SoundBite can filter wireless numbers from a contact list for preview dialing.

• Secure Agent Interface: When a call is connected to a ready agent, the encrypted caller data is presented via the Agent Voice Portal, a secure web-based desktop application.  The agent can view the caller information, complete a call transfer or conference in a third party if needed, and disposition the outcome of the call using custom business rules.  Agent utilization and call disposition reports provide actionable insights into agent productivity and campaign performance.

“Organizations are looking at ways to maximize their outbound contact attempts while obeying the rules governing automated dialing to cell phones,” said John Tallarico, vice president of Product Management at SoundBite Communications.  “SoundBite Preview+ is designed to increase mobile phone awareness by requiring an agent to launch each preview attempt manually.  SoundBite Preview+ bridges the gap between current regulations and newly proposed legislation that would modernize the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.”   

Adoption of Cloud Communications

Many organizations have identified hosted or cloud-based communications as a primary method to lower costs in their operations while providing the greatest flexibility and capacity.  By 2016, cloud communications will grow by over 21 percent, reaching $8 billion in revenue, while the on-premise communications equipment market will grow only 4.3 percent, according to ABI Research.  

SoundBite’s Hosted Dialer is deployed across financial services, accounts receivables, telecom, retail and utility industries both domestically and internationally through direct and reseller channels.  Within the U.S., a top five credit card issuer, a top four wireless carrier, and one of the largest utilities use SoundBite’s Hosted Dialer in proactive customer communications strategies for marketing, customer care and collections.  

Multi-Channel Solution for Outbound Contact Centers

While today’s contact centers still rely on the voice channel for the majority of their outbound contact, many are quickly evolving to support a broad range of communications channels.  SoundBite prepares contact centers for the future while fulfilling their needs today.  

SoundBite offers an integrated, multi-channel offering to complement its hosted dialer.  As a result, contact centers can leverage a variety of communications channels from SoundBite Engage, the intelligent, multi-tenant cloud communications platform which also provides interactive text messaging, inbound IVR, and a full suite of pacing, CTI, and agent utilization tools.  

About SoundBite Communications

SoundBite Communications is a leading global provider of cloud-based, multi-channel proactive customer communications solutions designed to transform the way organizations communicate throughout the customer lifecycle to build trusted, lifelong and profitable relationships.  Clients can leverage SoundBite’s proactive customer communications offering and expertise in designing, executing and optimizing communications strategies to engage in relevant customer interactions that deliver long-term business value. Visit SoundBite.com for more information.

SoundBite is a registered service mark of SoundBite Communications, Inc.

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