CIOIN

LivePerson  will integrate its hosted software platform with the Genesys Customer Interaction Management (CIM) platform in an effort to significantly improve the integration between traditional contact centers and the web.

LivePerson is best known for its web platform, which maximizes online sales and revenue opportunities by proactively targeting the right visitor with the right message at the right time in order to affect a desired outcome. Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company   is the leading provider of customer service software, and brings together traditional contact centers with a wide range of interaction channels, including the web, fax, email and SMS/text messaging.

By joining LivePerson and Genesys together in Cross Channel Conversations consumers will be able to more easily move between communication channels without losing the context or intent of their transaction.  If they move from the web to voice, for example, a representative will see the history of the steps taken.  This means the allowing the customer never has to repeat steps or backtrack through their transaction.

Consumers often face similar challenges when it comes to on-line transactions, many of which directly relate to insufficient online assistance: incomplete transactions, the need to escalate the transaction to an agent and requirements for more than one channel of communication.

The integrated solution from LivePerson and Genesys gives customer service agents the ability to proactively engage with customers in real-time at the moment of opportunity - before consumers click away from the web site.  LivePerson's third-generation engagement solution monitors specific events such as web page click-through paths and the amount of time spent on a web page - clues that indicate a visitor's propensity to purchase - and applies business rules to trigger proactive invitations to these customers.  By proactively inviting on-line consumers to 'click-to-chat' and 'click-to-call,' companies can ensure their offers are presented to the right customers - visitors who meet pre-determined criteria - if an appropriate agent is available to take their chat or call.  Once an engagement is initiated it is routed by Genesys intelligent call routing to the right resource, the one with the most suitable expertise for meeting the needs of the customer or the one with the highest probability of making a sale. For example, the right resource might be a product expert or it could be an agent who is able to communicate in the customer's preferred mode of interaction, such as live chat or other channels such as telephone or SMS/text messaging.

Genesys recently launched an initiative to bring together all of the key technologies needed to serve the growing wave of consumers who interact across multiple channels.  The Genesys Cross Channel Conversations initiative includes identifying the gaps in customer interactions today and providing an integrated platform to serve as the hub of these interactions.

"Cross Channel Conversations is an important initiative that we are proud to support," said Robert LoCascio, CEO of LivePerson. "Genesys is clearly a leader in customer service, providing a critical platform for many of the world's largest banks, telecommunications, technology and consumer companies that want to enable a better online customer experience.  With this integration LivePerson removes a barrier to customer service and, at the same time, extends our own market reach."

"The LivePerson integration is a significant step that we expect will improve the customer experience consumers have across communication channels," said Nicolas De Kouchkovsky, president of Genesys. "Customers benefit by having experts available to assist with any part of a transaction, while a unified console and visitor queue allows agents to more easily handle chat and telephone interactions.  The integration is a visible sign of our momentum with Cross Channel Conversations."

"There is tremendous potential to exploit this integration in the India context given the scale & potential of our mobile growth coupled with major national and state level e-governance initiatives being planned and rolled out, " said Shamsheer Ahmed, MD of Genesys, India. "I would say our leading mobile service providers and financial institutions can derive tremendous benefit by delivering a highly differentiated online experience. "