Customer Service Leaders Genesys and RightNow Deliver Integrated Solution for Customer Interaction Management, Voice Self-Service and Multi-Channel Contact

  • Genesys and RightNow Create Seamless Customer Experience Across the Internet and Contact Centre

Wokingham, May 1, 2007 - RightNow® Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), today announced they have tightly integrated their customer service application suites and will deliver a joint offering available by the end of May. The joint solution, which expands the existing relationship between Genesys and RightNow, brings together the Internet and contact centre, and will allow companies to use the complete Genesys 7.5 customer interaction management suite, including voice self-service, routing and desktop integration, with RightNow. RightNow and Genesys will co-sell the solution.  

With the joint solution, consumers can engage with companies through the web or voice self-service, and then seamlessly transition to agent-assisted service while maintaining the context of their initial interaction. If a consumer is engaged in a self-service session and opts for agent assistance, this solution automatically selects the best agent to assist the customer at any point in time, and provides that agent with the customer's history and context of his or her self-service session. Because the agent is armed with complete customer information via a multi-channel agent desktop, they can also maximise cross- and up-sell opportunities while delivering consistently relevant customer service.

"The bar is being raised in customer service, and customers want a seamless experience across the Internet and the contact centre," said Wes Hayden, president and CEO of Genesys. "We are excited to be working with RightNow to offer companies an easy way to connect RightNow's next-generation CRM solution with Genesys customer interaction solutions. It helps enterprises migrate to an on - demand model and deliver the stellar customer experiences that can increase customer loyalty and drive revenue."

To enable the integration, RightNow has created an adapter for Genesys 7.5. The pre-built adapter simplifies the integration, minimising deployment time and cost. The integration provided by RightNow also allows agents to easily transfer calls and associated data to other agents from within the RightNow Service desktop. A click-to-dial feature lets agents place outbound calls from within the RightNow Service desktop interface by selecting a customer contact phone number and clicking their mouse to dial. The integration also supports analytical reporting of agent performance, including agent activity, availability and call duration data that can be viewed by both agents and managers via customisable dashboards within the agent desktop.

"Genesys is clearly the industry leader in customer interaction management with a major market presence. Our relationship with Genesys underscores the prevalence of on- demand CRM in the enterprise," said Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow. "As our solutions continue to gain traction in large contact centres, our clients requested sophisticated interoperability with customer interaction management solutions. By working with Genesys, we are able to help companies deliver exceptional customer experiences."

About RightNow Technologies
RightNow (NASDAQ: RNOW) delivers the high-impact technology solutions and services organisations need to cost-efficiently deliver a consistently superior customer experience across their frontline service, sales and marketing touch-points. Approximately 1,800 corporations, government agencies and learning institutions worldwide depend on RightNow to achieve their strategic objectives and better meet the needs of those they serve. RightNow is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. For more information, please visit www.rightnow.com.

RightNow is a registered trademark of RightNow Technologies, Inc. NASDAQ is a registered trademark of the NASDAQ Stock Market.

About Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.
Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, is the only company that focuses 100 per cent on software to manage customer interactions over the phone, web and in e-mail. The Genesys software suite dynamically connects customers with the right resources - self-service or assisted-service - to fulfill customer requests, optimise customer care goals and efficiently use resources. Genesys software directs more than 100 million customer interactions every day for 4,000 companies and government agencies in 80 countries. These companies and agencies can leverage their entire organisation, from the contact centre to the back office, to improve the overall customer experience. As a result, Genesys helps stop customer frustration, drive efficiency, and accelerate business innovation. For more information, go to www.genesyslab.com or visit the industry blog at www.betterinteractions.com

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications, and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move. With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organisations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent achieved adjusted proforma revenues of Euro 18.3 billion in 2006 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. [All figures exclude impact of activities transferred to Thales]. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: www.alcatel-lucent.com

Media Contacts:
Lucille Jackson, Genesys, 0118 974 7144, ljackson@genesyslab.co.uk
Duncan Burford, UK PR for Genesys, 01780 721 433, dburford@iba-europe.com

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Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1994.  
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

The risks and uncertainties referred to above include, but are not limited to, risks associated with our business model, including recent changes we made to our model; our success in co-selling a joint offering with Genesys; our ability to develop or acquire, and gain market acceptance for new products in a cost-effective and timely manner; the market success of our recently released RightNow 8 product; the gain or loss of key customers; competitive pressures; our ability to expand operations; fluctuations in our earnings as a result of the impact of stock-based compensation expense; our ability to successfully retain customers of Salesnet, Inc. and to integrate Salesnet's products and processes following our recent acquisition of that company; interruptions or delays in our hosting operations; breaches of our security measures; our ability to protect our intellectual property from infringement, and to avoid infringing on the intellectual property rights of third parties; and our ability to expand, retain and motivate our employees and manage our growth.  Further information on potential factors that could affect our financial results is included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports of Form 10-Q, and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made.  We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.


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