Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, February 20th, 2007 - Altitude Software, a global technology leader of contact centre solutions for Unified Customer Interaction™ (uCI), today announced that Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. a fast-growing outsourcing provider in Saudi Arabia, has implemented the Altitude uCI solution to boost the performance of its contact centre located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The project is with Electronic Solution House (ESH), a leading contact centre specialist in the Middle East and a certified Altitude Software partner since 2001. Altitude uCI is a Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solution that enables organizations to improve contact centre productivity while increasing customer retention and revenue generation. Altitude uCI provides a full blended support for voice (inbound and outbound), IVR, email, Web collaboration and chat.

Founded in 2005, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. is a fast-growing outsourcing contact centre for all inbound customer service and support, outbound lead generation, telemarketing, SMS, fax and web chatting. It is a joint venture of two giant business groups in Saudi Arabia, namely Al Khaleej Training & EducationAl Khaleej Training & Education and Al-Alamiah Training & Education. Smart LinkSmart Link's client list already includes prominent organizations in the Kingdom such as NCB, National Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP), Saudi SCT, Sama, Fursan Travel and Bank Albilad. "At Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc., we focus on the relationship building aspect of working with our clients, while utilizing next-generation and proven contact centre technology. World-class contact centre outsourcing service is, and will remain, our main goal," said Safwan Al-Khatib, Executive Director, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc.

"Our objective is to be the Middle East's number one contact centre outsourcing provider, offering service at world standards of quality," commented Badr O. Al Nasser, CEO, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. "Therefore, it is essential that we enable our contact centre teams with strong reporting, supervision and 100% customizable tools which allow Smart LinkSmart Link to provide the level of care our customers have come to expect from us."

With scheduled 24/7 CRM outsourcing operations, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. needed a robust contact centre system that could easily support high-volume contact management across multiple channels. "We evaluated the major contact centre vendors present in the Middle East, and Altitude Software with their local partner ESH clearly distinguished themselves with the Altitude uCI solution; We found Altitude uCI really unique in the industry for its unified architecture, with a single configuration database, single language and single design editor. These characteristics allow us to shorten time to market and further reduce our operational costs," commented Muhammed Ali Jabbar, e-Business Solutions Manager, Smart LinkSmart Link. "Altitude's responsive and extensive technical support in Saudi Arabia through their partner ESH was also a major factor in our choice," he added.

The biggest contract ever in the Saudi Contact Center Outsourcing industry by a Government Department

One recent major contract won by Smart LinkSmart Link is with The Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT). The Saudi SCT wishes to support the tourism inside the Kingdom through the "Tourism Phone" project by providing free services for both the tourists and the tourism services providers. The "Tourism Phone" project allows the tourists to utilize free services all around the year by using the toll free number (800-755-0000) to receive updated information about the festivals, cultural activities and tourist packages in collaboration with many local entities such as hotels, travel agencies, restaurants, airlines, car rentals, banks and pilgrimage service providers. "This project is the biggest contract ever in the Saudi Contact Center industry by a Government Department," commented Muhammed Ali Jabbar.

Another key contact centre outsourcing project recently inked by Smartlink is with the National Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP), a division of King Abdul Aziz City for Science & Technology, for their Energy Efficiency Survey program. Smart LinkSmart Link was selected because of its intensive experience in the field of Call Centers and being technologically one of the most advanced call centers in KSA. The survey will be conducted by a professional team of Tele Surveyors within Smart LinkSmart Link. The National Energy Efficiency Program is a project designed to increase awareness of efficient energy usage among residents of Saudi Arabia. The main target is to survey all sectors within the Kingdom, such as the Industrial, Commercial and Residential Sectors, and find out the energy usage trends.

To support its fast-paced growth in the Middle East, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. has implemented core modules within the IP-enabled Altitude uCI solution, including Altitude Voice, a voice management application that provides intelligent handling of inbound and outbound calls and seamlessly synchronizes relevant data with each call through CTI (Computer Telephony Integration).

Another module, Altitude Script Developer, enables the Saudi outsourcing company to customize agents front-office for every single business campaign handled by the Riyadh-based contact centre; Scripts guide agents through dialogs with customers, while managing contacts, controlling interactions, and updating databases.

Besides, the Altitude uCI solution increases customer satisfaction with proactive customer service features and flexible voice self-service applications. It provides Smart LinkSmart Link managers with the tools to centrally design and deliver flexible service-delivery models that profit from increased agent productivity.

"We are thrilled to be working with Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. to help the company support its fast-growing contact centre outsourcing operations in the GCC," said Riadh Boukhris, Altitude Software vice President Middle East & North Africa. "Using Altitude's unique scripting development tool and IP-enabled contact centre management platform, Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. can swiftly customize CRM campaigns that generate positive results and deliver exceptional customer experiences."

Altitude Software has an outstanding record in supplying contact centre outsourcing companies worldwide with specialised products and proven methodologies designed to drive a sound return on investment.

Let's take the example of Brazil, which has recently been ranked by Datamonitor as the fastest growing contact center market in the world. In this country, Altitude Software solutions are now in use by the majority of the top 10 contact center outsourcing companies by revenue and agent positions, including companies such as Contax, CSU, Dedic, Teleperformance, TMKT and Voxline. The Middle East & Africa region is following that global trend with the largest and most profitable contact centre outsourcing operations today powered by Altitude uCI, from Saudi Arabia to Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Iran, Bahrain and the UAE. "While the outsourcing market in Western Europe and North America is well advanced, there are as well significant opportunities in the MEA region. For instance, the whole GCC along with North Africa hold tremendous promise for new outsourcing contracts, specifically in financial services, national governments and telcos," added Boukhris.

"Managing multi-channel customer interactions continues to be an important focus area as Middle Eastern companies look to differentiate themselves from competitors," explained Yasser Aoudi, ESH Managing Director. "Industry experts are predicting strong demand for customer interaction management solutions in MENA. ESH and Altitude Software are already largely established in the region, and we look forward to reinforce our presence throughout 2007."

-Ends-

About Altitude Software
Altitude Software is a leading independent contact centre vendor with the Altitude Unified Customer Interaction™ (Altitude uCI) product line. Altitude uCI manages and improves customer relationships for each new interaction in a wide range of contact centres, from SMEs to large multisite organisations.

Altitude uCI is a cost-effective application suite conceived to improve the overall productivity of the contact centre. Since Altitude uCI was engineered to integrate easily with enterprise front office and back-office systems, Altitude uCI delivers significant cost benefits, revenue benefits, and intangible benefits with a limited upfront investment. Altitude uCI not only allows users to achieve return on investment in a limited time frame, but also provides a successful solution to their customer interaction and organisational efficiency strategies. Altitude Software serves around 700 customers of all sizes (with more than 150.000 licenses) in about 60 countries worldwide, both directly and through a wide network of partners. Altitude Software has 12 Offices in four continents. Please visit us at www.altitude.com.

About ESH (Electronic Solution House)
Electronic Solution House (ESH) is a leading contact centre specialist in the Middle East and a certified Altitude Software partner in the region. The core activities of ESH are CRM consulting, contact centre project management, custom software development and systems integration. Founded in 2001, ESH can look back to a large number of successful Altitude-enabled contact centre projects within various vertical market segments in the entire Middle East region. Banking enterprises, outsourcing providers, telecom and public sector institutions are among the organisations which optimised customer relations and interaction with ESH as their contact centre implementation partner. Please visit us at www.esh-me.com

About Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc.
Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc. is a subsidiary of Al-Khaleej Training & Education, the largest network of training centers in Saudi Arabia. Smart LinkSmart Link is one of the biggest outsourcing call centers in the region with state-of-the-art technology and capacity to accommodate high volume of agents.

Please visit us at www.smartlink.com.sa

For more information:
Altitude Software MENA
Jose Duarte;
Phone: +971 50 553 27 90;
jose.duarte@altitude.com

Smart LinkSmart Link, Inc
Muhammed Ali Jabbar;
Tel: 9200 29999;
Intl: +966(1) 4532749;
jabbar@smartlink.com.sa
ESH (Electronic Solution House)
Yasser Aoudi; Tel 966-1-406 8255 ;
yasser@esh-me.com

© Press Release 2007

 

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