Released on: March 11, 2008, 6:05 am

Press Release Author: eGain Communications

Industry: Software

Press Release Summary: 68% of North American businesses get "below average" or
"poor" scores in assessment of single-channel, cross-channel, and cross-agent
customer service, as measured by a new holistic metric, Service QuotientT (SQ)

Press Release Body:

Mountain View, Calif. (March 11, 2008): In a new market study, eGain Communications
Corporation (OTC BB: EGAN.OB), a leading provider of multichannel customer service
and knowledge management software for in-house or on-demand SaaS deployment, found
that
North American enterprises are significantly under-performing in customer service.
Companies benchmarked included 120 leading businesses in the U.S. and Canada with
over $250 million in annual revenue across the financial services, communications,
retail, consumer electronics, insurance, and travel sectors.

Conducted during 2007-2008, eGain's "2008 State of Customer Service" research makes
a comprehensive assessment of the state of customer service. In the study, eGain
evaluates the "customer service IQ" of companies with "SQ," a new metric that uses a
multidimensional framework to measure the customer service competence of companies.
The following dimensions were evaluated as part of the research:

. Choice of communication channels: The choice of interaction channels offered is
important as consumers and business customers continue to adopt new channels such as
chat and web collaboration to complement traditional ones like the phone. This is
measured by the Choice QuotientT

. Email customer service: Email is second only to the phone in interaction volume.
The study measures email responsiveness as well as the quality of responses with the
Email QuotientT.

. Web self-service: While web self-service usage has continued to increase, many
industry studies show that customer satisfaction with self-service is not where it
needs to be. Inability to find information through web self-service and to
seamlessly escalate to agent-assisted service continues to be significant barriers
to self-service adoption. Self-Service QuotientT measures the range of information
access options in web self-service, ease of escalation, and responsiveness to
escalated requests.

. Multichannel consistency: Customers are increasingly using multiple channels to
communicate with businesses and, often, to complete a single transaction. They
expect consistency of answers and service processes across channels, which is
measured by the Multichannel QuotientT metric.

. Multi-agent consistency: Customers often contact multiple agents to get answers to
questions or resolve issues. They expect consistency of answers and service
processes across agents, which is measured by the Multi-agent QuotientT metric.

These dimensional metrics or sub-quotients were then abstracted to an overall
Service Quotient (SQ), on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0, for each of the companies that
were assessed as well as for each industry sector and the overall market. The
sub-quotient and SQ scores were then categorized as \"poor,\" \"below average,\" \"above
average,\" or \"exceptional.\"**


"Automation and consolidation of channels are the top issues for customer
interactions and a critical requirement for business differentiation through
customer service," said Johan Jacobs, Research Director at Gartner. "Bringing in and
supporting new channels with minimal cost is the "number one" priority for the next
five years. By focusing on designing around the customer, services and channels can
be managed through a customer interaction hub (CIH) approach in order to present a
unified customer experience across all the channels."


"Companies continue to struggle with satisfying consumers across
channels-particularly online. Current problems primarily exist because of companies\'
silo approach toward managing customer interactions," said Zach McGeary, lead
analyst at JupiterResearch. "Consumers\' propensity to re-contact after inquiry
resolution failure cannot be ignored or reactively handled. Service organizations
must consistently unify measurement, technology, and process across all touch
points."


Cross-industry findings:

. SQ for the overall market was 4.1 out of 10.0 with 68 percent of the companies in
the "poor" or "below average" performance categories.
. Only 2 percent of the enterprises received "exceptional" SQ scores.
. A stunning 60 percent of the companies received a "poor" or "below average" score
in the Multichannel Quotient and 46 percent received a "poor" or "below average"
rating in the Multi-agent Quotient.
. 28 percent did not respond to email inquiries. Although 50 percent responded
within 24 hours, the quantity of "poor" responses went up from 14 percent to 20
percent, compared to previous research conducted in 2004.


Other findings:

. Service Quotient (SQ): The consumer electronics sector performed the best, albeit
with a "below average" score of 4.6 out of 10.0, while the travel sector performed
the worst with a score of 3.6.
. Choice Quotient: The consumer electronics sector came in first again with a score
of 2.4 out of 4.0, and the financial services sector came in last with a score of
1.6.
. Email Quotient: The insurance, communications, and consumer electronics sectors
performed the best, all with a score of 1.5. The financial services sector performed
the worst with a score of 1.0.
. Self-service Quotient: The consumer electronics sector came in first with a score
of 2.1, while the insurance and financial services sectors were both last with
scores of 1.3.
. Multichannel Quotient: The financial services sector posted the best performance
with a score of 1.9, whereas the retail sector scored a shocking 0.9 out of 4.0 with
60 percent of the companies receiving a "poor" rating.
. Multi-agent Quotient: The financial services sector posted the top performance
with a score of 2.2, and the travel sector came in last with 1.5.

"Customer service is fast becoming a critical competence that businesses need to
acquire and exploit for competitive advantage," said Ashu Roy, CEO of eGain. "While
the study raises concerns about the service competence of North American businesses,
there are technologies and best practices that can help companies take their SQ to
new levels."



** Rating system

Sub-quotients based on a scale of 0.0-4.0:
Score < 1.0: Poor
Score > = 1.0 and < 2.0: Below average
Score > = 2.0 and < 3.0: Above average
Score > = 3.0 and < = 4.0: Exceptional

Overall Service Quotient based on a scale of 0.0-10.0:
Score < 2.5: Poor
Score > = 2.5 and < 5.0: Below average
Score > = 5.0 and < 7.5: Above average
Score > = 7.5 and < = 10.0: Exceptional

About eGain
eGain (OTC BB: EGAN.OB) is a leading provider of multichannel customer service and
knowledge management software for in-house or on-demand SaaS deployment. For more
than a decade, the world\'s largest companies have relied on eGain to transform their
traditional call centers, help desks, and web customer service operations into
multichannel customer interaction hubs. Based on the Power of OneT, the concept of
one unified platform for multichannel customer interaction and knowledge management,
these hubs enable dramatically improved customer experience, end-to-end service
process efficiencies, increased sales, and enhanced contact center performance.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, eGain has an operating presence in 18
countries and serves more than 800 enterprise customers worldwide. To find out more
about eGain, visit www.eGain.com or call the company\'s offices: 800-821-4358 (US
headquarters), 1753-464646 (UK and Continental Europe).

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eGain, the eGain logo, and all other eGain product names and slogans are trademarks
or registered trademarks of eGain Communications Corp. in the United States and/or
other countries. All other company names and products mentioned in this release may
be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.

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eGain media contact
Connie Pheng
Phone: 650-230-7449
Email: pr@egain.com



Web Site: http://www.egain.com

Contact Details:
eGain media contact
Connie Pheng
Phone: 650-230-7449
Email: pr@egain.com