New Product Spotlight

KANA Unveils Service Resolution Management to Slash Customer Support Costs

In the era of high‑ticket support calls and endless ticket queues, KANA’s newest Service Resolution Management (SRM) suite promises to cut costs and boost customer satisfaction. At the heart of the offering lies a tri‑layered architecture that covers the entire customer‑service lifecycle: self‑service, assisted service, and proactive service. Each layer targets a different pain point, and together they create a seamless experience that keeps customers in the loop while freeing up agent bandwidth for more complex issues.

The self‑service component, KANA Self‑Service, equips businesses with a unified portal that customers can access across web, mobile, and voice channels. The portal pulls data from CRM, order‑management, and knowledge‑base systems to deliver real‑time status updates, ticket histories, and troubleshooting guides. By giving users a single, intuitive interface to submit requests, track progress, and search for answers, KANA removes the friction that often leads to abandoned tickets and repeated calls. The portal’s multichannel design also means customers can start a request on a smartphone and finish it on a desktop without losing context, which reduces the number of touchpoints that agents need to handle.

Assisted Service, the second pillar, focuses on the agent’s side of the equation. It streams live, up‑to‑date knowledge into the agent’s interface as calls or chats unfold. Instead of agents toggling between multiple windows to find product specifications or escalation paths, all relevant information is displayed in a single view. The solution also includes intelligent routing rules that match customers to the most appropriate agent based on skill level, language, and prior interactions. When an agent has all the right data at the right moment, resolution times shrink and first‑contact resolution rates climb.

Proactive Service turns routine interactions into targeted outreach. Using data analytics, the platform schedules outbound messages that address known pain points before the customer needs to reach out. For example, if a certain order type is frequently delayed, the system can trigger an email notifying affected customers of the expected delivery date and offering a discount if they experience a delay. These proactive nudges not only reduce inbound inquiries but also demonstrate a brand’s attentiveness, translating into higher net promoter scores.

Together, the three modules create a closed loop that spans from the initial customer query to post‑resolution follow‑up. KANA reports show that early adopters of SRM have seen a 20–30% reduction in average handling time and a corresponding dip in support costs. Because the platform integrates natively with popular CRM and knowledge‑base solutions, many organizations can roll it out in a matter of weeks rather than months. For businesses looking to keep support teams lean without sacrificing service quality, KANA’s SRM presents a compelling solution that aligns with modern customer expectations.

Astute Solutions Teams Up With BenchmarkPortal for Call‑Center Excellence

Astute Solutions has announced a strategic partnership with BenchmarkPortal, a firm that specializes in benchmarking, certification, and satisfaction measurement for contact centers. The collaboration opens a new path for call centers to achieve the coveted Center of Excellence certification, a mark that signals superior performance and a commitment to continuous improvement. By integrating BenchmarkPortal’s audit methodology into its own consulting framework, Astute equips centers with a data‑driven roadmap to move from average to elite status.

BenchmarkPortal’s methodology begins with a comprehensive audit that evaluates key performance indicators such as average handle time, first‑contact resolution, customer effort score, and quality scorecards. The audit process employs a mix of automated call‑analytics tools, agent‑behavior monitoring, and direct customer surveys. Results are presented in a quadrant matrix that plots a center’s performance against industry standards. Centers that land in the upper‑right quadrant are positioned for Center of Excellence certification, a designation that can boost brand perception and unlock premium vendor relationships.

The partnership is especially valuable for mid‑market centers that may lack internal expertise in benchmarking. Astute Solutions provides hands‑on guidance, including the development of customized dashboards, real‑time KPI alerts, and coaching plans tailored to each agent’s strengths and gaps. Astute’s consultants also help centers interpret audit findings, set actionable targets, and measure progress over time. By aligning performance metrics with business goals, Astute ensures that improvement initiatives directly translate into higher revenue and lower churn.

Astute’s collaboration with BenchmarkPortal also taps into the academic rigor of Purdue University’s Center for Customer‑Driven Quality. The university’s research informs the audit framework, ensuring that the metrics used are statistically sound and predictive of customer loyalty. Centers that earn certification gain access to a global community of best practices, enabling them to benchmark against peers and stay ahead of industry trends.

In practice, a call center that engages with Astute and BenchmarkPortal typically undergoes a six‑week assessment cycle. First, an initial data‑collection phase gathers call recordings, survey results, and agent logs. Next, analysts run the data through BenchmarkPortal’s proprietary engine, which generates a detailed report and a customized improvement plan. Finally, Astute’s on‑site teams facilitate workshops that translate findings into actionable coaching scripts and process changes. Centers that follow this pathway often see a 15–20% lift in customer satisfaction scores and a measurable drop in operational costs.

NetIQ Launches WebTrends 7, A Visual Web‑Analytics Powerhouse

WebTrends 7, the latest release from NetIQ, redefines how businesses visualize and interpret web‑analytics data. Available as both a robust on‑premises solution and a cloud‑hosted service, WebTrends 7 offers a suite of visual tools that replace traditional tables with interactive graphics. These tools let marketers and analysts trace visitor paths, pinpoint drop‑off points, and identify conversion funnels without sifting through spreadsheets.

At the core of WebTrends 7’s visual engine is SmartView, a real‑time heat‑map generator that overlays traffic data onto a live snapshot of the website. This feature allows users to see, for example, which menu items attract the most clicks or which landing pages cause the highest bounce rates. By turning raw click data into color‑coded layers, SmartView provides immediate insight into user behavior that would otherwise require complex queries.

Another key component is the Visual Analytics feature, which creates dynamic charts that illustrate traffic flows from entry to exit. Instead of static pie charts, users now see animated flow diagrams that highlight the most common paths and the nodes where visitors leave. This visual storytelling makes it easier for non‑technical stakeholders to grasp complex patterns, enabling faster decision‑making. For example, a marketing director can instantly spot that a newly launched promotion page is underperforming because visitors are dropping off at the payment step.

WebTrends 7 also enhances its reporting engine with customizable dashboards that let teams track metrics such as time‑to‑connect, average session length, and conversion rates. The dashboards support drill‑down capabilities, so analysts can slice data by device, geography, or traffic source without leaving the visual interface. This level of granularity is critical for optimizing campaigns that span multiple channels.

The product is offered in three editions - Enterprise, Professional, and Small Business - each tailored to an organization’s scale and budget. The Enterprise edition includes advanced clustering algorithms that segment users by behavior, while the Professional edition offers streamlined setup and an intuitive drag‑and‑drop interface. Small Business customers gain access to essential analytics at a fraction of the cost, with the option to upgrade as their traffic volumes grow.

Since its launch, WebTrends 7 has helped a range of companies - from e‑commerce startups to global brands - tighten their conversion funnels and reduce marketing spend by up to 25%. The combination of visual analytics, real‑time dashboards, and flexible deployment options positions WebTrends 7 as a powerful ally for anyone looking to make sense of web traffic in an actionable way.

Empirix Introduces Baseline, A New Benchmark for Contact‑Center Automation

Empirix’s Baseline service offers a fresh way for contact‑center operators to measure and improve the performance of their automated systems. Built on the Voice Watch monitoring platform, Baseline simulates real‑world customer interactions by dialing into IVR menus and navigating through prompts just like a typical caller. As it does so, the system records every step, from initial greeting to transaction completion.

Each two‑week cycle, Empirix consultants compile the data into a comprehensive report that highlights both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Time‑to‑connect, time‑to‑greet, and menu response times are shown alongside more nuanced indicators such as speech‑recognition accuracy and transaction failure rates. These metrics give operators a detailed picture of where customers are experiencing friction and where the automated system is excelling.

Baseline’s strength lies in its ability to tie performance to business outcomes. By correlating transaction length and failure rates with customer satisfaction scores, managers can pinpoint which IVR flows require redesign. For instance, if the average transaction length spikes on a particular day, a deeper dive may reveal that a newly added menu option is confusing customers. Empirix can then recommend a redesign that streamlines the path and improves overall experience.

Beyond diagnostics, Baseline also supports predictive analytics. By feeding historical performance data into machine‑learning models, Empirix can forecast how changes to an IVR menu will affect future metrics. This forward‑looking capability lets contact‑center directors test hypotheses in a low‑risk environment before rolling out updates to live customers.

Many of Baseline’s early adopters have reported a 10–15% drop in average handle time and a measurable increase in first‑contact resolution after implementing the recommended changes. Because Baseline integrates with a wide range of IVR platforms - including Genesys, Cisco, and Avaya - organizations can adopt the service without overhauling their existing infrastructure. For contact centers that rely heavily on automation, Empirix Baseline offers a data‑driven path to higher quality and lower cost.

BlueRoads 5 Debuts a Real‑Time Channel‑Management Solution

BlueRoads has rolled out version 5 of its channel‑management platform, a tool designed to help marketing and sales teams navigate the complex landscape of indirect channels. The new release builds on the company’s legacy of closed‑loop processes, providing a real‑time view of partner performance and campaign effectiveness across a spectrum of distribution channels.

Central to BlueRoads 5 is its dynamic partner‑profiling engine. The system continuously ingests data from partner portals, CRM feeds, and sales reports to maintain up‑to‑date partner profiles that reflect performance, territory coverage, and historical sales trends. These profiles feed into the campaign‑management module, which allows marketers to target specific partner segments with tailored offers and content. By matching the right message to the right partner, BlueRoads helps businesses boost conversion rates while minimizing wasted spend.

The platform’s lead and opportunity management suite extends the partner relationship into the sales pipeline. As leads are generated through channel marketing activities, BlueRoads automatically assigns them to the most appropriate partner based on territory and product expertise. The system tracks the progress of each opportunity, flagging bottlenecks that could delay closing. Managers receive real‑time notifications when deals move stages, allowing them to intervene proactively.

Guided selling is another highlight of BlueRoads 5. By providing step‑by‑step prompts, the platform ensures that partners follow best‑practice scripts when engaging prospects. This consistency improves the likelihood of upsells and cross‑sells, which ultimately boosts revenue per partner. The new-account registration manager further smooths the onboarding process for new partners, automating approvals and credential distribution.

Beyond core functionality, BlueRoads 5 introduces a market‑development‑funded (MDF) and cooperative (COOP) manager. This module tracks the allocation and usage of marketing budgets across partner campaigns, ensuring that spend aligns with ROI expectations. The contract renewal manager also keeps partners on track by sending automated reminders and renewal options, reducing churn and maintaining steady revenue streams.

BlueRoads 5’s real‑time dashboards provide executives with a clear view of channel performance, including sales volume, campaign ROI, and partner compliance metrics. By integrating with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics, the platform offers a seamless experience that eliminates data silos. For organizations looking to optimize indirect sales channels, BlueRoads 5 offers a comprehensive, data‑driven toolkit that aligns marketing, sales, and partner management into a single, coherent workflow.

Databeacon Enhances Microsoft Analysis Services Integration

Databeacon has announced support for Microsoft Analysis Services, a development that unlocks new possibilities for mid‑market enterprises already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. By partnering with SQL Server Analysis Services, Databeacon empowers businesses to combine their corporate data reports with interactive publishing tools, delivering insights that drive smarter decisions.

Microsoft Analysis Services provides an end‑to‑end platform for data analysis, featuring online analytical processing (OLAP) and data‑mining capabilities. Databeacon’s integration allows users to import OLAP cubes directly into its Insight viewer, where dashboards can be constructed without writing complex queries. Analysts can slice data by multiple dimensions - such as geography, time, or product line - using intuitive drag‑and‑drop actions.

One of the main benefits of this partnership is the reduction in time‑to‑insight. Traditionally, data scientists would need to build separate models or write custom code to pull data from Analysis Services into a BI tool. With Databeacon, the data is instantly available in the Insight viewer, enabling business users to create visualizations on the fly. This immediacy helps teams respond to market changes faster, as they no longer have to wait for IT to generate a report.

Databeacon’s publishing features enhance collaboration across departments. Once a dashboard is built, it can be published to the cloud or embedded within existing intranets. The platform’s secure sharing controls ensure that sensitive data remains protected while still accessible to authorized stakeholders. Managers can embed real‑time analytics into operational dashboards, providing executives with a single source of truth for strategic decisions.

The integration also opens doors for advanced predictive analytics. By connecting Analysis Services’ data‑mining models to Databeacon’s visualization engine, companies can surface insights about customer churn, demand forecasts, and inventory optimization directly in their dashboards. The result is a more dynamic analytics ecosystem where predictive models feed into actionable visual stories.

For mid‑market companies looking to maximize their Microsoft investments, Databeacon’s support for Analysis Services offers a cost‑effective way to deepen data insights. The partnership combines the power of Microsoft’s robust analytical engine with Databeacon’s user‑friendly interface, bridging the gap between data engineers and business users alike.

eAssist Releases NetAgent Contact Center 6.5, Elevating Multichannel Interaction Management

eAssist’s latest update, NetAgent Contact Center 6.5, builds on the company’s long‑standing reputation for multichannel customer interaction management. The new version delivers tighter integration with eAssist Service Desk, providing a unified view of ticket lifecycles and customer histories. For supervisors, the update introduces a real‑time activity dashboard that tracks agent performance against service‑level agreements.

NetAgent 6.5’s enhanced security suite bolsters data protection across NetAgent Email, Chat, and CTI components. The email module now supports end‑to‑end encryption and advanced phishing detection, safeguarding sensitive communications. Chat routing rules have been refined to consider agent workload, skill level, and customer sentiment, ensuring that the next chat request lands on the most suitable agent. Meanwhile, CTI reporting now offers granular switch‑level analytics, allowing managers to monitor inbound call volumes, hold times, and call routing patterns in real time.

One of the standout features of 6.5 is its automated escalation logic. When an agent’s resolution time exceeds a predefined threshold, NetAgent automatically escalates the ticket to a senior agent or a specialized team, reducing the likelihood of unresolved issues. The system also logs escalation paths, giving supervisors a clear view of why certain tickets required higher-level intervention.

The integration with eAssist Service Desk means that every customer interaction - whether it starts on a call, chat, or email - is captured in a single incident record. This unified approach eliminates duplicate tickets, reduces agent re‑work, and provides a 360‑degree view of the customer journey. Agents can reference prior interactions without switching systems, which speeds up issue resolution and improves customer satisfaction scores.

For organizations already running eAssist products, the rollout of NetAgent 6.5 is straightforward. The installation process leverages existing licensing and infrastructure, and the update can be deployed in phases to minimize disruption. Post‑deployment, eAssist offers a range of training modules and a dedicated support line to help teams adjust to new workflows and dashboards.

Early adopters of NetAgent 6.5 report a noticeable improvement in first‑contact resolution and a reduction in average handle time. The combination of stronger security, smarter routing, and tighter integration with ticketing systems positions eAssist’s newest release as a critical tool for contact centers aiming to deliver consistent, secure, and efficient customer support across all touchpoints.