Speech Self-Service System Successfully Managed the Retailer's Huge Surge in Call Volume, Taking Promotional Item Orders From Thousands of Steelers Fans Minutes After the Game End
 

Alameda, CA, February 1, 2006 - There was no waiting on-hold for thousands of Steelers fans on Super Bowl Sunday when they called the official shop of the NFL to order their souvenir gear.  Voxify, the first company to create Automated Agents with the conversational ability to handle advanced customer service calls, enabled the NFL Shop to take orders for promotional t-shirts and hats from thousands of fans immediately following the Super Bowl game.  More than 50% of the incoming calls and orders were handled by Voxify Automated Agents within the first 10 minutes after the retailer's thirty-second commercial following the Super Bowl broadcast.  Anticipating an enormous surge in call volume with as much as 60,000 calls anticipated, NFL Shop relied upon Voxify to automate and manage 100% of the order-taking calls for its special Super Bowl gear promotion. 

"Voxify's successful handling of the calls into the NFL Shop on Super Bowl Sunday was a significant event for the speech self-service industry, especially considering that our Automated Agents took every single order call during one of the largest call-volume events of the year," said Adeeb Shanaa, CEO of Voxify. "It's a vote of confidence for our hosted managed service model and another proof-point in the growing trend towards speech self-service in the retail industry."

A key benefit of Voxify Automated Agents is the reduction or elimination of event-driven or seasonal call-center hiring and training.  Short-term employees or outsourced service provider agents are typically less effective and oftentimes provide a lower quality of service.  They also require expensive, dedicated equipment and facilities that typically are not needed at other times of the year.  NFL Shop, like other retailers such as Hammacher Schlemmer, Restoration Hardware and ProFlowers, addressed this challenge by employing self-service applications from Voxify.  Voxify Automated Agents have no facility requirements, are trained experts in industry-specific transactional calls and have the conversational skills to provide consistent, high-quality service to callers at one-fifth the cost of live agents.

"While the call spike experienced by the NFL Shop on Super Bowl Sunday was perhaps exceptional, it nonetheless provides a vivid demonstration of the need and opportunity in the retail industry to be able to accommodate event-driven or seasonal spikes in their call volume.  Retailers cannot afford to miss sales from in-coming calls.  Voxify's speech self-service application can be scaled up and down as necessary to help retailers take orders efficiently and cost-effectively at all times, and especially during spikes," continued Shanaa.

About Voxify
Voxify is the first company to create automated call center agents with the conversational skills to handle advanced customer service calls. Powered by the company's patented Voxify Conversation Engine, Voxify Automated Agents model the intelligence and personality of a trained live agent, allowing them to engage callers in sophisticated dialogue to perform advanced customer service functions, such as reservations, call routing, and account requests. Voxify Automated Agents are taking calls today for market leaders such as Continental Airlines, Wyndham International and Hammacher Schlemmer, helping them to be more responsive to their customers while delivering new services, closing more sales, and handling unplanned call volumes without hiring additional staff. Voxify is headquartered in Alameda, CA.  For more information, call 510 545 5000 or visit www.voxify.com.

Contacts:                            

Hollis Chin
Voxify
510.545.5015
Public Relations