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Clarity Consulting Revolutionizes Customer Interaction Management for SMB Market With 'Clarity Connect'

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 08:00 CDT

New hosted software and services solution -- based on Microsoft Unified Communications platform -- makes delivery of cutting-edge consumer experiences simple and affordable

LOS ANGELES, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft TechEd 2009 -- To enable small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to better differentiate their brand and more effectively compete with larger, more sophisticated customer service centers, Clarity Consulting today announced 'Clarity Connect.' A new software plus services solution based on the Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) platform, Clarity Connect enables SMBs to deliver feature-rich customer service experiences at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditional offerings.

Demonstrated this week at Microsoft's TechEd 2009 Conference in Los Angeles and next week at IBM's Retail User Group Conference in Las Vegas, Clarity Connect allows businesses to leverage a variety of multi-modal and presence-based communications services on top of their existing Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) infrastructure. These services help businesses streamline communication and improve information management which, in turn, reduces costs, improves productivity and enhances the overall consumer experience -- often resulting in increased loyalty and sales.

"Consumer expectations for superior service are at an all-time high and mega-brands like Apple and Amazon are consistently raising the bar," said Jon Rauschenberger, chief technology officer, Clarity Consulting. "With Clarity Connect, we've created a solution that lets small to mid-sized businesses deliver the kind of customer service solutions that the big brands do without expensive third party licensing or complex on-site maintenance. Our goal is to make customer interaction management more affordable and accessible to the SMB market."

Given that customer retention and loyalty is at a premium, SMBs struggle with justifying the cost of linking customer touch points such as the Web, call centers, instant messaging, and emails for a consistent user experience. Using Clarity Connect, SMBs can bring together customer touch points through a combination of Microsoft software products installed at the customer site and services hosted by Clarity. This combined software plus services offering reduces the cost and complexity of building a fully integrated call center without compromising features and benefits such as immediate response and issues resolution which customers expect when they interact with customer service agents.

Specifically, Clarity Connect builds on the investment companies have made in the Microsoft Office Communications Server and Exchange Server products. Deployed at the customer's premises, these servers manage all unified communications and feature support for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) along with native support for external connectivity. Additionally, customers can take advantage of fully secure, corporate grade instant messaging and email capabilities. The services part of the offering includes a fully hosted customer interaction management platform and integration with CRM, SFA and support desk applications.

For example, call centers can route calls from customers to agents via their preferred communications tools through a powerful Agent Console that is embedded within Office Communicator. Sales forces are able to access subject matter experts in real-time to answer questions in seconds rather than hours or days. With 'click to chat' capabilities on customer facing Web sites, leads are more easily converted as relationships are built through Web-based interactions. For employees, the ability to call or IM an internal support desk that routes calls across support staff decreases the call center queue and more quickly aligns the issue with the expert for faster troubleshooting.

For more information on Clarity Connect, please contact Clarity Consulting at http://connect.claritycon.com/

About Clarity Consulting Inc.

Clarity Consulting Inc. develops, customizes and implements software solutions to help clients achieve their unique visions and drive business results. Clarity's versatile and talented consultants specialize in application development, business intelligence, legacy integration and e-commerce websites for a range of clients, from retail and manufacturing industries to financial institutions. Clarity Consulting Inc. is based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. For more information about our company, our people, and our solutions, please visit www.claritycon.com.

SOURCE Clarity Consulting Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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