RightNow Beefs Up Call Center Offerings

Unlike most CRM applications delivered as a service, RightNow primarily gears its products to customer service and call center needs, rather than for sales force automation. The Bozeman, Mont., company announced RightNow Telesales for both inbound and outbound telephone sales; RightNow SmartGuide, which leads users through a diagnostic decision path; and version 7.5 of RightNow CRM, a three-module suite that uses common business rules, workflow and database to tie marketing, sales and service functions.

"We've served inbound call centers for years. But managers running outbound telesales have different needs," said Greg Gianforte, RightNow's CEO. "It's a big job to keep your out-bound sales reps busy. This gives managers a graphical workflow engine - distributing work and assigning call lists by whatever metrics they choose."

According to RightNow, its new Telesales software generates campaign-specific call lists, and can show calls needing follow up from previous campaigns. It can also populate call lists generated by RightNow CRM's Marketing module. The software, which can be delivered over the Internet or run on customers' internal systems, will automatically create follow-up letters and messages.

Also new, RightNow SmartGuide leverages the company's knowledge management and artificial intelligence expertise to lead users to the precise answer to a complex question. It can be used for self-service by the end customer, or by sales reps. "Because it uses our own AI to uncover the information that's needed, it makes the call center rep sound like a technical pro," said Gianforte.

In addition, RightNow CRM 7.5 has been enhanced with three dozen new features, "all of which were requested by customers," Gianforte said. As an example, RightNow Marketing now can initiate campaigns triggered by events from other applications. So, for instance, a shipping order generated by warehouse distribution software could trigger the marketing module to send out follow-on emails or set up call lists.

RightNow claims more than 1,200 customers, with more than 40 percent of its revenue coming from large enterprises. It primarily targets the call center industry, but also sells to government and the education market. The company sells both on-premise and on-demand versions of its software.