SUNNYVALE, CA — (Marketwired) — 06/18/13 — , a global leader in customer service solutions delivered on-premises or in the cloud and used by more than 900 organizations and government agencies worldwide, today introduced a major new release of its customer service suite for public sector organizations. The new version offers extensive functionality to manage escalating workloads and citizen expectations in an omni-channel era punctuated by severe budget constraints. LAGAN Enterprise empowers public sector entities to manage government and citizen interactions; improve service efficiency and speed of response; reduce the cost to serve; and eliminate information silos, all while meeting “Digital First” mandates.
The first omni-channel Knowledge Management solution designed to meet the specific needs of public sector constituent service, features an all-new knowledge platform and user interface that offers improved speed, flexibility and easier knowledge-authoring. A new agent search user interface incorporates meta tags for search filtering and user ratings for content, and is designed to integrate seamlessly into any and all engagement channels.
Public sector field-service employees are the most costly resource of any government budget, and are often coordinated through ineffective paper or dispatch-driven processes. Leveraging the power of smart mobile computing to improve efficiencies, allows public sector workers to easily view, accept, update and close cases while in the field. Supporting iOS and Android, LAGAN Employee Mobile features a responsive design that adapts screen size to accommodate smartphones and tablet devices.
supports 24/7 year-round online self-service, enabling customers to find answers to queries via comprehensive Knowledge Management functionality on the Web.
Other new capabilities include:
– New capabilities address a major source of waste and contribute to Service-Level Agreement (SLA) performance inaccuracies — misclassified cases — through a re-classification mechanism that enables the organization to re-classify cases for more timely and cost-effective resolution. Conservative estimates indicate 1 in 3 government service requests are misclassified due to inaccurate or vague information received, triggering added cycle time and expense, and preventing expedient resolution.
– Through an updated “event publisher” mechanism and a new Integrator Web Application (IWA), LAGAN Enterprise supports enhanced integration among back-office operations and the proliferation of digital channels that have become the de facto standard in today-s public sector service environment.
– LAGAN Enterprise empowers call center agents to engage with constituents accurately, consistently and completely across all touchpoints. Additional features enhance email query productivity and compliance management on par with email solutions previously only available to commercial entities.
LAGAN Enterprise addresses the essential need by government to improve citizen relations and services while keeping related costs in balance.
“The operating mantras across governments have been shaped into a well-worn truism: do more for less,” said Ovum analyst Nishant Shah. “It is the driving characteristic for the public sector-s operating context, whether in hard-hit agencies struggling with fiscal austerity or those that emerged from the downturn unscathed. However, long-term shifts in technology, economics, climate and geopolitics are forcing leaders to make a choice: begin preparing for the future or risk security lapses, an inability to compete for investment, and a generally decreased capability to support citizens.”(i)
The city of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada, plans to incorporate the new version of LAGAN Enterprise to support improved access to information and services for residents and businesses.
“The latest LAGAN Enterprise functionality in the areas of Knowledge Management and Employee Mobile aligns very well with our vision to establish a number of new self-serve options for improved efficiency and convenience for both citizens and city staff,” said Darcy Wilson, 311 Contact Center Manager, the City of Vancouver. “Mobile, social and the Web — technology is revolutionizing public sector service delivery and KANA is on the forefront of this wave, helping public sector agencies leverage these channels for improved efficiency and response.”
In the UK, Serco-s Global BPO public sector business anticipates leveraging LAGAN Enterprise where appropriate to provide value within its public service contracts, helping it to provide more efficient and productive public services, and deliver even more value.
“With a need to support our customers with innovative, cost-effective service delivery, we looked at the new LAGAN Enterprise functionality and were very impressed,” said Andy Bowie, head of e-services for Serco. “LAGAN-s dynamic knowledge base and processing has helped us design Digital First features that quickly provide citizens with the results and services they expect, while providing cost-effective solutions for our customers. We have used LAGAN to develop self-service portals, and know the expanded Web, knowledge and omni-channel management capabilities will inspire us to create even more efficient processes.”
The City of South Perth in Western Australia recently went live with LAGAN Enterprise to support basic government services for its 45,000 residents, and sees tremendous value in the new release.
“LAGAN Mobile, branded as part of our -Report It- self-service channels, provides increased transparency of our customer service responsiveness and has improved the accountability and timeliness of our responses,” said Michael Kent, director of Financial and Information Services for the City of South Perth. “We are intrigued by the functionality within LAGAN Employee Mobile and anticipate that extending mobile efficiencies for employees can net additional operational savings by letting them actively work cases while in the field. And since LAGAN Employee Mobile supports iOS and Android, we have latitude to address a wide range of user devices.”
“The new LAGAN Enterprise customer service solution was created with input from our more than 250 public sector customers worldwide, including many of the world-s largest and best-run cities, counties and award-winning local councils,” said James Norwood, chief marketing officer for KANA Software. “The public sector has been ill-equipped to deal with the digital customer — until now. LAGAN Enterprise enables organizations to meet these demands while supporting service delivery to everyone, including non-digital customers.”
LAGAN Enterprise 13R1 is available today, offering choice and flexibility in licensing and deployment scenarios including cloud, on-premises and hybrid models.
KANA understands the value of great Customer Service experiences. We know every channel through which a customer communicates with — and about — your brand. We provide on-premises and cloud solutions for large enterprises and mid-market organizations. By unifying and maintaining context for customer journeys across agent, Web, social and mobile experiences, KANA solutions have reduced handling time, increased resolution rates and improved net promoter scores (NPS) at more than 900 enterprises — including many of the Fortune 500 and more than 250 government agencies. At KANA, we help create differentiated and personalized customer experiences that count.
KANA is based in Silicon Valley, California and has offices worldwide. For more information visit , phone +1 800-737-8738, and follow KANA on Twitter .
KANA is a registered trademark of KANA Software, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
(i) Nishant Shaw, Ovum Straight Talk: IT H1 2013(20-1). Government ICT in an Uncertain World: Trends through 2013.
Contact:
Ryan Zuk
KANA Software, Inc.
+1 626 275 7625
Erin Lutz
Lutz PR for KANA Software, Inc.
+1 949 293 1055
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