|
Press Release |
|||
|
Blue Pumpkin Acquires Onward, Inc. Division To Boost Workforce Optimization ServicesCustomer successes accelerated by tailoring and more tightly integrating solutionsSunnyvale, CA – September 23, 2002 – Blue Pumpkin, an industry leader in enterprise workforce optimization solutions, today announced it has acquired the contact center services group of Onward, Inc., a long-time partner for integration, consulting and customization. The acquisition enhances the scope of professional services and ongoing value that Blue Pumpkin can deliver to customers. With over 250 customers worldwide that include IBM, AOL, JetBlue Airways and Mastercard, Onward is known for its deep expertise in process consulting, solutions design, systems implementation and software customization. By applying its unique design-implement-extend methodology to Blue Pumpkin’s products, Onward has helped contact centers more rapidly realize the full benefits of workforce optimization, such as higher customer service, profitability and return on investment. The proven methodology first focuses on the customer’s key business drivers and its people, identifying opportunities for workforce optimization. Onward then designs and deploys the appropriate systems as well as reorganizes processes around those solutions to achieve greater operational efficiency and performance gains. "This acquisition reinforces Blue Pumpkin’s commitment to provide the best workforce optimization offerings by broadening the professional services that support them," stated Dr. Vijay Mehrotra, formerly Onward’s chief executive officer and now vice president of Blue Pumpkin’s Solutions Group. "Our capabilities enable Blue Pumpkin to offer greater process reengineering, customization and other consulting services to meet the customer’s unique business needs." The Onward acquisition highlights Blue Pumpkin’s strategy to invest in a full range of consulting and professional services capabilities in addition to its technology offerings, differentiating itself as a true solutions provider. The company also recently released the Blue Pumpkin Workforce Optimization Suite that closely ties into other enterprise information systems, forming the industry’s first closed-loop solution to accelerate employee performance and efficiency. "We are very excited, because this deal helps our customers make the most of their workforce optimization investment – giving them even higher returns," stated Doron Aspitz, chief executive officer and co-founder of Blue Pumpkin. "Our solutions are designed with specific customer needs in mind. With Onward’s expertise, there would be no gap between the technology and its potential – the workforce optimization solution would be perfectly designed, implemented and leveraged to successfully achieve the goals we intended and the customer demands." Said Pam Treischel, contact center manager for Boeing Employees’ Credit Union: "Onward showed BECU how to best leverage our Blue Pumpkin solutions to meet our unique needs. Both have continued to support us throughout our long relationship and have a firm understanding of how to optimize our workforce. Onward helped us design the right solution that made sense for our operations and would enable us to better meet our productivity, service and financial goals." Julie Pavek, workforce management team leader for Toyota Financial Services, explained: "We had outgrown our previous workforce management tools and upgraded to Blue Pumpkin, so we were already power-users and needed much more than the basic software training. As part of the Blue Pumpkin training/optimization, Onward helped us build the right solution for our needs, knew the technology intimately and showed us how to use our new solutions in advanced ways beyond our expectations. More than that, they went beyond the call of duty to give us advanced training to extend our workforce optimization investments." "We share Blue Pumpkin’s customer-centric philosophy," continued Dr. Mehrotra. "To provide the best service, we have some of the best people in the business to complement Blue Pumpkin’s award-winning solutions and their great team." Dr. Mehrotra’s leadership is backed by a team with depth in knowledge and expertise – including ten of the industry’s leading researchers and technology experts with doctorates from top-ranked universities. Blue Pumpkin impacts customer service and profitability by optimizing and aligning all the underlying workforce-related processes, including strategic planning, training, time tracking, performance evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, forecasting and more. For more than 900 customers including many Global 2000 companies, Blue Pumpkin solutions ensure that their people are performing at their highest levels and helping the customer at the right place and right time. About Blue Pumpkin Blue Pumpkin is a leader in workforce optimization, a market quickly gaining momentum and enabling businesses to leverage their most critical resource: their people. Blue Pumpkin solves the urgent needs of more efficiently deploying resources and effectively managing employee performance – significantly impacting customer service, loyalty and profitability. The Blue Pumpkin Workforce Optimization Suite applications form a closed-loop system and include Planner, Director-Enterprise, Activity Manager, Advisor and Fusion. Professional services implement best practices and manage change to build the right processes and fully leverage technology solutions. As the first to offer extensive services in addition to applications and customer support, Blue Pumpkin helps people and businesses successfully execute on their goals. Blue Pumpkin has more than 900 customers in a wide range of industries, including many Global 2000 companies such as ADP, Apple Computer, Airborne Express, AOL/CompuServe Europe, AT&T, Borders Group, Compaq Canada, FedEx, General Mills, JetBlue Airways, Kaiser Permanente, KitchenAid, TimeWarner Cable, and Verizon. An advanced ecosystem of over 150 partners supports Blue Pumpkin customers with other products and services. For more information about Blue Pumpkin and its products, please visit http://www.bluepumpkin.com © 2002 Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Blue Pumpkin and Blue Pumpkin Software are registered trademarks of Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc. The Blue Pumpkin logo is a trademark of Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Editorial Contact: Renee Maler Blue Pumpkin Software 925 968 9495 rmaler@bluepumpkin.com top of page |
|||