Press Release - Motive Communications
Company ProfileMOTIVE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCES MOTIVE SOLO, FIRST ALL-IN-ONE SUPPORT PORTAL FOR IT DEPARTMENTS
Single, Easy-to-Use Web Interface Provides Rich Support Experience and Reduces Support Calls
Austin, TX, August 11, 1999 - Motive Communications, Inc., the pioneer and leader in support chain automation for e-support, today announced Motive Solo, a new product that enables IT support departments to reduce calls, cut costs and improve customer satisfaction through self-service support portals on the Web.Motive is the first to combine and apply two powerful Internet concepts - automated self-service and portals - to the problem of technical product support. With Motive Solo, companies have everything they need to rapidly deploy support portals that provide an engaging experience, quick satisfaction for users and call-avoidance savings for support organizations.
"When we introduced our first product, e-support was in its infancy. Today, just over a year later, e-support is imperative for succeeding in the Internet economy," said Scott Harmon, co-founder and CEO of Motive Communications. "Support portals are integral to successful e-support because they reduce support costs while engaging and retaining online customers. With its rich set of end-user services and ease of implementation, Motive Solo will enable a whole new generation of companies to become providers of 'Motive Powered Support.'"
"Motive Solo is a high value, comprehensive Internet-based solution for self-service technical support," said Hugh Bishop, senior vice president at Aberdeen Group. "Motive Solo provides a full-service, easy-to-implement online experience for end users and integrates it with all of the upstream processes of an electronic support chain."
Based on Extensive Research Study
To ensure that Motive Solo directly addresses customer needs, Motive interviewed more than 35 corporate customers, worked with the Meta Group to understand the breakdown of simple versus complex problems, and analyzed 40,000 support calls supplied by Microsoft Corporation. Through the study, Motive identified the simple and repeatable problems that could be automated though a Web-based interface and determined that a portal architecture is ideal for decreasing calls to the support center, reducing deployment and maintenance requirements, integrating a variety of IT services, and delivering an easy-to-use and engaging user experience. The Motive Solo support portal product delivers three unique features:
Digital Personalization and Automation: Solo uses ActiveSense, Motive's patent-pending technology, to digitally personalize and automate the end user's support experience. Digital personalization ensures that end users are only presented with solutions and support services relevant to their system and applications. For example, Solo knows a user's brand of computer and printer and will only display information for those products. Digital automation performs diagnostic and repair tasks on the behalf of end users. The Solo personalized support portal ensures that end users reach the solutions they need, and its automation capabilities ensure that the solution is applied correctly.
One-Stop Resource for IT Support Services: Motive Solo provides users with a browser-based "front door" to all IT support functions. Solo's "disconnected self-service" lets users solve a set of common problems while they are away from the corporate network. "Active self-service" lets users connect to the Solo portal to access a full breadth of automated support content for dozens of key problems: hardware and software, break-fix and how-to, configuration problems, bugs, and other IT related issues. Active self-service also delivers pro-active services, such as information updates and PC health and wellness services that can prevent problems, before they occur. If a user can't solve a problem via self-service, Motive Solo transmits the complete history of the support incident to a support analyst to initiate "assisted service." It automatically populates a trouble ticket in a help desk system or escalates the problem into Motive Duet, Motive's product for delivering assisted service.
Single Point of Integration and Management for the IT Department: For the IT manager, Solo's Internet-based architecture eliminates the complex and time-consuming process of deploying conventional software utilities to each user's computer. Instead, all the service technologies are dynamically loaded as needed onto end-users' computers as plug-ins. At the back-end, Motive Solo is a traditional Web server that support personnel can easily implement and manage using a single integrated portal management console. The Web-based architecture also enables easy integration of other support resources such as knowledgebases, password reset tools, (see separate release on Motive partnering activities) or internally developed applications.
Motive Solutions: Complete Support Chain Automation Solution for E-Support
Motive Solo is the newest addition to the Motive family of products and services for e-support, which also includes Motive Duet, and Motive ActiveLink. The Motive product family provides a complete out-of-the-box e-support solution that enables support organizations to provide faster and more accurate service, dramatically reduce support costs and improve end user productivity and satisfaction. Motive products are based on a pioneering concept called support chain automation, which connects and automates the people, processes and organizations involved in delivering technical support, called "support chains."
Motive Duet is a server that manages assisted service involving support analysts. Duet establishes a direct digital connection between end users' systems and support analysts, supplying a wealth of information to help support personnel quickly determine the root causes of problems and deliver solutions. Motive Solo and Motive Duet can be implemented independently or jointly, depending on each support center's goals and objectives.
Motive ActiveLink provides a ready-made source of automated support solutions for common software applications and problems. Support centers simply download these solutions from ActiveLink via a secure extranet-based connection and put them to use in either Solo or Duet.
Pricing and Availability
Motive Solo is generally available August 20, 1999. Pricing starts at U.S. $100,000.
About Motive Communications, Inc.
Motive's mission is to help its customers leverage e-support solutions to cut $25 billion in waste out of high-technology support by the year 2005. The power behind many of the world's high-tech e-support networks, Motive's solution enables customers to create automated support chains, resulting in reduced costs, improved customer satisfaction, and increased customer loyalty. Motive's software is used by leading companies in various business segments, including Compaq, CompuCom, Intuit, JD Edwards, MCI, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Netscape, PeopleSoft, SAIC and Visa and has been endorsed by the leading help desk and front-office application vendors, including Clarify, Peregrine Systems, Remedy, Scopus, Tivoli Systems and Vantive. Motive was founded in May 1997 by senior technical and management personnel from Tivoli Systems, NeXT Software and other leading software companies, and is backed by $31.2 million in funding from Accel Partners, Attractor Investment Management, Austin Ventures, Hambrecht & Quist, Palantir Associates, Pivotal Asset Management and SSM Venture Partners. Motive can be reached at (512) 339-8335 or on its Web site at http://www.motive.com.
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The Motive logo, Motive Communications, Inc., Motive Solo, Motive Duet, Motive ActiveLink and all other Motive product and technology names are trademarks of Motive Communications, Inc. All other products or services mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies.
http://www.motive.com
Contact:
Claire Campbell
Director of Public Relations
Motive Communications, Inc.
512-339-8336
claire@motive.com
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