Epicor awarded 2002 'Product of the Year` by TMC`s Customer Inter@ction Solutions

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC), publisher of Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine, has named Epicor Software Corporation, a leading provider of integrated enterprise, e-business and collaborative commerce software solutions for mid-market companies, and its Clientele Customer Support 8.0 solution as a Product of the Year winner for 2002.

Clientele Customer Support 8.0, released in August 2002 as the first CRM solution entirely architected on the Microsoft .Net platform, was selected for its demonstration of technological innovation and contribution to improving customer interactions.

The solution enables users to be more knowledgeable, responsive and proactive in communicating with customers, co-workers and managers. Clientele Customer Support 8.0 provides mid-market companies a robust way to provide customer service by utilising the .Net architecture that delivers powerful accessibility, extensibility and integration.

"Clientele Customer Support is a clear leader in the CRM sector. We`re proud to reward their hard work and innovation with a Product of the Year Award for 2002," said Nadji Tehrani, Chairman of TMC and Founder of Customer Inter@ction Solutions, the premier publication in the CRM, call centre and teleservices industries since 1982. "The Product of the Year award is meant not only to honour the outstanding teams who developed and manufactured these winning solutions, but also to educate our readers on the vast array of offerings in this market."

The Product of the Year award marks the third win for Epicor`s .Net-based CRM solution. In 2002, Clientele Customer Support 8.0 was honoured with the TMC Labs Innovator Award and also received the Customer Interaction Solutions Editor`s Choice Award.

Designed expressly for small to mid-market enterprises, Clientele Customer Support 8.0 can be quickly and easily customised to meet unique business practices and requirements. By employing Microsoft Visual Studio .Net as its single, standard customisation tool, Clientele Customer Support 8.0 minimises proprietary development learning curves. In addition, the .Net-based architecture boasts an enhanced customisation model allowing customisations to be isolated from source code, so future upgrades and migrations do not overwrite custom changes. Clientele Customer Support 8.0 uses native XML Web services throughout, allowing for easier integration with external applications.

To further enhance the customer experience, Epicor recently released the Clientele Self-Service Portal, an online portal solution that aims to help mid-market companies maximise support efficiency while reducing support costs. A companion product to Clientele Customer Support 8.0, the Clientele Self-Service Portal allows customers to access a wide variety of account information including call logs, service agreements and account balances at any time of day. The two solutions work in sync, allowing information to be captured and exchanged between the online self-service module and the full-scale customer support solution in real-time, so service representatives are always up-to-date on customer accounts and issues. When a customer through the Clientele Self-Service Portal initiates a new service call, the information is immediately available in the Clientele Customer Support system.

"Epicor has a tradition of delivering solutions that provide a low total cost of ownership and facilitate improved customer relations through more efficient and effective problem resolution," said Doug Berry, vice-president and general manager of Epicor`s Clientele Group. "Clientele Customer Support 8.0 is no exception, and we are honoured to have been awarded the Product of the Year award from TMC."

"We are honoured that the editors of Customer Inter@ctive Magazine have chosen Epicor for the "Product of the Year in 2002" designation," said Scott McKenzie, Managing Director of New ERA Solutions, the sole distributor of Epicor Software in SA. "This award is further evidence of our commitment to leverage the latest technologies in bringing our mid-market customers solutions that will help them meet their business objectives. We strive to provide mid-market companies with solutions that will enable them to increase their revenues, reduce their costs, help to build customer satisfaction, and build lasting and profitable business relationships that ultimately help them achieve a faster return on investment."