ST. LOUIS, MO (August 10, 2004) - Pipkins Inc. announced today that it has formed a strategic alliance with Syntora, Inc., that will enable contact centers to deploy Pipkins' workforce scheduling software and Syntora's agent performance optimization tools in an integrated environment to help decrease call handle time, increase collections where applicable, and improve every aspect of call center operations.

Under the agreement, Pipkins' Vantage Point workforce management software will be integrated with Syntora's Agentivity suite of real-time agent productivity tracking, multimedia agent training, and agent performance reporting tools to provide a seamless system for optimizing agent scheduling as well as improving agent productivity and accountability. Advantages of integrating the two products include the ability to:

• Display scheduling-related messages on Agentivity's dashboard, a dynamic on-screen toolbar that enables agents to see key personal performance metrics such as average talk time, average wrap time and calls handled in real time. By linking to Pipkins' scheduling system at the back end, the dashboard can be used to broadcast scheduling changes, solicit overtime volunteers, and issue scheduling reminders on an agent-by-agent basis without any interruption to call handling.
• Automatically deliver scheduling adherence training to non-compliant agents through Agentivity's eLearning module whenever data from the Pipkins system indicates an adherence problem. Managers can create coaching tips to be sent whenever certain thresholds are reached, with the option to launch course content from the Agentivity dashboard. This helps correct attendance infractions in a timely manner in order to prevent serious impact on contact center staffing.
• Consolidate scheduling and performance data in the same report, allowing managers to determine the relationship between the schedule adherence metrics tracked by Pipkins' system and other performance metrics such as calls handled. This feature stems from Agentivity's ability to consolidate data from multiple telephony, database and mainframe systems to provide real-time and historical performance information by agent, split/skill, job, group or site.

These capabilities extend the benefits of both the Vantage Point and the Agentivity products. Vantage Point optimizes agent scheduling in single or multi-site contact centers in order to minimize headcount, overstaffing, understaffing, overtime, call waiting time and other problems that can cause wasted expense and/or lost business. Agentivity improves agent productivity through a combination of real-time performance monitoring dashboards, scorecards, consolidated reports, and multimedia training sent directly to agent desktops on a schedule- or rules-driven basis.

"This initiative is a perfect example of a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," said Jim Hogan, Manager of Customer Care for Pipkins. "By partnering with Syntora, we are able to give our customers a proven, best-of-breed agent productivity solution that increases in value through integration with our Vantage Point system."

"The fusion of Agentivity and Vantage Point gives contact centers three of the key toolsets required for workforce optimization: workforce scheduling, agent analytics and agent training," said Henry Lach, President of Syntora, Inc. "This is a powerful combination that can help call centers run as smoothly and leanly as possible."

About Pipkins Inc.

Pipkins Inc., founded in 1984, is the leading supplier of workforce management software and services to the call center industry. Its Vantage Point product enables managers to solve the complicated operational issues in today's multi-faceted call center environment. Vantage Point is also available to smaller call centers through WorkforceScheduling.com, Pipkins' Web-based subscription service. Pipkins' systems forecast and schedule more than 100,000 agents in over 300 locations across all industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.pipkins.com.

About Syntora Inc.

Syntora specializes in agent productivity software for contact centers. Its Agentivity software suite optimizes agent performance through its Analytics and eLearning modules, dramatically improving key performance indicators such as calls handled and dollars collected both by delivering real-time and historical agent performance information and by taking immediate corrective action with under-performing agents before they fall into negative patterns. Agentivity has been successfully deployed at customer sites since 2001. For more information, visit www.syntora.com.