BackFlip Process Communications on Demand™ Improving Customer Interaction, Employee Productivity and Extended Enterprise Operations
LOS GATOS, California, May 12, 2010 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of Communications-Enabled Business Process (CEBP) solutions, announced that Gartner presented three case studies of BackFlip Process Communications on Demand™ implementations at its Wireless, Networking & Communications Summit, held in San Diego, April 2010. These case studies were included in Bob Hafner’s presentation, “Embedding Communications into Business Processes: Case Studies That Prove the Payback.”
In his San Diego presentation, Bob Hafner showed examples of how embedding communications into business applications and business processes improves the efficiency and productivity of a process, while reducing the human latency within the process.
“CEBPs integrate communication technologies with IT systems and applications, in effect linking these solutions to business processes. CEBPs work by leveraging UC solutions to permit interactions across multiple channels, such as voice, email, SMS, conferencing and instant messaging (IM). The ability to choose the appropriate channel or channels for the specific task reduces human latency and streamlines the business process flow, resulting in greater efficiency and productivity,” said Hafner.
The BackFlip case studies included a hospitality company that uses the company’s service to schedule staff; a joint ClickSoftware and BackFlip solution for field and customer service management; and an independent oil and gas exploration and production company that adopted Backflip to improve its purchasing process.
“We believe these case studies demonstrate the value BackFlip’s Process Communications On Demand™ service is generating within the Hospitality, Services and Oil & Gas verticals. Each case study details a quantifiable and direct impact on its customers’ business results,” said Gil Perez, CEO of BackFlip. “BackFlip can enable the hospitality company achieve a more effective means of scheduling and filling staff needs; BackFlip and ClickSoftware enables timelier and more convenient communication between service providers and their customers, service agents and field technicians; and the exploration company has been able to reduce its purchase order cycle time from approximately 30 hours to less than five hours.”
Partnership Designed to Help Service Organizations Facilitate Better Communication With Customers .
Burlington, Massachussetts and Los Gatos, California, July 15 — ClickSoftware (NasdaqGS: CKSW - News), the leading provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions, and BackFlip Software, a driving force of business process communications, announced today that they have signed a partnership agreement whereby ClickSoftware will integrate BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™ for ISV’s with ClickSoftware’s customer-interaction management solution, called ClickContact. ClickContact enables automatic, on-going communication with the customer throughout the service lifecycle, including real-time communication on the day of service, thereby reducing the uncertainty of the technician’s expected arrival time.
Integrated with ClickContact, BackFlip’s solution for ISV’s is designed to help service organizations improve customer service by enabling timelier and more convenient communication with their customers, service agents and technicians. ClickSoftware partnered with BackFlip Software to provide service organizations the ability to offer an improved level of service and a superior customer experience by offering bi-directional, personalized multi-channel customer interaction. With both companies’ solutions based on Service Oriented Architecture, integration was developed using industry standards and open API’s.
By providing multi-channel communications, service organizations demonstrate respect for their customers’ time and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. Real-time appointment confirmations provided by ClickContact allow service organizations to offer their customers minimal appointment windows so that they are no longer “chained” to the service location waiting for the service technician to arrive. While dramatically improving the customer experience, ClickContact also helps service businesses reduce customer “no-shows” which require a costly second technician visit to complete the work order.
The new ClickContact solution also enables service organizations to offer their customers the ability to book and manage their own service appointments via a self-service module. Users can also select their preferred means of communication through which they would like to receive notification messages and interact with the service organization. As a result, service providers and their customers now have complete visibility into the process and a seamless and easy way to interact and communicate with their end-customers. Thus, the combined ClickContact and BackFlip solution offers the customer more control of the service experience and offers the service provider significant efficiency gains by reducing the volume of calls into the call center.
“BackFlip capabilities enable us to offer our customers a more comprehensive service management solution including end-customer bi-directional communications and control of the service experience,” said Hannan Carmeli, President and Chief Operating Officer at ClickSoftware. “By facilitating better communication between the customer and the service organization before the time of service, customers are better informed about the upcoming visit and more satisfied. Costly customer no-shows are also greatly reduced.”
BackFlip is the first communication service to provide a secured multi-channel environment for user-to-system and system-to-user communications through voice, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile browsing, enterprise and consumer portals, RSS feeds, IP Phones, desktop widgets and email technologies. BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™ is a SaaS solution that comes with instant worldwide coverage for voice and text messaging networks. The new service for ISV’s is modular and customizable to suit all levels of adoption and needs.
“We are proud to add ClickSoftware, a leader in field service management applications, as a partner. Process Communications On Demand™ for ISV’s is intended for software vendors that want to augment their product offering with CEBP (communications-enabled business process) capabilities,” said Gil Perez, Chief Executive Officer at BackFlip Software. “The combination of our robust multi-channel on demand environment for personalized customer interaction and ClickSoftware’s scheduling capabilities provides a unique solution for service providers. By leveraging BackFlip’s proven solution that facilitates real-time, interactive, multi-channel communications, ClickSoftware expands its offering, improves customer satisfaction and reduces service organizations’ costs.”
About ClickSoftware: ClickSoftware is the leading provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions that create business value for service operations through higher levels of productivity, customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness. Combining educational, implementation and support services with best practices and its industry-leading solutions, ClickSoftware drives service decision making across all levels of the organization. From proactive customer demand forecasting and capacity planning to real-time decision making, incorporating scheduling, mobility and location-based services, ClickSoftware helps service organizations get the most out of their resources. With over 130 customers across a variety of industries and geographies, and strong partnerships with leading platform and system integration partners ClickSoftware is uniquely positioned to deliver superb business performance to any organization. The company is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. and Israel, with offices in Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information about ClickSoftware, please call (781) 272-5903 or (888) 438-3308, or visit www.clicksoftware.com.
Process Communications through voice, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile browsing, enterprise/consumer portals, IP Phones and email technologies for Business Software Providers
Los Gatos, CA, July 08, 2009 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of business process communications, announced today the availability of BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™ for ISV’s. This unique platform enables providers of services, business applications and process applications to complement their existing offerings with robust multi-channel communications-enabled business processes (CEBP) capabilities.
Given today’s highly mobile workforce and that business success is increasingly dependent on speed, leading software providers are looking to incorporate communications technologies into their solutions. With “anytime, anyplace” access to their critical processes, data and applications, companies achieve faster response times, close sales more quickly, mitigate risk exposure and capitalize on opportunities ahead of their competition.
BackFlip is the first communication service to provide a truly secured multi-channel environment for user-to-system and system-to-user communications through voice, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile browsing, IP Phones and email technologies. By leveraging BackFlip’s expertise and proven on demand solution, software providers can now expand their solutions to access a variety of communication channels while continuing to focus on their core competencies.
BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™ for ISV’s comes with instant worldwide coverage for voice and text messaging networks. Modularly designed, the service easily integrates into business applications and can be embedded into any business process to extend interaction to new communities of end users. The BackFlip service is customizable to suit various levels of adoption and requirements.
“With the demand for mobility and personalized multi-channel communications constantly rising, more and more business software providers are recognizing the need to equip their customers with process communications capabilities and positioning themselves to capture the growth generated by this rapidly-growing market,” said Gil Perez, CEO of BackFlip Software, “Companies licensing our BackFlip Process Communications on Demand™ for ISV’s will be able to improve their business by providing customers a new process communications feature set which accelerates responsiveness. Most importantly, they won’t have to disrupt or divert from their main business activities to develop, deploy and support process communication capabilities.”
BackFlip’s Process Communications On Demand™ is certified as an AT&T Enterprise Solution.
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Los Gatos, CA, January 28 2009 — BackFlip Software successfully completed Enterprise Solution Certification testing by the AT&T devCentral program. BackFlip’s hosted Process Communications On Demand™ will be listed in the AT&T Certified Solution Catalog as part of AT&T’s devCentral Program.
BackFlip Software Process Communications On-Demand™ empowers enterprise decision-makers, distributors, customers, and other relevant business agents to interact on an “anytime, anywhere” basis through any of a number of communication channels and networks including interactive voice, email, Instant Messaging (IM), mobile browsing, consumer portals (Google), enterprise portals (SAP, IBM, Oracle) and text messaging (SMS).
“Achieving AT&T Enterprise Solution certification means AT&T users can now access and interact with their existing business processes and applications without the need for extensive investment in compatible mobile devices or business software upgrades.” says Gil Perez, CEO BackFlip Software. “Any AT&T customer – employee, business partner or customer – can quickly and easily utilize our service to begin working on an “anytime, anyplace” basis interacting with business processes and applications such as ERP, CRM and other widely used enterprise applications through their preferred communication channels and devices.”
Members of the AT&T Mobility team for Manufacturing will be demonstrating BackFlip Software’s service via their AT&T handheld devices at ARC’s Thirteenth Annual Orlando Forum: Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing from March 30th through April 2nd, 2009.
Enables Mobile Workforce to have 24x7 Access to ActionBase
Tel Aviv, Israel, December 8, 2008 — ActionBase, a provider of Human Process Management Solutions (HPMS), and BackFlip Software, a driving force of business process communications, today announced a partnership that allows customers to remotely access and receive real time notifications to action items and business processes, through any form of mobile communication, and follow them up to completion. Together, ActionBase and BackFlip Software let mobile workers reduce procurement requests and order processes from 40 hours to four hours.
ActionBase provides a structure for organizations by defining next steps, responsibilities and timelines for actions where people naturally turn to e-mail and spreadsheets. By using BackFlip’s Process Communications On Demand, ActionBase users can now view action items from anywhere and respond in real time by using Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), voice messages and Instant Message (IM).
“This partnership allows us to enhance our services by providing our users with a solution that not only helps them receive the alerts but also allows them to instantly respond and follow up with the process,” said Gil Perez, CEO of BackFlip. “Now, BackFlip users have a strong managerial tool to help them remain hands on with the process and track it to completion.”
ActionBase is completely in charge of handling the process while BackFlip enables the mobile connectivity. Users will decide whether they want to receive actionable notifications on various process events such as action items created, updated or completed. Based on their presence, they will have the flexibility to define which communication channels they want to be reached at when an event occurs. Customers include current ActionBase and BackFlip users, as well as new users looking to work offline to manage their processes.
“Previously, users only had access to ActionBase via desktop. Our partnership with BackFlip allows enterprises to manage the ad hoc processes from anywhere, including when they’re off line, regardless of what technology is used. As long as a user has a mobile device, they can receive and act upon any acute processes which require online and immediate attention,” said Eyal Maor, CEO of ActionBase. “ActionBase’s mobility provides a unique capability to our users, because it enables them to still maintain the audit trail throughout all communications.”
About ActionBase: ActionBase is a leading provider of Human Process Management Solutions that enable businesses — over 150 Fortune 100 to Fortune 500 organizations worldwide — to manage their business critical processes. The company supports an ad-hoc and dynamic working environment by providing full visibility and control over unstructured processes that were previously managed via plain documents and e-mail correspondence. ActionBase works with global IT leaders including BG group, Orange, Texas Instruments and Amdocs, and specializes in complex industries such as Oil and Gas, Utility and Telecom. The company is headquartered in Israel with offices in the United States and United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.actionbase.com.
Empowers Mobile Workforce with “Always-On” Access to Information
Los Gatos, CA, October 20, 2008 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of business process communications, announced today that Brown-Forman, a producer of fine quality consumer products, has successfully deployed BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™. Brown-Forman, with operations throughout more than 135 countries, chose the BackFlip multi-channel platform to provide their increasingly mobile workforce access to the company’s business intelligence information using any communication channel. By using BackFlip’s Process Communications On Demand Brown-Forman’s mobile workforce will have faster and easier access to point-of-purchase information via communication-enabled business intelligence queries.
“We selected BackFlip because it offers an innovative solution that will be leveraged across the organization, and significantly augment our current IT investments such as the SAP BI” said Rick Hopkins, Manager of Delivery Architecture at Brown-Forman Corp. “We are always looking to promote brand awareness, and this solution facilitates awareness of newly acquired and developed brands at retail or distributor locations.”
“Our goal is provide a robust, ‘always on’ service that enables our customers to improve their business by responding more quickly to customer needs, close sales faster and capitalize on opportunities ahead of their competition,” said Gil Perez, CEO of BackFlip. “The deployment at Brown-Forman is one example of how providing simple, real-time multi-channel access to information can maximize effectiveness of business applications for a organization’s mobile sales force.”
About Brown-Forman: Brown-Forman is a producer and marketer of fine quality beverage alcohol brands. It was founded in 1870 by George Garvin Brown in Louisville, KY, U.S. His original brand, Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, was America’s first bottled bourbon and remains one of Brown-Forman’s finest brands today. Brown-Forman employs 4,440 people worldwide with about 1,300 located in Louisville, KY. In all, Brown-Forman has more than 35 brands including Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodka, and Fetzer and Bolla wines, in its portfolio of wines and spirits. For more information, visit http://www.brown-forman.com.
Multi-Channel Environment for User-To-System and System-To-User Communications
Los Gatos, CA, September 22, 2008 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of business process communications, announced today the availability of BackFlip Process Communications On Demand™, the first communication service to provide a truly secured multi-channel environment for user-to-system and system-to-user communications through voice, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile browsing and email technologies.
BackFlip Process Communication On Demand™ can be acquired on a per user per month basis (www.backflipsoftware.com). Organizations subscribed to the service will enjoy:
- Unlimited user-to-system and system-to-user communication coverage including all communications executed on premium channels such as text messaging and voice.
- Process communications administration environment, including message customization, process audit trail and user management capabilities.
- 24/7 support.
- Secured integration with their underlying business applications through our process communications web service API’s and RSS connector.
- Ad-hoc connectors to leading business applications and technologies including Microsoft, BEA, SAP, JBOSS on request.
“BackFlip Process Communications On Demand is designed for companies looking for a cost-effective communication solution that meets the real-time nature of today’s business environment,” said John Kish, CEO of BackFlip. “Today’s increasingly dispersed work force is flooded with volumes of information causing a great loss of time and effort in sorting out what is really needed. By enabling outbound communications to users based on knowledge of the user’s needs, contexts and preferred media, BackFlip helps companies respond more quickly to customer needs, close sales faster and capitalize on opportunities ahead of their competition.”
Chosen for its Vision and Synergies with Microsoft Business Solutions
Los Gatos, CA, June 16, 2008 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of Communications-Enabled Business Process solutions, announced today that it has been selected to join the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program, which is made available only to a selected number of high potential companies.
Microsoft selects companies to join the program based on their innovation, marketability, growth potential, funding, platform decision and strategic importance to Microsoft. Having met all of these criteria, BackFlip will benefit from an extensive support network that provides access to Microsoft people and programs, guidance on future directions and support to accelerate their success.
“We selected BackFlip for this program because it offers a unique solution that supports Microsoft communications and business applications for integrating real-time communications into business applications and processes,” said Lynda Ting of the Emerging Business Team at Microsoft Corp. “We look forward to working with BackFlip to help our mutual customers reach their business goals.”
“Our goal is provide a robust, central platform that will enable our customers to improve their business by responding quickly to customer needs, close sales faster, mitigate risk exposure and capitalize on opportunities ahead of the competition,” said John Kish, CEO of BackFlip. “Microsoft’s recognition of our communications-enabled enterprise strategy, support, and access to their world leading product and market expertise will help us drive value to Microsoft Business Solutions customers and be an invaluable asset in growing our business.”
About the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program: The Microsoft Emerging Business Team evaluates hundreds of technology startups each year to identify those with the strongest potential to succeed in the market, shape the industry’s future, and enhance the overall value of Microsoft products and services for customers. The Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program shines the spotlight on some of the most promising startups and provides good examples of how startups can work successfully with Microsoft. For more information about the program, visit http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com.
Company Specializing in Communications-Enabled Business Processes Chosen for its Innovation and Business Impact
Los Gatos, CA, April 28, 2008 — BackFlip Software, a driving force of Communications-Enabled Business Process solutions, has been named a “Cool Vendor” in Emerging Technologies in Gartner’s March 16, 2008 report.
Gartner defines “cool vendors” as companies that ……“bring intriguing opportunities to technology provider, investor and IT user communities. These vendors offer technologies that can solve specialized business problems or create new market opportunities.”
The report, authored by Steve Blood, Research Vice President at Gartner, recommends that “IT managers and business process owners actively looking to invest in unified communications technologies that will deliver demonstrable improvements to business process should evaluate how BackFlip’s technology is relevant to their current and future architecture.”
The report also states, “BackFlip’s multichannel user interaction platform was developed in recognition of shortfalls in traditional event resolution capabilities and users’ demand for more flexibility in how they subscribe to, receive, and respond to business events and process exceptions. BackFlip is an early example of a vendor that has embraced the “communications-enabled business process” (CEBP), recognizing the negative impact of process delays that result from human latency. It has achieved early success bridging the market awareness gap between business process analysts and IT managers responsible for communications, with demonstrable examples of how process improvements can be realized through handling human steps quicker with the integration of user communications.”
The BackFlip solution was showcased at Gartner’s Enterprise Networking and Communication Summit held in London on April 23-24. Gartner also recognized BackFlip Software among the top five leaders of CEBP in Gartner’s report on “Examples of Communication-Enabled Business Processes That Accelerate Business Responsiveness” dated February 5, 2008.
About Gartner’s Cool Vendors Selection Process: Gartner’s listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.
Delivers Real-Time Actionable Alerts With Analytic Scorecards and Dashboards
ROCKVILLE, MD — (MARKET WIRE) — April 26, 2007 — Visual Mining™, the premier provider of graphical reporting, visual analytics, and on-demand performance dashboard solutions, today announced a partnership with BackFlip Software, the technology leader of “Always-on” communication-enabled services and multi-channel user interaction. BackFlip Software has integrated NetCharts® Server with their Event-Action Server delivering real-time interaction with analytic scorecards and performance dashboards resulting in faster and better-informed business decisions. BackFlip’s technology enables users to subscribe to, receive and respond to changes in enterprise key performance indicators (KPIs) and analytics anywhere, anytime based on their presence through multiple modes of communication including: voice, instant messaging, text messaging (SMS), RSS, WAP, and e-mail.
Integrated with NetCharts graphical reporting tools, BackFlip Software’s Event-Action Server provides personalized dynamic information to clients requiring real-time notification of critical operational process variances and enables them to take immediate corrective action. BackFlip Software’s presence awareness and personalization capabilities improve customers’ operational performance by delivering contextual, real-time actionable information to the front lines.
“As a leading provider of presence-aware, multi-channel user interaction services and the communication-enabled business process platform, our goal is to provide our clients with the actionable information they need — when they need it. The NetCharts scorecard and performance dashboard technology makes it easy for us to extend our value proposition and helps us to enhance the quality of the customer experience,” said Yossi Tamari, CTO of BackFlip Software. “Taking advantage of NetCharts Server technology provides us with dynamic data visualization that improves end-user understanding of operational information.”
“In the highly competitive business activity monitoring industry, improving the end-user experience has become the only way for suppliers to succeed,” said Michael MacDonald, CEO, Visual Mining, Inc. “With the incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies, our portfolio of graphical reporting and performance dashboard software offers a complete data visualization solution that can give independent software vendors (ISVs) a competitive edge in the marketplace.”
NetCharts Server NetCharts Server equips developers with the charting tools necessary to produce outstanding, reliable, and dynamic graphical reporting applications for Business Performance Management. NetCharts Server presents the easiest and most comprehensive path to server-side generation of Web-based graphic images. Run NetCharts Server as a standalone application server or easily integrate it into J2EE, J2SE, Microsoft .NET, and ColdFusion environments to create and deploy executive dashboards, interactive online reports, and performance monitoring solutions.
About Visual Mining, Inc.: Visual Mining develops graphical reporting, visual analytics, and on-demand performance dashboards for Business Performance Management solutions. Visual Mining produced NetCharts® as the industry’s first commercial Java-based charting engine. Sales Executive™, an on-demand business intelligence solution, represents industry best practices developed through more than a decade of experience in serving thousands of customers worldwide. Visual Mining products have earned numerous industry awards, including the 2003 Intelligent Enterprise Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for data visualization software and recent selection as a finalist in the Software & Information Industry Association’s 20th Annual Codie Awards. Information about the company’s products and services is available at www.visualmining.com.
Visual Mining, NetCharts, and Sales Executive are trademarks of Visual Mining, Inc. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
LOS GATOS, Calif., April 22 /PRNewswire/ — BackFlip Software, the technology leader of communication-enabled services and multi-channel user interaction, today announced that it is demonstrating integration with Hyperion System 9 Smart Space at Solutions 2007, Hyperion’s annual user conference in Orlando, Florida April 22 - 25. Smart Space from Hyperion, the global leader in Business Performance Management (BPM) software, is the industry’s first personalized information delivery solution that delivers “always-on” business intelligence (BI) and BPM to every user in the enterprise.
Smart Space gadgets are mini-applications that provide content from Hyperion System 9 software, uniquely integrated into the Windows environment. End users can access a whole library of gadgets, assemble their own personalized environment, and modify the gadgets simply by dragging and dropping or with a single mouse click.
BackFlip’s communication-enabling services have been integrated within Hyperion System 9 Smart Space to enable ubiquitous interaction with Hyperion System 9 applications and analytics resulting in quicker and better-informed business decision management. BackFlip extends Hyperion System 9 Smart Space’s “always-on” capabilities by adding new user interaction channels for instant collaboration including RSS, Voice (VXML), Text Messaging (SMS), and E-mail, and delivering actionable alerts anywhere, anytime.
Instant collaboration via Smart Space enables users to work dynamically with peers and easily share business intelligence about the state of the business. This shared decision making environment is powered by an auditable instant messaging service that securely operates behind the firewall. Conversations can be saved and associated with different decisions, enabling faster and more effective decision management. BackFlip Software’s presence awareness and personalization functionality increases customers’ operational performance by providing real-time actionable information at the point of business activity.
“BackFlip’s capabilities enable Hyperion products to reach a new class of users who require user-to-system and user-to-user collaboration, allowing them to take immediate action and make decisions based on real-time, actionable information,” said Robert Gersten, Chief Development Officer at Hyperion Solutions.
“In today’s dynamic business environment, success hinges on the ability to respond rapidly to a constantly changing environment and reduce human latency,” said Yossi Tamari, Chief Technology Officer of BackFlip Software. “By communication-enabling applications, we deliver an ‘always-on’ application model which extends the business beyond the desktop.”