24 Jun 2010
Latest update to the HTK horizon platform delivers truly personalised IVR, SMS and email for contact centres and large enterprises.
HTK, the UK Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company for intelligent customer contact by email, voice and mobile text messaging, has announced the latest version of its multi-media platform, HTK Horizon.
Horizon version 2.2 provides a ‘dynamic IVR’ capability that can automatically adapt to specific customer needs and preferences, reducing the number of calls met by static push-button menus and generic call-queues. The high level of personalisation enabled by Horizon means that callers find the information they need much faster, resulting in shorter calls and fewer transfers to live agents.
With CRM integration out-of-the-box, Horizon provides extensive options for profiling, classifying and targeting customers down to an individual level. This means that personalised, multi-channel contact strategies – including proactive outbound IVR and SMS messaging– can quickly and easily be created by non-technical customer service and marketing managers.
Traditionally, IVR has been perceived by customers as a cause of irritation, frustration and even anger, often leading to a degradation of customer loyalty and the destruction of brand value. “With customers increasingly demanding a return to ‘good old-fashioned personalised service’, press-1-for-this-and-2 for-that simply doesn’t cut it,” explains Marlon Bowser, CEO at HTK.
"This is often compounded by long call queues, making IVR a real bug-bear for customers and a major cause of concern to large enterprises. Horizon enables a much better customer experience than traditional IVR – it represents a significant and important step forwards in the contact centre industry.”
In addition to an intuitive drag-and-drop user interface for the creation of highly personalised IVR services, Horizon 2.2 includes an integrated multi-media content management system and a selection of plug-in applications to automate a wide range of routine business tasks.
“Not only can HTK Horizon transform the customer experience, but its dynamic IVR capability has already become a cornerstone of marketing campaign management for a leading UK mobile network operator“, said Bowser. “Horizon is handling over 30 million calls per-year to deliver targeted marketing offers to their pre-pay subscriber base.”
With over 2,500 paying users, HTK Horizon is developing a strong reputation as a leading Cloud-based platform for customer service and marketing automation by interactive voice, email and SMS, with a mission to radically improve the customer experience and help organisations to use great customer service as a competitive differentiator.
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Press contact: Sarah Porter | sarah.porter@33-digital.com | +44 (0) 20 7608 8356
About HTK
The HTK Horizon software-as-a-service platform changes the way that businesses sell to and serve their prospects and customers. Horizon’s industry leading CRM data segmentation capabilities and one-stop integration of email, social, SMS and voice comms enable the creation of more effective marketing campaigns, a higher adoption of customer self-service and greater customer satisfaction, with the ROI and cost benefits of a true SaaS solution.
Horizon is used by small businesses, government departments and large enterprises including BT, Specsavers, O2 UK and over half of UK Police forces.
HTK was founded in 1996, is privately owned and based in Ipswich, UK.
