April 06, 1999 09:00

NCR's New InteractionPlus Software Helps Businesses Improve
Customer Relationships by Better Understanding Transaction Data

    NCR Unveils Channel Integration and Personalization Software that Lets
    Companies Capture Kiosk, Call Center and Internet Transaction Data for
                                   Analysis

DAYTON, Ohio, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- NCR Corporation today unveiled its new InteractionPlus(TM)
channel integration and personalization software, a key part of NCR's commitment to helping businesses
"transform transactions into relationships." 

InteractionPlus enables businesses to capture customer transaction data from various "touch points" so that
they can analyze this data. By analyzing the data, businesses can increase their knowledge about
consumers and deliver enhanced services -- based on this knowledge -- back through those same customer
"touch points." The "touch points" can include kiosks, call centers and the Internet. Part of NCR's overall
Customer Interaction Solutions (CIS) suite, InteractionPlus was designed to help businesses improve how
they manage their relationships with consumers. 

NCR's CIS portfolio builds on its leadership position in delivering customer interactive devices in the retail
and financial industries and on the company's well-established leadership in designing and implementing
customer- centric Teradata(R) Warehouses for analyzing and predicting customer behavior. 

"NCR understands the importance of maximizing interactions with customers to increase profitability and
raise the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty," said Mark Hurd, senior vice president of NCR's National
Accounts Solutions Group. "With the introduction of InteractionPlus, businesses will have everything they
need to optimize customer relationships by extending valuable customer knowledge to the front line where
consumers interact with the business." 

InteractionPlus: Improving Customer Relationships 

The cornerstone for all CIS solutions, InteractionPlus channel integration and real-time personalization
software was designed to improve a business' ability to relate and interact with customers across diverse
contact channels. InteractionPlus leverages customer knowledge to provide personalized customer
interactions in the context of previous contacts. The result is improved customer satisfaction, loyalty,
retention and profitability. InteractionPlus maximizes customer intimacy and provides one of the critical
pieces necessary for a successful Customer Relationship Management program. 

This newly developed software suite, which works with NCR's Teradata for Windows NT, includes two
modules. The Customer Information Manager module was designed for integrating customer information
collected across multiple interaction channels. The Customer Personalization Manager module is designed
for personalizing responses to customers across multiple interaction channels based on segmentation
criteria, as well as prior customer interactions and information. 

The Customer Information Manager provides a short-term consolidated view of customer interactions and
other relevant customer profiles, while the Customer Personalization Manager leverages this information to
enable one-to- one service to customers across multiple interaction channels. 

InteractionPlus feeds data gathered via the various customer "touch points" to a customer-centric Teradata
data warehouse for analysis of customer behavior and predictive modeling of future buying habits. It then
feeds the results of that analysis back to the customer "touch points". 

Comments Patty Seybold, CEO of the Patricia Seybold Group, a well-known industry analyst firm, "We see
customer relationship management (CRM) becoming both a critical challenge and exciting opportunity for
companies looking to grow in highly competitive markets. NCR's experience in both capturing data at
customer touch points, and in analyzing that information for customer insight using its Teradata data
warehouses makes NCR a valuable resource for companies looking to implement CRM solutions." 

"Now, with the announcement of InteractionPlus," Seybold stated, "companies can take action on these
customer interactions, resulting in closed loop marketing initiatives." 

About NCR's Customer Interaction Solutions 

NCR's end-to-end CIS offerings include three key components: Packaged Customer Interaction Solutions,
which are built with the new InteractionPlus software suite; NCR's Professional Services; and NCR's
Customer Services portfolio. They are comprised of: 

    * Packaged Customer Interaction Solutions:
      * Call Center Solution, transforms the call center into a multi-channel
        interaction center by combining best-of-breed partner tools and
        software with NCR value-add software integration and high availability
        modules, leading hardware technologies, and services for consulting,
        project management, solution design, implementation, and support.
      * Kiosk-based Solution, includes custom application development
        services, packaged self-service applications, and NCR's reliable and
        flexible hardware platforms.
      * Customer Interaction Web Solution, includes complete electronic
        commerce tools and "touch point" applications for commerce, customer
        care, and customer billing that can be customized and personalized for
        flexibility at the point of contact.

    * Professional Services:
      * NCR's suite of Professional Services addresses all aspects of a
        solution, including the formulation of the overall strategy,
        prioritization of customer channel initiatives, and the planning,
        design and implementation of a solution aligned with business
        requirements and objectives.

    * Solution Support/Maintenance Services:
      * This suite of services allows customers to maintain the high
        availability demanded of critical customer relationship management
        solutions.  NCR services professionals serve as the single point of
        contact to minimize the complexity of multiple service provider
        management.

Packaged Solutions: Call Centers 

By far the most heavily utilized channel for customer interaction, other than personal contact, is the
touch-tone telephone. Most businesses have some sort of call center, yet many of them are inefficient and
looked upon as necessary expenses rather than an opportunity to retain more customers and be more
profitable. 

NCR has already helped many global enterprises realize these benefits by implementing its highly available
Customer Interaction Call Center Solution. NCR's experienced professional service consultants help focus
the mission of the call center to complement the company's business goals, update technology where
appropriate, and manage the entire project from planning through final implementation. 

Among the customers already benefiting from NCR's Call Center solutions to streamline customer
communications is Turin, Italy-based Fiat, a company well known on the auto racing circuit. Fiat's Call
Center solution includes NCR's industry-leading software, services and hardware. The Fiat high-level Call
Centers support all customer and internal service requests year round. Some of the services provided to Fiat
customers include: emergency car dispatch and assistance, extended warranty plans and additional
information upon request. 

"The Call Centre in Arese (Italy) with its new state-of-the-art NCR system is set to improve customer
satisfaction levels and reduce 'time to service' in several of our automotive and financial services activities,"
said Marco Petrini, System Integration Manager at Fiat. "In doing so, we will do a better job of managing
critical customer relationships -- and that's good for our customers and good for Fiat." 

Other customers using NCR's Call Center solutions include Mercedes Benz Pan-European Customer
Assistance Center and Mobilkom, the Austrian communications company. 

At Your (Self) Service: Via Kiosk or on the Internet 

In recent years, more and more customers are coming into contact with companies on a self-service basis,
whether it's a bank customer at the automated teller machine or a web-shopper placing an order over the
Internet. While customers like self-service for its convenience, to companies it has a much stronger selling
point: Profitability. 

By optimizing existing channels and integrating new ones, through which a company interacts with its
customers, a company can increase sales, deliver better customer service and cut costs by shifting some
sale and customer care functions to less costly, automated solutions. 

Packaged Solutions: Kiosks 

The NCR kiosks are freestanding interactive terminals -- placed in various locations such as retail stores,
airports and stadiums -- that allow the customer to make queries and find out specifics about products and
services the company offers. NCR's kiosk offerings build on the company's 25 years of experience as the
leader in self-service banking machines and point-of-sale technology. 

Packaged Solutions: Web-enabled 

NCR's Customer Interaction Web solution offers complete electronic commerce tools and "touch point"
applications for commerce, customer care and customer billing that can be customized and personalized for
complete flexibility at the point of contact. NCR builds these solutions using Microsoft's Commerce
Platform. Cost savings from implementing such solutions can be enormous as companies shift certain
customer interaction processes to "automated agents." 

About NCR's Professional Services 

NCR's portfolio of CIS Professional Services is focused on establishing the proper foundation upon which to
build a solution tightly aligned with business objectives. A flexible Professional Services framework enables
NCR to select the right components to meet individual client needs. NCR's Customer Interaction Planning
Services are the first and most crucial steps in the process of implementing a successful customer
interaction solution. These services focus on identifying and prioritizing customer initiatives to meet
business objectives for customer acquisition, retention, and profitability. 

NCR's Support Services: One-stop life cycle support 

NCR's CIS Customer Services portfolio provides a single point of contact for critical support and
maintenance services, ensuring the system availability required, while allowing a customer's internal
company resources to focus on core business initiatives. This customized services offering includes
hardware and software maintenance, lifecycle services, support for the customized application and third
party products. Each service in this portfolio -- whether it is implementation, platform support, managed
services, or networking -- is focused on "Best-In-Class" processes and tools with the twin goals of keeping
internal productivity high and operations cost- effective. 

About NCR Corporation 

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is in the business of transforming transactions into relationships. NCR is a
recognized world leader in data warehousing solutions, ATMs, point-of-sale, high performance scanners, and
support services for retail, financial and national accounts markets. 

NCR's business solutions are built on the foundation of the company's long-established industry knowledge
and consulting expertise, value-adding software, global customer support services, a complete line of
consumable and media products, and world-leading hardware technology. More information about NCR and
its products may be found on the World Wide Web at www.ncr.com 

InteractionPlus and NCR WorldMark are trademarks and NCR and NCR Teradata are registered trademarks
of NCR Corporation. Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand and product
names appearing in this release are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective
holders. 

SOURCE NCR Corporation 

/CONTACT: Holly Michael of NCR Corporation, 937-445-6086, or 
[email protected]; or Elizabeth Berglund, 212-704-4527, or 
[email protected], or Mark Haviland, 212-704-8285, both of 
Edelman Worldwide/ 

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