SAN MATEO, Calif., — March 20, 2007 — Keynote (Nasdaq: KEYN), the global leader in Internet and mobile test and measurement services, today announced the beta availability of Voice Perspective® 2.0, an on-demand VoIP testing and monitoring service ideally suited for the enterprise and contact center markets. Voice Perspective 2.0 will help VoIP-enabled contact centers monitor and assure call quality in a hybrid network environment where calls typically traverse both traditional PSTN and packet-switched VoIP networks. Keynote’s new offering will provide contact center operations teams unrivaled visibility into the true experience of callers dialing in to their facilities from a wide range of geographic locations and will allow for trusted third-party SLA monitoring of outsourced contact center call quality.
Voice Perspective 2.0 calling agents support geographically distributed monitoring of voice service quality from 5 major U.S. metropolitan areas comprising a majority of U.S. consumers. An additional 5 metropolitan areas will come online by the end of the year covering the entire U.S. market. Keynote’s Voice Perspective measurement computers are configured to call Keynote responders located on customer premises, either inside or outside the firewall, and provide a holistic view of voice service quality that includes Voice Audio Clarity, Service Reliability, and Responsiveness. By utilizing Voice Perspective, contact center managers can actively analyze and triage voice service quality metrics utilizing various views (charts, reports, trend alerts, etc.) available online at the MyKeynote™ portal. Utilizing waveform analysis of the call audio, Voice Perspective enables companies to experience what their customers are experiencing.
Unlike most VoIP monitoring tools on the market today that are network focused and take an inside-out approach by measuring the network jitter, packet loss, and latency in the core network, Keynote provides a tool that is capable of measuring the true end-user experience across hybrid networks and over a variety of last-mile connections. While monitoring network issues is important to assuring overall call quality, it does not provide for an accurate representation of the true end-user experience since audio problems arising in the last-mile with adapters and ISP access beyond the network edge are not captured.
The operational performance monitoring (OPM) capability of Voice Perspective 2.0 will provide contact center managers with a window into their end-users’ quality of service experience on an ongoing basis, delivered on-demand via the unified MyKeynote Web portal interface. The Keynote Voice Perspective service will help companies monitor the quality of voice service as experienced by callers dialing in to their outsourced VoIP-enabled contact centers. All Voice Perspective customers will be able to view Quality of Service reports, as well as define and receive alerts on specified events.
Voice Perspective 2.0 also includes features for SLA Compliance Reporting to help enterprises monitor the performance of both internal and outsourced VoIP-enabled contact center service quality. Having a trusted third party’s SLA compliance metrics will be of particular interest to enterprise organizations deploying outsourced VoIP-enabled contact centers in order to more closely monitor incoming call quality and assure consistently high service levels for customers dialing in to their contact centers.
Because the experience a customer has when dialing in to a company’s contact center can often make or break the customer relationship this service should be considered of critical importance. If a customer experiences poor call quality when dialing a company’s contact center, that customer may come away with a negative opinion of the company and its commitment to providing excellent customer service. The value of this service to outsourced contact center companies is to be able to show their customers that they can meet certain Voice Quality and Service Reliability SLAs. This will help competing contact centers to differentiate their services and distinguish themselves from the competition by offering a higher level of transparency and integrity.
“With the growing popularity of VoIP-enabled contact centers and ‘click-to-call’ functionality on consumer facing Web sites, enterprises are increasingly challenged to maintain the highest levels of service while pursuing the promise of cost savings that an increasingly unified communications environment can represent,” said Umang Gupta, chairman and chief executive officer of Keynote. “With Voice Perspective 2.0, Keynote has provided companies with an affordable, on-demand solution for monitoring the experience of callers dialing their contact centers seeking assistance, and a way to ensure that those critical customer interactions are positive ones.”
Based on its experience in testing and measuring VoIP call quality for residential customers, Keynote has established the following metrics as the most critical to demonstrating reliability and quality of service:
Keynote Voice Perspective has been deployed by multiple service providers for residential VoIP monitoring. It is the most comprehensive and valuable product in the market today for benchmarking and monitoring the end-to-end VoIP service quality from the actual end-user perspective over any communication media – DSL, Cable, and Wireless. Voice Perspective utilizes Keynote’s global test and measurement network to provide a deep and broad view of end-to-end VoIP service quality across various providers and over multiple carrier networks.
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in test & measurement solutions that improve mobile communications and online business performance. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, we have been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customer’s online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX. In addition, our industry analysis group called Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring customer experience and service levels across a wide range of industries.
Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of 2,400 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 240 locations around the world. Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Our on-demand, hassle-free infrastructure allows businesses to access services they need, when they need them to pinpoint and fix mobile quality and Internet problems before they impact customers.
We help over 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” by helping them improve online business performance and mobile communications quality. Our customers represent top Internet and mobile companies including American Express, BP, Caterpillar, Dell, Disney, eBay, ESPN Mobile, E*TRADE, Expedia, FedEx, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by telephone in the U.S. at (650) 403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority and Perspective are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority and True Experience are trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2007 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, Inc.(650) 403-3305, dberkowitz@keynote.com
Josh Danson, Keynote Systems, Inc.(650) 403-3264, jdanson@keynote.com
