More than 160 New Features and Enhancements are Empowering Service-Centric Organizations with Advanced Capabilities, Exceptional Performance, and a New Process-Driven User Interface
HORSHAM, Pa., Feb. 28 /-- Astea International Inc. (NASDAQ:ATEA), a global provider of service lifecycle management (SLM) solutions, has introduced a new version of the industry's most robust solution for service-centric organizations. Leveraging more than 28 years of experience, Astea Alliance 8.0 delivers extensive enhancements and new features to empower service-centric organizations to achieve a new level of service excellence. Built on the Microsoft .NET 2.0 platform and offering more than 200 web services for ease of integration and accelerated development, Astea Alliance 8.0 is one of the most open and non-proprietary solutions on the market today. Accelerated revenue growth, proactive insight to customer interactions, improved customer satisfaction and experiences, and lower total cost of ownership, are just a few of the advantages organizations will be able to realize with this new release.
More than 400 organizations, around the world, rely on Astea's solutions to run their service operations. This new comprehensive offering provides improved knowledge management and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance features, process- driven user interface, beefed-up escalation utilities and email listener features to increase automation and manage by exception, and new meter reading/billing capabilities. Organizations also benefit from dramatically enhanced professional services automation, business intelligence, logistics, contract management, dynamic scheduling optimization, and overall system performance.
"Astea Alliance is one of the most widely-used service lifecycle management solutions on the market today and I am very proud of this new version," said Zack Bergreen, Chairman and CEO of Astea International. "This is a pivotal release for not only Astea but the industry itself, and one which will have a dramatic impact on the way organizations deliver service as more and more companies begin to view and leverage service as a competitive differentiator and revenue generator. Astea has always been in the forefront. We continue to leverage our breadth and depth of experience and expertise to deliver leading solutions that are mission critical to organizations where customer service is strategic."
Astea Alliance 8.0 delivers a vast number of new features and enhancements, some of the highlights include:
Process-Driven User Interface. Today more and more companies are continuously trying to do more with fewer resources in a shorter period of time. We are enabling organizations to achieve this objective, by designing the user interface to work the way the end user works, regardless of their role. Fewer clicks of the mouse, more automation, and role-based workflows are major advantages of this release.
Service-Centric Business Intelligence. When it comes to delivering superior customer service it is all about gaining insight into key performance indicators and trends in order to adapt quickly to deliver proactive service. With more than 140 measurements and 75 dimensions, solely focused on service lifecycle management, organizations can "slice and dice" information to gain a level of insight that cannot be achieved by static reports alone.
Unmatched Contract Management Capabilities. When it comes to managing service contracts no one comes close to Astea. With Astea Alliance 8.0, organizations benefit from improved flexibility, contract templates to speed and enable customer-centric contracts, and pricing and renewal enhancements.
Numerous Logistics Enhancements Added. A number of logistics-related features have been added to this new release. Costing improvements such as Advanced Vendor Exchange, Average Costing and Serialized Costing add advanced capabilities that further support logistics operations. Additionally, a number of procurement facilities have been included to further support streamlined workflow and increased automation.
Meter Reading/Leasing/Billing Features. These features support those organizations where a product is sold to their customer that contains meters for tracking usage or consumption, such as copiers, printers, etc. With these capabilities organizations can drive proactive service instead of reactionary service (i.e. break-fix). Billing, service, and consumer sales can be automated based on meter readings/usage greatly improving customer satisfaction and increasing additional revenue opportunities.
Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE) Improvements. The Astea Alliance DSE consistently delivers a compelling value proposition when it comes to real- time scheduling optimization improvements. The addition of parts and breaks as another variable drives the optimization to another level. Now organizations can, with the highest confidence, send the right technician with the right part to the right customer.
Professional Services Automation (PSA) Advancements. Extensive effort and focus has been applied to this module. Great improvements have been achieved to enable the user to easily manage and track the entire project lifecycle. As a seamless module, in the Astea Alliance suite, PSA synchronizes project processes across all modules in a single solution.
"Words cannot express the level of excitement and pride that we have for this new release, and we look forward to our customers' successes as they begin to leverage this advanced solution," states Ariel Katz, VP Product Development & General Manager, Astea International. "We have been able to address many market demands, as well as introduce an abundance of innovative and time-saving capabilities, which will give Astea a definitive competitive advantage in the market today. Furthermore, we have recently adopted a more agile development environment and we will be introducing new releases in shorter time periods. This change will enable organizations to leverage new features, quicker, that will support them in adapting and achieving advantages in their dynamic environments for continued service success."
Astea works with hundreds of companies worldwide, maximizing the value of an organizations service operation by optimizing critical business processes. The company can be reached at 215-682-2500.
About Astea International
Astea International (NASDAQ:ATEA) is a global provider of service lifecycle management software that addresses the unique needs of companies who manage capital equipment, mission critical assets and human capital. The Astea Alliance suite supports the complete service lifecycle, from lead generation and project quotation to service and billing through asset retirement. It integrates and optimizes critical business processes for Contact Center, Field Service, Depot Repair, Logistics, Professional Services, and Sales & Marketing. Astea extends its application suite with portal, business intelligence, dynamic scheduling and mobile solutions. Since its inception in 1979, Astea has licensed applications to companies in a wide range of sectors including information technology, telecommunications, instruments and controls, HVAC, high-tech, business systems, and medical devices.
www.astea.com. Service Smart. Enterprise Proven.
CONTACT: Debbie Geiger, Vice President of Marketing of Astea International Inc., +1-215-682-2500, dgeiger@astea.com
Web site: http://www.astea.com/