EarthLink Enhances myLink™ with IT Services Center
ATLANTA, GA — August 8, 2012 —EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) a leading IT and communications provider, today announced several upgrades and enhancements to its myLink self-service customer control point, including the integration of IT services to enable users to seamlessly access all of their EarthLink Business® services via one interface. The myLink portal is a secure, online essential business tool that provides a centralized, integrated and on-demand gateway to each EarthLink Business account, empowering customers with a wealth of self-service applications, reporting and management features.
The myLink ‘Tools’ section now includes convenient control panel links to Microsoft Exchange 2010 Hosting and VMware vCloud Hosting products. A new IT Services ‘News’ page with real-time content updates was added, which includes EarthLink’s educational IT blog, the first of which is titled Leveraging the Cloud to Get a Competitive Edge by Brian Fink, EarthLink Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. The myLink online demo highlighting support features, reporting and service management is also now available.
“EarthLink has added robust, new functionality to myLink this year and plans to continually improve and upgrade the user experience,” said Fink. “We actively solicit customer feedback and insights, and use that intelligence to continually refine our portal. Our clients now have one, convenient site from which to manage all of their EarthLink services, and it can greatly simplify their workday. We are committed to doing the systems integration work to ensure a more transparent user experience, and I expect that the myLink portal will further emerge as a key differentiator for our company.”
Additional myLink features and functionality include a utilization alert notification widget for colocation customers, a domain checker and ordering tool, and a refreshed online invoice.
“A highly-functional portal is a critical component of the relationship between a customer and a service provider,” said Lynda Stadtmueller, Program Director for Cloud Computing at Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan. “Businesses of all sizes want 24x7 visibility and control over their services, and they prefer the convenience of a single, easy to use portal to perform tasks, access data, and generate reports. With the enhancements to the myLink portal, EarthLink is demonstrating its commitment to customers and increasing the value of its services.”
Planned enhancements to myLink later this year will include the integration of more statistics and performance monitoring tools, additional self-service order functionality and service ticket capabilities, and more voice and data management tools.
Click here to experience a myLink demo. To request more information about EarthLink Business, call 1-800-957-4872 or visit www.earthlinkbusiness.com.
About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization services such as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 28,800 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink’s award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care. For more information, visit EarthLink's website at www.earthlink.net.
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EarthLink Business Launches EarthLink TechCare
Customizable, Fully-Managed Outsourced Help Desk Solution
ATLANTA, GA — June 14, 2012 — EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT services and communications provider, today announced the launch of EarthLink TechCare, the next in its series of innovative IT Services business solutions. EarthLink TechCare is a fully managed outsourced help desk that is customizable and scalable, enabling customers to relieve their overburdened IT staffs and refocus on more strategic initiatives.
With EarthLink TechCare, experts build a customized offering fully integrated into the customer’s IT environment. EarthLink’s North America-based, certified professionals resolve end-user technology challenges by answering live calls rapidly, and provide a knowledgeable and courteous experience for the client’s users. EarthLink TechCare can help businesses define thresholds for escalations and create a ticketing and reporting system to meet exact needs.
“Following our May launch of Cloud Workspace, a hosted desktop and virtualization application service, EarthLink TechCare further empowers our clients to achieve their business objectives by expanding their IT capabilities without adding IT staff,” said Michael Toplisek, Executive Vice President of IT Services for EarthLink. “Many businesses today spend a high percentage of their IT resources on routine maintenance and support activities. EarthLink TechCare provides the help desk functionality to keep internal users productive without consuming internal IT resources. This solution can significantly reduce the cost of providing help desk support compared to an in-house service, and enables IT staff to focus on more strategic revenue generating initiatives.”
EarthLink TechCare is a feature-rich service that enables clients to select from a menu of components or add unique support elements as needed. These include: support of any end-user device, VIP support levels, online reporting tools, trouble ticketing system, 24/7 or 9/5 options, client satisfaction reports and ITIL best practices. EarthLink documents the business IT environment (networks, devices, printers, partners, applications, peripherals, VIPs) and helps define escalation thresholds and processes for third party vendors, and ensure a seamless handoff for end-users.
“Businesses are under continual pressure to do more with the same budgets, and often lack the resources to keep up with the increased complexity and risk in the IT world. Outsourcing help desk functions has long been seen as a viable target for strategically distributing budget while potentially improving productivity and end user response times,” remarked Carl Brooks, infrastructure and cloud computing analyst, Tier1 Research, a division of 451 Research. “Providers that offer a professional, scalable solution are in a good position to attract customers that are feeling the pinch around IT staffing levels but still want to try and streamline rote support functions."
EarthLink TechCare features a web-based customer portal with access to the historical record of all logged calls and ACD (Automated Call Distribution) statistics that measure performance based on average call length, average speed of answer and number/percentage of calls answered. Current EarthLink service level metrics indicate 70% of calls reach a live person in less than 30 seconds; on average calls reach a live person in less than 60 seconds and 70% of issues are resolved and closed on the first call.
Implemented by EarthLink internally to support the sales organization, EarthLink TechCare provides the real-time support and rapid resolution that has greatly improved productivity and effectiveness.
The IT Services product suite is also available for customer management via the myLink™ customer portal using a centralized IT Services Center dashboard.
More information on EarthLink Business IT Services is available by calling 1-800-957-4872 or visiting www.earthlinkbusiness.com.
About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization services such as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 28,800 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink’s award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care. For more information, visit EarthLink's website at www.earthlink.net.
PC Processing is a leading provider in the property and casualty insurance industry. Founded in 1992 and based in Atlanta, Georgia, this growing company’s employees support 1,500 agents across the country. Accurate and immediate communication streams are critical to maintaining the company’s outstanding customer service reputation and at the core of their strategy for continued growth.
“Integration was the major issue for us before moving to EarthLink Business. We chose EarthLink as our communications partner because they offered an integrated-service solution and now that we bundle our fax, email, voice and data services, it’s much easier from a customer service standpoint,” said Alex Campos, CEO and President, PC Processing.
CHALLENGE
PC Processing had outgrown its location and their former telecommunications equipment. They needed to relocate their business to larger facility to accommodate their growth. Coinciding with the move, the company was in need of a communication partner who could help maximize their customer service team’s time by receiving both inbound and outbound calls, faxes and emails.
“Before we moved, our customer service team experienced some idle time,” said Alex Campos, President and CEO of PC Processing. “We didn’t have the ability for our team to receive both in and outbound call traffic. With EarthLink Business™, PC Processing can now maximize their employees’ time and expertise, and their agents are able to provide their customers with quicker responses, achieving an overall higher-quality customer experience.”
SOLUTION
While PC Processing handled the relocation logistics for their company’s move, EarthLink Business managed the installation of their new call center communications. “The move went well,” said Campos. “There were challenges but EarthLink worked together with us to make sure everything was addressed and up and running quickly.”
EarthLink Business installed NEC’s Unified Communication for Business (UCB) Contact Center, the UNIVERGE SV 8300. This new system provides database integration, call routing, and full reporting capabilities. Real-time statistics and multi-media cueing abilities now enable the company to respond and track any communication method—faxes, emails, voice messages, SMS text messages and Web chats, with equal importance as a traditional telephone call.
“Now we can cue up calls so our customer service team receives inbound and outbound calls automatically,” said Campos.
RESULTS & BENEFITS
With the installation of the UC Contact Center, Campos anticipates that annual sales revenue will increase by 15-20 percent due to the new ability to line up calls using the outdial feature and by more fully utilizing the customer service team. In just a few short months the company has already added additional customer service positions and lines with the expectation for continued growth.
“Thanks to EarthLink Business and the implementation of our new NEC Contact Center, we now have the ability to provide a better customer service experience and we’re doing more business than ever, with trackable results,” said Campos. “The outdial feature, record on command and reporting capabilities have been really nice. It’s also been great to work with a provider that has both the hardware and network sides covered.”
