Blue Pumpkin Software Announces Enhanced Workforce Management Solution for Call Centers; PrimeTime Provides Call Center Professionals With The Industry's Most Powerful Forecasting and Scheduling System.

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 1997--Blue Pumpkin Software, a leading provider of workforce management solutions, today announced it has begun shipping an enhanced version of PrimeTime(TM) software for call center demand forecasting and workforce scheduling.

PrimeTime boasts standard features that allow call center professionals to forecast staffing levels and develop schedules with little training time. New enhancements include increased flexibility in changing shift assignments, a meeting schedule wizard and a staffing cost calculator. With PrimeTime, call centers can reduce overstaffing costs and increase revenues by capturing sales previously lost to abandoned calls.

"We believe in empowering call center professionals by providing them with direct access to the power of a full-function forecasting and scheduling system," said Doron Aspitz, president of Blue Pumpkin. "Our goal is to provide a simple to use, flexible system so our customers can quickly balance service demands with resource constraints at an affordable price."

Running on Windows 95 or Windows NT, PrimeTime can be integrated with popular Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) systems to download call volume and other statistical data needed for generating forecasts. Historical call pattern data combines with PrimeTime's forecasting system to provide powerful "what if" analyses to predict the impact of call volume and staffing changes. Simple to install and use, PrimeTime allows customers to begin improving their operations within a few days, as opposed to the weeks or even months required by other more expensive and cumbersome systems.

Customers Save Time, Money With PrimeTime

"We must react quickly to rapidly changing workloads in our call centers," said Tom Rocca, senior vice president of Intek Information Inc., a leading provider of outsource call center services. "Each time we add a new client or shift resources between campaigns, PrimeTime allows us to model staffing needs against service levels in a matter of minutes." He adds that the "greatest benefit of PrimeTime is eliminating the need for scheduling specialists. All of our forecasting and scheduling is now done directly by our campaign managers and sales personnel."

New Features Offer More Flexibility

The new PrimeTime software offers enhancements that include: -0-

-- Support for 24-hour call centers -- schedules employees across midnight; automatically maintains shift separation and allows for user setting of day boundary

-- Scheduling of common meetings -- includes a tool which helps select the best meeting times to minimize schedule and service disruption

-- Flexibility in changing shift assignments -- shifts can be customized on the schedule with only a few clicks of the mouse, allowing quick changes to shift length, break length, start times and the insertion of non-phone time

-- Staffing cost calculator -- calculates and tabulates the total call center staffing costs by day and week

-- Extensive exporting ability -- allows for export of employee data, schedules, history, profiles and forecasts into text, spreadsheet or HTML formats

-- Selective archiving and restoration -- allows for archiving of a selected portion of the database and restoration into another database

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for PrimeTime is based on the number of agents being scheduled and begins at $9,900. Multi-site and multi-seat discounts are available. The product is available for immediate delivery directly through Blue Pumpkin Software. Please contact Tom Halfaker at 415/813-9180, ext. 19 or [e-mail] .

About Blue Pumpkin

Blue Pumpkin Software is a privately held company founded in 1996. The leading provider of workforce management software designed to be used by call center professionals, Blue Pumpkin created PrimeTime software to allow users to improve customer service and increase call center efficiency.

Call centers in need of computer-aided forecasting and scheduling include those providing technical support, customer service, travel reservations, financial services and telemarketing. It is estimated that the number of these call centers will reach 200,000 by the year 2001. For more information, visit the Blue Pumpkin web site at http://www.blue-pumpkin.com .

CONTACT: Blue Pumpkin Software

Renee Maler, 510/828-9495

[e-mail]