Convergys Acquires Unique Customer Loyalty Firm, MAXWorldwide, to Expand CRM Service Offerings.

Business Editors

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2000

Convergys to Offer New & Unique Approach to Building Customer Loyalty

and Retention via Customer Contact Centers and Interactive Web Pages

Convergys Corporation today announced the acquisition of MAXWorldwide LLC, a privately-held, Herndon, Virginia-based company that designs and operates innovative and unique customer loyalty programs for Fortune 500 corporations. MAXWorldwide will become part of Convergys' Customer Management Group. The acquisition closed June 5, 2000.

The uniqueness of MAXWorldwide's programs comes from using subject matter experts to staff its customer contact center and to support the turnkey interactive web pages it creates. The company provides contact center experts such as mechanics, home maintenance and repair specialists, and nurses to give expert assistance through a variety of specialized customer loyalty programs to clients in industries as diverse as insurance, telecommunications, and healthcare. For example, a company could provide a 24 x 7 toll free number for its customers to obtain free expert advice from electricians, plumbers, and other trade professionals -- a value-added service provided by MAXWorldwide that would differentiate that company in the marketplace.

Convergys will use these capabilities to expand its customer relationship management (CRM) solution set to provide programs that combine the services of these subject matter experts with interactive web pages (eCRM) to help increase customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty to reduce churn, and to increase profitability.

"Enriching each customer interaction -- whether through expert live-agent assistance, a wide range of state-of-the-art customer management technologies, or a combination of these -- is crucial to our goal of delivering exceptional value to our clients," said Ron Schultz, president of Convergys' Customer Management Group. "The addition of MAXWorldwide's expertise and capabilities in customer loyalty to our outsourced, end-to-end CRM offerings will enable us to offer our clients greater customer retention and customer lifetime value solutions."

The acquisition of MAXWorldwide further strengthens Convergys' leadership role in CRM -- a field Convergys has been shaping since 1988 -- by providing its clients with integrated, flexible, and highly scalable billing and customer care solutions. These service offerings allow Convergys' clients to enter markets quickly, expand aggressively while minimizing risk, differentiate their products and services, and maximize the value of each customer interaction.

MAXWorldwide's customers include USAA and BellSouth.

MAXWorldwide helps create value for its clients in many ways including program development, systems implementation, recruitment, staffing and training, marketplace communication, execution, customer feedback, and program evaluation. The company also creates customized web pages that offer a unique hybrid of superior graphical presentation of typical web help information combined with expert helpdesk services immediately available by telephone.

About Convergys

Convergys Corporation (NYSE:CVG) is the global leader in providing outsourced, integrated, billing and customer care services, bringing together world-class resources and expertise to help clients transform customer relationships into a competitive advantage.

Convergys software produces more than one million bills each day, and Convergys customer contact centers handle more than one million calls each day.

Convergys (SM) provides billing, customer care, and employee care services to the top companies in a wide range of industries, including communications, Internet, cable and broadband services, technology, consumer products, financial services, utilities, healthcare and hospitality.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Convergys employs over 42,500 people in its 39 customer contact centers and in its data centers and other offices in the United States, Canada, Israel, and Europe. Convergys is on the Internet at convergys.com

Convergys is pronounced: kun VER jis. Convergys and the Convergys logo are service marks of Convergys Corporation.