HP and Rubric Alliance Helps Drive E-commerce by Integrating Call Centers Into Customer Relationship Management Programs.

PALO ALTO and SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 1999--

Rubric EMA to be Integrated with HP Customer Contact Manager to Include Call Centers with Personalized Internet-marketing Campaigns

In a move that is expected to help drive e-commerce, Hewlett-Packard Company and Rubric, Inc. today announced that they have formed an alliance that will help companies integrate their telemarketing centers into Internet-marketing campaigns.

As part of the alliance, Rubric's industry-leading Enterprise Marketing Automation (EMA) capabilities will be integrated with HP Customer Contact Manager (CCM) computer-telephony integration (CTI) software to enable a real-time, personalized interactive experience for the customer. By using this combination, companies can enhance their overall customer relationship management (CRM) programs and improve customer loyalty.

"We are excited about the integration of Rubric EMA with HP's Customer Contact Manager solution for call centers," said Karen Rogge, general manager of HP's Customer Relationship Software. "Companies can now seamlessly integrate telemarketing efforts into their Internet-marketing campaigns to give customers the choice of responding via the Web or telephone. Using Rubric EMA to provide customer-profile information -- straight to the call center rep's desktop -- lowers call-handling time and improves response quality."

"Companies are looking for quick and innovative e-commerce solutions," said Anu Shukla, chief executive officer for Rubric. "The combination of Rubric EMA with HP CCM is a seamless way to integrate call centers into Internet-marketing campaigns to help increase e-commerce revenue and lower costs."

Integrating Call Centers with Internet Marketing 

The HP Smart Contact program provides customers with a total CRM solution by integrating call-center software applications with the award-winning HP CCM.

Using the integrated HP CCM and Rubric EMA solution, marketers will be able to include phone, fax, video or chat communications seamlessly for call-center representatives as part of their Internet-marketing campaigns. Customers who receive a personalized e-mail will be able to respond easily over the Web or by requesting a telephone call from a call-center agent. Agents will have real-time access to a customer's entire marketing profile -- such information as demographics and purchasing history -- that they can use to more effectively help customers make a buying decision. Agents also will know what screen the customer is viewing when they respond to an Internet-marketing campaign.

In the call center, call-handling times will be lowered and an agent's effectiveness and productivity increased when profiled customer information and campaign-specific scripting are automatically delivered to the agent's desktop. The integrated solution will ensure that prospects who identify themselves on the Internet are not overlooked, but instead are handed over to call-center agents or field-sales reps to close a sale.

HP Customer Contact Manager for CTI

HP CCM is a key component of the HP Smart Contact program, which offers solutions for building advanced call centers. HP CCM Version 5 enables call centers to manage customer interactions across multiple contact channels. The robust feature set of HP CCM Version 5, launched worldwide in 1998, includes next-generation outbound dialing with inbound blending, advanced virtual-call-center capability extensions and support for Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) Server.

Rubric EMA for E-Commerce

Rubric EMA provides comprehensive functionality and workflow to enable new processes that automate Internet marketing to drive e-commerce, global-campaign planning and channel leadflow optimization. Rubric EMA helps produce revenue for e-commerce sites by automating cross-sell and up-sell campaigns and generating new customers. It provides a marketing engine to drive e-commerce by doing the following:

-- automating the planning and execution of highly targeted

marketing campaigns, including personalized e-mail, Web pages,

direct mail, faxes and phone calls;

-- capturing and measuring campaign responses across all customer

touch points; and

-- measuring the effectiveness of offers, creatives and channels in

real time.

About Rubric, Inc.

Rubric is the leader of the new category of Web based Enterprise Marketing Automation (EMA) applications. Rubric EMA provides comprehensive functionality and workflow to plan, execute and measure Internet and traditional marketing campaigns. It enables new processes to automate Internet marketing to drive e-commerce, global campaign management and channel leadflow optimization. In addition, it automates a closed loop process to measure marketing effectiveness. Rubric customers include Hewlett-Packard Company, N.E.T., Outpost.com, and other Fortune 500 and e-commerce companies. More information about Rubric can be found at www.rubricsoft.com or by calling 1-877-RUBRIC1 (1-877-782-7421) toll-free or 650/513-3870.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and Intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 122,800 employees and had revenue of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year.

Information about HP, its products and the company's Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

Information on HP Smart Contact can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com/go/smartcontact.

Rubric is a trademark of Rubric, Inc.

Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

Windows NT is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.