UltraLink Expands Its Call Center Services, Delivering ``HR Answer Center'' for Human Resources Departments.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2004

Tiered Service Model Incorporating New Self-Service Portal Offers

Maximum Cost Savings While Further Reducing the Administrative

and Transaction Workload of Human Resources Personnel

UltraLink, Inc., a leading provider of outsourced benefits administration and consulting services, today expanded its suite of call center and employee support services with the next-generation HR Answer Center(TM) (HRAC). UltraLink's HRAC is designed to help HR personnel communicate company information, shorten enrollment times and ultimately enhance service levels to employees by providing a single point of contact to accurately and consistently answer their HR and benefits-related needs.

Available this week, the HR Answer Center services build upon UltraLink's 15-year call center history, and now includes an optional employee self-service web portal to provide additional access to important HR and benefits-related information. The portal, HRAnswerCenter.com, is a hosted service designed to perform like an HR intranet where employers build and maintain their own site or utilize UltraLink's communication consulting services to manage it for them.

"Today's announcement further demonstrates UltraLink's strength in building flexible, real-world solutions that help clients maximize their healthcare investment," said Vince Sheeran, President and CEO of UltraLink. "Our HR Answer Center delivers the combination of a full-service call center with online self-service tools, providing employees with a single point of contact to obtain immediate access to the HR and benefits-related information they need. With 15 years of service delivery to clients, UltraLink's quality experience enables us to operate as a seamless extension of a company's HR department, increasing employee satisfaction and freeing up HR personnel for more strategic benefits initiatives."

UltraLink's HR Answer Center

UltraLink's HRAC services improve employees' access to, and satisfaction with, their benefits and HR programs, policies, forms and communications through UltraLink's unique call center support services and employee self-service website. UltraLink's ability to create and replicate the customer's internal business process workflows and unique corporate culture, is central to the enhanced capabilities of UltraLink's call center services. Callers are unaware that they are interacting with an outsourced provider; creating a higher level of continuity, acceptance and assurance their information is accurate and secure.

The HRAC services enable customers to outsource many different types of calls, based on their specific needs, and focus their efforts on more strategic functions. UltraLink's tiered service model allows clients to pick and choose services from the HR Answer Center's three levels -- HRAC Basic(TM), HRAC Advanced(TM) and HRAC Professional(TM) -- to ensure the support level is cost-appropriate and meets their needs.

Giant Merchandising, a Time-Warner Company and UltraLink call center client since 2000, has found the HR Answer Center even easier to use than before.

"The UltraLink team has always provided us with invaluable assistance," said Theresa Hernandez, a human resources team member for Giant. "With the new HR Answer Center, we've been able to address employee issues even better. For instance, UltraLink's support has made it easier for me to provide important information to our employees with specific medical coverage concerns in a timely fashion. These types of results would not have been possible without their support."

"All customers are different, some want full service while others just have us handle one specific type of call," said John Gran, Senior Vice President of Marketing for UltraLink. "We've always been flexible in our services, further demonstrated by the HRAC's tri-level service structure, which enables us to handle the full spectrum of call types; from answering basic scripted questions, forms fulfillment and researching eligibility inquiries to answering complex HR questions and helping resolve claims issues. Our HR Coordinators are trained to identify call trends and repeated issues to further streamline the answering process. These adjustments result in shorter call times and quicker answer sessions, saving time and money."

Gran continued, "Additionally, outsourcing employee inquiries about HR and benefits-related issues improves productivity, not only with HR personnel but also the employee population. Prompt, accurate and consistent information means employees spend less time on issue resolution. Ultimately, the HR Answer Center makes everyone's life easier."

For more information on the HR Answer Center suite and the HRAnswerCenter.com content management solution, visit www.UltraLink.com, or contact UltraLink via email at [e-mail].

About UltraLink

For employers who want to offload costly and labor-intensive human resources (HR) functions, UltraLink provides comprehensive products and services for outsourcing all employee benefits administration. By combining its expertise, technology and customer support infrastructure, UltraLink helps HR personnel reduce costs, increase data integrity and focus on core competencies.

With a 15-year track record of high touch service to Fortune 500 and mid-sized employers, UltraLink is an industry leader in outsourced benefits administration. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., UltraLink provides employers with procurement, communication, enrollment and administrative services that drive down the cost of delivering health and welfare programs to employees while improving value and quality. UltraLink annually processes more than 50 million eligibility records, administers $550 million in healthcare premiums and manages 450 vendor/carrier relationships. For more information about UltraLink, please call [phone] or visit the company website at www.UltraLink.com.