East Greenwich, R.I.-based Multima Corp. has released version 7 of the NetKeeper HD Mail, an automation and artificial intelligence system to process incoming e-mail messages to an enterprise's support centre.
"Basically what we are doing is trying to eliminate the frustration of the end user in that they send e-mails and get no reply," said Eric Tajera, vice-president of marketing, and vice-president of help desk for Multima.
According to the company, NetKeeper HD Mail automatically assigns service requests to technicians and sends notification via e-mail.
Tajera said the system can be set up with different rules depending on the type of assistance requested by the end user.
He explained that NetKeeper HD Mail is capable of sending auto-replies as a confirmation of the original e-mail request. He noted that it can also be set up to search for keywords in the text.
"It can do a text search in the knowledge base and it's going to send possible suggestive solutions based on our automatic FAQs," he said.
Tajera said the system is suitable typically for companies with help desks and support centres, but can be used by anyone with a Web site who interacts with end users via e-mail.
"For the end user, when they pick up the phone and talk to somebody, the problem is usually solved right there. When they send e-mail, it may be days before the e-mail gets answered, if ever," he said. "HD Mail tries to plug that hole because it's very frustrating. People lose customers if they don't have some semblance of response within a reasonable amount of time."
He said that HD Mail can analyze e-mail messages and steer them based on the rules set up by the user.
NetKeeper HD Mail supports multiple e-mail addresses, and each address can correspond to a different request type to provide the necessary flexibility to handle different types of requests, including tech support or RFIs (requests for information).
"The downfall of most of these other automatic e-mail systems is that you get a reply that is completely out of sync with what your question is," Tajera said.
Allowing the user the ability to set the rules, Tajera said, ensures the most relevant response. The company said service requests made by NetKeeper HD Mail will be displayed as if they had been entered through the LAN user entry. NetKeeper HD Mail attaches the entire e-mail message to service requests created by the program to allow technicians to read requests in the user's own words.
For LaVonna Rasberry, network administrator for Phyamerica Physician Group in Durham N.C., using NetKeeper HD Mail will be of assistance in tracking e-mail messages.
Rasberry explained that being a health care company, Phyamerica decided to set up a system where users could e-mail problems and have responses fairly quickly.
She explained that one of the key features that attracted Phyamerica to NetKeeper HD Mail was cost.
"We're just in the process of setting this up, and have not used anything before," she said. "We did some searching around but found NetKeeper had the best price."
Tajera said HD Mail is available now in two different versions: HD Mail and HD Mail Pro. HD Mail Pro, priced at US$3,600, enables users to parse mail messages for more sophisticated answering. He noted that both levels enable the prioritizing and sorting of e-mail. The standard version of HD Mail is priced at US$1,295.
Both levels of NetKeeper HD Mail can run on Windows 95/98, NT and require a MAPI-compliant e-mail system.
Multima is on the Web at www.netkeeper