EnvoyWorldWide Supports Stonewater's Curtailment
EnvoyXpress Provides Proactive Communications Solution to Support Call Center Activities at Kansas City Power & Light and Stonewater Software
BILLERICA, MA — October, 2, 2001 — EnvoyWorldWide Inc. announced today that Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) and Stonewater Software, leading providers of innovative energy products and services, have implemented EnvoyWorldWide's core enterprise application messaging platform, EnvoyXpress, to support their respective curtailment or energy load management initiatives. Both companies are dedicated to providing optimal customer service and are leveraging EnvoyXpress to facilitate customer communications regarding curtailment requests, ensuring prompt delivery, thorough tracking, and two-way messaging functionality to monitor customer responses.
Designed to solve the challenge of delivering time-sensitive information to disparate and mobile constituents, EnvoyWorldWide's enterprise application messaging platform provides companies with outbound, one-to-many, actionable communications. The delivery of proactive, business-critical messages takes the strain off of a utility's call center while servicing customers instantly, personally and simultaneously. Messages are delivered via the wired or wireless communications method each recipient prefers—phone, fax, email, pager, SMS, WAP, or other wireless device. Every message can be tracked from creation through delivery with the ability to solicit feedback from customers in real-time.
"Customer service has always been paramount to us, and has been the basis for our provision of proactive, immediate and innovative energy management efforts," said Bill Downey, president, Kansas City Power & Light—Delivery Division. "By replacing our existing fax broadcast solution with EnvoyXpress, we have collapsed the time it takes to notify customers of curtailment opportunities from 45 minutes to 10 minutes while saving 80 percent in operating costs. The solution allows KCP&L to provide better customer service while increasing overall operational efficiency."
KCP&L is using EnvoyXpress to notify customers throughout the Kansas City Metropolitan area about curtailment programs. Within minutes, a notification can be drafted, sent and responses gathered indicating a customer's willingness to reduce energy consumption. The utility can respond quickly and accurately to the requests.
"EnvoyWorldWide's robust communications platform is being adopted across a wide variety of industries," said Ben Levitan, president and CEO, EnvoyWorldWide. "The ability to proactively communicate with key constituents in their preferred manner enables companies to focus on their core competencies, while we manage and ensure message delivery and tracking. The solution is ideal in a call center environment, where routine calls, such as curtailment requests, can be automated, freeing up resources to focus on problem and resolution issues as well as other revenue generating activities."
Similarly, Stonewater Software, a provider of online, real-time monitoring of customer electricity, gas and water consumption, offers notification services in cases of emergency, pricing adjustments or when customer use has exceeded a preset demand. With the integration of EnvoyXpress, Stonewater can be more flexible in offering customers multiple notification options including email, telephone, fax and pagers, as well as two-way capabilities to accept or acknowledge a curtailment notification. This solution can also automatically trigger control, contributing to more successful load management and energy savings.
"The future of business, in the energy industry and beyond, lies in effective and efficient management of customer relationships. Solutions, like EnvoyWorldWide's, that enhance customer communications and support customer retention efforts, are must-haves in running a successful business," said Gerd Nierlich, president and COO, Stonewater Software.
"The EnvoyWorldWide solution is an ideal complement to our energy1st offerings," continues Nierlich. "It enables us to achieve our goal of delivering state-of-the-art energy management solutions and energy conservation opportunities while delivering competitive advantage to our customers. They, in turn, can deliver messages and garner response from their customers more quickly, generating increased customer satisfaction and retention." Both companies' solutions were deployed in a matter of weeks to ensure message delivery during this peak season.
About EnvoyWorldWide
Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, EnvoyWorldWide provides enterprise application messaging solutions for today's mobile business environment. Leading companies worldwide are using EnvoyWorldWide's communications platform to distribute business-critical information to customers, employees, partners and suppliers via each recipient's preferred method of communication. Funded by Battery Ventures, Sofinnova Partners and Longworth Ventures, EnvoyWorldWide is recognized by industry analysts as a high-value communications solution, enabling companies to slash operating costs, boost productivity, improve competitive advantage, and cultivate customer loyalty. More information on EnvoyWorldWide can be found by calling 888-252-7837 or at www.envoyww.com.
About Kansas City Power and Light
Kansas City Power & Light Company (NYSE: KLT) is a leading provider of electricity in the Midwest. Great Plains Power Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, develops competitive generation for the wholesale market. Through KLT Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, unregulated ventures are pursued on a national basis to capture growth opportunities in markets outside the utility industry. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, the Company's web site is www.kcpl.com. About Stonewater Software
Stonewater Software, a leader in cost-efficient energy management solutions, is a privately held technology company based in Evanston, IL. Stonewater's energy1st service provides customers real-time power-use data over the Internet. Customers monitor, evaluate and control electric, gas and water usage and are notified of emergency situations, pricing opportunities and preset conditions that require action. Stonewater's utility customers promote customer loyalty by creating partnerships to reduce load when needed.
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