edocs Extends Hosted Offerings to Include New eService Applications

NATICK, Mass. -- Aug. 9, 2004 -- edocs, Inc. (http://www.edocs.com/), a provider of customer self-service and e-billing software solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its recently acquired eService applications on a fully hosted basis. These additions to edocs' "on demand" offerings allow companies to take advantage of the complete capabilities of its Brightware e-mail response management, knowledge management and chat software solutions while enabling more rapid deployment, lower upfront investment and sharply reduced impact on internal IT resources.

In May, edocs acquired the Brightware eService business from Firepond, Inc. Brightware is recognized as a pioneer in delivering eService software solutions for inbound e-mail response management (ERMS), knowledge management and chat.

The acquisition complements edocs' existing e-billing, web self-service and assisted care offerings, enabling companies to provide the most effective and efficient customer care, regardless of which channel their customers choose for service. The combined capabilities also reduce contact center volumes and costs by resolving customer inquiries at the lowest cost channel possible. For, example, edocs' powerful knowledge management and intelligent search capabilities resolve a high percentage of customer inquiries before they become inbound e-mails or phone calls.

edocs "Managed Solutions," available since 2002, offer fully outsourced and managed capabilities complete with the hardware, software and infrastructure services necessary to implement, configure and operate a high availability environment. Equally important, Managed Solutions are operated 24x7x365 by edocs' technical support and system engineering team to ensure a seamless end-user experience. The edocs team manages all aspects of the client application, including installation of all required solution components, high-speed connectivity, storage management and backup/recovery services, security/firewall, and ongoing managed operations.

According to a recent report by John Ragsdale, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, companies are increasingly embracing hosted customer management offerings. "Not only are companies becoming more comfortable with outsourcing and hosting as a means of reducing ownership costs for enterprise software, but the 'time to money' factor is generally faster with hosted applications since the upfront costs and implementation time are reduced," said Ragsdale.

Unlike other hosted offerings, edocs' Managed Solutions are based on a market-leading enterprise class software platform that has been deployed around the world as a traditional software product. Leveraging this capability, edocs offers a unique "build-operate-transfer" model that enables organizations to outsource all technical operations of the solution for some period, but with the freedom and flexibility to migrate it in-house at any time. This technical, operational and financial flexibility gives organizations the ability to select a single source provider for an enterprise class solution that will continue to meet their changing requirements.

"The hosted deployment option makes a lot of sense for organizations looking for a quicker, more cost-efficient way to get their eService initiatives started," said Chris Gardner, Vice President of Products and Marketing for edocs. "With edocs' Managed Solutions, companies get all the elements and expertise they need to ensure a successful experience for their customers. In addition, our Managed Solutions clients have the flexibility to deploy a solution that best meets the needs of their organization."

About edocs

edocs is the leading provider of customer self-service and e-billing software for Global 2000 businesses. Its solutions improve the quality of customer care, reduce support costs and deepen relationships with business and consumer customers. edocs' product suite integrates e-billing and payment, e-service and advanced self-care technologies and offers a comprehensive platform for all customer service issues. This enables companies to move customer service interactions from expensive paper and call center-based channels to lower-cost and more convenient self- and assisted-service channels like the web, e-mail and IVR. edocs' products and services are used by some of the world's leading organizations in communications, energy, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing/distribution and retail. Customers include BT (British Telecom), Fannie Mae, Fleet Bank, GE Consumer Finance, Humana, Independence Blue Cross, Target, Telstra, Toyota Financial Services, TXU Energy and Verizon Wireless. Founded in 1997, edocs is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts and has operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. For more information call (508) 652-8628 or visit www.edocs.com