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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sento Confirms Significant Outsourced Customer Service Contract with Overstock.com
Sento to add approximately 200 additional agents
AMERICAN FORK, Utah - July 27, 2004 - Following the Overstock.com® (Nasdaq:OSTK) announcement on July 22, 2004 of its second quarter financial results in which it disclosed its relationship with Sento Corporation (Nasdaq: SNTO - News), Sento confirms that it is a major provider of outsourced customer service support for the popular Internet retailer.
Overstock.com's President & CEO, Patrick Byrne, discussed the Sento relationship in the company's July 22 press release, and stated that in Customer Service, Overstock has a unique relationship with Sento Corporation. People from both companies are in and out of each other's offices continuously, the executive responsible is in Overstock's office, and Overstock has become one of Sento's larger clients. Overstock's unusually close relationship with Sento seems to be working, as is demonstrated by Overstock's first American Customer Service Index (ACSI) score of 81, higher than all ACSI-rated brick-and-mortar stores and all e-tailers but three (BarnesandNobel.com, Amazon, and eBay).
Previously, Sento had mentioned in a prior press release, its entry into the Internet retail space, but did not disclose the name of its client partner at that time. Sento CEO Patrick O'Neal is pleased to confirm Byrne's statements, adding that, "The combination of customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness delivered to Overstock.com and Sento's other clients has resulted in requests for Sento to add another 200 seats of organic growth this quarter for these existing clients. Assuming normal hiring and training timelines and agent performance at current levels, the anticipated revenue from this new business is estimated to be approximately $9 million over the next fourteen months."
O'Neal continued, "In addition to the opportunity to provide cost savings and excellent customer satisfaction for a significant industry leader, our service for Overstock.com represents an important expansion of Sento's capabilities into online retail. While Sento's traditional client focus has been technology-oriented companies, a segment in which we continue to excel, the work Sento has been engaged in with Overstock.com over this near one-year period further validates our vision and experience for the full spectrum of customer relationship management services."
SENTO PROFILE
Sento Corporation (www.sento.com) is one of the industry's most innovative providers of outsourced customer support services. Sento employs right channeling to create custom solutions that integrate live support with the company's best-in-class software solutions. Sento's Customer Choice PlatformSM allows customers to make choices in communication channels from a range of web-enabled self-service options with live support available at every critical point. Sento focuses on the inter-relationship among voice, chat, email, self-service and web forums. Sento targets its customer acquisition, customer service and technical support solutions to a diversified portfolio of clients in multiple vertical segments. Sento's solutions can provide value-added customer support at significant cost reductions when compared to other, traditional outsourced models. With operations in the U.S., The Netherlands, and France, plus partnerships in India and other low-cost regions, Sento provides customer support in 19 languages.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements encompass Sento's beliefs, expectations, goals, hopes or intentions regarding future events. Words such as "expects," "intends," "estimates," "believes," "anticipates," "should" and "likely" also identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof and are based on information available to Sento as of such date. Sento assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated for a number of reasons, including, among others: the Company's stock price has historically been volatile; difficulties encountered in post-acquisition integration and operation of the acquired assets including retaining existing clients of the acquired company; variations in market and economic conditions; the effect on the Company's earnings of the repricing of options; the Company's dependence on its limited number of key clients; failure to renew existing client contracts for continuation of services; reduction in services requested by the Company's clients resulting in lower revenues for the Company; the Company's ability to complete negotiations and execute client agreements; risk of emergency interruption of the Customer Contact Solutions operations; and other unanticipated factors. Risk factors, cautionary statements and other conditions, which could cause actual results to differ from the Company's current expectations, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, as amended.
Contact:
Patrick O'Neal
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Sento Corporation
801-772-1417
pat_oneal@sento.com
Anthony J. Sansone
Chief Finance Officer and Corporate Secretary
Sento Corporation
801-772-1410
tony_sansone@sento.com
Brokers and financial industry members
Laurie S. Roop
President, Shareholder Relations
435-652-3884
laurie@shareholder-relations.net
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