ORLANDO, INDIANAPOLIS and Boulder, Colo., Oct. 16, 2007—Consona Corporation (Consona), a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for the enterprise, announced at its premier customer conference, Consona Connect, that ParTech Inc., a Boulder, Colo.-based KNOVA customer and global leader in Point-of-Sale (POS) systems purpose-built for the restaurant, hospitality and retail sectors, is the 2007 recipient of the software provider’s Transformation Award.

The Transformation Award, part of Consona’s annual Summit Awards, honors a customer that has been able to either reinvent its business or achieve a strong return on investment in a relatively short period of time. Recipients of the award submit both qualitative and quantitative data that illustrate how the solution has impacted the customer’s business model or overall business performance. Award recipients display significant business improvements and changes, such as unprecedented customer satisfaction levels, the introduction of new products and services, or increased sales.

As with any technology company, ParTech’s customers expect not just full-featured, robust solutions; they also demand quality technical support to help them optimize those solutions. Over the years, as customer expectations increased, ParTech’s growing suite of POS systems needed to adapt to meet those expectations. Increasing product complexity, shorter product development cycles, and integration with third-party hardware, software, and a variety of Internet and wireless communication tools, were making customer service difficult for even the most senior of support agents.

In 2004, ParTech’s contact center managers decided that they needed to make changes in order to not only meet—but exceed—customer expectations. Soon after, the company zeroed in on KNOVA knowledge and service resolution management solutions from Consona CRM. In the three years leading up to the KNOVA deployment, ParTech support agents had authored few solutions. In the three months after the KNOVA system went live, the agents authored eight times the number of solutions. Within six months, the KNOVA knowledgebase contained more than 26 times as many solutions. Other returns the company saw included:

• Increased first call resolution by 7.5 percent.
• Reduced average handle times for complex products by 31 percent.
• Reduced average handle times for simpler products by 13 percent
• Decreased escalation rates by 25 percent.
• Faster time-to-productivity for new support agents.
• A more consistent customer experience.
• Saved approximately two minutes per call.
• Enhanced future product releases via insight from customer issues and requests.

“Ultimately, we successfully implemented the system and our processes over a 90 day period, and began to build up our knowledge base from that point, to where it is today,” said Brad Winne, director of support services for ParTech. “Now, we have a robust tool and process in place that allows us to continually improve our effectiveness and efficiency, provide consistent resolutions for our customers, and contribute to the welfare of the company.”

“We are thrilled to honor ParTech with a Summit Award for some absolutely tremendous achievements," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona. "ParTech sets a standard for the commitment it takes to gain maximum return on a business system investment. The growth and success this company has achieved with our support reminds all of us at Consona why we're in business."

About Consona Corporation
Consona Corporation (Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc.) is a worldwide leader in providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services for the enterprise. Consona is dedicated to becoming a valued business partner by helping each and every customer continuously improve business processes over time. Toward this mission, Consona invests in the people, processes, technology and tools needed to provide its customers with a unique combination of customer care; product fit; a broad range of consulting, IT and business services; and industry expertise. Consona serves more than 4,500 customers worldwide and across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, health care, high tech, and local government. Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey Bravo jointly own Consona. For further information, visit www.consona.com, e-mail info@consona.com, or call (888) 8 CONSONA.

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