LiveOps Honored With SHG Foundation Good Samaritan Award
Award Recognizes Virtual Call Center That Helped Reunite Hurricane Katrina Victims
Sand Hill Group last night honored LiveOps, Inc., the leader in distributed contact centers, with the first annual SHG Foundation Good Samaritan award at a gala event held in conjunction with the Software 2006 conference. LiveOps was recognized for its substantial contributions to aiding Hurricane Katrina victims by setting up a virtual call center that linked friends and family just days after the disaster. SHG Foundation Good Samaritan awards were given to three organizations in all.
"It is a pleasure to recognize LiveOps as a SHG Foundation award winner," said M.R. Rangaswami, co-founder of the Sand Hill Group. "LiveOps reflects the spirit of giving and sacrifice, both locally and internationally, that helps complete the software industry ecosystem."
Like a SWAT team for call centers, Silicon Valley-based LiveOps combines a complete telephony platform with a massive network of professional call handlers located across the country that can immediately step in virtually when needed. Just days after Hurricane Katrina struck, an Internet database was set up so evacuees could register to find each other online. An 800 number put people in touch via an operator-based call-in system. Within a mere three hours, LiveOps amassed more than 400 call center agents and began taking calls. Over the next two days, the number of agents grew to 1,500. They answered more than 31,000 calls over the Labor Day weekend. By the program's end in late October, they answered more than 200,000 calls and reconnected more than 17,000 family and friends to missing loved ones.
"LiveOps' mission has always been to build technology that improves the way people communicate and work," said LiveOps CEO Bill Trenchard. "After Hurricane Katrina struck, we recognized that, despite these unusual circumstances, we were uniquely able to provide a virtual call center that could immediately begin taking calls and connecting people. We jumped at the chance to contribute to such a worthy cause and are pleased that so many people have been reunited."
About LiveOps, Inc.
LiveOps, Inc., the leader in distributed contact centers, offers hosted technology and outsourced live agent contact center solutions to clients ranging from Fortune 1000 corporations to startup businesses. LiveOps' solutions allow for greater flexibility, quality, scalability and cost savings than traditional contact centers and contact center technology providers. By combining Internet technologies, broadband, VoIP, web communities and online marketplaces, LiveOps is radically changing the $300 billion contact center industry. LiveOps is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Visit www.liveops.com.
About Sand Hill Group
Sand Hill Group serves the $600+ billion software, services and solutions market by providing investment and management advice to emerging enterprise technology leaders. Sand Hill Group created the SHG Foundation to enable the surplus from its annual Enterprise Conference to be donated to charity. The annual SHG Foundation awards include grants to non-profit organizations, which help to improve the lives of low-income women and children worldwide.
Sand Hill also owns Sandhill.com -- the premier destination site and resource center for CEOs, VPs, Entrepreneurs, VCs and for members of the software industry eco-system. Its weekly electronic newsletter is read by thousands of executives. Sand Hill produces the 'Enterprise' and 'Software' conferences for CEOs and executives in the industry and creates high-impact research reports for its constituents. More information can be found at www.sandhill.com.