Melita To Acquire eShare Technologies And smallwonder softworks

Melita International, a provider of customer contact management solutions, announced the signing of a definitive agreement with eShare Technologies, a leading provider of real-time customer service and interactive communication solutions for e-commerce and online communities. Melita also signed an agreement to acquire smallwonder softworks.

eShare Technologies

Under the terms of the agreement with eShare, Melita will exchange 5.5 million shares of its common stock for all outstanding shares of eShare Technologies. The deal is subject to shareholder approval of both companies.

eShare Technologies has achieved industry-wide recognition as the pre-eminent expert in people-to-people interactions on the Internet, supplying application software and services to businesses, consumers, and community sites for more than 1,000 customers worldwide. These innovative technologies include Internet-based software for business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets to facilitate e-commerce.

"The power of eShare's Internet applications, coupled with the innovation of Melita's enterprise customer contact solutions, adds a whole new dimension to the world of customer relationship management by bringing Internet-based customer interaction and call center-based communication together," said Aleksander Szlam, Melita chairman and chief executive officer. 

"Together, we will redefine customer services and e-commerce experiences. For example, we will introduce multi-channel, real-time customer collaboration, and enhanced communication services. These new services, supporting channels such as web sharing, email, chat, and comprehensive voice/mixed-media, will help transform virtually all businesses into customer-sensitive service providers. We believe this acquisition creates the first of its kind cross-market software solution, addressing both the business world and the entire consumer market."

A recent Forrester Research report indicates that worldwide e-commerce transactions are projected to grow from $32 billion in 1998 to over $400 billion by 2002, creating a market of nearly $4 billion for Internet commerce software tools. In addition to Melita's core market, the combined entity will address this rapidly growing market segment.

eShare Technologies will become a business unit of Melita International and its president and chief executive officer, James Tito, will become the division's president. Tito will also join Melita's senior management team as an executive vice president.

"We are extremely excited about the vast opportunities this presents for our clients, their customers, and for the new Melita," said Tito. "Together with Melita and more than 1,600 combined client sites, we will be setting new levels for delivering comprehensive, end-to-end collaborative solutions in the emerging Internet/customer care market."

smallwonder softworks

mallwonder softworks, inc. is a developer of NT-based, web-enabled computer telephony software for call centers. Under the terms of the agreement, Melita International will obtain the rights to Smallwonder's intellectual property relating to the business, including all software products and inventory relating to current operations. Smallwonder softworks has installations in approximately 25 small-to-mid-size call centers for customers conducting customer service, telesales, fundraising, marketing research, polling, and collections.

Aleksander Szlam, Melita chairman and chief executive officer, stated, "The acquisition of Smallwonder softworks is an exciting moment in Melita's 15-year history. Their products provide us with the ability to address different markets than we have traditionally targeted. Just as important, it fits our international and distribution strategy as well. The synergy of our architectures further allows Melita to offer a common telephony platform across our product lines, making upgrades easy for all of our customers."

The acquisition will expand and complement Melita International's existing contact center management business, which currently includes the Melita Explorer family of outbound and blended contact management solutions. Smallwonder softworks' flagship product is an integrated call center management system which includes intelligent predictive dialing, inbound call processing, call blending, unlimited scripting, transaction recording, and playback, data management utilities, and reports. The products will be sold, distributed, and supported by Melita International and its channel partners. The company's Leesburg, VA location will remain a development and support operation.

"Melita is the perfect fit for us from both a product and sales and marketing perspective," said Bruce Barker, president of Smallwonder softworks. "We're excited about the immediate opportunity to provide our product solutions on a global basis through Melita channels and the integration plans for the two product lines moving forward. Becoming part of the Melita family means a great deal to everyone at Smallwonder." Barker will become a senior vice president of Melita, managing Smallwonder's operations.

"We are particularly excited about how well the company's products and target markets fit into Melita's growth strategy," said John Lamb, senior vice president of corporate development. "For example, we market robust, feature-rich solutions that are unparalleled in their functionality and capabilities, yet mainly targeted at larger corporations that require highly integrated solutions. Smallwonder, on the other hand, offers a scaleable, fully functional solution geared toward the rapid deployment needs of small-to-medium size businesses. Our expanded offering will allow mid-sized call centers with both inbound and outbound requirements to conduct business with a single company, providing them with a migration path into a more fully integrated, robust enterprise solution down the road."