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For more information:
NoWonder Changes Company Name
to Full Circle Software
Largest Online IT Services and Support Marketplace Adds New B2B Functionality
SITEL Corporation and Seagate Software Sign Agreements to Join Marketplace
SUNNYVALE, CA; June 19, 2000 —
NoWonder, the largest online marketplace for IT services and support, today announced its name change to ePeople Inc., effective
immediately. The name change and newly launched Web site at www.epeople.com reflects the company's strategic evolution
from the leading tech support site for consumers to the largest online marketplace providing small-to medium-sized
businesses with a broad range of high quality technical services and support. In conjunction with this announcement,
ePeople has signed a definitive agreement today with major corporate service provider SITEL Corporation (NYSE:SWW)
to expand the marketplace's base of technical experts. In addition, Seagate Software has partnered with ePeople,
augmenting its existing support organization by providing access to additional technical support within the ePeople
marketplace for Seagate Software's customers worldwide.
"Addressing IT services and support issues is quickly becoming a critical concern of any fast-growing business,"
said Anthony Lye, president and CEO of ePeople. "The shortage of qualified technical professionals, coupled with the
growing complexity of IT environments, has forced companies to look for a better way to get help. With our new functionality
geared toward the IT manager and business user, companies can now quickly and easily be matched with service providers
that can best address their support needs – all in a neutral and unbiased marketplace setting," added Lye.
"We had a need to respond to the increasing demand for quality IT technicians who know Seagate Software's products,"
said David Galloway, Worldwide Director of Technical Support at Seagate Software. "The ePeople marketplace provides
us a cost-efficient way in which to source additional support and services for our e-Business intelligence solutions."
"SITEL is continually seeking opportunities to keep our business at the forefront of the eCRM market. By joining
the ePeople marketplace, we are leading the industry – and with it, our business – to the next level of real-time
support offerings," said Phil Clough, president and CEO of SITEL. "This exciting agreement is a coup for both
companies as it aggregates SITEL's technical expertise and ePeople's comprehensive online marketplace to provide
extensive live-agent solutions for resolving any variety of technical problem."
New Business-to-Business Functionality
Upon registering at www.epeople.com, IT buyers can now set up an online helpdesk for their company; choose pricing
terms; select the criteria that determines which providers can assist their employees; and register all of their
employees with personalized accounts. Businesses register for free and pay for the questions and problems that are
satisfactorily resolved. This new functionality enables companies to extend or completely outsource their internal
helpdesks. As a special introductory offer, ePeople is giving new corporate registrants direct access to their
Premier Providers for no additional charge. Premier Providers are qualified as the top performers who consistently receive
the highest ratings and user reviews.
Benefits to the Buyer
ePeople puts IT buyers in charge by allowing them to procure the most appropriate IT services and support from a broad
variety of service providers. A buyer can select service providers based on several attributes including price,
location, language, size, and expertise as well as ratings. All providers are rated on a scale of one to five stars
based on performance from previous service contracts.
ePeople supplies its business customers with a semi-monthly report and invoice that details all activity. In addition,
companies can specify a charge per question as well as a fixed cap on services and allocate those charges to
individual employees' accounts. Service providers in the ePeople marketplace are certified for everything from
operating systems such as Windows, MacOS and Linux, to network solutions like Cisco and databases such as Oracle.
ePeople works closely with product vendors to validate provider certifications, ensuring users' confidence they're
receiving the highest quality of service.
Benefits to the Provider
The ePeople online marketplace is helping service providers expand into new markets and reach new customers by providing
a single point of buyer aggregation. The marketplace offers an outlet for service providers to sell specialized services
such as operating system and LAN support or database troubleshooting. Service providers benefit from exclusive training and
certification programs through ePeople's partnerships with leading industry vendors and authorized training
and certification centers. Providers also gain a robust delivery infrastructure, including best of breed diagnostic
tools, such as Talkback, Live Chat and Shared Desktop. In addition, the ePeople service rating system allows
service providers to further differentiate themselves, allowing them to compete on excellence in service delivery
in addition to price. ePeople's billing and reporting infrastructure streamlines providers' administrative costs
by delivering a single consolidated bill, which allowsthe provider to focus on its core competency of servicing
the customer.
ePeople Marketplace Tools & Services
ePeople is the first online marketplace to provide a variety of global IT services and support to businesses and individuals
in a secure environment. Some of ePeople's tools and services that benefit both users and providers include:
- Talkback, a patented, state-of-the-art diagnostic program that collects hardware and software data from
the user's computer
- Shared Desktop technology that allows the support provider to remotely drive the user's desktop during
problem resolution
- Live Help involving one-on-one support
- On-line access to the complete question-and-answer history
- A robust and secure billing system featuring semi-monthly status reports
- A worldwide IT talent pool consisting of over 13,000 providers in more than 100 countries, available 24
hours a day, seven days a week
About ePeople
ePeople, founded in 1997, is the leading provider of knowledge and expertise management solutions for resolving business-critical
situations throughout the enterprise. ePeople Teamwork focuses on Customer Support, Team Selling, Professional Services and
Research & Development organizations. Customers of ePeople include Oracle Corp, Cognos, InstallShield, Openwave Systems, Inc.,
Adobe Systems, Inc., Production Access, OpSource Inc., and Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA). Headquartered in
Mountain View, Calif., ePeople is privately held. Investors include Redpoint Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Integral Capital Partners,
Bedrock Capital, Brentwood Venture Capital, and CNET. More information on ePeople is available
at www.epeople.com.
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ePeople and the ePeople logo are trademarks of ePeople, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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