Orion Telecommunications Selects Metaphor Solutions To Lower Call Center Costs And Enhance Customer Service Quality With Its Speech Interactive Voice Response

November 18 2003--Metaphor Solutions, a leading innovator in packaged speech IVR (Interactive Voice Response) applications, has been selected by Orion Telecommunications Corp. (OTC), one of the largest providers of international and domestic pre-paid calling cards in the U.S., to provide automated speech IVR applications for Orion’s call centers. Metaphor’s speech IVR applications will be phased in to provide customer service automation for all of Orion’s calling card product lines. Orion is transitioning to automated speech IVR applications in order to significantly reduce their call center operating expenses, while providing one of the industry’s highest quality standards for customer service. Metaphor’s applications will ensure a pleasant, consistent and easy-to-use combination of touch-tone and speech dialog with Orion customers for answers to frequently asked questions, to report problems and to apply for automatic credit on problem calls.

Metaphor is changing the way speech IVR applications are delivered in the market. By offering pre-packaged speech applications, the cost of delivery and time to market of speech solutions are significantly reduced, paving the way for adoption of speech solutions by small and medium size call centers. Orion’s call center is an example of one that can significantly benefit from Metaphor’s packaged speech applications. Orion is in a very competitive and customer service centric business. Reducing internal costs while keeping high standards of service is a high priority.

Robert Stewart, CFO for Orion Telecommunications Corp said, “Orion selected Metaphor Solutions for our customer service needs after a competitive process involving a number of alternative solutions including off-shore labor. Metaphor’s innovative packaged speech IVR solutions provide the best combination of high caller service quality, fast implementation and low price.”

Orion provides prepaid telecommunications service in both North America and abroad. The company produces over 350 different phone cards internationally. With the evolution of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), OTC has strategically implemented and deployed a domestic and international network targeting the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the USA and over 200 international countries blanketing Latin America, South America, India, Asia and Europe.

Michael Kuperstein, CEO of Metaphor Solutions said, “We are very pleased to be chosen by Orion to provide their automated customer service solutions. In the phone card industry, Orion stands out because they place a high priority on the quality of their phone cards and their service, while offering lower prices. To help Orion deliver that quality of service and still be competitive

in the market, we will be focused on continually reducing their customer service costs with our packaged speech IVR solutions.”

Metaphor Solutions is able to provide these packaged speech applications using the Metaphor Conversation Manager (MCM). MCM is the fastest and most flexible speech IVR application generator in the industry. Besides automating the speech dialog with callers, MCM integrates interfaces with all the most popular data sources and data services. In the event of call transfers to live agents, MCM also provides screen pops of the accumulated data to the agents. The caller interface is achieved through Voice XML and SALT gateways that connect to enterprise switches and telephone network.

About Orion Telecommunications Corp.

Orion Telecommunications Corp. is one of the largest providers of international and domestic prepaid calling cards in the U.S., providing access from the U.S. to more than 200 countries. Based on the strong sales and distribution experience of the company founders, Orion has grown very rapidly. Since commencing operations in 1997, the company has increased monthly revenues by more than 70 times in only six years of operation. All of the growth has been organic. Orion leveraged the sales of several billion minutes per year to acquire in-house switching capabilities and has developed proprietary processes to improve primary carrier rates, which have worked to significantly lower the cost-per-minute expenses. Orion has also installed and developed their own circuit-switched network (36 STX switches/80.000 simultaneous calls) to support existing business. Orion rates are significantly lower than rates for international calls that are charged by major facilities-based carriers, giving them a significant marketing edge. For more information, visit www.oriontelcorp.com.

About Metaphor Solutions – “Packaging Speech Solutions for Customer Service”

Metaphor Solutions, Inc. offers packaged speech IVR (Interactive Voice Response) solutions to call centers and enterprises with the most human-like caller experience at the lowest cost of deployment. The company has the most number of packaged speech applications in the industry. The company delivers this through its patent-pending Metaphor Conversation Manager (MCM) that allows the fastest and most flexible speech IVR application development. This in turn allows small and medium enterprises to enjoy the large labor savings and superior caller experience of speech IVR with significant reductions in the cost, risk, complexity, and time to market. The company’s packaged speech IVR applications run on standard voice gateways based on VoiceXML and SALT. Metaphor markets its applications directly as well as through a network of partners and resellers. Deployments can be hosted or installed on-premise. Callers can dial into Metaphor’s inventory of speech applications and experience them live using the published numbers on the company website at www.metaphorsol.com.