Communications and Media Companies Use Sterling Multi-Channel Selling to Improve Customer Service and Increase Revenue

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - December 8, 2009) - Faced with increased competition and demand from consumers for new value-added services, communications and media companies are turning to e-commerce solutions and software that will improve the selling process to gain a competitive advantage. Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, today announced that several companies in these industries, including Cengage Learning and RCN, are using Sterling Multi-Channel Selling (MCS) to address these challenges.

"As companies throughout the communications and media industries look for new business models that will help them transform their relationship with customers, they are finding offer management, selling, and ordering capabilities as key to enabling the rapid and efficient implementation of new business and offerings," said John Konczal, global industry executive, communications and media for Sterling Commerce. "Coming out of an economic downturn, these companies also will need to embrace digital content and related value-added services in order to differentiate their offerings, and this will drive in additional changes in their business models."

The introduction and support of digital products and services will be a top enterprise strategy for increasing average revenue per customer and customer lifetime value. To support this strategy, Sterling MCS provides highly efficient central product and offer catalog capabilities with a distinct focus on quickly and cost effectively implementing new products, services, and offers across all sales channels.

RCN, a broadband services provider delivering triple play data, video, and voice bundles to residential and business customers, uses Sterling MCS to provide a Web channel for its customers to search and discover offers, check availability, obtain real-time quotes, and configure, modify, or complete an order.

"With Sterling Commerce, we are able to offer a simple, consistent purchasing process for our customers across channels while quickly and efficiently completing the sale internally," said Edie Ashton, vice president of IT at RCN. "Sterling MCS provides robust catalog and offer management capabilities that simplify the process of offering bundled services, enabling us to continue to innovate in how we deliver value-added services to our customers." Sterling MCS, part of Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, allows companies to create a consistent, unified buying experience across all sales channels -- web, store, call center, and field sales. It provides a unique and compelling customer sales and ordering experience that helps increase the revenue per sale while reducing the time and cost to complete the sale. Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite is a collaborative supply chain solution for managing the entire inquiry-to-cash process, including order capture/management, warehouse and transportation management, and supply chain visibility.

About Sterling Commerce

Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, helps companies optimize and transform their Business Collaboration Network to accelerate revenues and reduce costs. More than 30,000 customers worldwide use Sterling Commerce applications and integration solutions to connect, communicate and collaborate inside and outside their enterprise. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Sterling Commerce has offices in 24 countries. More information can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.com.

Contact Information: For more information, contact: Julie Redard Sterling Commerce (978) 513-6386 Julie_Redard@stercomm.com Jamie Leicht Fleishman-Hillard (619) 237-7711 jamiemarie.leicht@fleishman.com