Direct Marketing Company Delivers Seamless Sales and Service Experience for Its Customers With Sterling Commerce Solutions

SAN ANTONIO, TX--(Marketwire - April 29, 2009) - Sterling Commerce Customer Connection - Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, today announced that Guthy-Renker, one of the world's largest direct response television companies, is revolutionizing its customer shopping experience with an enterprise-wide Customer Experience Initiative to create a global, branded experience across all channels and markets worldwide.

The Customer Experience Initiative represents an innovative collaboration of Guthy-Renker, Sterling Commerce and RightNow Technologies, a leading provider of on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) and call center technologies, to create a global, flexible and scalable "customer-centric IT architecture." Central to the Customer Experience Initiative is the advanced technology platform, "Plug & Play" that links every customer touch point (inquiries, orders, customer service) across product lines and channels to simplify and accelerate the deployment of new programs, markets and channels across the globe. Guthy-Renker has successfully completed the first implementation of Plug & Play in India, with subsequent implementations in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia planned or in progress.

"We see customer choice and customer service as a differentiator; the Customer Experience Initiative affects nearly every aspect of our business," said Jim Huser, CIO at Guthy-Renker. "Sterling Commerce has played a key role in providing both foundational technology and professional services and has worked closely with Guthy-Renker on design and implementation milestones."

Guthy-Renker has implemented Sterling Order Management and Sterling Multi-Channel Selling, components of Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, to create a global, cross-channel order hub. These solutions allow Guthy-Renker to configure customer offerings and services dynamically with a minimum of information technology support. Customers can easily move from phone to Web to physical retail location, while customizing product configurations, payment options and delivery.

Guthy-Renker has integrated the Sterling Commerce applications with RightNow's on-demand CRM solution to deliver a superior customer experience online and via the contact center. With RightNow, Guthy-Renker has enriched Web self-service capabilities and a consolidated agent desktop that accesses a central, self-learning knowledge foundation to maximize agent productivity and reduce operating costs.

Guthy-Renker also has implemented Sterling Integrator as the integration hub for its Customer Experience Initiative to provide a robust and scalable enterprise application integration layer to enable disparate systems to work together. Through this hub, the Customer Experience Initiative is integrated with Guthy-Renker's business intelligence systems, which provide daily, weekly and monthly views of status and trends across a number of key performance indicators (KPIs).

"Guthy-Renker is one of the most successful direct marketing companies generating sales of more than $1.8 billion," said Jim Bengier, global retail industry executive at Sterling Commerce. "Companies across multiple industries can learn from their example in how to achieve seamless cross-channel execution."

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