OpenMarket Survey Reveals "One Size Does Not Fit All" for Effective Global Mobile Messaging Across Industries

- 72% of Organizations See Considerable Impact of Mobile Messaging on Customer Experience; Other Top Business Priorities Include Deeper Customer Insight, Employee Engagement and Differentiation

SEATTLE, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenMarket, a leader in enterprise mobile engagement, today released additional findings from a commissioned study conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by OpenMarket, titled "Exploring the Impact of Mobile Messaging on Customers, Employees and Operations," reveals results from 600 technology decision makers representing global enterprises. The newest findings reveal key insights into how mobile messaging is being used in the following industries: Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Education, Financial Services, Healthcare, High Tech, Media & Entertainment, Transportation & Logistics, Travel & Hospitality, and Utilities. Many organizations in these industries have failed to adopt holistic mobile messaging strategies that support company-wide use cases, as 62% have at least two messaging platforms deployed, and 78.5% have more than one active initiative.

According to the research, the greatest benefit of mobile messaging across these industries is its ability to improve customer experience and employee relations. As one type of solution does not fit all, these organizations tailor their mobile messaging implementations to meet requirements within their industry segments. Top takeaways from this cross-industry analysis reveal that business leaders in these sectors are driving new investments in mobile messaging and are closely involved in specification, selection, and deployment. These businesses are also finding that maximizing investments requires integrating mobile messaging into structured business workflows, and that it is easiest to do this if IT can utilize a workflow engine from a trusted vendor to quickly create services and address functional needs.

"Although use cases can differ in terms of how global enterprises are utilizing mobile messaging, these findings revealed that no matter what sector, businesses need to take a long-term, purpose-led approach to their mobile messaging investment," said Robert Parker, Group Vice President, IDC Insights. "Businesses must look towards vendors with a track record of support excellence that can provision company-wide use cases in order to meet the specific mobile messaging needs of the internal and external stakeholders within their sector."

The IDC and OpenMarket survey highlights the impact of mobile messaging on key business functions, including:

Customer Service¹
72% of organizations surveyed believe that mobile messaging has considerable or major impact on the customer experience. According to the findings, mobile messaging is a great fit for industries weaving technology into their products and services or those that place a premium on customer experience. Today, these professionals are using mobile messaging to understand and attend to customers' needs with more responsive service, while internally it is used to coordinate staff and processes that fulfill customer expectations. Mobile messaging's greatest value for customer service professionals across these industries is its ability to differentiate or improve the customer experience, attract and retain customers, and gain deeper customer insights. Key industries leveraging mobile messaging to improve the customer experience are media and entertainment, travel and hospitality, financial services, transportation and logistics, and utilities.

Sales and Marketing²
Sales and marketing is rapidly becoming more digital and mobile, particularly for industries with high-touch models. The greatest value for mobile messaging to sales and marketing departments is its ability to gain deeper customer insights, enhance multichannel delivery capability, and differentiate or improve the customer experience. Today, 82% of the high-tech companies surveyed consider SMS to be effective for customer alerts. Businesses in all industries are adopting a "mobile first" strategy to engage mobile customers, through customer promotions and offers, alerts, and surveys to increase the relevance and immediacy of a "call to action." Currently, 87% of travel and hospitality respondents are piloting or in production with mobile messaging programs that include customer promotions.

Employee Relations³
Across industries, mobile messaging is an effective channel for improving employee engagement and mitigate risk. Human Resources, IT and Security are using mobile to provide employees with the necessary resources and services to achieve enterprise goals. The greatest value for mobile messaging within IT and Security is the ability to differentiate or improve the IT customer experience and mitigate risk, while the impact around HR includes improving employee communication, workforce optimization, and employee welfare. Industry segments where mobile messaging is most impactful on employee welfare and safety are travel and hospitality, transportation and logistics, and healthcare. Successful businesses have developed a long-term employee engagement strategy that encompasses operational communications, training, wellness, and employee appreciation, and consider mobile messaging channels as important tools in the IT toolbox to perform these tasks and improve employee satisfaction and security.

"These findings show that no matter what vertical or industry a business is in, organizations are incorporating mobile messaging into many aspects of their internal operations, as well as customer and employee communications and engagement," said Jay Emmet, General Manager of OpenMarket. "A well-designed, company-wide mobile messaging strategy will give organizations a path to enhance the customer experience, gain additional customer insights, improve employee relations, and drive operational efficiencies."

The commissioned study by IDC was conducted in 2014 with participants residing in the U.S., U.K., and eight countries in Europe and Asia. Additional takeaways on top use cases include:

• Customer Development and Engagement: Organizations with frequent/high touch customer and consumer business models are leveraging mobile messaging for promotions, offers and coupons, product notifications, and customer surveys.
• Customer Experience: Service-oriented organizations with a focus on relationship management use mobile messaging for customer service appointment reminders, order updates, shipping alerts, product or service updates, and bill reminders.
• Employee Engagement: Organizations working to increase employee satisfaction and safety, and lower operating costs use mobile messaging for company announcements, employee surveys, and emergency alerts.
• Mobile Workforce Enablers: Organizations with seasonal or high turnover workforces increase compliance and employee retention by using mobile messaging for timesheet reminders, mobile workforce notifications, and global communication efforts.
• IT Service Delivery: Organizations that increasingly depend on IT as an enabler for employees and customers embrace the technology for password reset, sign in and account authentication, IT system status, and escalation management tasks.

To download the IDC research report, "Enterprises Adopting Mobile Messaging to Enhance Communications and Improve Business Operations," visit http://www2.openmarket.com/idc-cross-functional-white-paper.

About OpenMarket
OpenMarket, a division of Amdocs, helps enterprises use mobile to transform their business. OpenMarket provides mobile engagement solutions for organizations to optimize their operations and enhance relationships with their customers and employees. Major enterprises choose OpenMarket for our domain expertise, service flexibility, demonstrated performance and reliability, global scale, and corporate maturity. We provide smart, interactive connectivity to more than 200 countries, enabling businesses to engage with nearly every mobile user around the world. Our clients trust us to power their mobile business. For more information, visit www.openmarket.com.

About Amdocs
For more than 30 years, Amdocs has ensured service providers' success and embraced their biggest challenges. To win in the connected world, service providers rely on Amdocs to simplify the customer experience, harness the data explosion, stay ahead with new services and improve operational efficiency. The global company uniquely combines a market-leading BSS, OSS and network control and optimization product portfolio with value-driven professional services and managed services operations. With revenue of $3.6 billion in fiscal 2014, Amdocs and its more than 22,000 employees serve customers in over 80 countries.

Amdocs: Embrace Challenge, Experience Success. For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com.

Amdocs' Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs' growth and business results in future quarters. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic conditions, Amdocs' ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs' ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company's products and services obsolete, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014 filed on December 8, 2014 and our quarterly 6-K form furnished on February 9, 2015.

¹ IDC White Paper, sponsored by OpenMarket, "Exploring the Impact of Mobile Messaging on Customers, Employees and Operations," March 2015.
² IDC White Paper, sponsored by OpenMarket, "Exploring the Impact of Mobile Messaging on Customers, Employees and Operations," March 2015.
³ IDC White Paper, sponsored by OpenMarket, "Exploring the Impact of Mobile Messaging on Customers, Employees and Operations," March 2015.

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