SoundBite Introduces a Proactive Customer Care Solution to Help Organizations Prepare for the Upcoming Flu Season

Bedford, Mass. – SoundBite Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SDBT) today introduced the H1N1 Flu Notifications Solution, as part of its Proactive Customer Care Solutions Suite, to help organizations, including pharmacies, health insurance providers and hospitals, communicate essential information about the H1N1 flu (swine flu) with key audiences, including employees, members, patients, customers, students and other communities. Most recently, a national retail chain used SoundBite’s H1N1 Flu Notifications Solution to notify employees about its on-site flu shot clinic.  A major health care provider is also sending H1N1 flu notifications to encourage members to get a flu shot this season.  

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that doctor offices have been experiencing a six week seasonal high for flu-like illnesses, and that more than half of the U.S. states are reporting widespread flu activity at this time.  In September, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that employers could face crippling absenteeism as the flu season takes hold.  Yet nearly half of all businesses do not have a flu prevention plan of record.

As the H1N1 flu continues to spread globally, organizations must prepare themselves for what could be a near-pandemic situation by updating or implementing new pandemic plans that not only address their internal employee and operational needs, but also their key external constituents.

SoundBite’s multi-channel, proactive customer communications platform is highly scalable and can quickly communicate with millions of customers and employees around the world on a variety of communication channels and mobile devices.  The flexible, on-demand H1N1 Flu Notifications Solution enables organizations to quickly design and execute a communications strategy that will:

• Deliver personalized communications based on geographic location (i.e. neighborhood flu clinics) or customer demographics
• Reduce inbound call volumes by proactively communicating with your customers before they call you
• Measure the effectiveness of your proactive communications strategy to ensure that your key constituents stay well informed 
• Inform and educate key audiences on flu prevention measures, the availability of flu shot clinics in his/her area, and more.

“Many of the health insurance providers and hospitals that come to us for flu notifications need a flexible solution that they can deploy immediately to communicate with members and patients before the height of the flu season,” said Michael Drew, chief executive officer of Ringclear, a provider of proven customer communication solutions and a SoundBite reseller.  “By advising our clients to proactively communicate to their members and patients ahead of time, they can reduce a large percentage of inbound calls they currently receive regarding flu shot availability and insurance coverage and significantly reduce operational costs.”

“Frequent and proactive communications is critical for flu awareness and prevention,” said Mark Friedman, chief marketing and business development officer at SoundBite.  “Our on-demand, H1N1 Flu Notifications Solution makes it easy for any organization to quickly create and deploy these timely and relevant communications to employees and customers around the world.”

To learn more about adding SoundBite’s H1N1 Flu Notifications Solution to your organization’s flu preparation strategy visit www.soundbite.com/solutions/customer-care/h1n1-flu-notifications-solution, call 888-472-6801 or email us at ProactiveCare@SoundBite.com.

About SoundBite Communications
SoundBite Communications provides on-demand, integrated multi-channel communications solutions that enable clients to achieve superior business results.  Building on its foundation as a leading provider of automated voice messaging services, SoundBite offers integrated voice, text and email messaging solutions that help clients deliver the right message, to the right customer, using the right channel, at the right time.  Organizations in industries such as collections, financial services, retail, telecom and media, and utilities rely on the SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform to send over a billion messages annually for collections, customer care, and sales and marketing applications.  For more information, visit http://www.SoundBite.com.