Aspect Software, Inc., the world?s largest company solely focused on the contact center, announced today results for its third quarter, ending September 30, 2006.
Aspect Software continued its sequential quarterly revenue growth in 2006 as revenue for the third quarter was $154.1 million, an increase of $4.4 million from the second quarter. The growth in third quarter revenue was attributable to a 10 percent increase in product revenue, resulting in $55 million of total product revenue. The strong growth in product revenue also contributed to the company?s continued profitability from operations. The Aspect Software balance sheet remained strong; cash and short-term investments totaled $89.0 million at the end of the quarter.
Also of note, demand in International regions continues to be solid. The Southern European region posted a record quarter due to particular interest in the company?s voice self service and enterprise management products. India also continues to see growth in its region resulting from demand for the unified products.
?Aspect Software remains in a very good position. We have achieved profitability from operations every quarter since the merger in 2005 and the company continues to gain positive momentum, both financially and as a thought leader in the contact center industry,? said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer of Aspect Software. ?This strength has allowed us to further our investments in R&D and support services to continue enhancing the value we bring to our customers.
?In addition, the fourth quarter has traditionally been our strongest quarter of the year,? said Foy. ?I again expect to see quarter-on-quarter growth as Aspect Software closes out the year.?
Expanding the Customer Base
Aspect Software added 36 new logo companies to its global customer base in the third quarter. That list includes:
- Jewelry Television, a Knoxville, Tenn. company, which has selected Aspect® eWorkforce Management™, from the Contact Center Performance Optimization product line, for use in its customer service contact center.
- Mode Tour, one of the largest travel agencies in Asia-Pacific, is implementing Aspect EnsemblePro to manage inbound and outbound customer service and sales interactions
- Metanet, a Korea-based outsourcer, which has chosen Aspect® EnsemblePro™ from the Unified IP product line to enhance its sales processes.
- Nous Infosystems, a global software supplier, which has chosen Aspect EnsemblePro to facilitate its customer service and telemarketing processes.
Product Momentum
In the third quarter, Aspect Software also brought to market a number of new releases of its award-winning products, including:
- Aspect eWorkforce Management 7.0, now supporting inbound, outbound and blended contact center environments in eight languages, as well as offering enhanced intuitive navigational functionality and data manipulation with a new user-friendly GUI interface ? resembling Microsoft® Outlook®.
- Aspect Customer Self Service 7.2, a VoiceXML 2.1-enabled, software-only SIP or TDM solution with all the benefits of traditional interactive voice response (IVR) and state-of-the-art voice portals that can integrate easily with contact center products from Aspect and other vendors.
- Aspect® Enterprise Contact Server™ 6.2 and Aspect® Contact Server™ 6.2, blend advanced routing and CTI capabilities from Aspect® Uniphi Suite™ while adding increased availability and security.
- Aspect® Quality Management™ 2.5.1, a solution that simplifies the call recording and quality management process and offers tight integrations to Aspect Software Signature automatic call distributors (ACDs).
Partners and Patents
Aspect Software continued to build strategic relationships with distributors, signing nine new channel partners in the third quarter. The agreements with these companies, including a new business agreement signed with IBM Australia, are helping Aspect Software to extend its market reach and customer base. The company also continues its emphasis on innovation with a strategic focus on enhancing its product lines? capabilities. In the third quarter, Aspect Software continued to expand its patent portfolio with the award of a number of new patents, bringing its total to more than 600 global contact center patents.
Strong Industry Recognition
Aspect Software had significant industry and media recognition in the third quarter:
- TMC Labs Innovation Award from the Technology Marketing Association for Aspect eWorkforce Management. This award recognizes the industry?s truly unique and innovative products and services. Its sole purpose is to distinguish solutions that have unique features and that often help to carve out a new market niche or start a trend.
- Growth Strategy Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan for market presence and leadership in the Asia Pacific region. The award recognizes Aspect Software for its implementation of unique and innovative strategies to penetrate the market and acquire new customers in 2005.
- IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award from Customer Interaction Solutions for the Asterisk Business Edition IP PBX. The IP Contact Center Pioneer Award recognizes companies that have created successful IP contact center products and services that are truly innovative.