Merced Systems Helps ING DIRECT USA Drive Increased Sales Success in the Contact Center

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., and LOS ANGELES, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Merced Systems, Inc., the leading provider of Sales Performance Management and Service Performance Management software and solutions, announced today that its Merced Performance Management Suite (MPS) product is driving ING DIRECT USA's sales and service transformation project. Merced also announced that ING DIRECT is the recipient of its 2010 Merced Innovation Award for fulfilling a vision of comprehensive performance management throughout the company's customer contact centers.

"ING DIRECT is a great example of a large company taking a proactive approach to driving sales effectiveness in a complex data environment. Companies are turning to Merced to help them improve sales and customer care efficiencies in a down economy, while at the same time maintaining a high quality of interactions in their customer experience," said Mark Selcow, president, Merced Systems.  "MPS was designed to help companies create programs that deliver real financial results."

The ING DIRECT performance management program -- INGenious-- balances metric selection, Six Sigma measurement methodology, and behavioral coaching to help boost sales performance by improving coaching effectiveness, efficiency and accountability via the Merced Performance Suite. Since deploying MPS in March 2009, ING DIRECT has noted a positive increase in brand awareness from 69% to 75%, as well as reaping nearly a half of a million dollars in recurring annual benefits resulting from call handling efficiency and sales improvement.

"Our product line has grown more complex over the years, and with the Merced Performance Suite we were able to arm supervisors and managers with the data and tools needed to improve employee performance," said Brian Myres, head of U.S. Sales, ING DIRECT. "The MPS solution helps us to specifically measure and correlate things like coaching time and effectiveness, incentives, training, and promotion opportunities. Its ability to empower our associates with highly relevant and actionable information allows individuals to self-correct and meet their goals. The solution has been extremely well-received and has provided us with data validation of what we intuitively knew, but could not previously measure or act upon."

ING DIRECT is now looking outside its contact centers to leverage the Merced Performance Management Suite to improve efficiency across other areas of their business.

ING DIRECT Webinar – Aug. 4th, 2010

Brian Myres will be presenting an overview of the INGenious project on Wednesday, August 4th at 9AM Pacific. To register, please click: http://www.mercedsystems.com/events/2010-ing-direct/

About Merced Systems  

Merced Systems is the leading provider of Sales Performance Management and Service Performance Management applications focused on improving operational effectiveness of sales forces and service organizations across a range of vertical industries. Merced Systems' award-winning products serve Global 2000 customers, and include advanced analytics and reporting, incentive compensation management, coaching, and other performance execution applications. With a strong track record of growth and delivering business impact to its customers, Merced Systems has been profitable for the past seven years. Merced Systems is a privately held company headquartered in Silicon Valley and London, with major customers in 20+ countries worldwide. For more information on Merced Systems, please visit www.mercedsystems.com.  

About ING DIRECT USA

ING DIRECT USA, the nation's largest direct bank and largest thrift, is dedicated to inspiring Americans to become a nation of savers. Since its inception in 2000, more than 7.6 million Americans have entrusted their savings with ING DIRECT, building the bank to $91.3 billion in assets. ING DIRECT has developed a comprehensive social media Savers Community, including Twitter, Facebook and its We, the Savers blog. For more information about ING DIRECT call 1-800-ING-DIRECT, and for information about its commitment to financial education visit Planet Orange.

SOURCE Merced Systems, Inc.