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Lou Sigillo joins Cenlar as senior vice president of contact centers

EWING, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cenlar FSB, the nation’s leading mortgage loan subservicer, announced today that Lou Sigillo has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Contact Centers.


“Lou is an award-winning and driven leader with more than 25 years of experience in every facet of call-center operations,” said Kimberly Gibson, Executive Vice President, Borrower Operations and Executive Committee Member for Cenlar. “Over this time he has demonstrated passion and commitment to the customer experience. He is a strong advocate for the customer and, at the same time, is adept at driving efficiencies across the business.”

Prior to Cenlar, Lou was a Senior Vice President of Client Engagement for Alorica, one of the largest global outsourcing companies in the world. Before that, Lou was Vice President of Customer Service Operations for Verizon’s wireless operations. At Verizon, he directed the customer service strategy, service delivery and service excellence across internal centers, home-based agents, and strategic partner call centers. Among his accomplishments was the transformation of customer service from multiple field organizations into a centralized national organization.

Lou will be responsible for overseeing Cenlar’s contact center operations, with an initial goal of standardizing, streamlining, and upgrading workforce and technological processes. These efforts will be oriented toward building a seamless customer journey and frictionless omnichannel experience.

About Cenlar FSB

Cenlar FSB is a federally chartered, employee-owned wholesale bank, servicing more than 2.7 million mortgage loans in 50 states. As the nation’s leading subservicer, Cenlar boasts a loyal and growing client base of more than 150 institutions including banks, credit unions, and mortgage bankers. Our 3,000 employees, strategically located throughout the United States, are dedicated to teamwork and customer satisfaction, thereby providing client solutions that are unparalleled in quality, flexibility and innovation. Headquartered in Ewing, NJ, Cenlar is industry rated and audited regularly by independent third parties.

For more information, visit www.cenlar.com. Find us on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cenlar-fsb/

 

Contacts

Adrienne R. Kowalski

Corporate Communications Director

arkowalski@cenlar.com

Categories
Business

AM Best affirms Issue Credit Rating of Weston2038 LLC’s Credit-Linked Note

OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term Issue Credit Rating (Long-Term IR) of “a” to the $846 million (of which $742 million remains outstanding) 6.00% Variable Funding Credit-Linked Note (note), due July 1, 2038, issued by Weston2038 LLC (Weston2038), a Delaware limited liability company (issuer). The outlook of the Credit Rating (rating) is stable.

The note is in consideration for a Variable Funding Surplus Note issued by Redding Reassurance Company 3 LLC (Redding Re 3), a Missouri-domiciled special purpose financial captive reinsurer and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Wilton Reassurance Company (Wilton Reassurance). The Variable Funding Surplus Note is used to support excess reserves for a specified block life business policies ceded by Wilton Reassurance on a coinsurance basis to Redding Re 3.

Redding Re 3 issued a Surplus Note (in the form of a Variable Surplus Note) to Weston2038 with a face amount equal to the initial amount of excess reserves, in exchange for the Weston2038-issued note with an equivalent face amount. The Variable Surplus Note and note have the same interest rate. Concurrently, Weston2038 entered into a risk transfer agreement (i.e., cash-settled ISDA swap) with Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America (Bermuda) Ltd. (Hannover Re Bermuda) to provide liquidity for any redemption/monetization of the note.

As of December 2019, statutory reserves, economic reserves and excess reserves were in line with the projected results.

The rating action represents AM Best’s current opinion as to the issuer’s ability to meet its financial obligations to the noteholders when due. The rating primarily takes into consideration the following: Hannover Re Bermuda’s Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “aa” as the swap counterparty to Weston2038; netting arrangements among transaction parties; no reserves or funds at Weston2038, except reliance on funds provided by Redding Re 3; and potential legal risks at it relates to enforceability of the various transaction agreements.

The Long-Term IR could be upgraded or downgraded and/or the outlook revised if material changes occur in the financial condition and credit ratings of Hannover Re Bermuda.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media – Proper Use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2020 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

Alma W. Nieves

Financial Analyst,

Insurance-Linked Securities

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5713
alma.nieves@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Yuhmei Chen

Senior Financial Analyst,

Insurance-Linked Securities

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5236
yuhmei.chen@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644
james.peavy@ambest.com

Categories
Business

AM Best affirms credit ratings of Union Medical Benefits Society Limited

SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a” of Union Medical Benefits Society Limited (UniMed) (New Zealand). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect UniMed’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorises as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

UniMed’s balance sheet strength assessment is supported by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, which AM Best categorised as strongest in fiscal-year 2019, and is expected to remain at this level over the medium term, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). This reflects the company’s low underwriting leverage and prudent investment approach. In addition, AM Best views the company as having a favourable liquidity position. As a not-for-profit insurer, UniMed has no dividend commitments, but AM Best considers its financial flexibility as limited. Notwithstanding this, the company’s sizeable capital buffer provides protection against potential adverse developments in future earnings or balance sheet items.

AM Best views UniMed’s operating performance to be strong, with a five-year average return-on-equity ratio of 9.9% and five-year average operating ratio of 87.9% (fiscal-years 2015-2019), albeit with a moderate level of volatility over this period. The company’s overall earnings have been driven by sound underwriting performance and stable investment returns. UniMed benefits from an efficient cost structure that allows it to offer competitive health coverage and premiums to its members. The company’s loss ratio also has reduced over the past several years, driven in part by improvements in its surgical claims approval process and diligent control over timely and appropriate rates adjustments. While the public health care system in New Zealand is responsible for the pandemic response to COVID-19, AM Best does expect a level of volatility in UniMed’s prospective loss experience. For fiscal-year 2020, claims volumes are expected to fall from the deferral of elective surgeries during the country’s lockdown period, followed by a subsequent catch up in claims activity over the coming fiscal periods.

AM Best assesses UniMed’s business profile as limited. The company is a small-sized, not-for-profit insurer with a market share of 4% in New Zealand’s health insurance industry, based on 2019 gross written premiums. UniMed’s underwriting portfolio continues to have limited product line and geographical diversification. In addition, the company has a concentration toward a few large group medical accounts, which increases the susceptibility of overall earnings to changes in the performance of these key accounts. Despite ongoing challenging market conditions, UniMed’s membership has increased in fiscal-year 2019 due to a portfolio transfer from The Education Benevolent Society Incorporated and its newly launched retail offering. Prospectively, UniMed’s top line may be affected adversely due to cancellations and weaker sales as a result of economic downturn related to COVID-19.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media – Proper Use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2020 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

Sin Yee Chuah

Financial Analyst
+65 6303 5022
sinyee.chuah@ambest.com

Doniella Pliss
Director, Analytics
+65 6303 5024
doniella.pliss@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey
Manager, Public Relations
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Jim Peavy
Director, Public Relations
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644
james.peavy@ambest.com

Categories
Local News

NRG Energy Inc. to acquire Direct Energy

Acquisition Expected to Add More Than Three Million Residential and Commercial & Industrial Customers Across 50 States and Canada, Supporting NRG’s Integrated Strategy

To Enhance Free Cash Flow Strength and Stability

PRINCETON, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Centrica PLC under which NRG will acquire Direct Energy, a North American subsidiary of Centrica PLC for $3.625 billion in an all-cash transaction.

The transaction builds on NRG’s status as a growing, customer-driven integrated energy provider, adding more than three million retail customers across 50 states and Canada. The transaction on closing is expected to generate approximately $740 million in annual run-rate Adjusted EBITDA1, while enhancing free cash flow strength and stability and providing earnings diversification.

With operations in all 50 U.S. states and 6 Canadian provinces, Direct Energy is one of North America’s leading retail providers of electricity, natural gas, and home and business energy-related products and services. For NRG, the acquisition builds on and complements its integrated model, enabling better matching of power generation with customer demand. It also broadens NRG’s presence into states and locales where it does not currently operate, supporting NRG’s objective to diversify its business.

The combination will deliver greater efficiencies and enable continued investment in NRG’s award-winning customer service, operational best practices and reliability. With NRG’s decades of participation in electricity markets throughout the U.S., NRG has broad insights into energy market dynamics and trends to inform innovative solutions and products for the combined company’s customers.

“This combination improves NRG’s status as one of North America’s premier integrated power companies, bringing the power of energy to people and organizations through our diverse generation platform and leading retail brands,” said Mauricio Gutierrez, President and Chief Executive Officer of NRG. “The acquisition aligns with our broader strategy of perfecting our integrated business model and drives significant value creation for our customers and stakeholders. Direct Energy ’s complementary assets, talented team and excellent customer service make it a natural fit for our portfolio, and we look forward to welcoming Direct Energy to the NRG team.”

Strategic and Financial Benefits

  • Broader Retail PlatformThe transaction broadens NRG’s retail business adding over 3 million customers. The transaction provides substantial regional diversity to NRG given that 76% of Direct Energy’s Home Energy customers are outside of Texas. The transaction will allow the combined company to reduce costs and leverage shared best practices.
  • Balanced Generation and Retail PlatformDirect Energy’s significant East footprint provides better balance within NRG’s existing portfolio while also providing NRG the ability to expand its successful capital-light renewable PPA strategy outside of Texas.
  • Significant Cost and Operational SynergiesThe acquisition is expected to create $300 million in annual run-rate synergies driven by leveraging NRG’s scalable operational platform and best-in-class cost discipline.
  • Disciplined Capital AllocationThe transaction exceeds NRG’s investment criteria and is accretive to free cash flow. In addition, NRG expects to achieve its targeted credit ratios within twelve months of closing, thereby maintaining its commitment to achieve investment grade credit metrics.

Financial Terms

NRG will acquire Direct Energy for $3.625 billion in cash, subject to a working capital adjustment.

Approvals and Time to Close

Closing for the transaction is targeted by year end 2020. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, consents and regulatory approvals, including approval by shareholders of Centrica PLC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The companies will also submit as pre-merger notification to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and the Commissioner of Competition under the Canadian Competition Act.

Advisors

Citi and Credit Suisse are serving as financial advisors and Latham & Watkins and Baker Botts LLP. are serving as legal counsel to NRG.

Investor Call

On July 24, 2020, NRG will host a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern to discuss this announcement. Investors, the news media and others may access the live webcast of the conference call and accompanying presentation materials by logging on to NRG’s website at http://www.nrg.com and clicking on “Presentations & Webcasts” in the “Investors” section found at the top of the home page. The webcast will be archived on the site for those unable to listen in real time.

About NRG Energy

At NRG, we’re bringing the power of energy to people and organizations by putting customers at the center of everything we do. We generate electricity and provide energy solutions and natural gas to more than 3.7 million residential, small business, and commercial and industrial customers through our diverse portfolio of retail brands. A Fortune 500 company, operating in the United States and Canada, NRG delivers innovative solutions while advocating for competitive energy markets and customer choice, and by working towards a sustainable energy future. More information is available at www.nrg.com. Connect with NRG on Facebook, LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy, @nrginsight.

Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, the information presented in this press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can typically be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “objective,” “projection,” “forecast,” “goal,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “plan,” “think,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “predict,” “target,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s future revenues, income, indebtedness, capital structure, plans, expectations, objectives, projected financial performance and/or business results and other future events, and views of economic and market conditions.

Although NRG believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct, and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated herein include, among others, the potential impact of COVID-19 or any other pandemic on the Company’s operations, financial position, risk exposure and liquidity, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the power industry, weather conditions, competition in wholesale power markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers to perform under contracts, changes in the wholesale power markets, changes in government regulations, the condition of capital markets generally, our ability to access capital markets, cyberterrorism and inadequate cybersecurity, unanticipated outages at our generation facilities, adverse results in current and future litigation, failure to identify, execute or successfully implement acquisitions, repowerings or asset sales, our ability to implement value enhancing improvements to plant operations and companywide processes, our ability to achieve margin enhancement under our publicly announced transformation plan, our ability to achieve our net debt targets, our ability to maintain investment grade credit metrics, our ability to proceed with projects under development or the inability to complete the construction of such projects on schedule or within budget, the inability to maintain or create successful partnering relationships, our ability to operate our business efficiently, our ability to retain retail customers, our ability to realize value through our commercial operations strategy, the ability to successfully integrate businesses of acquired companies, our ability to realize anticipated benefits of transactions (including expected cost savings and other synergies) or the risk that anticipated benefits may take longer to realize than expected, and our ability to execute our Capital Allocation Plan. Achieving investment grade credit metrics is not a indication of or guarantee that the Company will receive investment grade credit ratings. Debt and share repurchases may be made from time to time subject to market conditions and other factors, including as permitted by United States securities laws. Furthermore, any common stock dividend is subject to available capital and market conditions.

NRG undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. The adjusted EBITDA are estimates as of July 24, 2020. These estimates are based on assumptions the company believed to be reasonable as of that date. NRG disclaims any current intention to update such guidance, except as required by law. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included in this press release should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRG’s future results included in NRG’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

_______________________

1 EBITDA forecasts are based on NRG Energy’s own estimates and should not be construed as a profit forecast for the purpose of Centrica’s Listing Rule obligations under Listing Rule 13.5.

Contacts

Investors:
Kevin L. Cole, CFA

609.524.4526

investor.relations@nrg.com

Media:
Candice Adams

609.524.5428

candice.adams@nrg.com

Categories
Business

Majesco announces new and innovative updates for Majesco’s billing for P&C

These updates reflect the monthly updates for the last seven months that include next-generation capabilities needed to meet the demands of today’s digital customer

MORRISTOWN, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Majesco (NASDAQ: MJCO), a global leader of cloud insurance software, today announced the new and innovative updates for Majesco’s Billing for P&C, representing the monthly updates for the last seven months. Rather than providing periodic releases, Majesco provides monthly, automated releases to keep customers at the leading edge and enable them to rapidly respond to market changes.

Billing has become a key component of carriers’ customer engagement and digital strategies – recognizing the growing demand for new payment methods, billing plans, access to real-time billing information, electronic billing payments, and on-the-spot adjustments due to unprecedented market shifts such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Cloud-based solutions like Majesco Billing for P&C are helping insurers not only modernize and optimize their business, but also to create a new business for the future. Four of the top 10 P&C insurers in the US are using the market leading Majesco Billing for P&C.

“Billing can seem like a routine back end process, but it is one that touches every customer and done wrong, can have a tremendously negative impact on the customer relationship. It is a powerful signal of the kind of customer service that will be delivered by an insurer across all touchpoints,” commented Karlyn Carnahan, Head of Celent’s North American Property Casualty business. “Utilizing a seamless and flexible solution allows insurers to deliver on an important “moment of truth” while freeing up resources to continue to transform the customer experience in other areas.”

Some of the new and innovative enhancements for Majesco Billing for P&C to support digital customer engagement and operational optimization include:

Advanced Capabilities for Moratoriums – Enable carriers to serve their customers and ease financial hardships through automated processes that can otherwise be a very manual labor-intensive process, especially true in the context of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The enhanced support includes leniency towards fees, late charges and collections etc. Additionally, on return to normalcy, the automated processes can automatically spread unpaid balances over multiple installments even going beyond policy expiry date based on customer preferences.

Expanded Payment Gateways – Leverage pre-built integrations for frictionless and secure ACH and Credit Card processing with payment gateways including Chase Paymentech, One Inc and CyberSource.

Automated Agency Payment Upload – Support for electronic upload of agency payments followed by automated payment allocation and reconciliation process. This enables the carriers to focus on collections and work on discrepancies instead of spending days and weeks on reconciliation through manual data entry.

Enhanced Data Extraction Utility – Mask and export production data to other non-production environments for analysis purposes while ensuring sensitive customer data is masked following data privacy and security compliance requirements.

Cohesive Event-Based Communication – Via messaging queues, enable asynchronous event-based communication between systems providing consistency, flexibility, reliability and scalability of processes.

Robust Open API Catalog and Gateway – Expanded API catalog with over 200 additional OAS3.0 Compliant APIs available to rapidly and dynamically integrate with other systems and Majesco Digital1st® EcoExchange innovative partner solutions over an enterprise gateway servicing all APIs with enterprise monitoring and servicing feature for Majesco CloudInsurer® customers.

Extensive Performance & Scalability Gains – Majesco Billing for P&C is now certified for 100 million policies with 1000 concurrent users, providing extensive scale for large insurers.

“A new generation of insurance buyers with different needs and expectations, coupled with unprecedented market shifts, have created both a challenge and opportunity for next generation billing platforms,” said Manish Shah, President and Chief Product Officer at Majesco. “Today’s announcement continues the incredible momentum that we’ve built in enabling insurers, reinsurers, InsurTechs and MGAs to modernize and optimize the billing experience for their end users, while at the same time innovate with new billing options and capabilities, putting them at the forefront of digital business transformation.”

The latest enhancements underscore Majesco’s relentless innovation and commitment to helping their customers transform to a digital customer centric strategy that propels them into the future of insurance.

About Majesco

Majesco (NASDAQ: MJCO) provides technology, expertise, and leadership that helps insurers modernize, innovate and connect to build the future of their business – and the future of insurance – at speed and scale. Our platforms connect people and businesses to insurance in ways that are innovative, hyper-relevant, compelling and personal. Over 200 insurance companies worldwide in P&C, L&A and Group Benefits are transforming their businesses by modernizing, optimizing or creating new business models with Majesco. Our market-leading solutions include CloudInsurer® P&C Core Suite (Policy, Billing, Claims); CloudInsurer® LifePlus Solutions (AdminPlus, AdvicePlus, IllustratePlus, DistributionPlus); CloudInsurer® L&A and Group Core Suite (Policy, Billing, Claims); Digital1st® Insurance with Digital1st® Engagement, Digital1st® EcoExchange and Digital1st® Platform – a cloud-native, microservices and open API platform; Distribution Management, Data and Analytics and an Enterprise Data Warehouse. For more details on Majesco, please visit www.majesco.com.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of management, are not guarantees of performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors, including those set forth in Majesco’s reports that it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which you should review, including those statements under “Item 1A – Risk Factors” in Majesco’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended by its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: the adverse impact on economies around the world and our customers of the current COVID-19 pandemic; our ability to achieve increased market penetration for our product and service offerings and obtain new customers; our ability to raise future capital as needed; the growth prospects of the property & casualty and life & annuity insurance industry; the strength and potential of our technology platform and our ability to innovate and anticipate future customer needs; our ability to compete successfully against other providers and products; data privacy and cyber security risks; technological disruptions; our ability to successfully integrate our acquisitions and identify new acquisitions; the risk of loss of customers or strategic relationships; the success of our research and development investments; changes in economic conditions, political conditions and trade protection measures; regulatory and tax law changes; immigration risks; our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate third-party licensed technology; key personnel risks; and litigation risks.

These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as predictions of future events and Majesco cannot assure you that the events or circumstances discussed or reflected in these statements will be achieved or will occur. If such forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. You should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by Majesco or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified timeframe, or at all. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this presentation. Majesco disclaims any obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

Contacts

Laura Tillotson

Director, Marketing Communications and Creative Services

+ 201 230 0752

laura.tillotson@majesco.com

Categories
Business

Dun & Bradstreet announces second quarter 2020 earnings release and conference call; participating in an upcoming investor conference

SHORT HILLS, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. (“Dun & Bradstreet”) (NYSE:DNB), a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, today announced the date for the release of its second quarter 2020 earnings and its participation in an upcoming investor conference.

Second Quarter 2020 Earnings

Dun & Bradstreet will release second quarter 2020 earnings before the market opens on August 6, 2020. A conference call to discuss its results will follow at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time that same day.

Those wishing to participate via the webcast should access the call through Dun & Bradstreet’s Investor Relations website at https://investor.dnb.com. Those wishing to participate via the telephone may dial in at 833-350-1376 (USA) or 647-689-6655 (International) and enter the conference ID: 7189713. The conference call replay will be available via webcast through Dun & Bradstreet’s Investor Relations website. The telephone replay will be available from 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on August 6, 2020, through August 13, 2020, by dialing 800-585-8367 (USA) or 416-621-4642 (International). The replay passcode will be 7189713.

Upcoming Investor Conference

Anthony Jabbour, Dun & Bradstreet’s chief executive officer, and Bryan Hipsher, Dun & Bradstreet’s chief financial officer, will participate in the Wells Fargo Virtual Technology Services Conference on Monday, August 10, 2020.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, enables companies around the world to improve their business performance. Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud fuels solutions and delivers insights that empower customers to accelerate revenue, lower cost, mitigate risk, and transform their businesses. Since 1841, companies of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to help them manage risk and reveal opportunity.

Contacts

Investor Contact:
Debra McCann

973-921-6008

IR@dnb.com

Media Contact:
Lisette Kwong

973-921-6263

KwongL@dnb.com

Categories
Business

NICE Satmetrix Benchmark finds 57% of contact center employees working from home due to COVID-19 are now more likely to recommend employer

However, 71% of contact center managers say the shift to work at home has had a significant impact on customers

HOBOKEN, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NICE (Nasdaq: NICE) today announced that the NICE Satmetrix Agent Experience at Home Benchmark found that 57% of contact center employees working from home due to COVID-19 are now more likely to recommend their employers to friends, family, or peers than they were before the transition to working remotely. However, in contrast to this positive impact on employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), 71% of contact center managers say that their organization’s shift to work at home has had a significant impact on customers.

With the transition to remote work environments, today’s customer service managers and their teams are dealing with multiple challenges all at once, including increased interaction volume across all channels; longer handle times, as service interactions become the first line of support for distressed consumers; more demanding customer needs, as agents are dealing with new, unusual requests that are more complex and sometimes outside their direct control; and a new remote work methodology.

NICE Satmetrix co-founded NPS and is a trusted source for data and insights used to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy, and reduce customer churn. The NICE Satmetrix Agent Experience at Home Benchmark identified three key drivers that improved eNPS that organizations can apply to increase employee engagement:

  • Providing the Right Tools and Technology
  • Communicating Effectively
  • Taking Quick Action for Employees

To address these challenges, NICE has recently introduced CXone@home to enable the safe transition of contact center agents to work from home within hours, for organizations of all sizes and verticals. It is powered by the market-leading CXone cloud contact center platform and is offered at no charge for 60 days for new customers. Purpose-built for remote workforces, CXone@home also includes a complete suite of workforce engagement and optimization (WFO) capabilities – including quality and coaching with analytics, performance management, and workforce forecasting and scheduling – to ensure agents and managers are productive while working from home. The demand for CXone@home has been unprecedented by organizations of all sizes with legacy on-premises infrastructures. NICE also recently launched WEM@home and NEVA@home to drive immediate impact on service excellence for work at home employees.

“NICE is pleased to make possible the quick transition to work at home for thousands of contact center agents and managers,” said Barry Cooper, NICE Enterprise Group President. “Many organizations that have shifted to work from home now face challenges of engaging and ensuring performance of their newly remote and dispersed workforce, while at the same time the nature and volume of the work are rapidly changing. These same organizations have requested CXone@home to help them deal with these challenges.”

Mr. Cooper added, “COVID-19 is changing how people work and organizations operate. Companies are adapting in order to ensure business continuity, employee engagement, and performance. NICE is dedicated to empowering exceptional customer service in times of change.”

As the leading cloud platform for contact centers, CXone has a global, geographically redundant cloud infrastructure with built-in elasticity to dynamically scale up or down based on demand. NICE inContact proactively monitors and continuously forecasts demand with reserves for immediate spikes in volume and the ability to add data and storage capacity immediately. Customers can rely on the 99.99% guaranteed availability on carrier-grade network with global data centers and points of presence (POPs) as well as 24/7/365 network operations monitoring. Contact center agents using NICE inContact CXone are operating in over 100 countries.

About the NICE Satmetrix Agent Experience at Home Benchmark

In response to COVID-19, thousands of contact center agents are now working from home, helping meet customer needs across the globe. NICE Satmetrix fielded a groundbreaking benchmark to help organizations better understand agent experience at home and learn how to proactively improve that experience while powering exceptional customer experience. Organizations interested in fielding the survey at no cost to their teams, in order to compare themselves to the benchmark, may register here.

NICE Satmetrix gives enterprises the power to unlock the value of CX data and insights – across the holistic customer journey from the contact center and beyond – to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy and reduce customer churn. A holistic, unified, and integrated Customer Experience Management (CEM) solution, NICE Satmetrix delivers actionable customer experience insights to roles across the organization that are dynamic, predictive, and prescriptive. NICE Satmetrix co-founded NPS and built its complete solution from the ground up to operationalize customer feedback insights all along the customer journey.

About NICE

NICE (Nasdaq: NICE) is the world’s leading provider of both cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions that empower organizations to make smarter decisions based on advanced analytics of structured and unstructured data. NICE helps organizations of all sizes deliver better customer service, ensure compliance, combat fraud and safeguard citizens. Over 25,000 organizations in more than 150 countries, including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies, are using NICE solutions. www.nice.com.

Trademark Note: NICE and the NICE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NICE Ltd. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners. For a full list of NICE’s marks, please see: www.nice.com/nice-trademarks.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, including the statements by Mr. Cooper, are based on the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of NICE Ltd. (the “Company”). In some cases, such forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “seek,” “may,” “will,” “intend,” “should,” “project,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” or similar words. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results or performance of the Company to differ materially from those described herein, including but not limited to the impact of changes in economic and business conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; competition; successful execution of the Company’s growth strategy; success and growth of the Company’s cloud Software-as-a-Service business; changes in technology and market requirements; decline in demand for the Company’s products; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; difficulties or delays in absorbing and integrating acquired operations, products, technologies and personnel; loss of market share; an inability to maintain certain marketing and distribution arrangements; the Company’s dependency on third-party cloud computing platform providers, hosting facilities and service partners;, cyber security attacks or other security breaches against the Company; the effect of newly enacted or modified laws, regulation or standards on the Company and our products and various other factors and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, refer to the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the SEC, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise them, except as required by law.

Contacts

Corporate Media
Christopher Irwin-Dudek, 201-561-4442, chris.irwin-dudek@nice.com

Investors
Marty Cohen, +1 551 256 5354, ET, ir@nice.com
Yisca Erez +972 9 775 3798, CET, ir@nice.com

Categories
Local News

Cloud-native routing at unprecedented scale

Te RtBrick software surpasses the capabilities of traditional routers

PRINCETON, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–RtBrick’s pioneering routing software has increased the performance of disaggregated IP networks to new levels, so now they even surpass the capabilities of traditional chassis-based routers. The company has achieved this step-change in performance by programming the underlying off-the-shelf hardware to run multiple parallel processing threads. These high-performance switches are being adopted by carriers because they are a fraction of the cost of traditional routers, and because they enable a more ‘cloud-native’ approach to their operations, giving them the flexibility to run software from any vendor.

“Scaling to these levels is hard because you need performance in three different dimensions at the same time,” said Hannes Gredler, founder and chief technology officer at RtBrick. “You need to support networks with thousands of nodes, terminate millions of subscribers and manage huge routing tables. And in the event of a hardware failure, you need to be able to reinstate all of this in seconds.”

RtBrick’s routing software can now support networks with more than a thousand nodes, terminate up to one hundred thousand subscribers on a single control plane, and support ten million BGP paths, which is more than ten times the size of the current Internet.

“With multithreading we can surpass anything that traditional routing systems can achieve,” added Gredler. “And it speeds up convergence across all three dimensions. A network with thousands of nodes can be remapped in a couple of milliseconds and a full view of the entire Internet can be learnt in tens of seconds.”

At the same time, RtBrick’s vBNG (virtual Broadband Network Gateway) software can bring one thousand new subscribers online in a second – usually referred to as one thousand CPS (Calls Per Second). This is faster than any traditional BNG on the market.

The RtBrick developments, part of its RtBrick FullStack software (RBFS), also allow deeper packet look-ups than have previously been possible, with up to eight levels of inspection, which will allow operators to offer more complex IP services across their off-the-shelf hardware.

“Our customers have seen what the hyper-scalers have done with their IT operations,” Gredler concludes. “Now they can scale their IP networks in the same cloud-native way.”

The RBFS scale enhancements are available now. You can find out more information at rtbrick.com

About RtBrick

RtBrick provides carrier routing software that runs on off-the-shelf hardware. It has applied the same approach to networks that the huge ‘cloud-natives’ have used to build and operate their web-scale IT services. RtBrick is a privately held company, with staff located in India, Europe and the USA.

Contacts

Lauren Johnson

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

rtbrick@rlyl.com

Categories
Business

Vonage launches Vonage Voyagers developer champions program

HOLMDEL, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vonage (Nasdaq: VG), a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, has launched a new developer champions program, Vonage Voyagers, to assemble a team of developers passionate about building connected applications and inspiring their communities. The program has been designed to drive high-quality product feedback from a diverse pool of users; promote the creation of useful content; and increase the frequency and quality of support provided by and for the developer community.

The Vonage Communications Services Platform brings both power and flexibility to businesses through the integration of multiple channels − Video, Voice, Conversations, Messaging and Verification − into their applications, products, and workflows to create new paradigms in their industries. With an ever-growing network of more than one million registered developers, the platform makes it easy for businesses to use APIs to build the personalised, immediate, and intuitive communication experiences that today’s customers expect. And, Vonage’s developer community tears down the barriers to entry so that any developer can reach a global audience from day one.

With the new Vonage Voyagers program, we are inviting developers to work closely with us, gaining exclusive access to pre-release APIs, as well as mentorship and learning opportunities with Vonage Developer Advocates, Product Managers and Engineers. Voyagers will also receive training to improve their content creation skills and expand their reach, limited edition swag, and more perks.

Participation in the voluntary program will be based on self-submissions and nominations. Those interested must meet a number of requirements, which can be seen in full on the application site. Once chosen, official Voyagers will join a group of community leaders to help other developers build powerful applications by participating in product feedback sessions and online hack days, contributing to Open Source projects, and creating content to showcase innovative ways to leverage Vonage APIs together with other technologies.

“We designed the Vonage Voyagers program to create deeper connections between the Vonage Platform and our amazing community of more than one million developers,” said Myrsini Koukiasa, Senior Community Programs Manager, Vonage. “We’re excited to work with inspirational, enthusiastic, and dedicated Voyagers, giving us a chance to reward and recognise their work and contributions to our community.”

To learn more or apply to become a Vonage Voyager, visit this link.

About Vonage

Vonage (Nasdaq:VG), a global cloud communications leader, helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation. Vonage’s Communications Services Platform is fully programmable and allows for the integration of Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging and Verification into existing products, workflows and systems. Vonage’s fully programmable unified communications and contact center applications are built from the Vonage platform and enable companies to transform how they communicate and operate from the office or anywhere, providing enormous flexibility and ensuring business continuity.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Israel, Australia and Asia. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit youtube.com/vonage.

Contacts

Vonage Media Contact
Elise Leonard

+1 732-837-3801

elise.leonard@vonage.com

Vonage Investor Contact
Hunter Blankenbaker

+1 732-444-4926

hunter.blankenbaker@vonage.com

Categories
Healthcare

LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS solution implemented for onsite workplace health and safety

—Leading Consumer Goods Company Offers Employee Health Testing at In-House Test Centers—

SOMERSET, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#COVID–LabVantage Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of laboratory informatics solutions and services including purpose-built LIMS solutions that allow labs to go live faster and at a lower total cost, today announced that a Fortune 100 global consumer packaged goods (CPG) company has deployed the LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS solution to ensure employee health and safety in the workplace.

The U.S.-based CPG company opened an in-house COVID-19 testing center where employees can quickly and safely be tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID illnesses. In-house health and laboratory professionals, using LabVantage’s purpose-built COVID-19 laboratory information management system (LIMS), can quickly schedule, collect samples, test, track, and report results.

The CPG company already uses the LabVantage enterprise LIMS across areas of its organization. When LabVantage announced its new purpose-built solution specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was able to implement it in under six weeks for onsite employee testing that supports a safer workplace.

“LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS is a full-featured, pre-configured solution for companies, colleges, and universities looking for a way to keep their employees and students safe in the workplace or on campus with the confidence that comes with accurate and comprehensive testing,” said LabVantage CEO, John Heiser. “It’s illustrative of our ability to transform scientific data into knowledge that drives better outcomes for our business partners.”

Having the testing process onsite saves time and gives the employees the convenience of not having to go to a hospital or doctor’s office for a test. Employees displaying symptoms, or those who request a test, can be scheduled quickly for an appointment. LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS prepares the sample request, labels sample specimens, tracks all patient and sample data following privacy and security protocols such as HIPAA and GDPR, and handles results and reporting in a single easy-to-use interface.

Dr. Heiser pointed out that the LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS solution is ideal for companies that are equipped to conduct all testing-related work in-house, as well as for organizations that do not have their own testing facilities who work with third-party laboratories. In addition, LabVantage’s ISO-27001 certification, existing validation practices, and Certificate of Release allows companies to focus their validation efforts on critical functions while still being able to confidently point to a reliable solution.

The COVID-specific LIMS solution incorporates LabVantage’s deep knowledge of laboratory workflows, along with numerous features designed to make it easy for laboratories to perform coronavirus testing using RT-PCR, isothermal nucleic acid amplification, and serology methods. LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS can be hosted on the cloud or offered as SaaS and is highly scalable, which are important attributes as testing volumes escalate.

The LabVantage COVID-19 LIMS is available immediately. For more information on LIMS for coronavirus testing, visit here.

About LabVantage Solutions

A recognized leader in enterprise laboratory software solutions, LabVantage Solutions dedicates itself to improving customer outcomes by transforming data into knowledge. The LabVantage informatics platform is highly configurable, integrated across a common architecture, and 100% browser-based to support hundreds of concurrent users. Deployed on-premise, via the cloud, or SaaS, it seamlessly interfaces with instruments and other enterprise systems – enabling true digital transformation. The platform consists of the most modern laboratory information management system (LIMS) available, integrated electronic laboratory notebook (ELN), laboratory execution system (LES), and scientific data management system (SDMS); and, for healthcare settings, a laboratory information system (LIS). We support more than 1500 global customer sites in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical device, biobank, food & beverage, consumer packaged goods, oil & gas, genetics/diagnostics, and healthcare industries. Headquartered in Somerset, NJ, with global offices, LabVantage has, for four decades, offered its comprehensive portfolio of products and services to enable customers to innovate faster in the R&D cycle, improve manufactured product quality, achieve accurate record-keeping, and comply with regulatory requirements. For more information, visit labvantage.com.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Brandwidth Solutions LLC

Debra Harrsch

Phone: 215-997-8575

Email: dharrsch@BWSmarketing.com