News Release from American Express - Using Twitter #Hashtags

American Express Turns Twitter #Hashtags into Couponless National Merchant Offers and Cardmember Savings Using Its Smart Offer APIs

Cardmembers Can Now Sync their Cards with Twitter, Tweet, and Save at National Merchant Partners including Best Buy®, McDonald’s, Whole Foods Market, Zappos.com & More

New Technology to be Featured During Upcoming Live-Streamed Concert Event from SXSW® featuring Award-Winning Recording Artist

NEW YORK,  March 6, 2012 -- 

American Express today introduced a new experience for US Cardmembers using Twitter, that turns customized Twitter #hashtags into savings. Now, American Express® Cardmembers can sync their eligible Card with Twitter at sync.americanexpress.com/twitter, and when they tweet using special offer hashtags, couponless savings are loaded directly to their synced Cards – no coupons, no print-outs. Then, when Cardmembers use their synced Card for qualifying purchases online or in-store at participating merchants, the savings are automatically delivered via a statement credit within days. Participating merchant partners include Best Buy®, McDonald's, Whole Foods Market, Zappos and more. This unique user experience is facilitated by American Express' Smart Offer APIs, which also enables American Express to provide detailed reporting to merchants about the online and offline spend behavior of their customers.

"American Express is turning Twitter content into commerce by connecting Cardmembers to merchants and delivering real world value to both," said Ed Gilligan, Vice Chairman, American Express. "With the continued convergence of online and offline commerce, our closed loop continues to enable us to bring seamless, relevant ways to connect our cardmembers and merchants on the most powerful social and digital platforms."

"Every day, millions of people use Twitter to get special offers from the brands and retailers they care about," said Adam Bain, Twitter's president of global revenue. "Now, American Express is making it even easier for people to act on those offers simply by sending Tweets with special offer hashtags from retailers. It's exciting to see American Express build on Twitter in a way that benefits both consumers and retailers."

Sync. Tweet. Save.
Cardmembers can tweet their way to savings by syncing an eligible American Express® Card with Twitter at sync.americanexpress.com/twitter. To take advantage of the exclusive offers available from a variety of the nation's largest merchants, Cardmembers tweet the special offer hashtags to load offers directly to their synced Cards. When the Cardmember uses that same Card to make a qualified purchase in-store or online with a participating merchant, an automatic statement credit is issued within days.

Participating merchants at launch include 1-800-FLOWERS.COM®, Best Buy®, Century 21 Department Store, The Cheesecake Factory, Dell, FedEx Office, FTD®, Gulf, H&M, McDonald's, Seamless.com, Sports Authority, Ticketmaster, Virgin America, Whole Foods Market and Zappos.com. All of the current American Express special offers are highlighted as "favorites" on the @americanexpress Twitter page.

American Express created @amexsync, an automated notification handle that is activated when someone sends a Tweet that includes one of the special offer hashtags. This sophisticated handle detects if a user is already synced and either confirms their offer enrollment or provides a link to first sync their American Express Card to enroll in the selected offer. Additionally, if an offer is no longer available, @amexsync will direct users to check out the Tweets @americanexpress has "favorited" to find the latest offers. Questions or additional assistance will be provided by @askamex, the American Express customer service team on Twitter.

Experience Sync at SXSW®
American Express will showcase the new Twitter experience during a special, nationally live-streamed concert from SXSW on March 12 at 7 p.m. CT featuring an award-winning recording artist. For details, please visit youtube.com/AmericanExpress. The Amex Sync Show will be broadcast live at youtube.com/americanexpress and also be available on the VEVO mobile and tablet platform.

Local and visiting eligible Cardmembers in Austin can take advantage of a special city-wide offer and get $10 when sync their Card, Tweet the special offer #AmexAustin10 and use their synced Card to spend in Austin during SXSW from March 9 to March 13. Limit one statement credit per Cardmember. Click here for program terms.

About American Express
American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress,foursquare.com/americanexpress, twitter.com/americanexpress, andyoutube.com/americanexpress.

Oracle's RightNow CX Feb. 2012 Release Extends Capabilites

Oracle’s RightNow CX February 2012 Release Extends Capabilities of Leading Customer Experience Suite

Redwood Shores, CA – February 29, 2012

News Facts

The February 2012 release of Oracle’s RightNow CX Suite, the customer experience suite, has been enhanced with several key new capabilities designed to power great customer experiences. Enhancements include a new Knowledge API, Multifactor Authentication, Facebook Conversation Access and improved Intent Guide functionality.

Knowledge as a Service Capabilities Powered by New Enhancements

Knowledge API allows businesses to enhance service quality and increase self-help opportunities by leveraging the RightNow Knowledge Foundation from any application, service or device, delivering Knowledge as a Service capabilities.

The Industry's Most Secure Cloud Environment Helps Increase Consumer Confidence

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) process strengthens authentication to help reduce the risk of data compromise. This feature is designed to build trust and increase confidence among consumers, further strengthening RightNow’s commitment to providing its customers with a secure cloud environment and to empowering companies with a high level of security.

Oracle’s RightNow CX suite has more compliance certifications than any other customer service cloud platform including: Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP); National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council information security standard defined by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI -DSS / PCI-SSC); Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996; Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70) and Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE 16); and Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). 

New Social Tools Enhance Customer Service

Facebook Conversation Access, a component of the RightNow Social Experience, allows organizations to subscribe to a Facebook page or RSS feed from within Cloud Monitor, which is a social media monitoring tool that lets brands listen and join conversations that consumers are having about a company’s products and services.

This tool empowers brands to improve service quality by automatically retrieving relevant posts and providing a contextual view of conversations and comments from across the social network.

Targeted sentiment detection on comments helps agents to prioritize activities and elevate the most pressing customer inquiries.

Intent Directed Virtual Assistant Enriches Customer Interactions

Intent Guide Virtual Assistant provides enhanced web chat experiences with threaded chat interactions to gather critical information from consumers utilizing natural conversational language. This feature helps to better identify customer intent and improve company responsiveness, increase conversion rates, and reduce operating costs. 

On January 25, 2012, RightNow was acquired by Oracle.