Fiat selects new Call Center Solution for Service Automation

Contact Information:      
Tyge Trier, CEO, +45 2048 0600
Niels Baht, COO, +45 4038 3840

Fiat Selects Mobite to deliver Pan-European
Call-Center Solution for Service Automation

New call center solution built on TIMEngine, the only enterprise-class platform of its kind for service automation, including electronic scheduling of reservations and appointments

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 10, 2001 - Mobite, the European leader in service automation, today announced that Fiat Targa Services, an international call centre within the Fiat Auto Group, has successfully completed the first phase of implementing Mobites enterprise e-scheduling application to automate customer scheduling and back-office processes within European Fiat dealerships.

Fiat Targa Services goal with appointment scheduling is to improve customer satisfaction and sales personnel effectiveness while increasing operational efficiencies. The solution is built on the TIMEngine platform, unifying call center agents, geographically dispersed Fiat dealerships, and Fiat customers in a real-time appointment-management system. Phase one of Mobites implementation for Fiat Targa Services rolled out in February 2001, with further deployment of the TIMEngine for up to 5,000 dealerships and auto-service agencies in Europe scheduled to begin later in 2001.

"Within our European Marketing Service Business model, Fiat Targa Services is applying advanced technologies to a variety of critical business processes," said Marco Criscuoli, Call Center Manager of Fiat Targa Services. "Electronic customer appointments and distribution and management of services are a natural application for the Internet and Intranet because this type of call centre application needs to be accessed by dealerships and their customers across Europe. We are excited to work with Mobite as one of their first customers to adopt this leading enterprise-class solution in the marketplace."

"The Mobite e-scheduling solution enables us to sell completely new services to the Fiat Dealerships and deliver effective sales-force management, turning an increasing number of customer appointments into actual meetings," said Edoardo Coletti, CEO of Fiat Targa Services. "We are a rapidly growing company and require a fully scalable solution that can grow with us."

"Mobite was founded to address the emerging need for automated appointment scheduling, customer booking, and resource planning tools within the service industry," said Niels Baht, COO and co-founder of Mobite. "Automotive companies like Fiat and large enterprise call centers in other industries are on the cutting edge of this new customer service opportunity for boosting revenue. We are very proud that Fiat has chosen to work closely with Mobite in providing complete solution to take Fiats European Call Centre practices into the 21st century."
TIMEngineTM

Despite the fact that the service sector represents the majority of the European economy, service providers have until recently lacked the necessary technology to make time inventory-reservations and appointments-available to customers on demand via the Internet and other communications channels.

Xtime, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based technology leader, pioneered electronic scheduling with the Time Inventory Management Engine (TIMEngine), a robust and flexible platform that allows service businesses to conduct real-time transactions over the Internet, data wireless networks, and over the telephone with voice response technology.

The TIMEngine platform, based on Java and XML, provides a mission-critical e-scheduling infrastructure with a completely extensible and compatible interface. The platform enables enterprises and service business aggregators to automate both front- and back-office service operations from 24-7 customer self-service scheduling to management tools for human and capital resources planning. TIMEngine is designed to improve customer convenience, lower transaction costs, build better customer relationships and improve profitability. TIMEngine transforms enterprises - even those not traditionally labelled 'service sector' - into customer-focused organizations by allowing customer access through the Internet or over the phone with voice recognition.

About Fiat

With revenues of about 40 billion dollars and ranked as number 40 on the Global 500, Fiat is one of the worlds biggest industrial groups. Fiat operates in 61 countries with 803 companies, which employ more than 220,000 people, about 88,000 of them outside Italy. The Group operates 185 production facilities. About 40% of the value of production is generated outside Italy, while exports account for more than 60% of sales.

Fiat Group companies are organized into ten operating Sectors: Automobiles, Commercial Vehicles and Agricultural and Construction Equipment, Metallurgical Products, Components and Production Systems, Aviation, Rolling Stock and Railway Systems, Publishing and Communications, and Insurance.

Automobiles - Fiat Auto:
Since its founding in Turin in 1899, Fiat has produced more than 70 million vehicles. The Groups automobile operations are carried out primarily by Fiat Auto, which was established as a separate entity in 1978, and by its subsidiaries. The Sector sells cars under the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands, and light commercial vehicles under the Fiat brand. Fiat Auto offers its suppliers, dealers and customers an integrated system of mobility and insurance services, through Targa Services and its joint ventures.

About Mobite

Mobite and Xtime work together as strategic partners, with Mobite as the exclusive European provider of Xtime technology and developer of wireless and international applications for the TIMEngine platform.

Focusing on the European Market, Mobite A/S offers online booking and scheduling solutions for the service industry. Mobite provides technology, solutions and services to large enterprises that seek to leverage the reach and efficiency of the Internet to enhance their competitive market positions as service providers. Leveraging internal research and design expertise, Mobites service offerings include consulting, application design and infrastructure implementation and support. In addition to implementing the scheduling solutions at the customers facilities, Mobite offers world-class hosting and service facilities in Copenhagen. A privately held company founded in 1999, Mobite is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information please call +45 702 040 34 or visit www.mobite.com or visit US partner Xtime, Inc. at www.xtime.com