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Return to: 1999 News Releases

COOK PAGING SELECTS IN-TOUCH II

MELVILLE, NY, Dec. 10, 1999 -- In-Touch Management Systems, Inc. announced today that Cook Paging has selected the In-Touch II paging and billing management system. Alan J. Hills, In-Touch's president, made the announcement.

Cook Paging, located in San Rafael, Calif., about 10 miles north of San Francisco, is the largest privately held carrier in the western United States, serving customers from Canada to Mexico. Established in 1984, Cook Paging has now expanded to nine regional offices in California, Oregon and Washington. Broadcasting on UHF and VHF networks, Cook Paging provides a full range of paging, dispatch and answering service products in a variety of specialized markets.

According to Michael Montague, vice president - Operations/Customer Service for Cook Paging, his firm needed to consolidate its billing and management systems.

"In our California offices we were using a 'pick' batch system for billing with no Glenayre interface," Montague said. "Everything was entered manually in a central location from paper. Each local office handled the Glenayre programming. It was very difficult to cross check the billing system to the live pagers in the terminals."

In-Touch II gives Cook Paging the ability to interface with the Glenayre terminals at the same time they update the billing system. Cook Paging has much better control over inventory and can ensure accurate billing for those services 'live' in the paging terminals. In-Touch II also provides user-friendly reporting drawn simultaneously from both paging terminal and billing data.

There are a number of In-Touch II features that are proving useful for Cook Paging. The 'agent access' module allows the company to reduce its call center workload by giving resellers and large corporate accounts the ability to activate and exchange pagers. Because the company's direct access system is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, these important customers are more effectively served.

"Since billing and paging terminal activity is now 'real time', we are better able to report timely sales activity to our field offices and make necessary marketing changes," Montague said. "Absolute inventory control is now possible, again due to the 'real time' nature of connecting/disconnecting pagers in the terminals and billing system together."

In-Touch II allows Cook Paging to post payments and charges directly to the customer's account in all of their offices, rather than forwarding paper to a central billing location. This avoids delays and ensures the customer's next invoice is correct. Cook Paging has a clear, timely audit trail of all activity by centrally controlling the daily reconciliation process. In-Touch II also enables Cook Paging to cross check daily cash register totals for each office.

Cook Paging is currently setting up a central customer care billing and support center to handle all inbound customer calls.

"We now have a single database housing all customer billing and inventory records," Montague said. "The In-Touch inventory database allows us real time access to all pager models and colors in stock company wide. We avoid unnecessary ordering of additional inventory. We also plan to aggressively promote 'agent access' in West Coast markets where we have acquired numerous local DID blocks.

In-Touch Management Systems, Inc., based in Melville, NY, was founded in 1982 and is an industry leader in developing software and supplying computer management systems for the paging/NPCS industry. The company's In-Touch II system integrates seamless switch/terminal interfacing, billing, inventory, and accounts receivable functions for paging operators. In-Touch II is designed with no limits open architecture and hardware/operating system independence, allowing maximum flexibility and seamless scalability. Today In-Touch Management Systems services paging/NPCS carriers and resellers throughout the U.S. and in 17 countries in Europe, Central America and South America.

Return to: 1999 News Releases