December 1st, 2003 - First National Bank of Omaha deploys UniversalSystems' Accelerator/ASP service

The First National Bank of Omaha has deployed the UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP at their Yankton, SD call center. Results indicate a benchmarked 168% Increase in connected calls with a simultaneous 21.2% savings per connected call on their outbound campaigns.

December 1st 2003, Minneapolis, MN -- UniversalSystems today announced that the UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP, a unique and patented solution for call centers using predictive dialers, has been installed at the First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO). The UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP ensures that Right Party Connects (RPCs) and only RPCs are fed through to an organization's expert call center agents, significantly improving outbound efficiency and effectiveness. The service delivered by UniversalSystems is based on pre-screening a predictive dialer's outbound call by specially trained operators at UniversalSystems' sites prior to passing the call to FNBO's expert agents.

Joe Barry, Senior Vice President, FNBO said: "This was an easy decision to make, UniversalSystems has developed a service that allows us to reduce the cost of every outbound call at the same time increasing our list penetration. We are pleased with the productivity gains obtained and the UniversalSystems team has been easy to work with. An unexpected and valuable benefit is that the UniversalSystems service also gives us the ability to look at additional portfolio purchases without the considerable infrastructure investment we previously would have had to consider. I'm pleased at what this will mean to the bank's customers, shareholders and staff. "
Blake Rice, founder and CEO of UniversalSystems commented "It is always satisfying when a new customer comes on board and receives the projected results within the first few hours of operation. The ability to work with FNBO's existing Avaya Predictive Dialer system without disruption to their environment, the immediate ROI, and the no up front cost model were all very attractive to FNBO. I believe that this solution represents a major step forward for the outbound industry, particularly as abandonment rates drop and production improves ."

About the UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP solution
The patented UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP is based on a staffed deployment of the UniversalSystems Accelerator, a software package that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of outbound call centers. The basis of these improvements are in the system's unique ability to screen all voice contacts delivered by a dialer and to put only RPCs through to a company's experienced collectors and telemarketers. The solution can be deployed in one of two ways: By using a company's existing dialer or by utilizing UniversalSystems' dialers. In either approach, operators at UniversalSystems screen the outbound call and pass RPCs to a companies' collectors. Since dealing with wrong parties typically accounts for at least 50% of an agent's time, screening out wrong parties reduces the number of agents required for an outbound campaign while increasing the number of right parties that collectors can deal with. This solution is ideal for those call centers who need to increase productivity or are having problems finding and retaining staff.

About FNBO
First National Bank of Omaha is a leading banking institution driven by its well-established culture of providing personalized customer service and innovative, quality products. It is a division of First National of Nebraska, a multi-state holding company located in the heart of downtown Omaha. First National Bank has been serving Omaha and surrounding communities for more than 130 years. With nearly $13 billion in managed assets and over 7,000 employees, First National of Nebraska ranks as one of the largest bank holding companies west of the Mississippi River. First National of Nebraska serves over 6.6 million customers in all 50 states, with more than 50 banking locations in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas. www.firstnational.com

About UniversalSystems
UniversalSystems develops, markets, and supports service solutions for outbound call centers. Created in 1995, it has developed the UniversalSystems Accelerator/ASP and Privacy Navigator from concepts first born at the Bureau of Collections Recovery, a 3rd party collections agency. UniversalSystems has partnership agreements with Avaya Inc. (AV), and other predictive dialer manufacturers, and is a major sponsor of the Mosaix User Group. UniversalSystems is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN and on the World Wide Web at www.UniversalSystems.net. For additional information call 1-888-293-8573 or email paulmac@universalsystems.net