Australian drivers have rated Avis Car Rental a cut above the rest, according to a new car hire customer satisfaction survey by Canstar Blue. Now in its second year, the independent study examined responses from nearly 600 customers who rented a vehicle in Australia in the last 12 months. Avis earned a five-star rating in six of the seven categories, including overall satisfaction, service, vehicle availability, booking process, cost and fee transparency and accessory availability, making it the top-ranked car rental company in the study.

“Avis has been telling the market that they ‘try harder’ for years and prides itself on providing a stress free, enjoyable car rental experience,” said Vanessa Brennan, chief executive officer of Canstar Blue. “The results show this work has paid off according to their customers.”

Xerox XRX +0.66% has signed a definitive agreement to acquire WDS, a firm that provides technical support, knowledge management and related consulting to the world's largest wireless telecommunication brands.

WDS uses a proprietary cloud-based platform called GlobalMine(TM) to capture, analyze and manage millions of technical support interactions across thousands of different mobile device types. WDS uses this data to help clients adjust, in real-time, any systemic issues and/or customer experience problems that their end-users may be experiencing with their devices or service.

VOILA Hotel Rewards (www.voilahotels.com) continues to establish itself as the world's number one loyalty program for independent hotels with the launch of St. Regis Rewards, a new co-branded hotel loyalty program for The St. Regis Hotel in Vancouver.

The St. Regis Hotel is VOILA's very first hotel partner in Canada and one of Vancouver's most popular boutique hotels. With the launch of St. Regis Rewards, members can redeem their points for Award Nights at the hotel and receive a number of benefits including room-class upgrades, complimentary amenities, tailored pre-arrival room preferences, priority check-in, and VIP access to hotel amenities.

"VOILA has embarked on a phase of brisk expansion. As the global leader in reward programs for four-and five-star boutique hotels, we are committed to increasing reward opportunities for members and increasing awareness for our partners," said Peter Gorla, VOILA Hotel Rewards vice president and chief marketing officer. "The launch of St. Regis Rewards provides yet another driver of revenue to not only St. Regis Hotel, but to our significant network of hotel partners around the globe."

Parago, a leading provider of end-to-end engagement management programs for consumers, sales channels and employees, today announced that it ranked number 27 on Chief Marketer's 2012 PROMO 100 ranking of the top U.S. promotion agencies. Parago has been recognized on the prestigious list for four years in a row.

Over the last year Parago has helped its clientele, including many of the world's top companies, respond to the continuing customer demand for value, experience and on-demand technology. Parago's innovative redemption-based reward and incentive programs allow clients to meet this consumer demand, while also generating value through ongoing conversations and brand touch points.

Western Digital (WD) has re-launched its online partner loyalty programme, promising points-based rewards, more communication and marketing tools, plus extra benefits and promotions for members.

“The myWD programme has been redesigned to increase benefits for our partners while expanding and strengthening our relationship with them,” comments Ian Keene, WD senior sales director. “Together with WD Direct, we will be able to engage more directly with our customers and help them find the right WD products for their business.”

KANA Software, Inc., a global leader in customer service solutions delivered on-premise or in the cloud, and used by more than 850 commercial and public sector organizations worldwide, today announced it has acquired the award-winning process-based contact center provider Ciboodle from the Sword Group.

Many of the world's best known customer-centric Fortune 500 companies and leading government entities rely on KANA and Ciboodle for advanced customer engagement across multiple channels. Recognized by leading analyst firms such as Gartner and Forrester Research, together the two companies create a formidable independent provider of customer service solutions, set to take advantage of an extensive $5 billion+ market opportunity for customer experience management, forecast to grow at between 5-12% through 2015 (6% CAGR) within the larger overall customer relationship management (CRM) space.