Witness Systems to Help Asian Businesses Discover the Truth about ROI in CRM

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS), a leader in multimedia customer interaction quality monitoring, performance analysis and e-learning software, today announced the launch of its expanded, award-winning eQuality software suite for the Internet-enabled contact centre market during its ~{!0~}road show~{!1~} in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

SINGAPORE (PRWEB) March 8, 2002 – Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS), a leader in multimedia customer interaction quality monitoring, performance analysis and e-learning software, today announced the launch of its expanded, award-winning eQuality software suite for the Internet-enabled contact centre market during its ~road show~ in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Customer relationship management (CRM) has become one of the hottest trends in IT and a key strategy for corporations worldwide. Industry analysts estimate more than two-thirds of all customer interactions occur through an organisation~s call centre, placing a renewed focus on this as a key CRM channel.

~For most organisations, the call centre is the frontline to the customer. As such, it acts as the primary customer communications vehicle for optimising customer relationships, refining business processes and facilitating the success of new CRM initiatives,~ said Mr Dermot McCutcheon, Witness Systems~ managing director for Asia/Pacific.

Using eQuality, contact centre agent telephone calls can be captured from both voice and data/screen capture perspective, replayed and analysed. This valuable customer intelligence can then be used to uncover areas for improvement in agent performance, training and scripting, as well as redefine supporting business processes and technologies, and identify revenue opportunities and cost savings.

Based on user-defined ~business rules,~ the eQuality suite enables companies to selectively capture customer interactions that are most critical to their business goals and operating performance. Automatic alerts can then be proactively sent to relevant departments and individuals across the enterprise (e.g., marketing, sales and IT), enabling them to review and provide input into next steps. On-line learning comes into play by automatically delivering electronic training directly to agents~ desktops based on skill gaps identified through the recording and evaluation modules of the eQuality software suite. ~This type of collaboration and information sharing between the contact centre and enterprise provides the ability to impact performance improvement at all levels of the organisation,~ said Mr McCutcheon.

Several key predictions from industry analysts – combined with sustained pressure on companies to retain and maximise customer value, and lower operational costs while achieving ROI on their CRM technology investment – present strong growth opportunities for Witness Systems in the coming year.

Expansion and Growth in South East Asia
Witness Systems recently announced its plans for aggressive expansion in South East Asia and has established a Singapore office to serve as a springboard to new markets in the region. Additionally, the company already has developed a channel in South East Asia with resellers in Singapore and the Philippines serving a growing list of eQuality customers. In the Philippines, reseller Diversified Technology Systems Inc. (DTSI) provides software solutions to some of the biggest outsourced contact centres in the world.

~The call centre market in Asia/Pacific is exploding with major corporations relocating and/or outsourcing their needs to the region. By the end of 2002, we aim to have fully established ourselves as a major player in this rapidly expanding market,~ Mr McCutcheon added.

Availability of New eQuality Discover Solution
As part of the expanded eQuality suite, Witness Systems has launched its new eQuality Discover solution, which was introduced to help companies improve Web effectiveness by monitoring self-service transactions. Leveraging its expertise in recording and analysing customer interactions via telephone, e-mail and Web chat, eQuality Discover – the first application in Witness Systems~ new self-service strategy – focuses on the analysis of Web-based interactions, allowing companies to record and review captured samples of actual customer Web experiences, as well as identify steps for improvement. eQuality Discover eliminates the speculation surrounding Web user activity by pinpointing clusters of user behaviour.

~The growth in the market, combined with projections from such analyst firms as Gartner, point to the optimisation of Web self-service – a function enhanced through the new eQuality Discover solution – as one of the Top Ten IT trends for 2002. This positions us extremely well to take the lead and demonstrate to Asian companies that excellent customer service is possible via any medium,~ commented Mr McCutcheon.

With eQuality, recording is triggered based on business conditions, or rules. For instance, each time a visitor accesses the ~contact us~ page of the site or does not complete a purchase, eQuality Discover can initiate recording of the Web visitor~s experience. Recorded sessions can be reviewed and annotations, or notes, can be added to the captured contact to highlight significant occurrences on specific pages or the entire session. The information remains accessible enterprise-wide through a browser-based interface – making true enterprise collaboration a reality. eQuality also can be configured to notify one or more relevant individuals or departments by e-mail when a business rule is triggered.

Subsequent extensions of the eQuality customer interaction quality monitoring suite will monitor other self-service interaction mediums, including voice commerce, interactive voice response (IVR) and kiosks, to help companies enhance the quality and consistency of those customer touch points.

About eQuality
Witness Systems~ eQuality software suite is designed to enable customer contact centres within a company to record and evaluate complete agent-customer interactions through multimedia channels. For telephone interactions, the patented business-driven recording software captures a customer sales/service representative~s (CSR) voice interaction with a customer, as well as the corresponding computer desktop activities – such as data entry, screen navigation and use of customer information systems. By capturing both voice and data and synchronising them during replay, a company can evaluate and analyse complete customer interactions as they actually occurred. In addition, eQuality enables companies to capture, evaluate and analyse Web, collaborative chat and e-mail communications.

About Witness Systems
Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) is a leading global provider of business-driven multimedia customer interaction quality monitoring, performance analysis and e-learning management software that enables companies to optimise their customer relationships. The browser-based eQuality enterprise collaboration architecture is designed to enhance the quality of customer interactions across multiple communications media, such as the telephone, e-mail and Web, as well as allow companies to capture, communicate and collaborate on customer interactions throughout the enterprise. As an integrated, closed-loop performance optimisation solution, eQuality enables companies to capture, evaluate, analyse and learn from customer contacts and the touch points they use – including customer self-service via the Web – to generate additional revenue, develop staff, and achieve greater customer retention and loyalty. For additional information about Witness Systems and its eQuality software, visit www.witness.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Information in this release that involves Witness Systems' expectations, beliefs, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include statements about Witness Systems' strategies in the marketplace, its market position and its relationship with customers. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to Witness Systems as of the date of the release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in customer demand and the timing of orders; the company's ability to manage its growth; the risk of new product introductions and customer acceptance of new products; the rapid technological change which characterises the company's markets; the risks associated with competition; the risks associated with international sales as the company expands its markets; and the ability of the company to compete successfully in the future, as well as other risks identified in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, exhibit 99.1 to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000 and any other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

eQuality and the Witness logo are trademarks of Witness Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.