Primus Knowledge Solutions Recognizes—Lexmark, Microsoft, and MAPICS—for Providing Exceptional Customer Service (email this article)

SEATTLE—October 6, 2003—Primus Knowledge Solutions (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) (Nasdaq: PKSI) today announced the 2003 winners of the inaugural “Primus Luminary Awards” including Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK) for Best Web Self-Service, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) for Best Help Desk Service, and MAPICS, Inc. for Best Call Center Service.

“Primus would like to congratulate Lexmark, Microsoft, and MAPICS for their organizations’ exemplary abilities to provide first-rate customer service via the Web and in help desk and call center environments,” said Michael Brochu, president and CEO of Primus. “We thank the industry experts that evaluated the applications and determined the winners. Together, we are pleased to recognize three outstanding organizations that are the best of the best.”

Paul Rooke, Lexmark executive vice president and president of its Printing Solutions and Services Division, commented on the award by saying, "Reliable and responsive customer support is a primary focus for Lexmark. Historically, we've fulfilled this mission through more traditional phone communication. Our research has shown that an increasing number of customers would like to receive this support over the Web. Our goal has been to deliver electronically the same high-quality service as in our phone call center. We are honored to be recognized for our progress in this important and emerging area of support."

Primus created the “Primus Luminary Awards” in conjunction with National Customer Service Week (Oct. 6-10) to recognize organizations that provide stellar customer service.  The awards program was open to companies with annual sales of $100 million and above. All companies must have submitted documentation that demonstrated results were achieved and specific criteria met.  A panel of industry experts including Esteban Kolsky, research director, Gartner, Inc., Bill Rose, CEO, Service & Support Professionals Assoc. (SSPA), and Greg Oxton, executive director, Consortium for Service Innovation, then reviewed the entries and selected the winners.

“For us, knowledge sharing is a way of life, and we are honored to receive this type of industry validation of our call center operation,” said Tom Aery, vice president customer support and retention at MAPICS. “Primus technology has been an integral component of our success and has helped us improve productivity while delivering more customer value. Providing access to our knowledgebase of more than 30,000 unique solutions, more than 50 percent of customer questions are answered without having to contact our call center.”

To further recognize the winners and allow them to share their customer service success stories, Primus will host a free live Web event, titled “At your service: The Best of the Best.” The event will feature the three winning organizations, three industry judges, and will be moderated by Primus CEO Mike Brochu.  “At your service: The Best of the Best” will be held on Thursday, October 16 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. To register and learn more about this seminar, go to: http://destinationcrm.com/webevents/primus/16oct2003.

Highlights of the customer service offerings from each of the winners include:

Best Web Self-Service
Lexmark International, based in Lexington, Ky., is a leading developer, manufacturer, and supplier of printing solutions—including laser and inkjet printers, associated supplies and services—for offices and homes in more than 150 countries. As printer sales increase, Lexmark’s goal is to provide consistent, accurate, and timely information to its customers while reducing the volume of inquiries received by the Lexmark call centers.

Lexmark's Web self-service answers this call by offering timely information to its customers with exceptional ease-of-use functionality. Customers can quickly access the most common support questions and solutions from a list that is dynamically developed based upon customer satisfaction results. Lexmark’s support site (http://support.lexmark.com) provides multilingual support in five languages.

Best Help Desk Service
Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Wash., operates the Microsoft Helpdesk, a unique and dynamic call center environment comprised of five technical support groups that requires a flexible and adaptable knowledge management solution to meet the constantly changing needs of the Helpdesk and Microsoft employees. The Microsoft Helpdesk is a partnership between Microsoft OTG and hp services and provides multilingual (English, German, French) support to approximately 66,000 Microsoft employees in 90 countries and manages nearly 60,000 contacts per month via the Web and phone. Microsoft partnered with hp to provide help desk support worldwide except in Japan and has call centers in Dublin, Ireland, and Colorado Springs, Colo.

Microsoft Helpdesk’s new model includes a Knowledge Management Team that features knowledge writers and subject matter experts, creating process for content creation and modification, feedback processes to Microsoft Tier 2 organizations/developers for technical content validation, improving self-help options, and feedback to and from front-line technicians. Multi-skilled technicians dynamically balance call loads and provide on-site support for quality, training, and reporting. Support calls are predominately “break-fix,” and the Helpdesk provides beta support for new products in a process called “dogfooding.”

As a result of these changes, the use of the Primus knowledge articles has increased by more than 75 percent during the past year. In addition, Microsoft has reported client satisfaction, time to resolve, and time to escalate at an all time high. Self-help is increasing; while the length of time for a newly hired technician to become productive is decreasing and cross-training of technicians to handle multiple skill sets is easier and faster.

Best Call Center Service
MAPICS, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, has had a singular focus on enterprise solutions for world-class manufacturers since 1978. MAPICS’ “E-info” initiative is an enterprise-wide program that focuses on transforming data into knowledge and sharing that knowledge by making it easily accessible to 800  employees, hundreds of business partners, and thousands of customers worldwide. Through “E-info,” MAPICS has established a world-class customer support environment for both its internal and external customers.

The MAPICS call center provides 24X7 worldwide solution support across multiple time zones and languages, with centers located in the US, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Japan, and Australia. The MAPICS call center is staffed by 70 agents, level one to level three, managing more than 5,000 calls per month. MAPICS worldwide support team of nearly 200 professionals is unique because it is staffed by reps with significant manufacturing experience that, through knowledge sharing, can anticipate and address customers’ issues well beyond software functionality.

MAPICS’ success is confirmed by consistent high customer satisfaction ratings validated by internal and independent surveys, customer care calls conducted by managers, fostering a knowledge-sharing environment, and leveraging an extraordinary employee experience base.

About Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc.
Founded in 1986, Primus Knowledge Solutions (Nasdaq: PKSI) develops award-winning software solutions that power self-service to assisted service offerings for mid-market and Global 2000 organizations. Primus knowledge sharing software is used today in call centers, help desks, and Web self-service environments to increase customer satisfaction, improve employee efficiency, and lower operating costs. Primus continues to receive industry accolades for its robust product suite. In 2003 alone, Primus received the STAR Award for "Best Support Technology Vendor" from the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), was recognized for its trend-setting products and named one of the "100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management" by KMWorld magazine, and received the 2003 CRM Excellence Award from the editors of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. Global organizations such as 3Com, Airbus, The Boeing Company, CompuCom, Eastman Kodak Co., EMC, Ericsson, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Inc., IBM, Motorola, and T-Mobile rely on Primus technology to enhance their customer service and support initiatives. Visit www.primus.com for more information.

Primus, Primus Knowledge Solutions, Primus Answer Engine, Primus eServer, Primus eSupport and Primus eServer iView are registered trademarks or service marks of Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc. Other products and company names mentioned in this press release may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Any statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts, such as statements about the integration, performance, use, and deployment of Primus products and the anticipated results constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There is no guarantee that these results will actually occur. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include the following: difficulties encountered in the integration, deployment, or implementation of the Primus products and customer's systems; failure in the customer's widespread adoption and use of the Primus products; quality of the customer's database of solutions; fluctuations in customer demand; use of the Web as a delivery vehicle for customer support or eCRM solutions; risk resulting from new product introductions and customer acceptance of new products; rapid technological change; the risks associated with competition and the rapid consolidation of competitors; continued growth in the use of the Internet; the ability of Primus to manage its growth and integration efforts and the ability of Primus to compete successfully in the future, as well as other risks identified in Primus' Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to those appearing under the caption "Factors Affecting our Future Operating Results" in  Primus' Report on 10-K filed in March of 2003 and Forms 10-Q filed in May and August of 2003. The extent of return on investment of Primus products is specific to our customer's experience.