SupportSoft Broadband Customers Gain Top Marks for Customer Service, Research Shows  (email this article)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SupportSoft (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT - News), a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM(TM)) software, today announced that a number of its broadband service provider customers topped industry rankings in a round-up of recently reported independent research. Accounting for 10.8 million(1) broadband subscribers nationwide, BellSouth, Comcast and Cox Communications received the highest marks in studies measuring customer satisfaction ratings for high speed data services.

Comcast, the largest broadband service provider in the United States, led the international Customer Respect Index (CRI)(2) for telecommunications this year; the index is produced by The Customer Respect Group, a research firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online. The CRI, which is used as a standard benchmark for online customer care within Fortune 1000 companies and measures responses to online customer queries, reported that Comcast achieved the highest and most improved ratings for online customer service, topping the overall CRI table. Comcast also had the best score in the responsiveness index, and topped the list for telecommunications providers.

In separate research, the Yankee Group(3), a global leader in communications and networking research, identified BellSouth and Cox Communications as customer service "winners in 2004." Yankee Group research affirms that the two service providers offer "superior customer service in relation to their peers." BellSouth rated the highest on all of the Yankee Group's individual satisfaction dimensions, and Cox Communications rated the highest on overall satisfaction.

Notably, BellSouth received high marks for customer-service accessibility. When accessing customer service representatives (CSRs), 50 percent of BellSouth DSL customers reported that the company delivered "excellent" or "above average" service. "Low hold times lead to less irritated customers, even if their problem may not be resolved immediately by the customer service representative," Yankee Group indicated.

While BellSouth rated the highest by consumers along individual service dimensions, Cox Communications emerged strongest in overall satisfaction. 39 percent of its high-speed data customers claimed the highest level of satisfaction with their service. Yankee observes, "Cox is very focused on online self-diagnostics for the customer. Cox provides a detailed support site to further promote self-help. Allowing the consumer to attempt to solve problems online not only increases potential satisfaction, but also decreases phone time. Customer service phone time is expensive. On average, each minute a CSR is on the phone with a broadband customer costs approximately $1. Calls into CSRs average 10 to 15 minutes per call."

"Doing the math, a fifteen dollar phone call when multiplied by tens of millions of technology service requests can be an extraordinary expense for any corporation. Leading broadband service providers are using service automation solutions to not only minimize this cost -- but more importantly, to raise customer satisfaction through faster, higher quality service" said Chris Grejtak, SupportSoft senior vice president of products and marketing. "By enabling a 360 degree view of problems associated with digital services -- within both the provider's network and the customer premises -- SupportSoft is helping service providers automate broadband installation and ongoing support for high speed data subscribers. It's a win/win situation for both the customer and service provider, that will only increase in value with the growing adoption of triple play delivery that combines broadband, digital video and VoIP services from one company."

About SupportSoft
SupportSoft is a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM(TM)) software designed to ease enterprise technical support, provide for IT endpoint automation and enable triple play service automation for VoIP, video or broadband delivery by service providers to their customers. Digital service providers benefiting from SupportSoft solutions include Adelphia Communications, BellSouth, Charter Communications, Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, Time Warner, TeliaSonera and UPC. Enterprises that have licensed SupportSoft software for IT requirements include ADP, Bank of America, BT, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Siebel Systems, Sony and Thomson Financial. Managed service providers that utilize the Company's solutions to provide outsourced services to their enterprise customers include Accenture, ACS, CGI, CompuCom, CSC and IBM Global Services. For more information, visit www.supportsoft.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements related to the expected capabilities for SupportSoft solutions and the opportunity for service providers to minimize support costs and improve customer satisfaction levels. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: SupportSoft's ability to successfully integrate with its newly acquired technology, our ability to manage growth effectively, the ability of the software to operate with hardware and software platforms that are used by our customers and their subscribers now or in the future, the technical challenges and time and effort involved in the deployment of the services and our solutions, our ability and our customers' ability to achieve broad adoption and acceptance of their services and our solutions, the rapid pace of technological change, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in its SEC filings. Statements included in this release are based upon information known to SupportSoft as of the date of this release, and SupportSoft assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release.

(1) Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) subscriber numbers from: "Broadband Internet Rebounds with Record Quarter" November 10, 2004 by Bruce Leichtman
(2) The Customer Respect Group: "36 Largest Telecommunications and Networking Firms Ranked on How They Treat Online Customers in Fourth Quarter 2004 - Online Customer Respect Study" October 25, 2004
(3) The Yankee Group: "Customer Service is More Important than Ever in the Complicated Broadband Market" July, 2004 by Patrick Mahoney