Telstra Reaps Return from Rapid Rollout of Witness Systems Pty Limited's eQuality software (email this article)

ATLANTA & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2003-- Witness Systems (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) Pty Limited, a subsidiary of leading global provider Witness Systems (NASDAQ:WITS - News) supplying performance optimization software and services, today announced that Telstra Service Advantage, the service provision division of Telstra, has completed a rapid rollout of Witness Systems Pty Limited's eQuality software in 11 contact center sites across Australia, following an initial successful pilot program in its Townsville customer service center.

Telstra Service Advantage is Australia's largest provider of telecommunications assurance and activation services. Telstra Service Advantage manages the fault restoration and customer service provisioning process for all of Telstra's divisions across Australia. The group employs approximately 1,900 customer service consultants, and is responsible for approximately eight million customer contacts each year.

"Customer satisfaction and consultant performance are essential to Telstra's service delivery and brand reputation in a competitive market," said Anthony Rix, Executive General Manager for Telstra Service Advantage. "The eQuality system gives us the ability to improve the overall quality of our service through the evaluation of customer interactions with our consultants. By capturing a complete picture of the customers' experience the company gains invaluable insight into customer service delivery and resulting customer satisfaction."

Telstra initially ran a pilot program of the eQuality solution in its Townsville contact center in April 2002. During the implementation process, Telstra engaged Witness Systems Pty Limited to run a Performance Optimization Audit, which helped the group refine the evaluation criteria they used to monitor performance and achieve the best possible results from the system.

"The results from the Townsville pilot were incredibly encouraging," said Rix. "We had immediate support from our center managers with a very positive response about the benefits the eQuality system was delivering in terms of performance management and the quality of customer interactions. Within weeks of undertaking this project we made the decision to deploy the solution across our entire operation in all of our 11 nationally networked Telstra Service Advantage sites across Australia."

The eQuality system was next deployed in Newcastle, then the rollout of Sydney and the remaining sites commenced in February this year and was completed in less than four months.

"Witness Systems Pty Limited's ability to deliver results quickly was certainly demonstrated in this rapid and effective deployment of the eQuality solution within Telstra Service Advantage. We are extremely pleased with the benefits we have already derived from using the eQuality solution, and we look forward to delivering a higher level of service to Telstra customers as we continue to implement this system across the operation," Rix said.

eQuality encourages a "self-development" culture at Telstra Service Advantage

eQuality's customer interaction and quality monitoring software gives Telstra Service Advantage the ability to easily identify areas for agent training and maintain continuous improvement in systems and processes.

"We have received very positive feedback on how the centers are using eQuality for coaching and development," said Rix. "Our consultants in Service Advantage have always been passionate about delivering excellent customer service, but since deploying eQuality we now have a growing self-development culture that is encouraging our people to identify their own training and development needs and complete their own evaluations.

"In addition, it is possible to more effectively gauge how well the consultants navigate the customer information systems which gives us further insight into the effectiveness of the supporting IT systems and processes themselves. This enables Telstra Service Advantage to continuously refine and improve our customer-related processes and applications," he added.

"By fostering a culture of engagement, we strive to create an environment of open communication between our team leaders and our people in the performance management cycle. A couple of years ago, we developed a training curriculum entitled 'Beyond the Call' to provide all of our people with the professional edge in service delivery," continued Rix. "This investment in our people, along with the introduction of our balanced scorecards, has seen quantum improvements in our customer service scores. Our integrated employee and customer satisfaction surveys emphatically support this statement."

"And now, due to the eQuality tool, we have further improved our leadership to focus on the things that matter most to our customers and our people," Rix concludes. "This advancement has ensured we are on target to achieve Telstra's vision, to be a world-class full-service integrated telecommunications company helping Australian and Asia-Pacific customers and communities prosper through their access to innovative communications services and multimedia products."

About Telstra's Infrastructure Service Division

Responsible for operational service and delivery, Infrastructure Services brings together all elements of service management into one entity for all our products and services - a first in Telstra's history. This unit of about 20,000 Telstra staff has the responsibility for providing design, installation and maintenance services to all of Telstra's Australian customers.

Group Managing Director, Michael Rocca leads the seven divisions - Metro Service, Regional Service, Network Services, Service Advantage, Commercial Operations, NDC Group, Group Programs & Communications - in delivering seamless customer service and ongoing improvements in service performance, productivity and cost reduction.

Service Advantage has responsibility within Infrastructure Services for managing the end-to-end fault restoration and activation functions nationally for Telstra's consumer, wholesale, online, and mobile customers, in partnership with the field, network management, and online workforces.

High levels of customer satisfaction, as measured in the recent Activation and Assurance Track and Australian Communication Authority reports, have been achieved by delivering fault-testing and diagnosis at the first point of contact with the customer from nationally networked contact centers, operating 24-hours, seven days.

Service Advantage consultants and specialist testers respond to over 10 million customer interactions each year.

About Witness Systems

Witness Systems (NASDAQ:WITS - News) provides the contact center industry's first integrated performance optimization software suite to help global enterprises capture customer intelligence and optimize workforce performance. Comprised of business-driven performance analysis and e-learning management applications, the browser-based eQuality® solution is designed to enhance the quality of customer interactions across multiple communications media, including the telephone, e-mail and Web. An integrated business consulting, implementation and training methodology provides services to support an effective, rapid deployment of eQuality that enables organizations to maximize their return on investment. For additional information about Witness Systems and its eQuality software suite, 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 characterizes 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 under the caption "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001 and any other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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