Witness Systems Extends Customer Interaction Recording Capabilities for Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises with Channel Ready Solution (email this article)

BIRMINGHAM, England & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2003-- Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS - News) (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), a leading global provider of performance optimization software and services, today announced the availability of its new ContactStore "Express" offering for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The new offering extends the company's contact centre customer interaction recording and performance analysis software to include a powerful, easy-to-use, 100 percent recording solution that requires minimal technical skills to deploy and use in either traditional or IP telephony environments.
ContactStore Express is designed specifically for supply via the channel and is backed by a full channel program and assists SMEs in developing a true understanding of what their customers want from them by providing feedback from the front line contact with customers. This information can give a critical competitive advantage in today's highly demanding markets and can also be a valuable tool in giving clarity in times of customer dispute.

Industry analysts support the growth potential of SMEs over the next few years and state that 70% of mid-market companies are planning to invest in contact centre and/or e-mail management applications within the next two years. The Witness Systems Global Solution Provider Program equips channel partners with the expertise required to market and distribute the Express offerings. The program includes marketing and technical support, sales development and education to ensure participant success.

"We have a very strong relationship with Witness Systems and work together with over 100 joint customer sites in the UK," said John Mason, Product Manager for BT. "The ContactStore Express product will offer a valuable tool in helping companies in the SME space really understand their customers and enable them to provide the service that they are demanding. The solution complements offerings that we have in this area and we believe that it will be very well received in the market."

Risk Management: Helps Companies Ensure Regulatory Compliance and

Enables Easy Dispute Resolution

Reviewing and replaying a selection of calls on a regular basis can help SMEs demonstrate and verify that their organizations are complying with the appropriate regulations or assists in dispute resolution. Where there is a query or dispute regarding a transaction or conversation, reviewing the recording can provide a rapid and accurate conclusion. Once captured, customer interactions also provide a wealth of actionable insight into how companies are working with customers, and how they can improve staff skills and processes to enhance customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

The Express offering of ContactStore facilitates rapid deployment by providing recording, archive, administration and replay. The features are simply configured through a familiar-looking PC application interface to establish the system in the minimum time.

Express Offerings Facilitate Rapid Self-Deployment

Witness Systems' Express offerings for SMEs, including contact centers, HelpDesks, bureaus, and public service environments include the following to ensure a simplified, rapid self-deployment:

ContactStore Express: Supports SMEs with the capacity to
record from four to 64 seats at any one time. The solution is

cost effective, running on a single industry-standard PC. The

addition of a telephony interface card and the installation of

the application software converts the server into a robust,

flexible recording platform for the recording of

business-critical customer interactions in either a

traditional or IP telephony environment.

       The IP offering gives IP phone users - from clerical, to
       knowledge workers, to executives - quick and easy control of
       when, what and how they record and use their telephone calls.
       Employees are empowered to capture a complete record of their
       interactions with customers, suppliers, partners, or members
       of the public - at a touch of a button on their IP phone. The
       recording software delivers breakthroughs in scalability and
       functionality, bringing the benefits of recording to
       potentially every IP phone user.

eQuality Balance Express: Comprised of Witness Systems'
combined eQuality(TM) Balance voice and data recording and

eQuality Evaluation performance reporting software, companies

with small- to mid-sized contact centers can benefit from a

single solution that bundles together software, hardware,

training and remote implementation - providing a targeted,

cost-effective solution for capturing and evaluating complete

customer contacts to help ensure consistent, quality service.

About ContactStore Express

ContactStore simply connects to the extensions that users wish to be recorded, and automatically detects each call on that line. All interactions are "tagged" with a series of attributes, such as the extension number or agent identifier, the caller's number, the date and time. The recording is then stored. As a result, retrieving and replaying calls is quick and easy using parameter searches against any of these attributes, which displays a list of interactions that match the criteria. By selecting an interaction through the simple browser-based interface, any user on the network can replay the audio from the corresponding interaction to their PC soundcard. Simple replay controls allows users to start, stop and pause the replay; whilst a visual representation of the audio activity allows you to identify interesting parts of the call, certain sections of which you can specify for replay.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the Express offering of ContactStore begins at $15,000 for a 25-seat deployment, providing companies the ability to achieve a rapid return on their investment. As these SMEs grow, Witness Systems has a broad suite of enterprise contact centre performance optimization solutions available to support their expansion.

About Witness Systems

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS - News) provides the contact centre industry's first integrated performance optimization software suite to help global enterprises capture customer intelligence and optimize workforce performance. Comprised of business-driven and/or full-time customer interaction recording, performance analysis and e- learning management applications, the browser-based eQuality® solution is designed to enhance the quality of customer contacts across multiple communications media, including the telephone, e-mail and Web. The closed-loop suite enables companies to record, evaluate, analyze and learn from customer contacts and the touch points they use to develop staff, generate revenue, reduce costs, and achieve greater customer retention and loyalty - all by sharing captured customer and business intelligence throughout the entire organization. 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 international sales as the company expands its markets, including the risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations; the ability of the company to complete successfully any acquisitions or investments it may make; 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, 2002, 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.