Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Call Center Demo & Conference 2004

Hotel Intercontinental, Dallas, Texas

Booth C-2

DALLAS & ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2004

BenchmarkPortal customers to benefit from workforce optimization

software suite; Witness Systems customers gain customer satisfaction

survey capabilities

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS), a leading global provider of performance optimization software and services, and BenchmarkPortal, Inc., the primary source of best practice customer satisfaction data for customer call centers worldwide, today announced an exclusive new strategic alliance that offers organizations a comprehensive view of customer interactions, from captured examples and performance evaluations through surveys indicating how customers rate their overall experiences. The agreement enables complementary product and service offerings that allow customers to further leverage customer intelligence, as well as optimize workforce performance.

Witness Systems' eQuality(R) software and BenchmarkPortal's Echo(TM) (Every Customer Has Opinions) solution combine the results of customer sales/service representative (CSR) evaluations with customer-facing survey results, allowing users to quickly identify opportunities for improved customer service in parallel with caller satisfaction and retention feedback. Through the process of recording customer interactions, evaluating those contacts and then surveying customers regarding their experiences, joint users of eQuality and Echo will benefit from gaining valuable business intelligence to improve their call handling processes.

"Adding direct customer feedback after-the-fact, as our customers can now do through Echo, introduces another very important dimension in evaluating the customer experience," explained Nancy Treaster, senior vice president of global marketing for Witness Systems. "The picture only becomes more clear and compelling when these surveys are tied to recorded contacts and agent performance evaluations, as they provide companies a complete view of their operations."

eQuality captures customer contacts through business-driven and/or full-time customer interaction recording to determine service effectiveness; track trends; identify opportunities; coach staff for enhanced performance; and identify root causes that can result in poor customer service or call volume spikes, for example. Once the eQuality Balance and eQuality ContactStore recording solutions capture customer contacts, the interactions are reviewed and scored through eQuality Evaluation, Witness Systems' online customized agent performance reporting software.

A results-focused solution that includes real-time intelligence from customer feedback about the way their calls were handled, Echo enables a customized customer satisfaction survey to callers via e-mail or through an after-call IVR survey. It also provides immediate feedback to agents from the customers they actually served. Echo's automatic correlation reports help determine which service attributes are most important to a company's customers. With "slice-and-dice reporting," it adds an important dimension to agent development sessions.

Further, companies can feed their specific customer satisfaction survey results into the Witness Systems eQuality Analysis solution, which enables management to combine, assess and explore information from disparate technology sources throughout the contact center to pinpoint the relationship various metrics - such as performance scores from eQuality, customer satisfaction rankings from Echo, ACD statistics, CRM information and adherence data - have on one another.

Additionally, customers can access BenchmarkPortal's continually expanding repository of best practices and benchmarking data. Incorporating data from thousands of world-class organizations, BenchmarkPortal provides extensive statistically valid benchmark studies. The database, which includes a wide variety of contact center and workforce performance statistics, helps centers measure their performance and effectiveness against others that report their data. Users leverage this benchmarking information to discover opportunities for performance improvement.

"Based on our current and ongoing research, we have incorporated the most effective practices from the most forward-thinking companies into a dynamic approach that provides our customers with real value," said Dr. Jon Anton, director of benchmark research at the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality. "Leveraging these practices in conjunction with Witness Systems' eQuality performance optimization software suite creates natural synergies that help organizations gather and use business intelligence to their advantage."

About BenchmarkPortal

BenchmarkPortal collects and warehouses the world's largest database of performance metrics for customer contact and support centers. This unique data warehouse was originated by Dr. Jon Anton at Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality in 1995 and is the recognized source for best practice standards in all the major industry segments, including banking, consumer electronics and telecommunications. Its Web site, www.BenchmarkPortal.com, and Dr. Jon Anton's methodology were selected for the Hot Pick Award in 2000. BenchmarkPortal's reports provide the information that enables call center professionals to make intelligent, fact-based management decisions by comparing their call center performance to other similar call centers.

Under the leadership of Dr. Anton, the growing team of BenchmarkPortal experts also conducts leading-edge research, which is published in numerous trade publications, as well as in books (BenchmarkPortal's Anton Press Division has 22 CRM-oriented books in print). The company also assists managers through on-site assessments and innovative solutions in the areas of satisfaction measurement and employee training. BenchmarkPortal manages the AT&T College of Call Center Excellence, a premiere curriculum for training of call center personnel of all levels. For more information about BenchmarkPortal, call 805.614.0123, or visit our Web site at www.benchmarkportal.com.

About Witness Systems

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) 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 and/or full-time customer interaction recording, performance analysis and e-learning management applications, the browser-based eQuality(R) 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: Information in this release that involves Witness Systems' expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. They are identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. These statements are based upon information available to Witness Systems as of the date of this release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements believed true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Some of the factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include 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 and integrate 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 Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2003, 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.