WITS Witness Systems (MM)

Scicom (MSC) Berhad, a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) specialist, announced today that the implementation of a call recording and quality monitoring solution from Witness Systems has delivered significant benefits to its bottom line and assisted the company in delivering on its "Total Customer Delight" imperative. Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) is a leading global provider of workforce optimization software and services. Based in Malaysia with offices in India and the US, Scicom is one of the largest employers in the contact center outsourcing industry in Malaysia. The group manages contact centers and related back-office functions in the Asia Pacific region for global multinationals in the mobile handset, airline, gaming, telecommunications, oil and gas, and IT hardware industries. With multiple contact centers in Asia, the company handles interactions from 35 countries globally in 24 languages, as well as English language support for the UK, Australian, and US markets. Scicom's corporate motto is "Total Customer Delight" - a pledge to its clients that it will provide a consistently high level of service and ensure their customers' satisfaction. "Our relationship with Witness Systems has proved invaluable to our success," says Leo Ariyanayakam, Chief Executive Officer of Scicom. "As a leader in offshore business process outsourcing, we rely on Witness Systems to help us deliver on our 'total customer delight' imperative. The Witness Systems solution is reliable, easy to use and allows us to reduce costs and improve operations. Overall, this enables us to gain an edge in an industry known for its competitiveness." Ariyanayakam has always looked to technology as the enabler of competitive advantage and future growth. The company turned to Witness Systems for a solution that would also enable it to roll out a comprehensive quality monitoring program. The objective was to gain visibility into its customer service processes, enable more effective training of agents, and optimize the overall customer experience. "Our selection of the Witness Systems call recording and quality monitoring solution was based on the company's solid reputation for quality, reliability and service," adds Ariyanayakam. "Because so many of our clients are global organizations, we needed to partner with a recognized and highly-visible company, whose solutions we could trust. Being able to tell our clients that we use market-leading technology is important to our long-term success." Recording and quality monitoring drive efficiencies, deliver intelligence Following a thorough evaluation period, Scicom selected Witness Systems' full-time call recording with quality monitoring solution for its 1,400 agents. The system allows Scicom to reliably capture all customer interactions, and retrieve and evaluate them as required. The phone conversations can be searched and retrieved using a variety of selection criteria. This information helps Scicom ensure that agent performance is consistently monitored and improved, service processes are maximized, and customer satisfaction is optimized. Ariyanayakam explains, "Witness Systems allows us to gain a better understanding of our customers and the interactions we have with them. By recording and storing calls, the right people in the organization can review and act on this customer intelligence. Put simply, the Witness Systems solution enables us to make more insightful business decisions and serve our customers more effectively." Benefits in training processes Today, every call received within Scicom's customer contact centers is recorded and stored. This is particularly beneficial from a training perspective. As part of the organization's training program, agents are audited several times a month. This information is used to review staff performance and allocate individual quality scores. Based on these scores, agents are provided with necessary follow-up training, which can include reviewing best-practice calls selected from the recordings. Quality scores are also used to determine quarterly bonuses. Additionally, the software is leveraged for new hire training. This allows for a more hands-on, practical approach to the induction of new agents. Says Ariyanayakam, "Witness Systems forms the backbone of our entire training program. It provides a development framework for our staff and ensures they become more effective in their calls." Complaint resolution simplified Because every call is recorded and can be reviewed on demand, the process of managing customer complaints is also simplified. For example, if a customer is unhappy with his or her Scicom experience over the phone, the appropriate manager can review the call and provide objective feedback to the agent involved. This allows Scicom to more effectively handle customer issues, maximize opportunities for resolution, and take steps where possible to avoid similar incidents in the future. Ariyanayakam explains, "Both our organization and our customers benefit from the ability to review calls in this way. The Witness Systems solution allows us to reduce complaints and minimize disputes, because agent performance can be quickly modified where necessary. It also takes the guesswork out of interacting with customers, because we can virtually relive the experience they had." Return on Investment Realized The solution is delivering significant benefits to Scicom's bottom line. A key saving is in supervisor time and efficiency. Ariyanayakam says, "Without Witness Systems, we would need to have supervisors listen to calls in real-time. As you can imagine, this is an extremely expensive and largely manual process. Witness Systems allows us to automate and streamline this process resulting in significant reduction in operational costs for Scicom." Ariyanayakam also points to the software as the driver of further savings, particularly in reducing call time. "As a result of the quality monitoring and training program, we have reduced call time with more efficient and effective handling of queries. Using Witness Systems' technology, we are able to benefit from continual process improvements in terms of call time, service quality and customer satisfaction," he adds. Looking to the Future Leveraging software from Witness Systems, Scicom has positioned quality as the cornerstone of its business. By maximizing the effectiveness of every customer interaction it has achieved consistently improved business performance. Ariyanayakam attributes an element of Scicom's success to its collaborative partnership with Witness Systems. "We simply wouldn't be able to conduct our business as effectively without Witness Systems," he says. "It would be difficult for us to function without full-time call recording and quality monitoring in place, and with Witness Systems we have enjoyed reliability and ease-of-use, along with optimized business processes and bottom-line savings." About Witness Systems Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS) is the worldwide leader in software and services that help businesses capture customer intelligence and optimize their workforce performance. The company's Impact 360(TM) solution features quality monitoring, compliance and IP recording, workforce management, performance management and e-learning. Primarily deployed in contact centers - as well as the remote, branch and back offices of global organizations - the workforce optimization solution captures, analyzes and enables users to share and act on cross-functional information across the enterprise. With Impact 360, organizations can improve interactions and the underlying back-office processes that enhance the customer experience and build customer loyalty. For more information, visit us at 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional risks that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include the risk of management distraction and other consequences that might result from the review of certain option grants and option granting practices described in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Company on August 11, 2006 and related developments. Witness, Impact 360, Improve Everything and the Witness logo are the trademarks (registered or otherwise) 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.