WITS Witness Systems (MM)

Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS), a leading global provider of workforce optimization software and services, today announced that Accor � one of the world�s largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services � received the DM Review �World Class Solution Award� for its implementation of Witness Systems� Impact 360� workforce optimization solution. More than 70 entries were evaluated for the prestigious honor, but only seven were selected in the final round. The judging was based on how each technology deployment solved a business challenge, and demonstrated innovation, measurable return on investment and business benefit. �DM Review�s World Class Solutions Award program honors an elite group of companies - and their solution providers - that are leveraging business intelligence and data management technology for corporate advantage,� said Brian Cronin, publisher of DM Review. �Accor�s implementation of Witness Systems� Impact 360 is something very different, innovative and significant in the success of the company.� To reinforce the company�s commitment to providing customers with first-class customer service, Accor � which operates more than 4,000 hotels in 90 countries � conducted an internal benchmarking study to identify areas for improvement within the contact center. The initiative took place in Accor�s Sydney-based Reservation Services Center, where the organization employs approximately 70 multi-lingual consultants and receives more than 3,000 inbound calls per day from customers making hotel reservations. The results revealed an inconsistency in the performance evaluation criteria and training delivered to consultants worldwide. To overcome the disparity, Accor turned to Witness Systems and its Impact 360 workforce optimization solution. Impact 360 now enables Accor the ability to perform voice and data recording of its agent-customer interactions, providing the hotel group with deeper insight into the customer experience, as well as the consultants� performance. The organization can also produce custom training content, leveraging its recorded interactions through the contact editing functionality in Impact 360. Accor can then automatically assign eLearning, which is then delivered directly to the desktops of agents based on their quality assessment scores. Since implementing the solution, Accor has seen an increase of more than three points in its sell-to-call conversion ratio, resulting in a 15 percent increase in room nights reserved. In addition to achieving a level of uniformity across all of its brands, the company has aligned corporate contact center goals to drive customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. �This award demonstrates the real-world value of Impact 360, and we congratulate Accor on its innovative approach to contact center management,� said Nancy Treaster, senior vice president, global marketing for Witness Systems. �More and more companies are charged with maintaining superior levels of customer service while also driving revenue and managing costs through their centers. Witness Systems� unified Impact 360 solution allows companies to increase their efficiency and effectiveness by getting the best possible performance from their people, processes and technologies.� About Impact 360 Impact 360 is the market�s most complete workforce optimization solution, unifying software and services for quality monitoring, compliance/full-time recording, workforce management, performance management and eLearning under a framework that provides a single user interface and centralized administration and reporting. Operating in traditional, IP and mixed telephony environments, it maximizes the information flow within enterprises, businesses and call centers, providing deep insight into workforce performance, caller interactions and customer service processes, while driving cost savings, strategic decision-making and competitive advantage. Impact 360 enhances the customer experience by providing visibility into a company�s entire customer service lifecycle � from planning and establishing goals to scheduling and deploying the appropriate staff; from measuring and recording their performance to using that information to investigate and analyze results; and from changing business processes and goals based on this analysis to honing employee skills to meet those goals. About Accor Accor, European leader in hotels and tourism, global leader in corporate services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 160,000 employees. It offers to its individuals and corporate clients nearly 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses: Hotels, with the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, Red Roof Inn, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands: over 4,000 hotels and 475,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Len�tre; Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 21 million people in 35 countries benefit from Accor Services products � meal and food vouchers, people care, incentive and loyalty programs. For more information on Accor, please visit www.accor.com. 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� solution features quality monitoring, compliance and IP recording, workforce management, performance management and eLearning. 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 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 "will," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions and statements about present trends and conditions that may extend into the future. 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 the company's ability to compete successfully in the future; fluctuations and changes in customer demand and preferences; 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 exchange rates; the ability of the company to complete and integrate successfully the Demos Solutions and Exametric acquisitions and any other acquisitions or investments it may make; strategy and execution risks relating to these and other acquisitions and investments; 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, 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. 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. Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS), a leading global provider of workforce optimization software and services, today announced that Accor - one of the world's largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services - received the DM Review "World Class Solution Award" for its implementation of Witness Systems' Impact 360(TM) workforce optimization solution. More than 70 entries were evaluated for the prestigious honor, but only seven were selected in the final round. The judging was based on how each technology deployment solved a business challenge, and demonstrated innovation, measurable return on investment and business benefit. "DM Review's World Class Solutions Award program honors an elite group of companies - and their solution providers - that are leveraging business intelligence and data management technology for corporate advantage," said Brian Cronin, publisher of DM Review. "Accor's implementation of Witness Systems' Impact 360 is something very different, innovative and significant in the success of the company." To reinforce the company's commitment to providing customers with first-class customer service, Accor - which operates more than 4,000 hotels in 90 countries - conducted an internal benchmarking study to identify areas for improvement within the contact center. The initiative took place in Accor's Sydney-based Reservation Services Center, where the organization employs approximately 70 multi-lingual consultants and receives more than 3,000 inbound calls per day from customers making hotel reservations. The results revealed an inconsistency in the performance evaluation criteria and training delivered to consultants worldwide. To overcome the disparity, Accor turned to Witness Systems and its Impact 360 workforce optimization solution. Impact 360 now enables Accor the ability to perform voice and data recording of its agent-customer interactions, providing the hotel group with deeper insight into the customer experience, as well as the consultants' performance. The organization can also produce custom training content, leveraging its recorded interactions through the contact editing functionality in Impact 360. Accor can then automatically assign eLearning, which is then delivered directly to the desktops of agents based on their quality assessment scores. Since implementing the solution, Accor has seen an increase of more than three points in its sell-to-call conversion ratio, resulting in a 15 percent increase in room nights reserved. In addition to achieving a level of uniformity across all of its brands, the company has aligned corporate contact center goals to drive customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. "This award demonstrates the real-world value of Impact 360, and we congratulate Accor on its innovative approach to contact center management," said Nancy Treaster, senior vice president, global marketing for Witness Systems. "More and more companies are charged with maintaining superior levels of customer service while also driving revenue and managing costs through their centers. Witness Systems' unified Impact 360 solution allows companies to increase their efficiency and effectiveness by getting the best possible performance from their people, processes and technologies." About Impact 360 Impact 360 is the market's most complete workforce optimization solution, unifying software and services for quality monitoring, compliance/full-time recording, workforce management, performance management and eLearning under a framework that provides a single user interface and centralized administration and reporting. Operating in traditional, IP and mixed telephony environments, it maximizes the information flow within enterprises, businesses and call centers, providing deep insight into workforce performance, caller interactions and customer service processes, while driving cost savings, strategic decision-making and competitive advantage. Impact 360 enhances the customer experience by providing visibility into a company's entire customer service lifecycle - from planning and establishing goals to scheduling and deploying the appropriate staff; from measuring and recording their performance to using that information to investigate and analyze results; and from changing business processes and goals based on this analysis to honing employee skills to meet those goals. About Accor Accor, European leader in hotels and tourism, global leader in corporate services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 160,000 employees. It offers to its individuals and corporate clients nearly 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses: -- Hotels, with the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, Red Roof Inn, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands: over 4,000 hotels and 475,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Lenotre; -- Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 21 million people in 35 countries benefit from Accor Services products - meal and food vouchers, people care, incentive and loyalty programs. For more information on Accor, please visit www.accor.com. 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 eLearning. 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 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 "will," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions and statements about present trends and conditions that may extend into the future. 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 the company's ability to compete successfully in the future; fluctuations and changes in customer demand and preferences; 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 exchange rates; the ability of the company to complete and integrate successfully the Demos Solutions and Exametric acquisitions and any other acquisitions or investments it may make; strategy and execution risks relating to these and other acquisitions and investments; 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, 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. 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.