PKSI Primus Knowledge Solutions (MM)

Primus Knowledge Solutions Recognizes AT&T Wireless, Microsoft Corp., and Orange for Providing Exceptional Customer Service and Enhancing the Overall Customer Experience SEATTLE, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Primus Knowledge Solutions (NASDAQ:PKSI) today announced the 2004 winners of the second annual "Primus Luminary Awards" including AT&T Wireless for Best Customer Service, Microsoft Corp. for Best Help Desk Service, and Orange for Best Electronic Communications Management Solution. "We're pleased to honor AT&T Wireless, Microsoft, and Orange for their exemplary efforts in driving the overall customer experience by offering exceptional customer service via multiple channels including the Web, call center, and electronic communications," said Michael Brochu, president and CEO of Primus. "Primus thanks the industry experts who evaluated the entries and determined the 2004 Primus Luminary Award winners; the results speak for themselves, and the winners are indeed the best of the best in customer service excellence." Primus created the "Primus Luminary Awards" in 2003 in conjunction with the annual National Customer Service Week (Oct. 4-8) to recognize organizations that provide stellar customer service. The 2004 awards program was open to companies with annual sales of more than $100 million. All companies must have submitted documentation that demonstrated results were achieved and specific criteria met. A panel of industry pundits including Esteban Kolsky, research director, Gartner Inc., Bill Rose, CEO, Service & Support Professionals Assoc. (SSPA), and Ron Muns, founder and CEO, Help Desk Institute (HDI), then reviewed the entries and selected the winners. "Knowledge management is at the core of our process for success in the Helpdesk space, and Primus(R) KnowledgeCenter has been our vehicle of choice for Microsoft IT Global Helpdesk, enabling industry leading customer satisfaction and driving higher levels of worker productivity," said Victor Bahna, senior director for internal global support at Microsoft. "Obviously this award is very exciting, and we're looking forward to further improvement in the coming year." To further recognize the winners and allow them an opportunity to share their service success stories, Primus will host a Web seminar, titled "Learn from the Best: Delivering Exceptional Customer Service & Intentional Customer Experience." The event will also feature the judges discussing industry trends in eService, help desk, and support environments. The event will be held on Thursday, October 28, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. Highlights from each of the winning organizations' service offerings include: Best Customer Service AT&T Wireless is the second largest wireless carrier in the United States based on revenues. With 21.737 million subscribers as of June 30, 2004, and revenues of more than $16.8 billion over the past four quarters, AT&T Wireless delivers advanced high-quality mobile wireless communications services, voice and data, to businesses and consumers, in the US and internationally. With the complexity of offerings and increasing number of wireless Internet subscribers, AT&T Wireless was in need of a universal solution to address the rapidly increasing number of documents maintained addressing customer issues. AT&T Wireless support reps use Primus(R) KnowledgeCenter as their primary source for troubleshooting and policy and procedure information. Agents use the system to find answers to questions by entering a few key words or using a drop down list containing common search terms. Additionally, with the external self-service site, customers may perform searches, browse through specific topics, and search within those topics. Best Help Desk Service Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, operates the Microsoft IT Global Helpdesk, a partnership between Microsoft IT and HP Managed Services. HP currently has call centers in Colorado Springs, Co., Dublin, Ireland and Bangalore, India to support Microsoft's help desk evolution. In Q3 2003, the Microsoft Helpdesk implemented a new support model for knowledge management as a result of consulting with Primus and an increased commitment to KM by upper management. The new model included adding a Knowledge Management Team with knowledge writers and subject matter experts, new processes for content creation and modification, feedback processes to Microsoft Tier 2 organizations/developers for technical content validation, improving self-help options and feedback to and from front-line technicians. As a result of these changes, the use of Primus knowledge articles increased by more than 75 percent over previous years. In fiscal year 2004, the Microsoft Helpdesk rolled out approximately 64 new products which increased the complexity and the contact volumes to the Helpdesk. The success of these new product roll-outs was in part due to the robust content management processes. Best Electronic Communications Management Solution Orange is the United Kingdom's top performing mobile network and Europe's second largest mobile operator by footprint. Established in April 1994, Orange has operations in 20 countries across Europe with a projected market presence covering 1.5 billion people worldwide by 2005. Orange's success in the mobile communications market has been marked by a simple vision: a bright future, where people can communicate wherever, whenever, and however they wish. This commitment has enabled Orange to become one of the world's strongest and most recognized brands today. For more than five years, the company has aimed to be first for service, quality, innovation and choice. Orange began implementation of Primus(R) Communications Center in October 2002 -- Phase 1. In this phase, the solution was deployed across five sites as Orange's standard solution for handling inbound customer Web-form and email interactions. Today, Orange reports enhanced productivity around managing inbound communications where Orange has been able to reduce handling time, automate certain response types and significantly reduce overall response times, improving customer satisfaction. Orange has realized savings of $500,000 due to call deflection alone. With more than 14 million customers in the UK, Orange is in a unique position to communicate with its customers directly through the mobile phone. Phase 2 commenced in the summer of 2003 where Orange invested in Primus(R) Campaign Manager and SMS modules. These services enable Orange to communicate personalized and targeted email, SMS and MMS promotions to its entire customer base. While Orange does not communicate to all of its customers every day, it does have the facility to send more than one million messages daily. The results of the SMS campaigns have been phenomenal when compared with traditional direct mail and above the line activities. In a recent campaign designed to stimulate customers to try new products and services, Orange was able to acquire 50 percent of the customers who accepted the offer through the use of two-way SMS delivered and managed through the Primus tool. Commenting on the relationship with Primus and the return that Orange has seen from its investment in Primus, Lynn Brunner, head of CRM strategy at Orange, said "Primus Knowledge Solutions have given us a very effective means of communicating to our customers, where we know that we can keep channel costs down while still experiencing better than average response and take-up. This has been key in our move to have a strong ROI focus on all marketing activity." About Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc. Primus Knowledge Solutions develops award-winning software that enables companies to provide a superior customer experience via contact centers, help desks, Web self-service, and electronic communication channels. Primus technology powers every interaction with knowledge to increase customer satisfaction and reduce operational costs. The company continues to receive industry accolades for its robust product platform, including a 2004 CRM Excellence Award and 2004 Users Choice Award for Primus(R) KnowledgeCenter, and "Strong Positive" ratings from Gartner, the leading provider of research and analysis on global IT, in both the Web Self-Service Gartner MarketScope for 1H04 and the ERMS Gartner MarketScope for 1H04. In 2003, Primus received the STAR Award for "Best Support Technology Vendor" from the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), was recognized for its trend-setting products and named one of the "100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management" by KMWorld magazine, and received the CRM Excellence Award from the editors of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. Global organizations such as Allied Irish Bank, The Boeing Company, CompuCom, EMC, Ericsson, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Inc., IBM, HSBC, Orange, Motorola, 3Com, and T-Mobile rely on Primus technology to enhance their customer service and support initiatives. Visit http://www.primus.com/ for more information. NOTE: Primus, Primus Knowledge Solutions, Primus Answer Engine, Primus eServer, Primus eSupport and Primus eServer iView are registered trademarks or service marks of Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc. Other products and company names mentioned in this press release may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Any statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts, such as statements about the integration, performance, use, and deployment of Primus products and the anticipated results constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There is no guarantee that these results will actually occur. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include the following: difficulties encountered in the integration, deployment, or implementation of the Primus products and customer's systems; failure in the customer's widespread adoption and use of the Primus products; quality of the customer's database of solutions; fluctuations in customer demand; use of the Web as a delivery vehicle for customer support or eCRM solutions; risk resulting from new product introductions and customer acceptance of new products; rapid technological change; the risks associated with competition and the rapid consolidation of competitors; continued growth in the use of the Internet; the ability of Primus to manage its growth and integration efforts and the ability of Primus to compete successfully in the future, as well as other risks identified in Primus' Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to those appearing under the caption "Factors Affecting our Future Operating Results" in Primus' Report on 10-K filed in March of 2004 and 2004 Reports on Form 10-Q . The extent of return on investment of Primus products is specific to our customer's experience. Contact: Kristin Treat of Primus, +1-206-834-8325, or mobile, +1-206-954-8790, or . DATASOURCE: Primus Knowledge Solutions, Inc. CONTACT: Kristin Treat of Primus, +1-206-834-8325, or mobile, +1-206-954-8790, or Web site: http://www.primus.com/

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