`Open Outsourcing' with Astea's ServiceAlliance Winning Business for New Zealand IT Company.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

HORSHAM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2001

Datacom Group, New Zealand's largest locally owned information technology company with offices in Auckland, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, has identified the web-based capabilities of the ServiceAlliance(R) eCRM solution from Astea International Inc. (Nasdaq: ATEA) as a leading driver behind the success of Datacom Group's `open outsource' business model.

Two of the company's subsidiaries, Datcom Services whose customers include Microsoft and Compaq, and Datacom Engineering which provides nationwide network and engineering support to government agencies and corporate customers, have been using the model that stipulates full disclosure of service details to clients, including key performance indicators that measure Datacom's actual performance against service level agreements.

"ServiceAlliance has given us a significant competitive advantage over our competitors," said Alan Curtis, general manager of Datacom Engineering. "The system has made a fundamental difference in the way we run our business because it has enabled us to focus on a key requirement of outsourcing--reporting back to the customer."

The open outsource model has been made possible by web access, which Datacom regards as the most outstanding feature of ServiceAlliance. Datacom customers can use a web-browser to see the time it takes to respond to a call and for engineers to arrive and resolve the problem.

If difficulties are encountered, notes are attached to the job record, so the customer gets a report on what went right, what went wrong and why. Datacom also uses the web to provide customers with dynamically updated views of how the company is performing compared to service level agreements. "You have got to be prepared to stand up and show yourself to your customer," declared Curtis.

Curtis explained that because ServiceAlliance provides an up-to-date `bird's-eye' view of the entire outsourcing operation with easy drill-downs to problem areas, the software enables Datacom to place greater emphasis on demonstrating results to customers.

"Access over the web means more engineers, field agents and customers can work with ServiceAlliance directly. Managers who may be reluctant to use an application are happy to work with something that is browser-based," said Curtis.

With ServiceAlliance enabling Datacom to deliver on its promise of open outsourcing, the company is winning business previously beyond its reach. Most recently, Datacom won a contract with a major regional bank that had resisted outsourcing in favor of supporting its 2,500 business customers with a web-based banking system and internal resources.

Now with Datacom's application of ServiceAlliance, the bank is `outstandingly impressed' with the quality and quantity of information provided on the web with the bank's logo and color scheme. Where the bank had been using 12 field engineers in vehicles to support its customers, Datacom's open outsource is now providing a superior level of service with the equivalent of only 3 1/2 field engineers.

Astea International Inc. (www.astea.com) specializes in service-centric Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) software solutions used by companies in multiple industries to improve productivity, revenue and customer interaction. Astea markets its products through direct and indirect sales and services networks throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

(c)2001 Astea International Inc. Astea and ServiceAlliance are registered trademarks of Astea International Inc. All other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of the respective holders.