Aspect Communications' Web Interaction V. 3.0 Turns Browsers Into Buyers.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 2000

Software's New Features Enable Increased Interactivity

of Representatives and Customers On the Web to

Secure Customer Loyalty and Increase Sales

Aspect Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:ASPT), the leading provider of customer relationship portals, today announced the general availability of version 3.0 of Aspect(R) Web Interaction, a customer relationship software application that gives Web customers needing assistance immediate access to sales and service representatives.

When customers browsing eBusiness Web sites have questions, need guidance or are ready to make purchases, representatives have the ability with Aspect Web Interaction to respond immediately at that time via collaborative form completion, escorted browsing and page markup capabilities. The new features of Aspect Web Interaction v. 3.0, which Aspect is demonstrating today and tomorrow at DCI's CRM Expo booth No. 1042 in the Los Angeles Convention Center, include dynamic self help, HTML chat, multi-tenant hosting, scheduled conferencing and WAP and Web callback.

HealthScript, an Aspect customer that has implemented Aspect Web Interaction, offers prescription order fulfillment through an online pharmacy where customers can also shop for over-the-counter pharmaceutical items. "We provide a service that makes it more convenient for people to take care of their health, and Aspect Web Interaction helps us multiply the convenience factor," said Damien Lamendola, HealthScript's president. "By offering real-time assistance through the communications medium of the customer's choice, we simplify the ordering process and make it easier for the customer to take care of business."

"By enhancing the online shopping experience, Web Interaction can increase the likelihood that a customer will complete the purchase of a product or service," said David Puglia, Aspect's vice president of marketing. "This technology lets sales and service representatives push pages to customers, help them fill out forms, draw the customer's attention to certain product features or instructions by circling them on the page or even bring another consulting technician into the discussion to help solve a customer's problem. Real-time Web support like that can mean the difference between a frustrated customer who clicks over to a competitor's site and one who closes a sale on your site."

In conjunction with the Aspect Customer Relationship Portal, Aspect's real-time eBusiness software platform, Aspect Web Interaction identifies and qualifies customers based on their importance to the company and the nature of their inquiries and then routes them to the most appropriately qualified representatives. The Aspect Portal can access front- and back-office applications to deliver information to the representatives' desktops at the time of customer contact.

Aspect Web Interaction v. 3.0 includes the following new features:

Dynamic selective help

Companies can use this feature to make the Help button appear on the Web page after a customer has performed a predetermined set of Web interactions. Once the customer makes contact, the representative can tailor the Web presentation to the customer's profile and preferences.

HTML chat

The representative and the customer can type messages into text fields that appear on both the representative's and customer's Web page.

Multi-tenant hosting

An outsourcer can serve multiple customers using a single Web Interaction server. Web contacts can come in to a single server from multiple Web sites. Representatives can respond to each contact appropriately using exactly the right script based on the URLs their clients' customers click on.

Scheduled conferencing

Representatives or supervisors can schedule conferences and publish URLs and conference IDs for participants. Multiple representatives and customers can participate in online interactions, discussions and presentations.

WAP callback

Customers who use WAP browsers on wireless devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants that employ wireless markup language, can enter their phone numbers and request a callback to their wireless devices.

Web callback

A customer who has a PSTN telephone line as well as an Internet connection or a DSL line can request a callback and then talk over the telephone with the representative while interacting via the Web.

Getting the maximum potential from an eCommerce site demands an interactive sales model that adds live customer service to the eCommerce experience, gives customers individual attention and then helps to close the sale at the customer's request. Aspect designed Web Interaction v. 3.0 to support that model.

The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal

The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal allows companies to build eCRM applications that integrate front- and back-office systems, eCommerce applications and multimedia contact centers into one centrally managed eBusiness system. The Aspect Portal Multimedia application unifies and personalizes customer interactions across Web, phone, fax and e-mail to identify, qualify, cross-sell, up-sell and route customers in real time. The CRMPower 2000 Golden Awards Committee recently named the Aspect Customer Relationship Portal as the Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Product of the Year.

Aspect Communications

Aspect Communications Corporation is the leading provider of customer relationship portals, a software platform for building and deploying eCRM applications that enable businesses to ensure consistent interactions with their customers from one centrally managed eBusiness system. Aspect's leadership position in customer relationship management solutions is based on its 15-year history and more than 7,600 customer contact center implementations. Aspect is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices in major cities worldwide. For more information about Aspect, visit the company's Web site at http://www.aspect.com or call 877/621-3692.

Aspect, the Aspect logo, the phrase "The Starting Point for eBusiness," and the phrases and marks relating to other Aspect products and services discussed in this press release constitute one or both of the following: (1) registered trademarks and/or service marks of Aspect Communications Corporation in the United States and/or other countries or (2) intellectual property subject to protection under common law principles. All other names and marks mentioned in this document are properties of their respective owners.

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Examples include but are not limited to statements regarding our products' abilities to help businesses to: secure customer loyalty and increase sales and ensure consistent interactions with their customers from one centrally managed eBusiness system. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the company's current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: any unforeseen technical difficulties or product errors related to our products or connectivity to third parties' technology; difficulties in meeting customer specifications or in providing installation or maintenance services; and other factors and risks discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, the company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2000, and June 30, 2000, and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations.