Aspect DataMart 2.0 Enables Multisite, Multichannel Data Reporting and Analysis for Contact Centers.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2001

New Software Release Debuts At Call Center & CRM Solutions 2001

Aspect Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:ASPT), the leading provider of customer relationship portals, today announced the worldwide availability of Aspect(R) Customer DataMart 2.0 at Call Center & CRM Solutions 2001 in Dallas, Texas. The product will begin shipping on March 20. The Aspect Customer DataMart consolidates data from multisite, multichannel contact centers and makes it available for reporting and analysis. Aspect DataMart 2.0 enables businesses to view geographically distributed contact centers as one virtual contact center and to analyze all customer contact transaction data easily, regardless of communication channel. With Aspect DataMart, businesses can identify quickly patterns and trends in their customer contact transactions and use these insights to make timely decisions about how to enhance service quality and operational efficiency for improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Aspect Customer DataMart 2.0 fully supports the blending of contact channels within its analytical database, allowing businesses to optimize their resources and manage the customer experience, regardless of whether the customer chooses to communicate via phone, e-mail or Web chat. The software is the reporting and analysis solution of choice for the Aspect Customer Relationship Portal, which itself provides the infrastructure required to support a fully integrated multichannel contact center for Web, e-mail and voice self-service and live service.

Designed specifically for business analysis, Aspect DataMart's analytical database enables the use of powerful state-of-the-art analytical techniques, such as OLAP (online analytical processing). Packaged with a series of production-ready reports, DataMart allows contact center managers to track agent and application activity in real time to ensure that phone calls, e-mails and Web interactions are handled expeditiously and within required service levels. Additionally, because DataMart provides an open, extensible platform for business analysis, users can enhance the value of their contact center data by integrating it with data from other data sources, such as front-office applications or even sales tracking systems. In this way, companies will be better positioned to manage their contact center resources and to optimize business results by understanding, for example, not only which of their agents are most efficient, but also which of their agents are most profitable.

"ICT Group understands the importance of providing quality, consistent customer care across multiple communication channels," said Pamela Goyke, ICT Group's chief information officer. "We have successfully used the Aspect Customer Relationship Portal to deliver improved customer satisfaction and increased customer retention and loyalty for our clients. Adding DataMart to our fully integrated customer relationship management solution will enhance productivity, increase program efficiency and streamline operations."

"Companies can't take full advantage of their multichannel contact centers without a solution such as Aspect DataMart," said David Puglia, Aspect's senior vice president of marketing. "Using DataMart for analyzing customer calls, e-mails and Web interactions, they can discover which agents are best at serving customers and retaining their loyalty. With personnel costs accounting for more than 60 percent of contact center expenses, that's significant by itself. But companies can also start to assess the value those agents bring to the business. Because it is ten times more expensive to attract a new customer than to maintain an existing one, businesses must analyze their customer transaction data to understand what's behind the varying levels of customer loyalty. This capability is exactly what Aspect DataMart provides, and that's why sales of the product grew last year by more than 700 percent."

The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal

The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal allows companies to build CRM applications that integrate front- and back-office systems, eCommerce applications and multichannel contact centers into one centrally managed 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 named the Aspect Customer Relationship Portal as the Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Product of the Year for 2000.

ICT Group Inc.

ICT Group (Nasdaq:ICTG), headquartered in Langhorne, Pa., is a leading global provider of customer relationship management (CRM) services. The company helps clients identify, acquire, retain, service, measure and maximize the lifetime value of their customer relationships. The company manages CRM service operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia, where it supports domestic and multinational corporations and institutions, primarily in the financial, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, information technology, media, energy and hospitality industries, as well as for a growing base of eBusiness providers. ICT Group also offers a full suite of hosted CRM services for use by clients at their own in-house facilities or on a co-sourced basis in conjunction with ICT Group's fully compatible, Web-enabled customer contact centers. To learn more about ICT Group, visit the company's Web site at www.ictgroup.com.

Aspect Communications

Aspect Communications Corporation is the leading provider of customer relationship portals, a contact server for managing dynamic customer contact transactions across all wired and wireless communication channels. The Aspect Customer Relationship Portal allows businesses to manage all customer contacts dynamically and turn them into relationships, opportunities and loyalty. Aspect is the only company that delivers a complete multichannel contact center today -- the core of any company's CRM strategy. The Aspect Portal synchronizes all customer contact points, including live and self-service, with demonstrated customer ROI. Aspect's leadership in CRM is based on more than 15 years of experience and over 7,600 implementations deployed worldwide. Aspect powers 74 percent of the Fortune 50. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices in major cities around the world. For more information about Aspect, visit the company's Web site at http://www.aspect.com or call 1-877-621-3692.

Note to Editors: Aspect, the Aspect logo 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 Aspect's products' abilities to enable clients: to identify quickly patterns and trends and use these insights to make timely decisions about how to enhance service quality and operational efficiency; to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty; to optimize resources, manage customer experiences, enhance productivity, increase program efficiency, streamline operations and assess the value of agents; to track agent and application activity in real time to ensure interactions are handled expeditiously and within required service levels; to enhance the value of contact center data; to become better positioned to manage contact centers and to optimize business results; and to achieve a return on their investment. Examples also include statements regarding Aspect's ability to begin shipping on March 20, 2001. 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' telephony, front-office and back-office systems; technological or market changes that affect the continued acceptance of the use of telecommunications or eCRM tools for conducting business transactions; 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 Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000, and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations.