Blue Pumpkin Software Announces the Formation of Workforce Management Advisory Board for Customer Care Industry.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 1999--

Call Centers to Triple by 2001;

E-Commerce Driving Increased Need for Customer Care

Blue Pumpkin, a leading innovator of workforce management scheduling and forecasting solutions for the customer care industry, today announced the establishment of the WorldWide Workforce Management Advisory Board.

Formed to identify evolving future trends within customer care and workforce management and to guide future developments of Blue Pumpkin's award-winning workforce management solutions, the advisory board is the newest in a line of initiatives taken by Blue Pumpkin. It is designed to help shape the future of workforce management and involve industry leaders in Blue Pumpkin's business strategy and product development. The launch of the first North American Advisory Board meeting will take place on June 23 & 24. The first European Advisory Board meeting took place in Amsterdam on April 26.

"Our strategy is to provide the market with leading workforce management solutions that help companies improve customer service while increasing operating efficiency in their customer contact centers," said Doron Aspitz, CEO of Blue Pumpkin. "Our goal is to bring together key experts from leading companies to discuss customer care industry trends and how they affect workforce management needs. The formation of the advisory board is a critical step in our continued efforts to better understand and develop products that meet the needs of our customers in an ever-expanding, rapidly-changing industry."

The Workforce Management Advisory Board will provide an interactive forum for experts from leading companies to discuss the competitive customer care landscape and to forecast future industry trends. Members of the newly formed board include technical support and service directors from such companies as Lucent, Capital One, Parametric Technologies and Airborne Express.

This initiative comes at a time when customer care centers are rapidly becoming one of the most significant financial investments within a large cross-section of industries. The shift to e-commerce has increased the number of customer contact centers and types of contacts from phone calls to email and web chats. Companies now have to schedule people to handle the multiple forms of customer contact with the right skills at the right times. Currently there are over 100,000 contact centers worldwide, with an expected increase to 300,000 by 2001. Additionally, the number of people employed to work in call centers is expected to increase from nine million to 18 million in 2001, according to Frost & Sullivan.

"The Advisory Board presents an opportunity for customer contact professionals involved with workforce management issues to voice their ideas and to express their needs directly to Blue Pumpkin," said Stewart Schuster, Blue Pumpkin board member and venture partner at Brentwood Venture Capital. "This partnership will ensure that companies get solutions tailored to their specific needs now and in the future, while helping to shape Blue Pumpkin's ongoing business and product strategy. Companies stand to gain a great deal from this opportunity to interact with peers and Blue Pumpkin executives, as it is estimated that contact centers are expected to make annual investments in infrastructure and technology from $4 billion in 1999 to $12 billion by 2001."

About Blue Pumpkin

Blue Pumpkin Software is a privately held company founded in 1996. Awarded Call Center Magazine Product of the Year for 1997 and a CTI Magazine Editor's Choice Award, Blue Pumpkin is the only workforce management company named to Upside Magazine's Hot 100 Private Companies (1998), an elite list of rapidly growing high-technology firms. Blue Pumpkin developed the PrimeTime product line to allow call center professionals to improve customer service and increase call center efficiency. Current customers include ADP, Airborne Express, AT&T, EDS and PeopleSoft. Blue Pumpkin Software has tested and confirmed that our suite of products is Year 2000 compliant. Call centers in need of computer-aided forecasting and scheduling include those providing technical support, customer service, travel reservations, financial services and telemarketing. For more information about Blue Pumpkin Software, visit the Blue Pumpkin website at http://www.blue-pumpkin.com, or call 877-257-6756