Concerto Software Selected by New Century Mortgage for Multichannel Customer Interaction Management.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2002

Mortgage Lender Implements Unified CIM Solution to Manage Inbound and Outbound Calls, Email and Web Communications to be Added

Concerto Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRTO), a proven provider of customer interaction management (CIM) solutions, today announced that New Century Mortgage, a specialty finance company, has implemented Concerto Software's unified CIM solution in its California customer service center. The mortgage lender anticipates that the new technology will enhance customer service and improve agent productivity.

New Century Mortgage, a subsidiary of New Century Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: NCEN), opened its Irvine, Calif. center in early October. The company is using its new contact center solution in servicing approximately 6,500 loans per month. Half of its customer service agents are handling both inbound customer service calls and outbound collections calls, while half are focusing exclusively on managing inbound contacts. The ability to quickly shift agents between inbound and outbound interactions based on call volume is expected to help limit downtime in the center, thereby improving productivity. In addition, New Century utilizes Concerto Software's solution to quickly and intelligently route interactions to the most suitable agent, minimizing hold times and increasing customer satisfaction.

"We selected Concerto for a number of reasons, especially for the flexibility it provides as we continue to develop our multichannel customer interaction management strategy," said Greg Savage, director of support systems at New Century Mortgage. "For example, Concerto enables us to actively reach out to customers to help them avoid late fees, while simultaneously responding to inbound customer inquiries with the most appropriate agent. In addition, we are well-positioned to manage Web and email interactions as future customer needs dictate."

Concerto Software's unified CIM solution provides New Century with complete contact center functionality including universal queuing and multimedia routing, monitoring, recording, reporting and administration in a single platform. The software has been integrated with New Century's current switch, enabling the company to protect its investment in an existing system while adding new capabilities. In the coming months, New Century plans to add email and the Web to the interaction channel options it offers to customers, and Concerto Software's solution will expand to meet those requirements.

"When companies like New Century Mortgage select Concerto Software, it confirms that more and more leading businesses consider unified contact center solutions central to the success of their customer service strategies," said Ralph Breslauer, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Concerto Software. "Our unified CIM solution can have immediate positive effects on New Century's inbound and outbound call initiatives, as well as enable the company to offer new customer service channels in the future, without the enormous expense and complexity associated with purchasing and installing multiple contact center point solutions."

About New Century Mortgage

New Century Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: NCEN) is a specialty finance company engaged (through its subsidiary, New Century Mortgage Corporation) in the business of originating, purchasing, and selling non-conforming mortgage loans secured primarily by first mortgages on single family residences.

The Company's borrowers generally have impaired or limited credit profiles or higher debt-to-income ratios than traditional mortgage lenders allow. These borrowers also include individuals who, due to self-employment or other circumstances, have difficulty verifying their income through conventional methods and prefer the prompt and personalized service provided by New Century.

About Concerto Software(TM)

Concerto Software provides contact center solutions that help companies more effectively manage customer interactions via voice, fax, email and the Web. More than 1,200 companies worldwide - including banks, service bureaus, telecommunications firms, utilities and retailers - use Concerto solutions to deliver superior customer service, and to successfully acquire, retain and grow valuable customer relationships. Concerto Software is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, with operations across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.concerto.com.

Note: Concerto Software is a trademark of Concerto Software, Inc., formerly known as Davox Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In addition to historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future expected financial, operating results, and product and marketing strategies. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, estimates of future business prospects or financial results and statements containing the words "believe", "estimate", "project", "expect" or similar expressions. Concerto Software's future actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements discussed or implied herein because of risks or uncertainties including, but not limited to, the difficulty of integrating two complex businesses and their products, failure to achieve the beneficial synergies expected from the transaction, the potential for loss of key employees during the integration process, the difficulty in the development, marketing or selling of the company's solutions, risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, technological change, new product introduction and market acceptance, stock price volatility, the ability of Concerto Software to attract and retain key personnel, weakness in IT spending, weakness in the contact center market, general economic conditions in the United States and worldwide markets served by Concerto Software, terrorist activity, war or general instability in the Asia Pacific Region and those other factors discussed from time to time in Concerto Software's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as those discussed under "Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results" in Concerto Software's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Concerto Software assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or reasons why results might differ.