New HEAT 5.0 Sets New Standard for Help Desks and Call Centers; Newest Release Combines Speed and Simplicity with Powerful Functionality.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 1999-- Bendata, Inc. today announced the release of HEAT(R) 5.0, the most significant version of the company's award-winning help desk and call center software to date.

Vance Brown, president and CEO of Bendata states, "This is the most exciting release of HEAT in the history of Bendata, and we are proud to continue to be the leading innovator in the support management industry. Providing tools such as the Quick Start Wizard(TM) and Quick Customize(TM) confirms Bendata's position as the leader in providing solutions that make powerful tools simple to use and administer."

HEAT 5.0 incorporates significant new features that permit easier installation and use, increase out-of-the-box functionality, and expand its leading support management tools--including the groundbreaking Quick Start Wizard.

Exceptional new features of HEAT 5.0 include:

--   HEAT Quick Start Wizard(TM) uses a consultant-in-a-box approach
     to allow HEAT to be installed and customized based on industry
     best practices without requiring the assistance of a costly
     onsite consultant.

--   HEAT's AutoTask(TM) lets support center staff perform complex,
     multiple-step processes with a click of the mouse. HEAT 5.0 even
     ships with template screens to support Change Management.

--   Call Map(TM) provides a one glance summary of the status and
     activity of a specific call.

--   HEATBoard(TM) provides system-wide visibility to critical issues
     and permits multiple calls to be linked to an issue.

--   Hot List(TM), a unique tool that allows individual support center
     staff to create custom groups of critical calls.

--   Quick Customize(TM) allows HEAT administrators to customize
     screens on the fly, without effecting the support center
     productivity.

Quick Start Wizard Simplifies Installation and Configuration

Analysts having been saying for years that most organizations don't utilize their applications' functionality to enable them to effectively proactively manage their support center.

Quick Start Wizard is a revolutionary design feature of HEAT 5.0 that enables HEAT administrators to accelerate the installation and customization process of HEAT by leveraging the experience of industry consultants. LaBounty and Associates, Renaissance Partners, CoreTech Consulting, and Fry Consulting have all contributed to this latest release.

The HEAT Quick Start Wizard guides the installer through a systematic process that helps them customize HEAT to fit their unique support center requirements and terminology. This `consultant-in-a-box' approach explains concepts and recommends the appropriate forms, features and settings needed to develop a support management system based upon industry best practices and specific user needs. Quick Start Wizard dramatically reduces system implementation time and allows the system to be utilized immediately, resulting in a rapid return on investment.

Simply Apply Best Practice Processes

Through AutoTask, users can quickly implement proven business processes based on expert input or prior successful experience. Critical activity such as change management processes can be implemented easily and quickly. With the click of a mouse a user can implement best-practice processes for the most common activities like moves, adds and changes, and setting up a new employee.

The AutoTask feature provides a one-click path to automatically execute one or more actions from the HEAT toolbar. AutoTask procedures are user-defined within templates. They may automatically document call activities, set off alarms, print call tickets or reports, run and pass call-ticket information to other applications, send email messages and write files to disk.

Not only will the support center benefit from consistency throughout their procedures, support center staff will save time and effort enabling them to concentrate on more urgent issues.

Powerful Monitoring and Control of Support Processes

To be successful, it is critical that support managers and their staff are in control and proactive. HEAT 5.0 incorporates new features designed to give support managers and staff a better view of their operating environment and more control over their processes.

The Call Map feature shows key information for a particular call in the form of an intuitive, graphical tree, similar to Windows Explorer. The information in this one-glance summary of the call is organized according to support staff definition, and supports easy navigation to standard call components, such as journals, assignments, or customer information. Specialized icons on the Call Map branches can indicate alarm conditions, such as unacknowledged calls or past-due dates. This will result in major savings in time as the support staff can move quickly and seamlessly through the support call.

At times, an issue occurs that can generate hundreds or thousands of calls, such as a "network down." These calls need to be tracked and the callers notified when the issue is resolved. To make this task easier, the HEATBoard was created to post critical issues and to track related calls.

HEATBoard provides the support center with team-wide visibility, improved communication of critical issues, and supports rapid logging of duplicate issues. HEATBoard allows the linking of multiple calls regarding a single issue through the simple click and drag of the mouse. When a key HEATBoard issue is resolved, all calls influenced by that issue can be automatically closed, and all callers can be automatically notified of the resolution. This is another significant time saver for the support center.

The Hot List feature allows individual support agents to link unrelated calls within a group labeled My Hot List so that individual agents can establish custom groups that require extra-ordinary attention. This is extremely beneficial for support staff who handle hundreds of calls but still need to deliver specialized attention to a few select customers they can't afford to slip through the cracks.

Powerful Real-Time Customization

Support centers are dynamic and therefore constantly changing. For system administrators, implementing changes without creating downtime in the support center can be a real nightmare.

HEAT already has a powerful customization tool that doesn't need programming expertise. Now with Quick Customize, HEAT administrators can make changes to the system on-the-fly without effecting support system availability. Field labels and positions, view sets, grids and validation rules can all be modified with Quick Customize. Imagine the savings for support centers in terms of productivity for support staff and system administrators!

Additionally another innovative tool has been developed by Bendata. The New Field Wizard enables administrators to set up new data fields and set their properties using an intuitive wizard-driven interface that guides the administrator through the process while also ensuring that no critical steps are omitted.

About Bendata

Bendata, Inc. is a leading supplier of customer support management and help desk software, recognized by independent authorities such as Gartner Group, Meta Group, and Ovum as the industry leader in its field.

Founded in 1982, Bendata has established itself as a global market leader for customer support management software, targeting mid-range implementations within small to large organizations. Bendata's flagship product, HEAT, commands a customer base in excess of 4,000 in 47 countries and has enjoyed excellent reviews for its easy implementation, powerful functionality and unique support center management tools. The company's web address is http://www.bendata.com.

Bendata is a wholly-owned division of Ixchange Technology Holdings Ltd. Ixchange company primarily develops and markets client/server and Internet enabled software for the fast-growing Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft BackOffice systems platforms. Ixchange is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and has been one of the top five performers on the JSE during the past year. The company headquarters is located in Johannesburg, South Africa, and can be reached via the World Wide Web at http://www.ixchange.com.

Company Facts

--   Bendata is recognized as an industry leader serving the mid-range
     market recognized by the Gartner Group, based on vision and
     ability to execute.

--   Bendata is the customer service leader in the customer support
     management and help desk market. For the second year in a row, an
     independent study found that 98% of HEAT customers would
     recommend Bendata and HEAT products to another buyer. Bendata is
     the only mid-range solution provider to receive an Excellent
     rating for vision and customer service from leading analyst
     organizations.

--   More than 40% of Fortune 100 companies use HEAT

--   Bendata's flagship product HEAT commands a customer base in
     excess of 4,000 customers in 47 countries around the world.

--   HEAT has been chosen as 1998 Product of the Year by C@ll Center
     Solutions, 1998 Product of the Year from Call Center Magazine,
     earned a 1998 Best Buy award from Network Solutions Magazine, and
     won CTI Magazine's 1997 Editor's Choice Platinum Award.

(TM) HEAT Quick Start Wizard, Manager's Console, HEATWeb and HEAT Answer Wizard, HEAT Auto Task, HEAT Call Map, and HEAT Board are trademarks of Bendata, Inc. (R) HEAT and First Level Support are registered trademarks of Bendata, Inc. (c) 1999 Bendata, Inc.