SupportSoft Enhances Speed and Accuracy of Knowledge Management with New Knowledge Center Software Release

-- Latest Version of SupportSoft's Knowledge Center Provides Enhanced Personalization Based on Content Ratings and Streamlined Authoring --

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 24, 2003 -- SupportSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT), a leading provider of service and support automation software, today announced a new release of Knowledge Center(TM). This new knowledge automation software release delivers more useful and relevant self-service answers for end users, more targeted use of knowledge in assisted-service by help desk analysts or customer service representatives, and more efficient and effective authoring and workflow capabilities for knowledge authors. The new features help shorten help desk or customer service calls, or eliminate them altogether to speed up time to resolution for end users.

Additional Knowledge Center features are focused on the critical processes in service and support environments needed to shorten time to problem resolution. Automation technology is applied to these critical processes in order to adapt to the way that people actually work, resulting in faster answers for end users based on new personalization techniques and more relevant data for analysts or customer service representatives.

"Customer service use is driving knowledge base evolution, due to the promise of reduced customer service costs through increased use of self- service options," said Timothy Hickernell of META Group. "Products that are built to address this promise will be able to minimize time to resolution, resulting in greater productivity, greater ROI, and less costly resources."

For end users -- whether they are employees or customers seeking self-service answers -- a key strength of knowledge automation lies in its ability to get the most relevant solutions to the person requesting the information, thereby increasing self-service success rates. In addition, end users can now rate how well the content solved their problem, and see other user ratings for content effectiveness. By focusing the solution on how people retrieve information, combined with built-in technology that automatically gathers permission-based information, knowledge automation helps people get individualized answers when and how they need them without conforming to rigid software rules.

For help desk analysts and customer service representatives, service analytics based on end user content ratings provide metrics based on real-time content effectiveness, not simply content hit rates. This enables the company to keep the knowledgebase fresh with the most relevant content, based on its effectiveness in solving user problems. Service representatives can also use the contextual information gathered by SupportSoft's patented SmartIssue(TM) technology, as well as Web data to perform more personalized and targeted knowledge searches in order to better answer end user's questions. All of these capabilities give help desk analysts and customer service representatives the ability to give more relevant information to users during assisted service calls, and speed up time to call resolution.

For knowledge content authors, all of the authoring and workflow in the Knowledge Center is now 100% browser based, which eliminates the need for any software installations -- an especially effective feature for remote knowledge experts and authors. The Knowledge Center's HTML-based authoring environment also provides a WYSIWYG interface, complete with spell check and formatting capabilities so that content authors can work within a familiar authoring environment. For content authors, the Knowledge Center provides improved ability to organize and review pending and approved content, as well as enhanced collaboration capabilities with fellow content authors in order to further streamline the workflow and quality assurance process. All of these features provide faster publishing for content authors and enable them to deliver fresh, relevant content in order to eliminate or shorten call time.

"Knowledge automation is the logical evolution of knowledge management because it streamlines the creation and delivery of relevant information, provides highly personalized and precise answers and is designed to accommodate a rapidly growing knowledgebase," said Bruce Mowery, vice president of marketing for SupportSoft. "Because SupportSoft's Knowledge Center is specifically designed for service and support environments, it can solve problems that previously had to be addressed with a costly phone call and a frustrating wait for the user to get the answers they need in order to get the most from their computing experience."

SupportSoft's newest version of its Knowledge Center software for both enterprise environments and customer service environments is available immediately from SupportSoft.

About SupportSoft

SupportSoft (Nasdaq: SPRT) is a leading provider of service and support automation software for corporate enterprises and broadband service providers worldwide. SupportSoft's patented software platform allows businesses to automate and personalize the support they provide to their customers, partners and employees, helping them reduce costs, increase revenues and drive user satisfaction. Global 2000 companies using SupportSoft's comprehensive family of software solutions include enterprises like Procter & Gamble, Clorox, GE, Cisco Systems, Bank of America, NEC, British Telecom and Schlumberger, broadband providers like Comcast, BellSouth, and Cox Communications, OEMs and System Integrators like IBM, Sony, Siebel Systems and CSC. SupportSoft has offices and customers located throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.supportsoft.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including the statements about the expected benefits from knowledge automation solutions generally and SupportSoft's solutions in particular, and such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including technical challenges specific to the customers' implementation of the solution, the rapid pace of technological change, and the continued acceptance and usage of SupportSoft software. Additional risks and uncertainties are set forth in SupportSoft's SEC filings. SupportSoft assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.

SOURCE SupportSoft, Inc.

Web Site: http://www.support.com