Saddletree Research Again Names Aspect Communications U.S. Market Leader in Workforce Management Software

For Second Consecutive Year, Aspect Demonstrates Leadership in High-Performance Contact Center Technology With Workforce Management Solutions

SAN JOSE, CA -- Jan. 28, 2005 -- Aspect Communications Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise customer contact solutions, announced today that Saddletree Research, a high-tech market research firm specializing in emerging and high-growth companies and technologies in the contact center and customer communications market, has again named Aspect the U.S. market leader in workforce management software.

In its report published in late 2004, "The U.S. Workforce Management Software Market: 2004-2008," Saddletree estimates that Aspect increased its market share to capture the leading share for both 2003 and 2002. Saddletree also noted that in 2003 and into 2004, Aspect has continued to sharpen its focus on the workforce management market with greater emphasis on agent empowerment and performance and is well positioned to meet the needs of contact centers.

"Saddletree Research continues to be impressed by Aspect's commitment to the workforce management market and to the workforce optimization concept," said Paul Stockford, chief analyst, Saddletree Research. "We view Aspect's early entry into the performance optimization sector not only as validation of the importance of this developing market, but also as a driver of future market growth as Aspect focuses its marketing efforts in this particular area.

"As Aspect's eWorkforce Management suite continues to evolve and works even more closely with products such as Aspect Performance Optimization software, we believe Aspect's overall market position will remain strong," added Stockford. "We expect that with a product suite that continues to evolve with the market, Aspect will be a solid leadership example to the industry in the years to come."

"Our workforce management solutions are based on two decades of domain expertise," said Brian Gentile, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Aspect. "Workforce management is a crucial part of Aspect's vision. Just as we've done with performance optimization, we will continue to provide customers with innovative new ways of deriving greater value from their investments in workforce solutions by integrating our staffing solution tightly with other useful technologies."

In 2004, Aspect also received the Frost & Sullivan market leadership award, ranking it first in the workforce management market worldwide. The ranking was measured on the basis of total revenue, including software licenses and services.

About Aspect eWorkforce Management

Aspect eWorkforce Management automates the contact center staffing process. Aspect's portfolio of solutions includes Aspect Performance Optimization for eWorkforce Management, which provides easily comprehended views of contact center performance statistics for analyzing and prompting focused action, and Aspect Iphinity Workforce Management, an affordable, high-quality staffing software that is easy to install, configure and manage for small or medium-sized contact centers.

Using Aspect's staffing software to manage workforces more effectively and project contact volumes more accurately, contact centers can move towards realizing lower staff turnover, reduced costs and higher customer satisfaction overall.

Aspect eWorkforce Management can determine how many agents, with which skills, a sales or service department will need to respond to customer e-mail, Web and voice contacts during specific time frames. It also creates and assigns agent work schedules, while tracking performance according to department goals. The schedules are based on the system's prediction of volume and patterns of incoming communications, the company's desired customer service delivery levels and the schedule preferences of agents.

About Aspect Communications

Aspect Communications Corporation is a leading provider of contact center solutions and services that enable businesses to manage and optimize customer communications. Aspect's global customer base includes more than two-thirds of the Fortune 50 and leading corporations in a range of industries, including transportation, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail and outsourcing, as well as large government agencies. The company's leadership is based on two decades of expertise. Aspect is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices in countries around the world.

NOTE: 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.