GoTo.com Deploys Silknet and Kana Integration to Create Comprehensive e-Business Platform

Business Wire, March 14, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

MANCHESTER, N.H. and REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- March 14, 2000

Leading Online Marketplace the First to Use Integration

of Silknet eBusiness System and Silknet eService

with Kana Classify and Kana Response

Silknet Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:SILK) and Kana Communications, Inc. (www.kana.com) a leading provider of online customer communications solutions for marketing, sales, and service, today announced that GoTo.com (NASDAQ:GOTO) has deployed an integrated solution combining Silknet eBusiness System(TM) and Silknet eService(TM) with Kana Response(TM) and Kana Classify(TM). The combination enables GoTo.com to provide its customers with state-of-the-art customer service across all customer interactions, including service requests, billing inquiries, statistics collection and search queries.

GoTo.com is integrating Silknet's e-business software with Kana's online customer communication solution as the "glue" to manage all of its interactions with customers across multiple channels, including Web, e-mail, fax and phone. Using Kana Classify, a powerful, advanced and highly scalable artificial intelligence technology, every online communication directed to GoTo.com is automatically categorized based on the content of the message and then routed to the correct representative. The Kana system then sends the categorized communication to the Silknet eBusiness System, which displays the customer's case history and determines the correct method of response, based on the content of the inquiry and the customer's history. Silknet then uses Kana Response, a high-performance Web-based customer service solution, to deliver the reply through the proper channel. In addition, the combined system can also effectively manage incoming phone calls or Web-chat conducted with an agent.

On February 7, Kana and Silknet announced the signing of a merger agreement valued at $4.2 billion dollars, representing one of the largest e-business software mergers to date. With this merger, Kana will take online customer communications to a new level by adding Silknet's comprehensive customer-facing e-business platform and applications to Kana's existing solutions for marketing, sales and service.

"After researching the Silknet and Kana solutions separately, we immediately saw the benefit of deploying an integrated solution," said Paul Ryan, vice president of engineering for GoTo.com. "It combines an extensible platform with advanced applications to tie together all e-business functions, resulting in a richer experience for the customer. The combination allows us to paint a complete online picture for our customers, so they can experience the benefits of continuity and customer satisfaction. We are excited that the companies are merging and look forward to its joint efforts."

"GoTo.com is a determined market leader, committed to providing its users with the best customer service," said Michael McCloskey, CEO of Kana. "Using a Kana and Silknet integration, GoTo.com has created a powerful solution, which provides a 360-degree view of each user, as well as a comprehensive customer-facing solution for marketing, sales and service communications. This enables superior interaction with customers."

"GoTo.com has established itself as the online leader in matching consumer requests with relevant information," said Jay Wood, CEO of Silknet Software. "With the integration of Silknet and Kana solutions, GoTo.com provides its customers with the benefit of a seamless Web experience, while continuing to offer its customers the highest standard of customer care."

Kana 5 manages the entire online customer communications lifecycle -- from marketing to sales to service. Kana's comprehensive offering enables e-businesses to manage multiple contact channels, including outbound and inbound email, Web-based customer self-service, Web forms, real-time messaging and voice over the Internet applications. Kana's customers use the award-winning Kana solution to enhance customer loyalty, generate additional revenue opportunities and reduce the cost of online communications. Kana also offers enterprise application, call center and data warehouse integration solutions that provide scalable, robust, and rapid deployment across Kana's platform of online customer communications solutions.

Kana Response is web-based application that enables e-businesses to respond to, monitor, and manage high volumes of inbound e-mails and web forms. Kana Classify improves automation by utilizing Artificial Intelligence to better route, auto-suggest and auto-respond to inbound customer inquiries.

The Silknet eBusiness System helps build, maintain and enhance critical relationships with customers. Silknet's Web-based customer service application, Silknet eService, enables self-service functions for on-line visitors, implement Web-based order tracking and build an extensive database of members.

About Kana Communications, Inc.

Kana Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:KANA) is a leading provider of comprehensive online customer communications solutions for marketing, sales and service. These mission-critical applications support multiple channels of online contact including outbound and inbound e-mail, Web based customer self-service, Web forms, real-time messaging and voice over the Internet. The company has more than 350 customers, including twelve of the top twenty most visited sites on the Internet. Kana is based in Redwood City, California, with offices worldwide. For more information about the company, please visit Kana's Web site at http://www.kana.com.