Business Objects Announces Availability of New Customer Support Services

Business Wire, May 1, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000

Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today announced the availability of new customer support services. There are now four customer support plans for Business Objects customers to choose from.

Whether a company has an enterprise deployment of thousands of users, an extranet application, or a departmental deployment with minimal support needs, there is a now support plan to match the customer's requirements. These services range from premium level support to internet-exclusive support delivered through the Business Objects online customer support web site.

Online Customer Support

All Business Objects customers with a current maintenance agreement have access to the Business Objects online customer support web site. This web site is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is the hub of the Business Objects customer support community. The site enables customers to log, update, and track cases autonomously, and to search the Business Objects knowledge base, a repository of technical documents and resolved cases that explain solutions to common problems. The knowledge base includes more than 1,300 technical documents, technical tips, product availability reports, and current product manuals.

Global Support Centers

Business Objects operates four global customer support centers (North America -- San Jose, California; Europe -- Maidenhead, United Kingdom; and Asia/Pacific -- Sydney and Tokyo) staffed with support engineers who are acknowledged experts in Business Objects technology. Using an industry-leading call management and problem-reporting system, all engineers share their knowledge globally to accelerate case resolution time.

There are four support plans to meet a variety of customer needs. They include:

Silver Support

Silver Support delivers a combination of direct telephone access to customer support engineers in a regional support center, as well as access to the online customer support web site. Silver Support answers the needs of customers looking for a balance of self-service information combined with direct telephone access to highly skilled customer support engineers.

Gold and Platinum Support

Business Objects first launched its premium level services, Gold and Platinum support, in the fall of 1999. (See press release dated November 15, 1999 "Business Objects Launches Premium Level Customer Support Services.") Gold and Platinum Support provide a proactive and collaborative approach to supporting customers with large and complex applications over their enterprise intranet, extranet, and mission critical e-BI applications. The plans offer customers the ultimate in personalized service with a designated support advocate, and the fastest possible response and resolution time to technical issues. Both plans include access to all support centers, offering 24 hour a day, five day a week hotline support. In addition, Platinum Support provides supplemental seven day per week access to support engineers.

e-Support

Business Objects e-Support is a support plan for customers who prefer to handle their support communication exclusively through the internet. e-Support provides 24-hour, seven day a week access to the online customer support web site, with complete access to the knowledge base, controlled web case logging privileges, and rights to all software updates.

"We are very excited to announce the availability of our full range of customer support plans," said Jane Garstin, senior director of global customer support operations at Business Objects. "The feedback on the online customer support web site has been terrific, and we are very happy to be delivering so much valuable information to customers over the internet. Our customers told us they wanted more self-service access to technical information, and our knowledge base delivers that. In addition, our new premium level services are adding tremendous value to our largest customers, especially those with enterprise or extranet deployments. We look forward to continuing to evolve our services as we work with our customers to deliver excellent customer support."

Pricing and Availability

Gold and Platinum support have been available worldwide since November 1999. Silver and e-Support are available now in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, and will be available in the rest of the world later in 2000. The customer support plans range in price from 15%-30% of total license list price.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web.