"This call may be monitored for quality control and training purposes. ..."

Who hasn't heard that catchphrase when calling a toll-free number to a credit card company, health care insurer or catalog retailer?

KIMBERLY SMITH/Staff (ENLARGE)
Witness Systems CEO David B. Gould.
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The result of conversations with customer service representatives may leave you feeling more steamed than sated.

But companies really do listen to what their customers, and perhaps more importantly, their employees, are saying.

Witness Systems Inc. has forged a business from that desire to eavesdrop. The Roswell-based software maker specializes in recording conversations and then helping companies analyze the quality of interactions between employees and customers.

The quality of that exchange can determine how successful — or unsuccessful — a company will be long term, said William Evans, Witness' chief financial officer.

Businesses traditionally viewed their call centers as a necessary evil: something they needed to have but didn't like dealing with, Evans said.

But today companies see call centers' impact on their bottom lines, especially if they use firms like Witness to help them identify trends that could help efforts to attract and retain customers.

"What we're able to do is help them do their job," Evans said.

How they do it

Here's how the technology works: If Continental Airlines wanted to see how fliers view it compared with Delta, Continental could use Witness' software to track all calls during which customers mention Delta.

Moreover, companies can track computer data entries as they happen to ensure the quality of their employees' performance and the accuracy of what they're telling customers.

And clients also can use Witness' software to help figure out why a particular marketing strategy isn't working or what may be motivating a customer to seek the services of a competitor.

"You capture these various types of interactions they have with customers," said David B. Gould, Witness' chairman and chief executive. "That allows them to make changes in their people where they can be trained to be more effective and make changes in their marketing and even optimize and make changes in their technology."

That Witness was able to grow its business, even as companies cut spending during the first few years of the decade, is indicative of how important call centers have become to the bottom line.

"It's something that really brings value to the business," Evans said.

"How they're able to retain customers, upsell products and gauge customer satisfaction. If you can't measure something, you can't manage it."

The company, which employs about 750 worldwide, including 220 in metro Atlanta, estimates it will post sales of $180 million this year and earnings per share of 60 cents.

In addition, the company is projecting it will increase its business 15 percent to 20 percent a year for the next several years.

Acquisitions have helped spur growth

Part of that growth has been from two strategic acquisitions Witness made in the last few years.

In 2003 the company purchased Eyretel, a British-based provider of compliance and high-volume recording software for call centers and stock market trading floors.

And in January, the company spent $75 million to purchase Blue Pumpkin Software Inc., a company that specializes in work force management software that analyzes customer loyalty, employee satisfaction and retention and operating costs.

Jeffrey L. Van Rhee, a software analyst for Crag-Hallum Capital in Philadelphia, said Witness has made some "smart acquisitions."

"They've paid the right price for those acquisitions and got great technology and a lot of customers they could sell more products to," he said.

CEO Gould said the acquisitions fit into the worldwide strategy the company formed in 1999.

"We had one product, and now we've got 15. To scale the sale of those products, we needed a global footprint," he said.

Part of the international push has come as Witness' U.S. clients have expanded operations abroad.

Clients include America Online, the Visa credit card network, American Airlines, retailing giant Target Corp. and the Starwood Hotels & Resorts chain.

But another driver of global expansion was a desire to capture more international business, Gould said.

Now, 40 percent of revenue comes from outside of North America — Witness' No. 1 market — up from 8 percent in 2001.

Van Rhee, the analyst, described Witness' senior management team as "A players."

"They're straightforward. They're very methodical. They won't do something just to do something," he said.

"They'd much rather wait and be patient and do the right thing."