Sage Timberline Office Customer Support Department Wins 2005 SSPA STAR Award for Service Excellence in High Case Volume Category

Department is also honored as a Finalist in the category of Sustained Performance, recognizing sustained outstanding service and support with high customer satisfaction

Beaverton, Ore. - October 25, 2005 - Sage Software announced today that its Sage Timberline Office Customer Support department has won the 2005 SSPA STAR Award for Service Excellence in the category of High Case Volume, and was also honored as a Finalist in the category of Sustained Performance. Sage Timberline Office provides integrated financial and operations software for 20,000 customers in construction and real estate.

The highly coveted STAR Awards for Service Excellence (Software Technical Assistance Recognition) are given annually by the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) in acknowledging performance excellence in eight categories of software and technical support. After a rigorous evaluation, award recipients are selected by the SSPA Advisory Board, comprised of senior support executives from among the world’s leading software companies.

“These SSPA STAR Award recognitions demonstrate our continued commitment to delivering high-quality support and services to our customers,” said Curtis Peltz, senior vice president and general manager, Sage Software Construction and Real Estate Solutions. “We take customer support very seriously, and we are dedicated to providing our customers with the best support in the industry.”

“High Case Volume is a tough category,” said Bill Rose, SSPA Founder and Executive Director. “Sage Timberline Office joins an impressive list of past winners in this category including HP and IBM - Personal Software Products Division.”

The category for High Case Volume recognizes service support centers that provide a high level of customer satisfaction, while fielding 10,000 or more support requests monthly and handling a wide range of products. From its operations in Beaverton, Oregon, Sage Timberline Office Customer Support handles some 190,000 support requests annually, while supporting a matrix of more than 65 full-featured financial and operations applications, in addition to supporting operating environments and third-party applications.

As a Finalist in the SSPA STAR Award category of Sustained Performance, the department placed among the top companies that had proven sustained outstanding service and support with high customer satisfaction levels for at least three consecutive years.

Despite the high demands, and providing unlimited support to customers on selected service plans, the Sage Timberline Office team has delivered impressive results:

• Sage Timberline Office ranked “best in class” in its independent customer loyalty survey group.
• Customer transaction surveys report that 93% of customers indicate they are satisfied or extremely satisfied with their Sage Timberline Office customer support experience.
• Sage Timberline Office Customer Support has consistently attained and/or exceeded service level goals for five years running by answering 80% of calls in four minutes or less.
• More than 80% of the department’s support requests are resolved on the first contact.

The 2005 STAR Award is the latest in several achievements by the Sage Timberline Office customer support team. In 2002, the department was the first-ever to achieve SCP (Support Center Practices) Certification in the construction and real estate software industry, and has achieved Certification every year since. It was named by Call Center magazine as one of nine worldwide recipients of the 2004 Global Call Center of the Year Awards, and won an SSPA STAR Award in 2000 for Most Improved Customer Support.

In addition, Sage Software overall is one of only nine companies worldwide to have obtained an SSPA STAR Award Hall of Fame, Lifetime Achievement Award, which is granted to companies that have won five STAR Awards since the program’s inception in 1989.

Complementing its world-class customer support, Sage Timberline Office is supported by a national network of experienced business partners, trainers and consultants. For more information about Sage Timberline Office products and services, please view www.sagetimberlineoffice.com, contact a local Sage Timberline Office business partner, or call 1-800-628-6583.

About the SSPA
The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) is the leading advisory, community and education trade group for the global tech support industry. SSPA’s core constituents are the executives and managers responsible for service and support operations, and overall customer relations, at the world's leading IT companies. SSPA provides (1) research and expert analysis of emerging business issues, (2) conferences, professional development, and other curricula promoting industry best practices, (3) rigorous certification and awards programs that identify and celebrate exceptional customer service, and (4) active advocacy in the business and IT press on issues important to service & support providers. Founded in 1989, the SSPA is based in San Diego, CA and can be reached at info@thesspa.com or by phone at 858-674-5491 or on the web at http://www.thesspa.com.

About Sage Software (formerly Best Software)
Sage Software offers leading business management software and services that support the needs, challenges and dreams of more than 2.4 million small and mid-sized business customers in North America. Its parent company, The Sage Group plc (London: SGE.L), supports 4.5 million customers worldwide. For more than 25 years, Sage Software has delivered easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software for accounting, customer relationship management, human resources, time tracking and the specialized needs of accounting practices and the construction, distribution, manufacturing, nonprofit and real estate industries. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.sagesoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-2378.

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