Chordiant Software, Inc: Chordiant survey finds banks' customer service teams struggling to deliver on marketing strategy

Chordiant Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHRD), a leading provider of Customer Experience (Cx) software and services, today released the results of its 2009 UK Retail Banking Survey which analysed marketing trends in the industry. The survey found that there is a significant gap between a marketers' vision and the reality of what customer service representatives can actually deliver in support of a bank's various marketing campaigns. 72 percentof marketing managers in the UK's retail banks believe that there has been a greater focus on retaining customers in light of the economic downturn, but nearly half of all customer service representatives questioned said they do not have software which supports them in conversations with customers who want to leave the bank.

Similarly, marketing executives agree that treating the customer as a unique individual is an important marketing priority, but only 57 percent of customer representatives indicated that they have software that helps them suggest what products or services would be appropriate for an individual customer. Furthermore, only 55 percent of customer service representatives reported that they have software that enables them to make decisions in real-time for the bank's customers. The marketing teams do however seem to recognise the shortcomings of the software available to their customer-facing teams with 64 percent rating it as only medium in quality.

Despite the perceived weaknesses in the customer service technology, the retail banks participating in the survey appear to be embracing the trend of integrating their marketing strategy with their customer service initiatives. In fact, seven out of ten marketers consider their customer service strategy as part of their marketing strategy. The majority of respondents reported integration over the past two years and a quarter in the last 12 months, highlighting the growing importance of developing a consistent strategy. However, while 88 percent of the marketers questioned reported that their bank regularly integrates their customer service and marketing strategies, only 27 percent reported that their bank always communicate these marketing strategies to the customer facing team. This underlines the need for greater co-operation between the two departments.

Scott Andrick, the director of product marketing, Financial Services, at Chordiant, comments: "Improving liquidity and complying with regulation are high on most banks' current priority lists following the recent market turmoil, but these goals are closely followed by the need to continue acquiring new customers while retaining existing customers and their assets. In order to achieve this goal in today's competitive environment, retail banks not only need to further integrate marketing with customer service, but also ensure that the customer-facing teams have the latest tools and technologies to support them in providing a superior customer service."

Andrick continued: "By providing the right customer experience and treating each customer as an individual, banks' customer services teams will be helping to support marketing strategy by delivering on brand promise, keeping customers on board and even helping to grow wallet share."

The survey, carried out by Vanson Bourne Ltd, questioned 11 marketing managers and 90 customer service representatives from ten UK retail banks.

About Chordiant Software, Inc.

Chordiant software optimizes the customer experience, helping clients improve business results while significantly strengthening customer relationships. Chordiant's solutions allow multi-channel interaction management and centralized Next-Best-Action driven predictive decisioning to target individual customer needs and provide unprecedented management and control over sophisticated customer experience strategies. Fortune 1000 customers turn to Chordiant to build, maintain and significantly strengthen connections with customers, so they can differentiate themselves from the competition and maximize their business objectives. For more information please visit www.chordiant.com.

Chordiant and the Chordiant logo are registered trademarks of Chordiant Software, Inc. The Customer Experience Company, Next-Best-Action and Cx are trademarks of Chordiant Software, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Mo Mahmoud, Eastwick Communications for Chordiant Tel: +1 650 480 4058 Chordiant@eastwick.com Alexia Ward, Hotwire for Chordiant +44 (0)20 7608 4687 Chordiant@hotwirepr.com Karen Haus Market Street Partners, Chordiant Investor Relations Tel: +1 415 445 3238 e-mail: chrd@marketstreetpartners.com

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