Press release

9 October 2003 - SCIVISUM LTD LAUNCHES IN UK TO IMPROVE ‘BLIND’ E-COMMERCE WEBSITE MANAGEMENT

81 per cent of UK companies relying on customer complaints to improve website services, SciVisum research shows

SciVisum, a website testing specialist, today announced its launch into the UK market with a new solution to help businesses measure and improve the performance and functionality of business critical web based applications.

SciVisum also today announced the findings of a study of UK website service management, which reveals that UK corporations are running their websites ‘blind’, with 81 per cent of organisations surveyed relying primarily on customer complaints to reveal problems with services and performance degradation.

To address this problem, SciVisum is launching a new web systems monitoring service. The company’s in-house research and development, and an unique test methodology enable testing and monitoring of complex web based applications, taking test services beyond website performance to incorporate user functionality.

SciVisum offers customers an unique ‘build & buy’ approach, tailoring semi-automated services to clients’ exact requirements. This provides the flexible benefits of consultancy but with clearly defined services, at off the shelf prices and with fast implementation. The company is backed by a senior management team with substantial Internet industry experience, including core roles in the foundation of UK Internet service providers PSINet and ClaraNet.

"UK corporations are running their websites blind - it is shocking that more than three quarters have to rely on customer complaints to improve their services," said Deri Jones, CEO of SciVisum. "Once a customer has complained, in most cases it is too late to rescue the relationship. And it will already have impacted the business. SciVisum’s services will enable companies to focus on prevention rather than cure."

SciVisum’s Web Effectiveness Report 2003 found that overall, a third (34 per cent) of UK companies surveyed never monitor their website performance, with many of the remainder only initiating a performance review following customer or internal complaints. In the financial sector, where all companies surveyed offered web services, 50 per cent never monitored their performance.

The research highlights that basic website service management is widely employed, but it is failing to prevent consumer frustration and abandonment of e-commerce services by customers. Overall, web gridlock alone is costing companies an estimated £18 billion globally (source: Infonetics Research).

"The UK has the highest use of e-commerce in Europe - more than a billion transactions a month. In addition to this UK government is set to deliver many local and national services electronically within the next two years. It shocks me that more is not being done to prevent service failures when the opportunity is growing and poor service is the biggest factor in customers abandoning a transaction. The real world experience is certainly the most accurate measure of performance and functionality - but problems should be identified by a company, rather than by it’s customers" said Jones.

"Internet services are playing an increasingly important strategic role, whether they provide e-commerce facitilities, e-procurement or account management facilities. Given the significance of this to the organisations we interviewed, we had expected a greater focus on improving service. Companies should not underestimate the value of testing functionality from the user’s perspective. The best way to ensure web effectiveness is to adopt a virtuous cycle of improvement: measure and test - improve - test again".

Central to SciVisum’s solution is its unique test methodology, based around an intelligent test engine developed in-house that streamlines the process of scripting multiple user profiles and the interpretation of web response, leaving more time for hands-on testing and analysis. This provides maximum accuracy, scripting flexibility and depth of testing for complex applications.

This approach means fast delivery and repeatable results whilst freeing up test engineers to monitor and analyse the test output, re-direct testing and investigate further as required. A substantial test report with real engineering content is produced, flagging areas for improvement with details that will enable network, development and systems staff to prioritise their efforts and to set targets for future improvement against each functional block or user-type.

The testing process gives Web Managers an assessment of which areas need to be addressed first, independent of the view of external hosters or software contractors. On the basis of a regular test/audit scheme, organisations can show measurably improved and more consistent web systems performance over time; and the unique SciVisum script engine makes it easy to keep the tests in step with functionality changes.

The Web Effectiveness Report 2003 report is based on a research study of more than 100 UK companies with a sizeable web presence. Mostly, the companies studied were FTSE 100 members, top 100 law firms and local government organisations. The research analysed results across the financial, government, legal and retail sectors. Report details
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About SciVisum

SciVisum delivers engineered web systems monitoring services to help UK businesses measure and improve the performance and functionality of business critical Web based systems. The company’s in-house research and development, and an unique test methodology enable testing and monitoring of complex web based applications, taking test services beyond website performance to incorporate user functionality. This includes sophisticated web systems and complex functionality such as online order processing, shopping carts, banking applications, auction systems and utilities online billing.

SciVisum offers customers an unique ‘build & buy’ approach, tailoring semi-automated services to clients’ exact requirements. This provides the flexible benefits of consultancy but with clearly defined services, at off the shelf prices and with fast implementation. The company is backed by a senior management team with substantial Internet industry experience, including core roles in the foundation of UK Internet service providers PSINet and ClaraNet.

Media contacts

Emma Ballard/Sarra Mander
Rainier PR
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7494 6570
Email: eballard@rainierpr.co.uk/smander@rainierpr.co.uk