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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission file number 000-29335

WITNESS SYSTEMS, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code 770-754-1900

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

        Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý    No o

        Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

        Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2). Yes ý    No o

        The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2003 was $85.2 million. The number of shares of the registrant's common stock outstanding on February 27, 2004 was 22,524,628.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

        Portions of the registrant's definitive proxy statement for its annual meeting of stockholders, currently scheduled for May 26, 2004, are incorporated by reference in Part III of this report.

Item 1.    Business

        This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements that are not historical facts but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and industry, our beliefs and assumptions. Words such as "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements that were true at the time made may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect our management's view only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

        The Business section should be read in conjunction with Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included elsewhere in this report. Investors should carefully review the information under the caption "Factors That May Affect Our Future Results and Market Price of Our Stock" beginning on page 30.

Overview

        We provide an integrated performance optimization software suite that enables global enterprises to capture customer intelligence and optimize workforce performance. Our solution is comprised of business-driven multimedia recording, performance analysis and e-learning management applications that are designed to enhance the quality of customer interactions across multiple communications media, including the telephone, e-mail and the Internet, and are used primarily in the organization's contact center(s). Our enterprise collaboration architecture allows contact center management to share information gathered in the contact center with other departments that service the customer, as well as with executives throughout the organization. The result is a proactive management tool for optimizing their customer relationship management ("CRM"), improving communication among departments, and fine-tuning workflow, processes and quality of service from within the contact center and throughout the enterprise. As a result, we believe our customers are able to generate additional revenue opportunities, improve profitability, enhance customer retention, reduce employee turnover and improve their overall customer service and intelligence.

        Our eQuality® software suite is designed to enable customer contact centers within a company to capture, evaluate and analyze complete customer interactions through multiple media, identify performance gaps and then apply targeted electronic learning for continuous performance improvement. The eQuality software records a customer sales/service representative's ("CSR"s) voice interactions with a customer as well as the CSR's corresponding computer desktop activities, such as data entry, screen navigation and data retrieval. By capturing both voice and computer desktop activity and synchronizing them during replay, a company can observe and analyze complete customer interactions as they actually occurred. Supporting the need for Web-based customer interactions driven by the growth of the Internet and e-commerce, the eQuality software suite also enables companies to capture, evaluate and analyze e-mail, Web interactions and guided browser sessions. In addition, the eQuality software suite allows companies to selectively capture, evaluate and analyze customer interactions on any of these mediums based on business criteria that they define, such as key customers, important marketing campaigns and new product introductions. Our suite of integrated software applications and services allows organizations to build a performance optimization process by capturing customer interactions across all channels, evaluate and analyze the contacts and employee

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performance and then, based on the results, deliver relevant learning to an organization's workforce to enhance performance.

        We provide our solutions to an extensive base of large companies with multiple contact centers including Accor, American Airlines, AT&T, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, Centrica, Compaq Computer, Continental Airlines, Federal Express, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Hertz, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Pitney Bowes, Royal & SunAlliance, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Target, Telstra, Verizon, Visa, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo Bank and Xerox. In addition, our indirect sales channel is strategically focused on mid-sized companies with generally only one contact center. As of December 31, 2003, we had licensed our software to approximately 1,198 customers at approximately 2,341 sites.

Eyretel Acquisition

        During the first quarter of 2003, we acquired a controlling interest in Eyretel plc ("Eyretel"), a United Kingdom-based provider of compliance and recording solutions for customer contact centers, and completed the acquisition during the second quarter of 2003. We paid 25 pence per share for a total purchase price of approximately £35.3 million, or $55.3 million. We acquired Eyretel with the intent to extend our presence in international markets and to expand our product line by adding a full-time compliance recording software solution. We commenced the consolidation of Eyretel's results on March 22, 2003, the date we assumed majority ownership of Eyretel. The acquisition was accounted for using the purchase method of accounting.

Industry Background

        Developing and maintaining long-term customer relationships is critical to the success of a business operating in the competitive global marketplace. The rapid growth of the Internet and e-commerce has increased the importance companies place on their customer relationships. Because the Internet enables consumers to easily evaluate products and prices from a wide range of geographically dispersed vendors and quickly change vendors at relatively low cost, it is becoming more difficult for businesses to develop long-term relationships with their customers. As the use of the Internet expands as a business platform, the need for personal contact is essential to enabling a higher quality customer experience. The integration and optimization of customer contacts across all channels of communication is becoming both a strategic and tactical business requirement. In response to these trends, companies have adopted CRM initiatives to increase the longevity and profitability of their customer relationships, and have developed software applications to automate and evaluate key sales, marketing and customer service processes and improve the effectiveness of their customer interactions. According to AMR Research, the CRM market will grow by 10% in 2004, as companies focus on several initiatives including customer analytics.

        The focus of CRM applications is to improve companies' internal sales, marketing and customer service processes and, as a result of increasing competitive pressures resulting from the emergence of the Internet and e-commerce, to improve their ability to identify and address their customers' needs. Companies have been deploying new solutions that recognize improving customer satisfaction and enhancing employee skills is an integral part of their goals to foster customer relationships and increase customer intimacy. We believe that companies, with a better understanding of the characteristics and preferences of their customers, will be able to customize their product and service offerings more effectively, which can result in increased customer retention. In addition, these companies will be able to better identify opportunities to sell complementary or higher-end products and to more accurately forecast customer demand.

        To understand and improve customer relationships, a company must first improve its specific business processes that involve direct customer interaction. Frequently, a company's direct customer interactions occur through call centers. These call centers traditionally are staffed by CSRs, who

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process a steady flow of outbound or inbound telephone calls relating to the company's products and services. The technical infrastructure of a call center typically consists of supervisor and agent workstations linked to a central telephone switch and a common computer system. Companies have increased their focus on developing and improving the efficiency of their call center operations.

        As the industry has evolved, the traditional call center has transformed from a single-function, telephone-based call center into multi-functional, multi-channel customer interaction center, or contact center. Multi-channel customer contact centers no longer focus only on conducting outbound calls for functions such as collections and product sales, or on managing inbound calls, for purposes such as product support, order processing or customer service. CSRs today handle multiple tasks effectively that involve interaction across a growing number of customer touch points, including telephone, e-mail and the Web. According to Gartner, Inc., the average cost of a web-based self-service inquiry is a fraction of the cost of a call handled by a call center employee, illustrating why companies consider the deployment of web-based self-service options a priority in their future customer care plans.

        As more organizations focus on moving customer service from an isolated part of the business, the view of customer service is changing from a detached business function to an integrated set of business processes. Many organizations today have business plans that include creating a positive, consistent customer experience across channels and functions. Providing quality customer experiences remains an important goal for most organizations today. This focus is extending to many areas of the business as they embrace the technology to help identify the root cause of customer frustration.

        The current business environment is focused on performance management, particularly optimum customer service levels. Companies want to improve productivity and data quality, as well as the audit capabilities needed to ensure adherence to processes, such as regulatory compliance and fraud reduction. By focusing on performance optimization, companies can help identify barriers and breakdowns, such as where and why errors occur, so they can make adjustments, often before errors affect customers. Our software enables these companies to help improve the quality and productivity of back office functions, such as customer administration and billing, while concentrating on providing high quality customer service. Using business rules, companies can automatically capture transactions placed into unique contact folders for specific business functions, and be notified when the specific business condition exists. Organizations can evaluate operational effectiveness, spot trends and implement tactics to improve performance. Desktop recording captures the screen navigation and exact keystrokes on employee desktops, so users can replay and evaluate transactions just as they occurred. Advanced recording capabilities enable users to define and maintain individual screen-based triggers, so they can capture specific business functions based on the values of individual fields within an application. Recording and reviewing transactions can provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of particular areas of the organization and its impact on the customer experience. By capturing sample transactions, companies can assess the ease with which staff completes processes and the effectiveness of systems.

        In some situations, organizations might need to record 100% of all transactions, for fraud detection or regulatory compliance, for example, but often the key is to capture representative samples that are critical to the organization. Our software's business-driven recording capability allows companies' business objectives to drive the types of transactions that they capture. For example, users may choose to randomly capture five percent of certain business functions for coaching and training purposes, record all orders processed beyond a certain transaction amount and capture 100% of high-risk situations for audit purposes.

        The convergence of voice and data communications technologies is changing the landscape of today's telecommunications infrastructure. Voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP") is enabling smaller organizations to access application functionality previously afforded only by large organizations and is giving larger customers greater flexibility in their infrastructure, resulting in improved operational efficiency and significant cost savings. Internet Protocol ("IP") telephony is enabling the development

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of enterprise-wide contact management systems, which integrate the vast amounts of information from customers, suppliers or other third parties at every touch point or department, primarily but not exclusively for the contact center. Interactions with customers and suppliers can include enormous amounts of valuable information that, if made available to the right people within an organization, may dramatically improve the service offered to customers. The information contained in telephone calls had previously been difficult to capture and disseminate.

The eQuality Solution

        We provide business-driven multi-media recording, performance analysis and e-learning applications that are designed to enhance the quality of customer interactions across multiple communications media. As a result, we believe our customers are able to generate additional revenue opportunities, improve profitability, reduce employee turnover, enhance customer retention and improve overall customer satisfaction. We believe our eQuality suite of software and services provide the following key business benefits:

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Increases revenue opportunities.    The eQuality solution enables companies to analyze complete customer interactions, incorporating data from their existing databases and systems. As a result, companies are able to customize their sales and marketing efforts to individual customer preferences or tendencies, improve the selling techniques of their CSRs and sell additional complementary or higher-end products and services to their existing customers. Consequently, we believe companies deploying our solution can generate additional revenue opportunities.



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Improves profitability.    The eQuality solution improves the overall quality of companies' interactions with their customers, which reduces the costs associated with customer turnover. By providing CSRs with better training, companies can improve the efficiency of CSRs by reducing their average "talk time," which results in decreased telephony charges and reduced total number of CSRs needed to handle the same volume of customer interactions. As a result, we believe companies are able to improve profitability by deploying the eQuality solution to reduce customer turnover and CSR costs.



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Reduces employee turnover.    The eQuality solution enables the evaluation and analysis of an individual CSR's performance, which companies can use to customize incentives for rewarding CSRs. We believe these customized incentives, together with effective feedback and training, leads to increased CSR job satisfaction, retention of high quality CSRs and reduced costs related to CSR turnover. According to Forrester Research, the contact center average turnover rate ranges from 30% to 60% annually, and the costs to recruit, interview and train new CSRs are often as high as $10,000 per agent, depending on the level of skills required.



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Enhances customer retention.    The eQuality solution helps companies to develop more intimate knowledge of their customers, which should improve the overall quality of the information used to market products and services to customers. We believe that the growth in the Internet and e-commerce will increase the importance customers place on high-quality and consistent customer service. It is imperative that companies retain these costly new customers to capitalize on their investment. As a result, we believe that companies who deliver excellent service to their customers will develop longer-term, more profitable customer relationships.

        We believe that we are able to provide key business benefits through the innovative features of our eQuality solution, which include the following:

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Enables synchronized replay of voice and computer desktop data;



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Captures customer interactions across multiple communications media;



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Records based on company-selected criteria;

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Enables information obtained in the contact center to be shared across the enterprise;



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Provides performance analysis and feedback;



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Provides an integrated, closed-loop environment for applying organizational learning;



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Integrates with third-party software and hardware;



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Provides an open architecture that scales to support small to large installations;



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Enables rapid deployment.

Our Strategy

        Our objective is to be a leading provider of software and services to global enterprises to help them improve everything from contact center customer interactions to underlying back office processes in order to optimize their workforce performance and capture customer intelligence by recording and analyzing customer interactions across multiple communications media, including telephone, e-mail and the Internet. Key elements of our strategy include the following:

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Extend the breadth and depth of product offerings.    We intend to continue to invest in research and development to enhance our current software suite and build or purchase new software to address the growing needs of companies that seek to better manage their customer relationships across multiple communications media. We also intend to extend our Web-based capabilities, such as the recording and analyzing of integrated e-commerce, e-mail and voice interactions. Additionally, we will likely to expand the number of third-party applications with which our software can integrate.



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Increase sales to new and existing customers.    A majority of our existing customers are large companies that have multiple contact centers. While we have been successful in penetrating these customers and installing our software at more than one contact center, we have many customers for whom we have not yet installed our software at all of their contact centers. We intend to capitalize on the success of our initial installations by emphasizing the scalability and rapid deployment of our software to increase the number of installations at existing customer sites that have not yet installed our software. We also plan to continue pursuing new customer accounts with multiple contact centers through our existing sales force and our network of strategic relationships.



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Expand international presence.    We currently maintain sales forces in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom as well as in the United States. We plan to expand our direct and indirect sales channels in these regions, with particular attention to areas that are actively adopting CRM and contact center software solutions.



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Expand network of business alliances. We intend to expand our network of business alliances with complementary application software and Internet infrastructure providers to increase the number of products with which our software is compatible. We believe the demand for our software will increase as it becomes compatible with an increasing number of CRM, enterprise resource planning and Internet infrastructure applications. In addition, expanding this network of business alliances will enable us to generate new sales leads as our business alliances recommend our products to their customers.

Our Products

        The eQuality suite of products is comprised of the following applications by function. Historically, the majority of our software revenues have been derived from our eQuality Balance and eQuality

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ContactStore products. During 2003, approximately 21% of our orders included products other than eQuality Balance™ and eQuality ContactStore and related products.

CAPTURE AND RETRIEVE

        eQuality ContactStore.    eQuality ContactStore records 100% of voice conversations between CSRs and their customers, along with the corresponding computer desktop activity, such as the CSR keystrokes and data input. This application is designed for organizations with high-volume recording requirements, including compliance recording and/or sales verification, in either traditional or IP telephony environments. eQuality ContactStore Plus provides a single solution for capturing customer intelligence. Users can record 100% of customer interactions, and then proactively organize them, based on business rules they define, into designated contact folders for easy access and replay. eQuality ContactStore Express is designed specifically for the needs of small to medium-sized organizations, branch offices or departments, providing a 100% recording solution that requires minimal technical skills to deploy and use.

        eQuality Balance™.    eQuality Balance records multimedia interactions, including traditional voice, Web chat, instant messaging, guided browser sessions and e-mail, based on user-defined business rules. The CSR's voice interaction with a customer can be synchronized with the CSR's corresponding computer desktop activities, such as data entry, screen navigation and data retrieval. This enables companies to evaluate the performance of CSRs, determine whether the necessary technology resources for customer support are available to the CSRs and ascertain whether the CSRs are making effective and efficient use of these resources. Supervisors can use this information to train CSRs, improve company systems and resources designed to support CSRs and enhance the quality of the services being delivered to customers.

        eQuality Evaluation™.    The eQuality Evaluation application facilitates the review, evaluation and scoring of CSRs, providing an immediate summary of a CSR's performance. Using eQuality Evaluation, CSR supervisors can build custom evaluation forms that are designed to collect information about aspects of a CSR's performance that are most important to them. Supervisors and others can input information regarding a CSR's performance into the form, which is then collected in a database. The collected information can be retrieved, presented in a summary format, analyzed and ultimately used to measure and improve a CSR's performance. eQuality Evaluation can reveal problem areas, issues, trends and opportunities. Supervisors and others with access to eQuality Evaluation can review CSRs' performance and determine opportunities to increase their skill levels through training. Supervisors can compare CSRs' performance to current goals and provide more realistic future goals. eQuality Evaluation has historically been, and will continue to be, licensed together with the eQuality Balance application.

        eQuality Discover™.    The eQuality Discover application enables companies to record and graphically view actual customer experiences on their Web sites so they can identify clear steps for improving online customer service. With these captured samples, companies will have the insight they need to determine how consumers interact with their Web sites, which in turn helps them increase the profitability of on-line relationships while at the same time reducing customer service costs. Using eQuality Discover, companies can determine why a visitor placed a call to the contact center or abandoned their Web site. When brought together with recorded customer interactions from other touch-points, captured self-service interactions can help companies achieve a single view of customers and the way they are serviced across many channels.

REPORT AND ANALYZE

        eQuality Analysis™.    The eQuality Analysis application provides a more comprehensive analysis of customer interaction and CSR performance by bridging the disparate information systems of a

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company. Using eQuality Analysis, a company can combine data derived from eQuality Evaluation with data derived from information obtained from a company's other business systems, such as CRM and enterprise resource planning software and integrated telephony applications. Combining multiple sources of data from within the company into a common analysis and reporting system allows for a more thorough evaluation of CSR and overall contact center performance. Recognizing the importance of multi-channel contact centers, we have designed eQuality Analysis to integrate with business systems that collect data from a broad range of communications media. With its performance scorecard, contact center managers can attain a quick, streamlined view of performance relative to strategic organizational objectives. The software leverages a variety of industry-accepted, best-practice key performance indicators ("KPIs") contained in eQuality Analysis and includes pre-defined KPIs as a foundation to build customized measures. Users can view data and drill up and down into an area of interest. eQuality Analysis produces a wide array of user-defined summary (historical and trend) and detailed analysis (adherence, productivity, quality and others) in a report, graph or exported medium. The solution's reporting, dynamic analysis and performance scorecard capabilities provide organizations with business intelligence that can lead to increased revenue, heightened service quality and improved operational efficiencies.

        eQuality Vision.    eQuality Vision enables the rapid search and retrieval of recorded customer interactions. With the solution's powerful data visualization capabilities, contact center management can pinpoint and view contacts of interest. Through its color-coding classification of calls based on nature and outcome, patterns and trends, key areas of interest are identifiable, providing unique visualization that allows users to search through contact recordings and focus on those of interest.

        eQuality CallMiner.    eQuality CallMiner extracts key information from recorded calls, either key words or phrases, using speech recognition. It evaluates each call and stores the relevant information in a data mart for detailed analysis and flags interesting calls for in-depth review.

        eQuality Focus.    eQuality Focus monitors desktop activities and provides graphical reports to illustrate which applications employees use, including how they use them, when and for how long. With this information, contact center management can gain an analytical view of desktop workflow, as well as whether business applications and productivity tools are correctly configured for optimum use.

LEARN AND TRAIN

        eQuality Now™.    The eQuality Now application delivers ongoing training tailored to CSR competencies, which helps companies build customer loyalty through a more highly skilled and motivated workforce. The electronic learning management software integrates with leading on-line learning products focused on CSR soft and hard skills. By recording customer interactions, evaluating CSR performance, and then using eQuality Now to prioritize training, contact centers have an integrated, closed-loop solution for applying organizational learning. The result is an effective environment for continuous performance improvement that helps companies ensure their customers receive consistent service across all touch-points.

        eQuality Courseware.    eQuality Courseware enhances the skills of CSRs with targeted learning delivered right to the CSRs desktops. eQuality Courseware includes a series of 35 lessons in seven contact center skill tracks.

        eQuality Producer.    eQuality Producer is a customized contact center e-learning solution that leverages real-life scenarios agents encounter on a daily basis to create company-specific content. eQuality Producer enables organizations to address skill deficiencies with e-learning based on actual customer interactions. Once produced, the content is readily available, creating a dynamic learning environment in which CSRs simulate customer contacts.

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Services

        Our services organization, the Witness Services Network, provides an integrated implementation, training and business consulting methodology that supports an effective and rapid deployment of the eQuality suite enabling organizations to more quickly realize the benefits of our solution, in addition to providing 24 x 7 support services.

        The Witness Solutions Delivery Team addresses a wide variety of issues through these offerings.

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The Witness Solutions Delivery Team is comprised of professional services, systems integration and business consulting services that enable customers to fully optimize our eQuality software suite, including evaluations of current technology in order to provide recommendations to our customers on processes that will enable them to achieve their organizational goals. Our implementation professionals work with the customer to build a solid technical infrastructure that supports the eQuality suite of applications. An initial implementation engagement is typically completed within 30 to 60 days from the date the software agreement is signed by a new customer, and involves the planning, configuration, testing and implementation of our software. Since the detailed project planning occurs during installation at the first site, we can typically implement our software at a customer's additional sites in five to seven days. Generally, the actual software installation takes three to five days. We utilize an interactive, Web-based project management system for deploying our software, Implementation Performance Management Online ("IPMO"). Through the IPMO portal, customers have online access to information and updates, including project status, timelines, meeting logs, training and related documentation, which help facilitate communication and further streamline project management and implementation. Our business consulting services provide a series of workshops that focus on specific contact center business processes, performance optimization, calibration techniques, business utilization, business rule development and high-impact coaching. Our business consulting services enable our customers to identify and link key business drivers with CSR skills and behaviors, providing a blueprint for implementing a successful performance optimization strategy.



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The Witness Learning Network encompasses our education services that are designed to teach customers how to use our products and includes centralized training at Witness University, on-site training at the customer location, as well as certification programs, which can be accessed online. Training services include end-user coach training and system administration.



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The Witness Customer Interaction Center provides support services for our customers that include regular software upgrades, access to a knowledgebase of product-related information, and 24 x 7 telephone, e-mail and online support.

Customers

        Our customers include large and small companies with a varying number of contact center sites and/or other business environments. Our customers come from the banking and finance, general business, insurance, outsourcing, technology, telecommunications, travel, hospitality and utility industries. As of December 31, 2003, we had licensed our software to approximately 1,198 customers at approximately 2,341 sites. To date, customer installations have ranged from small business IP deployments at single contact centers having 25 CSRs, to customers with 32 contact centers having an aggregate of approximately 16,000 CSRs. No individual customer accounted for 10% or more of our revenue in 2003, 2002 and 2001.

Sales and Marketing

        We sell our software primarily through a combination of a direct sales force and resellers. As of December 31, 2003, our sales organization operated in 31 offices throughout the United States and

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offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

        Our direct sales force is responsible for pursuing qualified leads generated internally and also qualified leads provided by companies with whom we have formal or informal referral agreements. To expand the coverage and support of our direct sales force, we develop strategic marketing alliances with leading companies in our industry. These relationships may include joint marketing campaigns and selling strategies. In addition to the direct sales force, we have agreements with a variety of companies that resell our software. To support this indirect sales channel, our business development personnel provide training and support to the sales personnel of these companies so they can more effectively educate potential customers about the benefits of our solution. Our agreements with the resellers are not exclusive and may be terminated by either party.

        Our direct sales cycle typically begins with the qualification of a sales lead or the request for a proposal from a prospective customer. The sales lead, or request for a proposal, is followed by the qualification of the lead or prospect, an assessment of the customer's requirements, a formal proposal, presentations and product demonstrations, site visits to an existing customer using the software, and contract negotiation. The sales cycle can vary substantially from customer to customer but typically lasts six months, and is considered completed with the signing of the contract. Historically, most of our customers have increased their use of the software to expand the number of CSRs and applications at existing sites and to license additional contact centers, with a minimal incremental sales effort on our behalf.

        We use a variety of marketing programs to build brand name awareness, as well as to attract potential customers. These programs include market research, product and strategy updates with industry analysts, public relations activities, direct mail and relationship marketing programs, seminars, trade shows, speaking engagements and Web site marketing. To support sales efforts, the marketing organization also produces marketing materials, including brochures, data sheets and other technical descriptions, presentations and demonstrations. As of December 31, 2003, we had 155 employees in our sales and marketing organization.

Research and Development

        We believe our software development capabilities are essential to our strategy of enhancing our core technology, developing additional applications, incorporating that technology and maintaining the competitiveness of our software. We devote a substantial portion of our resources to developing new software and features, extending and improving our software technology, debugging and quality testing our products and researching new technological initiatives in our market. We believe that our future success depends in part upon our ability to continue to enhance existing software, respond to changing customer requirements and develop and introduce new or enhanced software that incorporates new technological developments and emerging industry standards.

        As of December 31, 2003, we had 112 employees engaged in research and development activities. Research and development expenditures for the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, and 2001 were $18.0 million, $15.1 million and $13.6 million, respectively. We anticipate that or research and development costs will remain relatively constant in 2004 as compared to 2003.

Competition

        Our software and services compete in the emerging market for products that record and analyze customer interactions and provide electronic learning applications. This market is intensely competitive and experiences rapid changes in technology. We believe that we compete effectively and that we enjoy a competitive advantage based upon (1) the functionality and quality of our products, (2) the ease of use and ability of our products to operate with a variety of hardware and software products, (3) our

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ability as a single vendor to offer a full suite of applications, (4) our ability to implement our products quickly, (5) the responsiveness of our customer support, and (6) our competitive pricing. However, many current and potential competitors may have longer operating histories, more established business relationships, larger customer bases, a broader range of products and services, greater name recognition and substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, personnel, management, service, support and other resources. This could allow our current and potential competitors to respond more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, to more effectively take advantage of acquisition and other opportunities, to devote greater resources to the sales and marketing of their products and services, and to adopt more aggressive pricing policies. In addition, many competitors market their products through resellers and companies that integrate their technology and products with those of the competitor. These resellers and technology partners of competitors often have strong business relationships with our customers and potential customers. Our competitors may use these business relationships to market and sell their products and compete for customers. We cannot assure that our competitors will not offer or develop products and services that are superior to ours, or that achieve greater market acceptance. Our competitors include:

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quality monitoring suppliers to the call and contact center industry, which historically have been companies that develop voice-only recording software;



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switch vendors that traditionally package competitive solutions;



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traditional call logging vendors that have historically focused on providing products that record all phone conversations made by or to the user, including emergency services, such as 911, and verification and liability users, such as trading floors and stockbrokers;



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electronic learning vendors that have historically provided a point solution that delivers training to customer service representatives;



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reporting vendors that have historically provided a point solution focused on providing contact center performance reports to management;



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systems integrators and consulting firms which design and develop custom systems and perform custom integration; and



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new, larger and more established entities that may acquire, invest in or form joint ventures with providers of recording or performance enhancing software solutions, such as vendors of CRM products, computer telephony companies and computer hardware, software and networking companies.

        In addition, we have developed, and intend to continue to develop, relationships with companies that resell our software, companies that integrate the software with their technology and products and companies that provide us with customer referrals or leads. Some of these companies have similar, and often more established, relationships with our competitors, and may recommend the products and services of competitors to customers instead of our software and services. In addition, through their relationships with us, these companies could learn about our software and the market for our software and services and could develop and sell competing products and services.

        The principal competitive factors in our market include:

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product performance, reliability and features;



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user scalability and open architecture;



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third-party integration;



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quality and speed of product implementation;



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ease-of-use for customers;

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analytic capabilities of the product;



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how quickly new products and product enhancements can be brought to market;



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customer support; and



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pricing of products and services.

        Our success will depend on our ability to compete effectively based on these factors. Further, we expect that competition will increase as other established and emerging companies enter our market and as new products, services and technologies are introduced. Increased competition may result in price reductions, lower gross margins and loss of market share. This could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Proprietary Rights

        General.    Our success depends to a significant degree on the legal protection of our software and other proprietary technology rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with employees and third parties to establish and protect our proprietary rights. These measures may not be sufficient to protect proprietary rights, and we cannot be certain that third parties will not misappropriate our technology and use it for their own benefit. Also, most of these protections do not preclude our competitors from independently developing products with functionality or features substantially equivalent or superior to our software. Any failure to protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business.

        Licenses.    Our licenses are designed to prohibit unauthorized use, copying and disclosure of our software technology. When we license our software to customers, we require license agreements containing confidentiality terms customary in the industry in order to protect our proprietary rights in the software. These agreements generally warrant that the software will materially comply with written documentation. We assert that we own the software we distribute and have not violated the intellectual property rights of others. We license our products in a format that does not permit the users to change the software code. In addition, because we treat the source code for our products as a trade secret, all employees and third parties who require access to the source code are first required to sign non-disclosure agreements.

        Patents.    We have received three patents generally relating to our voice and data synchronization technology and data capture. We also have 16 patent applications pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and six patent applications pending internationally. There is no guarantee that the pending applications will result in issued patents or, if issued, will provide us with any competitive advantages. We cannot assure you that we will file further patent, trademark or copyright applications, that any future applications will be approved, that any existing or future patents, trademarks or copyrights will adequately protect our intellectual property or that any existing or future patents, trademarks or copyrights will not be challenged by third parties.

        Trademarks and service marks.    We have six U.S. registered trademarks. We also claim common law protections for other marks we use in our business. Competitors and other companies could adopt similar marks, or try to prevent us from using our marks, consequently impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to customer confusion. We are aware of certain uses, U.S. trademark registrations, and U.S. trademark applications for our "eQuality" trademark and its variations that predate our use and the April 30, 2002 issuance of the U.S. registration for our trademark eQuality®. It is possible that the owner of legal rights resulting from one or more of these prior uses, U.S. trademark registrations, or U.S. trademark applications will bring legal action to challenge our registration of and/or our continued use of the trademark eQuality®, and may also seek compensation for damages resulting from our use of our registered trademark if such challenging party

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prevails on such a claim. As a result, we cannot assure you that our registration of this trademark will be undisturbed, or that this use will not result in liability for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and/or unfair competition.

        Availability of Reports and Other Information.    Our corporate website is http://www.witness.com. We make available on this website, free of charge, access to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and amendments to those materials filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically submit such materials to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Commission's website is http://www.sec.gov. The Commission makes available on its website, free of charge, reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, such as us, that file electronically with the Commission. Information provided on our website or on the Commission's website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 2.    Properties

        Our principal administrative, marketing, product development and support facilities are located in Roswell, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, where we lease approximately 96,400 square feet under a lease that expires in 2007. We also occupy approximately 26,000 square feet in Leatherhead, United Kingdom under a lease that expires in 2014, which includes administrative, marketing, product development and support facilities. In addition, we lease a total of 29 sales and marketing offices in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. We believe our facilities are adequate for our current and expected near-term requirements.

Item 3.    Legal Proceedings

        From time to time we may be involved in legal proceedings and/or litigation arising in the ordinary course of our business.

        On December 11, 2002, we filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, a lawsuit against Knowlagent, Inc. ("Knowlagent"), which is the assignee of the United States Patent Nos. 6,324,282 B1 and 6,459,787 B2. Knowlagent has accused our eQuality Now software suite of infringing the above patents. We filed suit seeking a declaration that we did not and do not infringe either of the two patents listed above, as well as a declaration that the above patents are invalid and unenforceable. We also filed a claim requesting that if the patents are found to be valid, that one of our own employees be named the rightful inventor of the patents. We also requested that monetary damages in an amount equal to the amount that Knowlagent has received from its use of the above patents. On December 31, 2002, Knowlagent filed its answer to our complaint as well as two counterclaims, alleging that we infringe and contribute to the infringement by others of the above patents; Knowlagent seeks both monetary damages and an injunction in connection with its counterclaim. We are currently in the discovery phase of the lawsuit.

        We are not party to any other litigation or other legal proceedings that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

Item 4.    Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

        No matters were submitted to a vote of security holders during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2003.

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PART II

Item 5.    Market for Our Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters.

Common Stock

        Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "WITS". The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sale price per share of the common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market in each of the last eight quarters.

        The closing sale price of our common stock as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market on February 27, 2004 was $12.15.

        Dividend Policy.    We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date. Our Board of Directors determines whether or not we will pay dividends. The Board of Directors considers a number of factors in deciding whether or not to pay dividends, including our earnings, our capital requirements and our financial condition. Currently, the Board of Directors intends to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, does not expect to declare or pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.

        Rule 10b5-1—Trading Plans.    Our Board of Directors approved an amendment to our insider trading policy to permit our officers, directors and other insiders to enter into trading plans or arrangements to sell shares of our common stock complying with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Trading plans provide for sales, subject to price restrictions, daily limits and other contingencies, of shares of our common stock

        Holders.    As of February 27, 2004, we had approximately 178 holders of record of our common stock. We believe that we have more than 3,100 beneficial owners.

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Item 6.    Selected Financial Data

        The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto and with "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" included elsewhere in this report (in thousands except for per share data):

(a)

2003 includes the results of operations of Eyretel beginning March 22, 2003.

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Item 7.    Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

        This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements that are not historical facts but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and industry, our beliefs and assumptions. Words such as "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements that were true at the time made may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect our management's view only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

        The following Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included elsewhere in this report. Investors should carefully review the information contained in this report under the caption "Factors That May Affect Our Future Results and Market Price of Our Stock" beginning on page 30.

Overview

        We provide the contact center market an integrated performance optimization software suite that enables global enterprises to capture customer intelligence and optimize workforce performance. Our solution is comprised of business-driven and/or full-time customer interaction recording, performance analysis and e-learning management applications that are designed to enhance the quality of customer interactions across multiple communications media, including the telephone, e-mail and the Internet. Our software suite allows contact center management to share information gathered in the contact center with departments that touch the customer, as well as executives throughout the organization. Using an integrated business consulting, installation and training methodology, we provide services to support an effective and rapid deployment of our software that enables organizations to maximize their return on an investment in our products and services. Our software is designed to integrate with a variety of third-party software applications, such as customer relationship management ("CRM") and enterprise resource planning applications, and with existing telephony and computer network hardware and software. The majority of our customers are companies with an international presence and one or more contact centers that handle voice and data customer interactions for outbound sales and marketing operations, inbound service/support lines, or both.

        Corporate spending for information technology ("IT") and CRM applications contracted in 2002 and remained relatively flat in 2003. While the economic environment remains challenging, there were indications of an improving economic outlook and IT spending showed signs of improvement during the second half of 2003. The International Data Corporation has predicted that IT spending will increase by 6% to 8% in 2004, and based upon our own analysis of the demand for our products and services, we have forecasted revenue growth in 2004.

        During the second quarter of 2003, we completed the acquisition of Eyretel plc ("Eyretel"), a United Kingdom-based provider of compliance and recording solutions for customer contact centers, for $55.3 million. We acquired Eyretel with the intent to extend our presence in international markets and to expand our product line by adding a full-time compliance recording software solution. During 2003, we successfully integrated the two companies in terms of product offerings and business operations. We began consolidating Eyretel's results on March 22, 2003, the date we assumed majority ownership of Eyretel.

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        We derive product revenue by licensing software and derive services revenue by providing related installation, training, consulting, and maintenance services. In 2003, we also derived approximately $6 million of product revenue by selling hardware to customers. During 2002 and the first half of 2003, the reduction in overall IT spending limited our ability to grow product revenue. However, in 2003 with the benefit of the Eyretel acquisition, we grew product revenue by 39%. To date, eQuality Balance™ and eQuality ContactStore, our business-driven and/or full-time customer interaction recording solutions, have generated the majority of our product revenue and will continue to do so in 2004. However, we believe we have additional product revenue growth opportunities in the following areas:

•

Voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP") products as the movement from traditional telephony to internet protocol ("IP") based communication systems in the contact center accelerates;



•

New product offerings which include our performance analysis and e-learning management applications; and



•

New offerings that leverage our existing solution set marketed toward back-office initiatives for business process monitoring.

        Factors that may influence our ability to grow our product revenue include:

•

Our ability to remain competitive from a technology perspective;



•

Market acceptance of our new products;



•

Our ability to maintain our product pricing integrity; and



•

Our ability to expand our global sales channels

        We intend to maintain our competitive position from a technology perspective through the timely introduction of new products and platforms. We believe our VoIP product offerings are a material growth opportunity as the market transitions to an IP technology environment. In addition to growing our revenues by expanding our product lines, we also intend to grow our product revenue by expanding our global sales channels by continuing to enter into reseller, distributor and similar arrangements with key vendors in the contact center workforce optimization market. During 2003, 31% of total product revenue was derived from the indirect sales channel, compared to 23% in 2002.

        Our services revenue has continued to increase over the past several years. When our customers license our products, they generally purchase installation, training and one year of support services. Therefore, as we generate product revenue, we also generate these related services revenue. In addition, our customers generally renew their maintenance contracts with us each year. Therefore, our maintenance revenue generally increases as our customer base increases. Factors that may influence our ability to grow our services revenue include the growth in product revenue and our ability to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

        We are headquartered in Roswell, Georgia and have other offices throughout the United States. We deliver our products and services internationally through our offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. During 2003, 2002 and 2001, 45%, 25% and 16%, respectively, of our revenue was derived from customers outside the United States. We had 497 full-time employees at December 31, 2003, compared to 309 at December 31, 2002 and 327 at December 31, 2001. As of December 31, 2003, 189 full-time employees were located outside the United States.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

        The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of these financial statements

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requires us to make certain estimates and judgments that affect our reported assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and our related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an on-going basis, we re-evaluate our estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, the collectibility of receivables, accounting for acquisitions, impairment of long-lived assets, income taxes and stock-based compensation. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

        Factors that could affect our future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, lower than anticipated revenue growth from existing customers, our ability to attract new customers, our ability to grow through acquisitions and to successfully integrate acquisitions, the availability and cost of debt and equity financing, technology changes, or a decline in the financial stability of our customers. Negative developments in these or other risk factors could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations. A summary of our critical accounting policies follows.

        Revenue Recognition.    We recognize revenue in accordance with Statement of Position ("SOP") 97-2, Software Revenue Recognition, and SOP 98-9, Modification of SOP 97-2, Software Revenue Recognition, With Respect to Certain Transactions. Revenue is primarily derived from licensing software and providing related services including maintenance. Product revenue, which includes software and hardware, is recognized when persuasive evidence of an agreement exists, delivery of the product has occurred, the fee is fixed or determinable, collection is probable and vendor specific objective evidence ("VSOE") exists to allocate revenue to the undelivered elements of the arrangement. We recognize revenue using the residual method of accounting since our revenues are derived from customer orders that contain multiple element arrangements, including the sale of licensed software, hardware, maintenance, and professional services. We generally have VSOE of fair value for maintenance and professional services, but not for the software and hardware elements of the order. Under the residual method, services revenue, including maintenance and professional services, is deferred at an amount equal to its fair value until those elements are delivered. Consequently, product revenue for the software and hardware may be recognized (i) upon delivery of those products when we have VSOE on the related maintenance and professional services sold and (ii) at an amount representing the difference between the total order amount and the amount deferred. Services revenue includes installation, training, consulting, maintenance and reimbursable travel expenses. Revenue from installation, training and consulting services is recognized upon performance of the related services and is offered and billed as separate elements of contracts. Reimbursable travel expenses revenue is recognized upon incurrence of the related expenses. The functionality of the software and any hardware sold is not dependent on installation and training services. Maintenance is offered as a separate element and the majority of contracts include the right to unspecified upgrades on a when-and-if available basis. Maintenance revenue, which is generally billed in advance, is deferred and recognized ratably over the term of the related contract. Specified upgrades are not typically offered to customers.

        Our revenue recognition policy is significant because our revenues are a key component of our results of operations. We follow very specific and detailed guidelines, discussed above, in measuring revenues; however, certain judgments affect the application of our revenue policy. Further, assessment of collectibility is particularly critical in determining whether or not revenues should be recognized in the current market environment. We record provisions for estimated sales allowances on product and service related revenues at the time the related revenues are recorded. These estimates are based on historical sales and services allowances, analysis of customer credits and other known factors. If future sales credits prove to be greater than the historical data and the estimates we used to calculate these provisions, our revenues could be overstated.

        Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.    We perform ongoing evaluations of our customers and continuously monitor collections and payments and estimate an allowance for doubtful accounts based

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on the aging of the underlying receivables, our historical experience and any specific customer collection issues that we have identified. While such credit losses have historically been within our expectations and we believe appropriate reserves have been established, we cannot assure that we will continue to experience the same credit loss rates that we have experienced in the past or adequately predict future credit losses. If the financial condition of our customers was to deteriorate and resulted in an impairment of their ability to make payments, additional allowances may be required which would result in an additional selling, general and administrative expense in the period such determination is made.

        Accounting for Acquisitions.    Accounting for acquisitions requires management to make judgments and estimates in determining the purchase price, the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired and merger-related and restructuring expenses. In recording the Eyretel acquisition in 2003, management estimates primarily related to the following purchase price components or merger-related restructuring costs:

•

valuation of deferred revenue,



•

valuation of intangible assets and acquired in-process research and development,



•

lease termination costs and fair value estimates,



•

severance expenses for employee terminations,



•

contingent liabilities that existed at the date of acquisition.

        Changes to purchase price estimates, prior to the completion of the final purchase price allocation, are reflected as an adjustment to intangible assets. Subsequent adjustments would be reflected in our results of operations.

        Impairment of Long-lived Assets.    Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and intangible assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. All of our intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis. Useful lives of amortizable intangible assets are reviewed annually with any changes in estimated useful lives being accounted for prospectively over the revised remaining useful life. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized in the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset. The determination of estimated future cash flows, however, requires management to make estimates. Future events and changes in circumstances may require us to record a significant impairment charge in any given period. Impairment testing requires considerable analysis and judgment in determining the results. If other assumptions and estimates were used in our evaluations, the results could differ significantly.

        Accounting for Income Taxes.    We account for income taxes in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards ("SFAS") No. 109, Accounting for Income Taxes, which requires companies to recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates for the effect of temporary differences between the book and tax bases of recorded assets and liabilities. SFAS No. 109 also requires that deferred tax assets be reduced by a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets quarterly by assessing our valuation allowance and by adjusting the amount of such allowance, if necessary. At December 31, 2003, we had net deferred tax liabilities primarily resulting from temporary differences between the book and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and loss and credit carry forwards. We continue to provide a valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets based on an assessment of the likelihood of their realization. In reaching our conclusion, we evaluated

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certain relevant criteria including deferred tax liabilities that can be used to offset deferred tax assets, estimates of future taxable income of appropriate character within the carry forward period available under the tax law, and tax planning strategies. Our judgments regarding future taxable income may change due to market conditions, changes in U.S. or international tax laws, and other factors. These changes, if any, may require material adjustments to these deferred tax assets, resulting in a tax benefit if it is estimated that future taxable income is likely.

        Once the deferred tax asset is realized through the utilization of net operating loss carryforwards to future income, we would expect our provision for income taxes in future periods to reflect an effective tax rate significantly higher than past periods.

        In addition, we have provided for potential tax liabilities due in foreign jurisdictions. Judgment is required in determining our worldwide income tax expense provision. In the ordinary course of conducting a global business enterprise, there are many transactions and calculations undertaken whose ultimate tax outcome cannot be certain. Some of these uncertainties arise as a consequence of transactions and arrangements made among related parties. Although we believe our estimates are reasonable, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. Such differences could have a material impact on our income tax provision and operating results in the period in which such a determination is made.

        Stock-Based Compensation.    With the exception of the deferred stock compensation that we recorded at our initial public offering, we generally do not record compensation expense for options granted to our employees because all options granted under our stock option plans have an exercise price equal to the market value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant. As permitted under SFAS No. 148, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation—Transition and Disclosure, and SFAS No. 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, we have elected to continue to apply the provisions of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees, and have adopted the disclosure requirements of SFAS No. 123. The pro forma disclosures of stock-based compensation include the use of certain input factors in calculating the fair value of stock option grants, some of which require management to make estimates and use judgment. In addition, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is exploring the possibility of modifying generally accepted accounting principles to require us to record stock-based compensation expense in the future.

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Results of Operations

        The table below shows operating data as a percentage of total revenue for the periods indicated:

Revenue

        Total revenue increased 60% in 2003, as compared to 2002, to $108.0 million, due to increases in product and services revenue. The number of installed customer sites grew to 2,341 sites at the end of 2003, an increase from 1,177 sites at the end of 2002. Total revenue increased 8% in 2002, as compared to 2001, to $67.7 million due to an increase in services revenue from the increased sites. The number of installed customer sites grew to 1,177 sites at the end of 2002 from 885 sites at the end of 2001.

        Product revenue, which included software as well as hardware revenue in 2003 only, increased 39% in 2003, as compared to 2002, to $46.2 million, due to increased sales to our international markets and to the sales of hardware. International revenue increased as a result of our acquisition of Eyretel, which was based in the United Kingdom and had a broader international presence than we previously had. Hardware revenue, which was derived exclusively from Eyretel, was $6.3 million in 2003 and none in 2002 and 2001. Because hardware sales negatively impact our gross profit, we intend to continue to transition our customers to third-party hardware suppliers and, as a result, expect hardware revenue to decline over time. Product revenue decreased 16% in 2002, as compared to 2001, to $33.4 million, due to fewer contracts signed by customers during 2002, which we believe was attributable to a reduction in the level of corporate IT spending, partially offset by our increase in the number of product offerings within our software product suite.

        Product revenue as a percentage of total revenue has been decreasing over the previous two years due to increased services revenue, as discussed below. Our product pricing has remained consistent over the previous three years. Product revenue derived from our indirect sales channel increased to

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31% in 2003 from 23% in 2002. Prior to 2002, less than 10% of our revenue was derived from our indirect sales channel. This increase correlates to the increase in international revenue and to continually broadening our target market through the indirect channel. During 2003, 2002 and 2001, 27%, 46% and 47%, respectively, of product revenue was attributable to new customers compared to follow-on revenue from our existing customer base. We receive follow-on revenue from our customers when they purchase additional user licenses or license additional applications at existing sites and when they license our products at new sites. We expect the proportion of new customer product revenue to increase in 2004 as we expect companies to increase their overall IT spending.

        Services revenue, consisting of installation, training, consulting, maintenance revenue and reimbursable travel expenses, increased 80% in 2003, as compared to 2002, to $61.8 million. Our services revenue increased in 2003 primarily due to the services related to new product sales and to customer's renewing their maintenance contracts with us. In addition, during 2003 we continued to experience growth in our business consulting offerings which help our customers better utilize the products they license. Maintenance revenue in 2003 reflects the reduction of Eyretel's deferred maintenance revenue at the acquisition date to fair value as required by the purchase accounting rules. The fair value of the maintenance contracts was less than the contract value paid by our customers for the underlying maintenance contracts. We expect that our customers, upon renewing their maintenance contracts, will continue to pay an amount that is higher than the fair value as determined under the purchase accounting rules. This will result in an increase in maintenance revenue as these contracts renew.

        Services revenue increased 52% in 2002, as compared to 2001, to $34.3 million due to growth in all areas of our services revenue. Installation, training and consulting revenue increased in 2002 due to overall increased services revenue per customer site and the addition of new consulting services offerings. The growth in maintenance revenue in 2002 resulted from the growth in new customer sites under maintenance contracts and the increasing recurring maintenance revenue stream.

        Services revenue as a percentage of total revenue increased in 2003 and 2002 due to the compounding effect of maintenance revenue from both new customer sites and renewals of maintenance contracts from existing customer sites and, to a lesser extent, from the increase in other services revenue. We expect services revenue, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of total revenue, to continue to increase over time due to the compounding effect of renewals of annual maintenance contracts from existing customer sites and increased business consulting services offered around our expanded product suite.

Cost of Revenue

        Total cost of revenue increased 167% to $35.9 million in 2003, as compared to 2002, and 21% to $13.4 million in 2002, as compared to 2001. Expressed as a percent of revenue, gross profit margins decreased to 67% in 2003 and 80% in 2002 from 82% in 2001. Excluding hardware cost of sales, which was a new cost in 2003 due to the acquisition of Eyretel, gross profit margin was 70% in 2003. The decline in gross profit margin in 2003 was mainly attributable to the amortization of certain intangible assets resulting from the Eyretel acquisition. The decrease in gross profit margin in 2002 was attributable to a greater percentage of revenue in 2002 generated from services, which has a lower profit margin than product revenue. We expect the decline in future hardware sales, the diminishing impact of the fair value adjustment to maintenance revenue, and the implementation of improved services methodologies will improve our gross profit margin in the near term. However, we would also expect that these gross profit margin improvements would be offset as lower margin services revenue represents a greater percentage of our total revenue in the future.

        Cost of product revenue primarily consists of royalties due to third parties, amortization of acquired technology, hardware and packaging costs. Cost of product revenue increased 923% to $11.6

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million in 2003, as compared to 2002, due to the cost of hardware in the amount of $5.7 million and the amortization of intangible assets in the amount of $4.1 million in 2003, none of which existed in 2002 or 2001. We will continue to incur this amortization expense but expect the cost of hardware to decline as we reduce the amount of hardware sold. Cost of product revenue in 2002 increased 88%, as compared to 2001, to $1.1 million due to license fees associated with third-party software components that are embedded in our software applications. As we develop upgrades of our existing products and add new offerings to our product suite we often embed third-party technology into our software, which will increase the cost of product revenue in the future.

        Cost of services revenue for installation, training, consulting and maintenance services include personnel costs and related expenses and allocated overhead. Personnel costs include salaries, bonuses and benefits. Cost of services revenue in 2003 increased 98%, as compared to 2002, to $24.3 million due to an increase in the number of employees engaged in installation, training, consulting and customer maintenance services primarily due to the Eyretel acquisition. Cost of services revenue as a percentage of services revenue increased to 39% in 2003 from 36% in 2002. This percentage increase was primarily due to the impact of the fair value adjustment to Eyretel's deferred services revenue on the purchase date. Cost of services revenue increased 18%, as compared to 2001, to $12.3 million in 2002 primarily due to an increase in the number of employees and contractors engaged in consulting and customer maintenance services. Cost of services revenue as a percentage of services revenue decreased to 36% in 2002 from 46% in 2001. This improvement was due primarily to the increased services revenue per customer site as well as improved methodologies in the consulting and maintenance services group, combined with an increase in consulting and maintenance revenue.

        We expect that the cost of services revenue, as a percentage of services revenue, will decrease as the impact of Eyretel's fair market adjustment decreases and as renewal maintenance revenue is reflected in income at the actual invoice amount, rather than the lower amount recorded due to purchase accounting requirements. In addition, we anticipate that our services margins will improve due to the services methodology being implemented throughout our entire international organization during 2004. We expect our customer service organization to continue to grow over time and, therefore, we anticipate that our cost of services revenue, in absolute dollars, will increase as we grow our customer base.

Operating Expenses

        Selling, General and Administrative.    Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, sales commissions, marketing programs, provisions for bad debt expense, and the amortization of certain intangible assets. SG&A expense increased 48% in 2003 to $60.0 million due to the increased size of our company after the Eyretel acquisition and due to $1.8 million of amortization of acquired intangible assets. Bad debt expense also increased by $2.2 million in 2003, as compared to 2002, primarily due to an increase in exposure from international receivables. As the percentage of our international revenue increases, we expect our bad debt expense to also increase. SG&A expense remained fairly constant in 2002, as compared to 2001, at $40.4 million, but decreased as a percentage of total revenue due to a reduction in certain discretionary marketing spending, certain cost saving measures implemented during 2002 and a decrease in the provision for bad debt expense in 2002 resulting from collections in 2002 that were significantly reserved for during 2001. We expect SG&A expense to remain relatively constant in the near future as some additional operating efficiencies will be offset by an increase in internal and third-party costs associated with compliance with the rules and regulations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

        Research and Development.    Research and development ("R&D") expenses consist primarily of personnel and consulting costs to support product development, and allocated overhead. R&D costs are generally expensed as incurred. Costs incurred subsequent to establishing technological feasibility are capitalized and amortized over their estimated useful lives. Historically, software development costs

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incurred after technological feasibility has been established have not been material and, therefore, have been charged to expense. During 2003, we capitalized $0.6 million of third-party costs in connection with the adaptation of existing products and technologies for new applications. R&D expenses increased 20%, as compared to 2002, to $18.0 million in 2003 and 11%, as compared to 2001, to $15.1 million in 2002 due primarily to an increased number of employees and consultants engaged in research and development activities. We anticipate R&D expenses to remain constant in 2004 as compared to 2003.

        Merger-related and Restructuring Costs.    We incurred merger-related and restructuring costs of $7.9 million during 2003. These merger-related costs included $0.9 million for a sterling-based forward exchange contract to hedge the dollar cost of the acquisition, $3.8 million of expenses related to integrating Eyretel's software products, training personnel on products acquired and consolidating the operations of Eyretel with the Company, $0.7 million of facilities costs to consolidate Witness' facilities, $1.5 million of expenses related to employee severance and benefits, and $1.0 million relating to the partial accrual of a bonus payable to Eyretel's former Chief Executive Officer, now our Chief Operating Officer ("COO"). Our Board of Directors agreed to pay a bonus of £1.0 million (or $1.8 million as of December 31, 2003) to our COO in connection with the Eyretel acquisition and subsequent integration. This bonus is payable in two installments due March 2004 and March 2005 but may be payable in advance of these dates under certain circumstances, such as a change of control. We expect merger-related activities to be substantially completed by the end of the first quarter of 2004. However, we will continue to accrue the COO bonus over the related service period through the first quarter of 2005.

        Acquired In-Process Research and Development and Related Charges.    In 2003, we estimated that $7.8 million of the purchase price of Eyretel represented acquired in-process research and development ("IPR&D") that had not yet reached technological feasibility as defined by SFAS No. 86, Accounting for the Cost of Computer Software to Be Sold, Leased or Otherwise Marketed, and had no alternative future use. Accordingly, these amounts were immediately charged to expense upon consummation of the acquisition. The value of the IPR&D was calculated with the assistance of an independent third-party by utilizing a discounted cash flow methodology, focusing on the income-producing capabilities of the in-process technologies and taking into consideration: stage of completion; complexity of work to date and to complete; anticipated product development and introduction schedules; forecasted product sales cycles; internal and external risk factors; revenue and operating expense estimates; contributory asset charges, and costs already incurred and the expected costs to complete.

        During 2001, we recorded charges totaling $4.8 million for IPR&D acquired from various third parties. At the date of these transactions, the acquired IPR&D technologies had not progressed to a stage where they met technological feasibility and had no alternative future uses. At the time of each transaction, we estimated the stage of completion of the project and the time and resources required to complete the project by creating a product design plan and evaluating the progress of the acquired technology towards this plan. A significant amount of uncertainty existed as to our ability to complete the development projects within a timeframe acceptable to the market, and failure to do so would have caused our competitive position in the market to erode. Additionally, the amount of development required to enable the acquired technology to integrate with our primary product was estimated to be significant, which increased the uncertainty surrounding its successful development. These projects were successfully completed by June 30, 2002.

Interest and Other Income, Net

        Interest and other income, net consists primarily of interest earned on funds available for investment, net of foreign currency exchange gains and losses. Interest and other income, net decreased 17%, as compared to 2002, to $1.3 million in 2003 due to lower yields and lower investment balances as a result of the acquisition of Eyretel which was paid for in cash. Interest and other income, net decreased 45%, as compared to 2001, to $1.6 million in 2002 due to lower yields. We expect that interest and other income, net will increase slightly in 2004 in concert with interest rates.

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Provision for Income Taxes

        We recorded a provision for foreign income tax in 2003, a provision for federal alternative minimum tax and foreign income tax in 2002, and a provision for state income tax, federal alternative minimum tax and foreign income tax in 2001. Deferred tax assets are normally recognized for deductible temporary differences and net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. We have recorded a full valuation allowance against deferred tax assets generated as a result of net operating loss carryforwards aggregating $18.2 million for U.S. tax purposes and $37.9 million for foreign tax purposes at December 31, 2003, as the future realization of the tax benefits is not currently considered more likely than not.

Quarterly Results of Operations

        The following tables present unaudited quarterly statements of operations data for each of the last eight quarters in the period ended December 31, 2003, as well as the percentage of total revenue represented by each item. The information has been derived from our unaudited consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared on substantially the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements contained in this report. The unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments that we consider to be necessary to present fairly this information when read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this report. The results of operations for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.

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        The increase in total revenue, beginning in the second quarter of 2003, reflects the consolidation of Eyretel, which was acquired in March 2003. Our second and fourth quarters generally have higher product revenue than the first and third quarters due to our customers' budgeting and spending patterns. Product revenue includes hardware sales of $2.0 million, $1.0 million and $3.3 million in the fourth, third and second quarters of 2003, respectively. During 2002 and much of 2003, we believe product revenue was affected by a reduction in the level of corporate IT spending. Services revenue, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of total revenue, generally increased during 2002 and 2003 due to the compounding effect of maintenance renewals and the expansion of our service offerings. We expect that services revenue will continue to grow relative to license revenue throughout 2004. Gross profit margins decreased from quarter-to-quarter due to hardware costs and amortization of intangibles in 2003, as well as the increased percentage of total revenue derived from services in 2003 and 2002.

        Total operating expenses in 2003, excluding merger-related and restructuring costs and acquired IPR&D, decreased as a percentage of total revenue, as we were able to realize planned synergies from the Eyretel acquisition in addition to implementing certain cost saving measures throughout the year.

        Our quarterly operating results, particularly product revenues, have experienced significant fluctuations in the past and we expect that this pattern will continue in the future. For instance, quarterly results may fluctuate based on the timing of sales due to customer calendar-year budgeting cycles, slow summer purchasing patterns and compensation policies that tend to compensate sales personnel, typically in the latter half of the year, for achieving annual quotas. As a result of the foregoing and other factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of results are not necessarily meaningful, and such comparisons should not be relied upon as indications of future performance.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

        We used $4.1 million in cash from operating activities in 2003, which was largely due to costs associated with our acquisition of Eyretel. We paid $6.4 million of the $7.9 million in merger-related and restructuring costs during 2003. In 2004, we expect to pay approximately $5.7 million in additional accrued merger-related and restructuring costs. Following the acquisition, our accounts receivable from international customers increased significantly. Our accounts receivable days sales outstanding ("DSO") increased from 70 days at December 31, 2002 to 85 days at December 31, 2003. We expect our DSO to remain in the mid-80s range in the future as we derive a greater proportion of our revenue from international operations, where payment is typically slower than in the United States. We generated $8.9 million in cash flows from operating activities in 2002 compared to cash used in operating activities of $(0.5) million in 2001. This increase in cash flow from operations in 2002 was due primarily to the collection of accounts receivable and a reduction in operating expenses as a percentage of total revenue.

        Net cash flows used in investing activities in 2003 was $(7.1) million which included the acquisition of Eyretel for $21.4 million (net of $38.8 million in cash held by Eyretel) and certain other assets purchased for $2.4 million from a software and services company focused on the business intelligence marketplace. In addition, in 2003 cash was provided by the sale of investments securities of $26.5 million to initially fund the Eyretel acquisition, while $12.9 million has since been reinvested. Net cash flows provided by investing activities was $5.5 million in 2002 compared to cash used in investing activities of ($7.4) million in 2001. This increase was primarily due to the release of our restricted cash in 2002 and the purchase of IPR&D in 2001. Capital expenditures of $2.2 million, $3.2 million and $3.3 million in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively, were primarily for computer equipment and leasehold improvements.

        Net cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities was $1.3 million, $(1.1) million and $1.6 million in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. Generally, since 2001, funds have been provided by the exercise of stock options and the purchase of shares under the employee stock purchase plan. In 2002 and continuing into the first quarter of 2003, we repurchased $3.1 million of our common stock. Up to $10 million of stock repurchases have been authorized, but we do not currently anticipate making any further repurchases at this time.

        At December 31, 2003, we had $40.9 million in total cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments and $29.3 million in working capital. In addition, we had $11.7 million available under a line of credit, which was net of outstanding letters of credit of $3.3 million. The letters of credit secure the lease on the corporate headquarters facility and have decreasing schedules that ultimately expire in 2007. At our election, borrowings under the line of credit bear interest at the bank's prime rate, or LIBOR plus 300 basis points and are limited to 85% of eligible accounts receivable, as defined by the agreement. The revolving line of credit is secured by all of our assets and requires compliance with various covenants, including liquidity ratios and tangible net worth requirements, among others. In May 2003, we amended the amount of our tangible net worth requirement due to the effect of the Eyretel acquisition.

        We currently expect to have total capital expenditures of approximately $1.8 million in 2004. We anticipate that our capital expenditures will increase over the next several years as we expand our facilities and acquire equipment to support the expansion of our research and development activities and internal management information systems.

        We anticipate that operating expenses and capital expenditures will continue to be a material use of our cash resources. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents are sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months. Excess cash and investments, plus the availability under our line of credit, may be used to fund future merger or acquisition transactions. If cash generated from operations is insufficient to satisfy our

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liquidity requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or establish new financing arrangements. The sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. We cannot assure that any financing arrangements will be available in sufficient amounts or on acceptable terms.

        Market risk represents the risk of loss that may affect us due to adverse changes in financial market prices and rates. Our market risk exposure is primarily fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and interest rates. Except for the hedge transaction entered into in connection with the Eyretel acquisition, we have not entered into derivative or hedging transactions to manage risk in connection with such fluctuations. During 2003, due to the relative strength of foreign currencies compared to the U.S. dollar, foreign currency translations contributed $4.1 million to our December 31, 2003 cash balance as a result of our subsidiaries' cash denominated in foreign currencies. As of December 31, 2002 and 2001, foreign currencies impacted cash by $(0.1) million in each year.

        The majority of our operations have historically been in the United States and, accordingly, the majority of our transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars. However, with the acquisition of Eyretel and along with our existing foreign-based operations, where transactions may be denominated in foreign currencies, we are subject to market risk with respect to fluctuations in the relative value of currencies. Currently, we have offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom and conduct transactions in either the local currency of the location or U.S. dollars. We are exposed to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates because we translate foreign currencies into U.S. dollars for reporting purposes. Historically, these risks have been minimal, but as our international operations continue to grow, adverse currency fluctuations could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. Net foreign exchange gains and (losses) were $0.4 million, $0, and $(0.1) million in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively.

        Exposure to market rate risk for changes in interest rates relates to our investment portfolio. Our investments are made with capital preservation and liquidity as our primary objectives. We generally hold only high-grade investments such as commercial paper, corporate bonds and U.S. government agency securities to maturity. To reduce our balance sheet exposure to variations in asset values, our investment policy guidelines specify that we invest in the highest investment grade securities and maintain a weighted average maturity of nine months for our entire portfolio. Our investment portfolio may contain securities with maturities of up to three years. While this minimizes our interest rate risk to asset values, our results are exposed to fluctuations in interest income due to changes in market rates. In order to acquire the shares of Eyretel, we converted our investment portfolio to cash in February 2003, realizing a gain of $0.2 million.

Contractual Obligations and Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

        As of December 31, 2003, our contractual cash obligations associated with lease obligations, operational restructuring and merger-related costs are as follows (in thousands):

        As of December 31, 2003, we did not have any other contractual commitments or off-balance sheet arrangements.

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Transactions with Related Parties

        Tom Crotty, a member of our Board of Directors, is a managing member of Battery Partners IV LLC, the general partner of Battery Ventures IV, and a managing member of Battery Partners VI LLC, the general partner of Battery Ventures VI. Battery Ventures IV held more than 5% of our stock at December 31, 2003 and holds less than 1% of our stock at the date of this report. Our Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") is a limited partner in Battery Ventures VI, L.P.

        During 2002, notes receivable due from certain officers totaling $0.5 million were satisfied by delivering, at current fair market value, shares of our common stock, which such employees had held for longer than six months. In February 2002, the notes receivable from our CEO totaling $1.8 million were refinanced in part with a full recourse note (the "2002 Note") for approximately $1.5 million with floating monthly interest of 325 basis points over the Federal Funds Rate. The 2002 Note was payable in three equal payments of principal and interest due annually through February 2005. The balance was satisfied in full during 2003 by the CEO delivering either cash or, at current fair market value, shares of our common stock, which he had held for more than six months.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

        In January 2003, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued FASB Interpretation ("FIN") No. 46, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities. FIN 46 requires companies to evaluate variable interest entities for specific characteristics to determine whether additional consolidation and disclosure requirements apply. FIN 46 is immediately applicable for variable interest entities created after January 31, 2003, and applies to the first fiscal year or interim period beginning after June 15, 2003 for variable interest entities acquired prior to February 1, 2003. The adoption of FIN 46 did not have any impact on our financial statements. In December 2003, the FASB revised FIN 46 to exempt certain entities from its requirements and to clarify certain issues arising during the implementation of FIN 46. The adoption of this revised interpretation in the first quarter of 2004 is not expected to have any impact on our consolidated financial statements.

        In May 2003, the FASB issued SFAS No. 150, Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Characteristics of both Liabilities and Equity. SFAS No. 150 establishes standards for the classification and measurement of certain financial instruments with characteristics of both liabilities and equity. SFAS No. 150 also includes required disclosures for financial instruments within its scope. SFAS No. 150 was effective for instruments entered into or modified after May 31, 2003 and otherwise was effective as of the beginning of the first interim period beginning after June 15, 2003. The adoption of SFAS No. 150 did not have any impact on our financial statements.

        Effective January 1, 2003, we adopted SFAS No. 143, Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations, which addresses financial accounting and reporting for obligations associated with the retirement of tangible long-lived assets and the associated asset retirement costs. The adoption of SFAS No. 143 did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Effective January 1, 2003, we adopted FIN 45, Guarantor's Accounting and Disclosure Requirements for Guarantees, Including Indirect Guarantees of Indebtedness of Others, which clarifies disclosure and recognition/measurement requirements related to certain guarantees. The adoption of FIN 45 did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Effective January 1, 2003, we adopted SFAS No. 145, Rescission of FASB Statements No. 4, 44, and 64, Amendment of FASB Statement No. 13, and Technical Corrections. SFAS No. 145 amends existing guidance on reporting gains and losses on the extinguishment of debt to prohibit the classification of the gain or loss as extraordinary, as the use of such extinguishments have become part of the risk management strategy of many companies. SFAS No. 145 also amends SFAS No. 13, Accounting for Leases, to require sale-leaseback accounting for certain lease modifications that have economic effects

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similar to sale-leaseback transactions. The adoption of SFAS No. 145 did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Effective January 1, 2003, we adopted SFAS No. 146, Accounting for Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities. SFAS No. 146 addresses financial accounting and reporting for costs associated with exit or disposal activities and nullifies EITF Issue No. 94-3, Liability Recognition for Certain Employee Termination Benefits and Other Costs to Exit an Activity. In connection with the Eyretel acquisition in March 2003, we executed a restructuring plan, which is being accounted for pursuant to SFAS No. 146 (see Note 5).

        Effective July 1, 2003, we prospectively adopted SFAS No. 149, Amendment of Statement 133 on Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities. SFAS No. 149 amends SFAS No. 133 to provide clarification on the financial accounting and reporting of derivative instruments and hedging activities and requires contracts with similar characteristics to be accounted for on a comparable basis. The adoption of SFAS No. 149 did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Effective July 1, 2003, we prospectively adopted EITF No. 00-21, Accounting for Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables, and EITF No. 03-05, Applicability of AICPA SOP 97-2 to Non Software Deliverables in an Arrangement Containing More Than Incidental Software. The consensus opinion in EITF No. 03-05 clarifies the guidance in EITF No. 00-21. The transition provisions allow either prospective application or a cumulative effect adjustment upon adoption. The adoption of EITF Nos. 00-21 and 03-05 did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

        Effective January 1, 2003, we adopted Emerging Issues Task Force ("EITF") No. 03-1, The Meaning of Other-Than-Temporary Impairment and Its Application to Certain Investments. EITF No. 03-1 provides guidance on other-than-temporary impairment and its application to debt and equity securities. The requirement applies to investments in debt and marketable securities that are accounted for under SFAS No. 115. The adoption of EITF No. 03-1 did not have a material effect on our financial statements.

Factors That May Affect Our Future Results and Market Price of Our Stock.

        Our future operating results may vary substantially from period to period. The price of our common stock will fluctuate in the future, and an investment in our common stock is subject to a variety of risks, including, but not limited to, the specific risks identified below. Inevitably, some investors in our securities will experience gains while others will experience losses depending on the prices at which they purchase and sell our securities. Prospective and existing investors are strongly urged to carefully consider the various cautionary statements and risks set forth in this report and the other documents we file with the SEC.

        Important factors currently known to our management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include disclosures contained in this report and the other documents we file with the SEC, as well as the following risks:

Our products have a long sales cycle that makes it difficult to plan our expenses and forecast our results.

        Although it typically takes three to nine months from the time we qualify a sales lead until we sign a contract with the customer, we occasionally experience a longer sales cycle. We expect that this will continue to be the case in future periods. It is therefore difficult to predict the quarter in which a particular sale will occur. If our sales cycle unexpectedly lengthens for one or more large orders or a significant number of small orders, it would delay the timing of our revenue, but not the timing of our corresponding expenditures. Lengthening our sales cycle could also increase the total cost of a sale due to additional employment costs allocable to the sale. This could harm our ability to meet investor

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expectations for a given quarter. Our customers' decisions regarding their purchase of our products and services is relatively long due to several factors, including:

•

the complex nature of our products;



•

our need to educate potential customers about the uses and benefits of our products;



•

competition for a shrinking amount of corporate resources because of general economic conditions;



•

the investment of financial and other resources required by customers to purchase and implement our products;



•

customers' budget cycles and operating activities, which affect the timing of their purchases;



•

the competitive evaluation and internal approval process many of our customers undertake before purchasing our products and services; and



•

delayed purchases due to announcements or planned introductions of new products or product enhancements by us or our competitors.

If the market in which we sell our products and services deteriorates as a result of adverse economic conditions, it will have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

        The market for customer relationship management software, including software that records and analyzes customer interactions, is still emerging. Our success depends on the use and acceptance of our software and services by existing and prospective customers. In addition, demand for our software remains uncertain because our existing and potential customers may:

•

not understand the benefits of using customer relationship management software generally or, more specifically, software which records and analyzes the interactions between a business and its customers;



•

not achieve favorable results using our software;



•

experience technical difficulty in implementing our software;



•

use alternative methods such as online self-help to solve the same business problems our software is intended to address; or



•

close contact centers.

We may continue to experience losses from operations in the future.

        With the exception of the first and second quarters of 2002, in which we achieved a quarterly operating profit, we have experienced quarterly losses from operations. We incurred losses in 2003, the third and fourth quarters of 2002 and substantial losses before 2002. We may continue to suffer losses in the future. As a result of our operating losses, we had an accumulated deficit of $48.5 million as of December 31, 2003. In addition, we expect to continue to devote substantial resources to research and development, professional services, and sales and marketing activities. As a result, we will need to generate significant revenue to achieve profitability in any future period. If we do not achieve profitability from operations, or if we do not remain profitable, we may need to obtain additional financing. Any needed financing may not be available to us from sources upon which we have historically relied, or from any source, on acceptable terms, if at all. Once profitability is achieved, if we fail to remain profitable, it will materially and adversely affect the market price of our stock.

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Our quarterly revenue, expenses and operating results have fluctuated and are likely to continue to fluctuate, which may cause our stock price to decline.

        Our quarterly revenue, expenses and operating results are difficult to predict and could vary significantly from period to period. In particular, we typically derive a significant portion of our software product revenue in each quarter from a small number of relatively large orders. A delay in the recognition of revenue from one of these orders may cause our results of operations during a quarter to be lower than we or investors expect. The delay or failure to close anticipated sales in a particular quarter could reduce our revenue in that quarter and subsequent quarters over which revenue for the sale could be recognized. In addition, because our revenue from installation, maintenance and training services largely correlates with our product revenue, a decline in product revenue could also cause a decline in our services revenue in the same quarter or in subsequent quarters. Our revenue, expenses and operating results may vary significantly in response to the risk factors described in this section, as well as the following factors, some of which are beyond our control:

•

a decrease in demand for our software, or more generally, for products that record and analyze the interactions between a business and its customers and/or provide electronic learning, due to either purchasing trends or general economic conditions;



•

announcements or introductions of new products and services by our competitors;



•

pricing for competitive products;



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the timely payment of fees due to us by our customers;



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our ability to develop, market and manage new software, software enhancements and services that our customers require in a timely manner;



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the deferral of orders for our software or delays in the installation of our software from one quarter to a later quarter;



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our ability to successfully complete the integration of the business and operations of Eyretel plc and any other businesses we may acquire in the future;



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our ability to sell Eyretel's software products, and successfully transitioning the sale and services of Eyretel's related hardware products to an independent third party provider;



•

the amount of financial resources we have to spend to improve our software, services and operations;



•

delays in installations of our software;



•

the increasing length of sales and implementation cycles for our software;



•

the mix of revenue generated by software product licenses and related services;



•

spending limitations imposed on our customers or potential customers because of changes in their business, financial condition and outlook, general economic conditions and decreased capital spending budgets, including limitations imposed after the sales cycle has begun but before a sale is consummated;



•

the timing and size of our capital expenditures and changes in our working capital;



•

the failure of our customers to renew their annual maintenance, either because they consolidate their contact centers or they stop using our product company-wide;



•

the economic conditions of the companies within the financial services and telecommunications industry verticals into which we have historically sold, and expect to continue to sell, our software;

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•

the ability of our reseller partners to successfully resell our software; and



•

our ability to sell our products in new geographic markets.

        Due to the foregoing factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results may not be a good indication of our future performance, and you should not rely on them to predict our future performance or the future performance of our stock price. If our future revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock would likely decline.

If we fail to manage and expand our international operations, we may be unable to reach or maintain our desired levels of revenue or profitability.

        We derived $48.2 million, $17.1 million and $9.9 million in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively, from customers outside the United States, principally in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Hong Kong/Greater China, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India and Mexico. During 2003, we completed the purchase of Eyretel. Through this acquisition, we significantly expanded our operations outside of North America. We intend to continue to expand our international operations through additional acquisitions, internal business expansion and strategic business relationships. Our operations outside of the United States at December 31, 2003 consisted of 189 dedicated employees located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. We have also established relationships with a number of international resellers.

        We intend to continue to analyze opportunities to expand our operations into other international markets. Our plans to expand internationally and our operations in new markets may be adversely affected by a number of risks, including:

•

limited development of an international market for our software and services;



•

expanding and training our international sales force and support operations;



•

expenses associated with customizing products for multiple countries;



•

political and economic instability;



•

potentially adverse tax consequences of operating in foreign countries;



•

longer payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable; and



•

multiple, conflicting and changing laws and regulations governing intellectual property, call monitoring and the recording of employees and customers.

        As we further expand our operations outside the United States, we will also face new competitors and competitive environments. In addition to the risks associated with our domestic competitors, foreign competitors may pose an even greater risk, as they may possess a better understanding of their local markets and better working relationships with local infrastructure providers and others. In particular, because telephone protocols and standards are unique to each country, local competitors will have more experience with, and may have a competitive advantage in, these markets. We may not be able to obtain similar levels of local knowledge or similar relationships in foreign markets, which could place us at a significant competitive disadvantage. In addition, we have limited experience in developing local language versions of our products or in marketing our products to international customers. We may not be able to successfully translate, market, sell, and deliver our products internationally.

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If we do not continue to expand the distribution of our products through direct and indirect sales channels, we may be unable to expand our market share or increase our revenue.

        To expand our market share and revenue, attract new customers and increase sales to existing customers, we may need to expand our direct sales force by hiring additional sales personnel and management and increase the number of relationships we have with companies that provide us with customer referrals or leads for new business. Historically, it has taken us up to six months to train new sales personnel before they reach an acceptable level of productivity. We have also experienced difficulty in finding new sales personnel with experience in computer and telephone integration technologies. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to find an adequate number of new sales personnel meeting our specific needs. If the personnel we hire are less qualified than we expect, it may take us more time to train them before they reach an acceptable level of productivity, which could increase our costs and delay our expansion efforts.

        We have increased the amount of revenue from our indirect sales channel by increasing the number and scope of relationships with companies that resell our software. Product revenue from our indirect sales channel, which consists of select resellers and a variety of strategic marketing alliances, accounted for approximately 31% and 23% of total product revenue in 2003 and 2002, respectively. We expect revenue from our indirect sales channel and, accordingly, our dependence on resellers and strategic marketing alliances, to continue to increase as we establish more relationships with companies to resell our software worldwide. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain productive relationships with our current partners, or that we will be able to establish similar relationships with additional resellers on a timely basis, or at all. In addition, we cannot be certain that these distribution partners will devote adequate resources to selling our software and services. If we are unable to maintain and expand our direct sales force and indirect distribution channels, we will not be able to maintain this revenue source and our business will suffer.

Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could affect our financial results.

        We may experience gains and losses resulting from fluctuations in currency exchange rates for which hedging activities may not adequately protect us. Moreover, exchange rate risks can have an adverse effect on our ability to sell our products in foreign markets. Where we sell our products in U.S. dollars, our sales could be affected adversely by declines in foreign currencies relative to the dollar, thereby making our products more expensive in local currencies. Where we sell our products in local currencies, we could be competitively unable to increase our prices to reflect fluctuations in the exchange rates. We cannot predict accurately the impact that future exchange rate fluctuations may have on our results.

We face intense competition that could adversely affect our revenue, profitability and market share.

        The market for products that record customer interactions, analyze performance and/or provide electronic learning is intensely competitive, evolving and is subject to rapid changes in technology. We believe our principal competitors include, but are not limited to:

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quality monitoring suppliers to the contact center industry;



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traditional call-logging vendors;



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electronic learning vendors;



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business analytics vendors;



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large telecom solution providers;



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systems integrators and consulting firms; and



•

new, larger and more established entities that may acquire, invest in or form joint ventures with providers of recording or performance enhancing software solutions.

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        Many of our current and potential competitors have longer operating histories, more established business relationships, larger customer bases, a broader range of products and services, greater name recognition and substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, personnel, management, service, support and other resources than we do. As a result, our current and potential competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, take better advantage of acquisitions and other opportunities, devote greater resources to marketing and selling their products and services and adopt more aggressive pricing policies. These competitors may distinguish themselves from us on the basis of their longer operating histories and ability to withstand difficult economic conditions. Our competitors may also be able to offer products at lower prices or with other incentives that we cannot match.

        In addition, many of our competitors market their products through resellers and companies that integrate their technology and products with those of the competitor. These resellers and technology partners of our competitors often have strong business relationships with our customers and potential customers. For example, some of our competitors have better and more long standing relationships with telephone switch vendors. Our competitors may use these business relationships to market and sell their products and compete for customers with us. In addition, our competitors may offer or develop products and services that are superior to ours. It is also possible that resellers or technology partners, such as certain telephone switch vendors, may acquire one or more of our competitors, which would further solidify their business relationships.

        We have developed, and intend to continue to develop, relationships with companies that resell our software and companies that provide us with customer referrals or leads, some of which may become competitors. We engage in joint marketing and sales efforts with our resellers, and rely on them for recommendations of our software during the evaluation stage of the purchase process. When we enter into agreements with resellers, the agreements are not exclusive and may ordinarily be terminated by either party. Some of the resellers have similar, and often more established, relationships with our competitors, and may recommend the products and services of our competitors to customers instead of our software and services. In addition, through their relationships with us, the resellers could learn about our software and the market for our software and services and could develop and sell competing products and services. As a result, our relationships with resellers could lead to increased competition for us.

        We expect that competition will increase as other established and emerging companies enter our market and as new products, services and technologies are introduced. Increased competition may result in price reductions, lower gross margins and loss of our market share, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely heavily on sales of our eQuality Balance, eQuality Evaluation and eQuality ContactStore products.

        Our financial performance has depended, and will continue to depend, on our ability to develop and maintain market acceptance of our eQuality Balance, eQuality Evaluation and eQuality ContactStore products and new and enhanced versions of them. Historically, most of our product revenue has been derived from the sale of our eQuality Balance and eQuality Evaluation software, and most of Eyretel's product revenue was derived from the sale of eQuality ContactStore. We expect revenue from these products to continue to account for most of our revenue for the foreseeable future. As a result, factors that adversely affect the pricing of or demand for these products, such as competitive pressures, technological change or evolution in customer preferences, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Many of these factors are beyond our control and difficult to predict.

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If we fail to develop new software or improve our existing software to meet or adapt to the changing needs and standards of our target market, sales of our software and services may decline.

        The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology and evolving industry standards. Our future success depends upon our ability to develop and introduce new software and software enhancements which meet the needs of companies seeking to record and analyze their interactions with customers and/or deliver electronic learning to their employees. To achieve increased market acceptance of our software and services, we must, among other things, continue to:

•

improve our existing software and introduce new software solutions;



•

incorporate new technology into our software and services on a timely and cost-effective basis;



•

keep pace with the products and services of our competitors;



•

satisfy the changing requirements of our current and potential customers;



•

improve the effectiveness of our software, particularly in installations involving very large databases with a significant number of simultaneous users;



•

enhance our software's ease of administration;



•

improve our software's ability to extract data from existing software systems; and



•

adapt to rapidly changing computer operating system, database and software platform standards and Internet technology.

        Substantial product development expenditures and product planning are required to keep pace and ensure compatibility with new technology in our industry. If we fail to develop and introduce new software and enhancements for our existing software, our software and services may not achieve market acceptance and we may be unable to attract new customers.

Our products may fail to perform properly and contain defects, which may cause us to incur additional expenses or result in the loss of customers.

        Our software is used in a complex operating environment that requires its integration with computer and telephone networks and other business software applications. Furthermore, the hardware, software and network systems generally used in conjunction with our software, particularly telephone standards and protocols, change rapidly. The evolution of these standards may cause our products to function slowly or improperly. Poor product performance may necessitate redevelopment of our product or other costly reengineering measures which may divert our management and product development resources and funds. Due to the large number of, and variations in, computer and telephone network systems and applications, as well as the rapid changes in these products, our testing process may be unable to duplicate all possible environments in which our software is expected to perform. Any errors or defects that are discovered after we release new or enhanced software could cause us to lose revenue and customers, delay the market acceptance of our software, damage our customer relationships and reputation and increase our service and warranty costs. All of these problems could be exacerbated as we move our products to the latest software technologies and platforms.

If our advanced compliance recording applications fail to record 100% of our customers' interactions, we may be subject to liability and our reputation may be harmed.

        Through our acquisition of Eyretel, we have extended our performance optimization suite to include advanced compliance recording applications and related services. Many of our customers acquired through the Eyretel acquisition use these applications to record and store recordings of interactions to provide back-up and verification of transactions and to guard against risks posed by lost

36

or misinterpreted voice communications. These customers rely on our applications to record, store and retrieve voice data in a timely, reliable and efficient manner. If our applications fail to record 100% of our customers' interactions or our customers are unable to retrieve the recordings when necessary, we may be subject to liability and our reputation may be harmed. Although we attempt to limit any potential exposure through our license agreements for these applications, we cannot guarantee that we will eliminate or successfully limit our liability for any failure of our applications.

If we are unable to maintain the security of our systems, our business, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.

        The occurrence or perception of security breaches in the operation of our business or by third parties using our products could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Our customers use our products to compile and analyze highly sensitive or confidential information. We may come into contact with such information or data when we perform support or maintenance functions for our customers. While we have internal policies and procedures for employees in connection with performing these functions, the perception that any of our employees has improperly handled sensitive information of a customer or a customer's customer could negatively impact our business. If, in handling this information, we fail to comply with our privacy policies or privacy and security laws, we could incur civil liability to government agencies, customers and individuals whose privacy is compromised. If personal information is received or used from sources outside the U.S., we could be subject to civil, administrative or criminal liability under the laws of other countries. In addition, while we implement sophisticated security measures, third parties may attempt to breach our security or inappropriately use our products through computer viruses, electronic break-ins and other disruptions. If successful, confidential information, including passwords, financial information, or other personal information may be improperly obtained and we may be subject to lawsuits and other liability. Any internal or external security breaches could harm our reputation, and even the perception of security risks, whether or not valid, could inhibit market acceptance of our products.

Certain of our contracts contain provisions that are unfavorable to us.

        Certain of our contracts contain provisions that expose us to risks of loss that, in some cases, are not limited to amounts received under those contracts. If we fail to perform to the standards required by these contracts, we could be subject to additional liability and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to protect our intellectual property, third parties may use our technology for their own benefit.

        Our success depends to a significant degree upon the legal protection of our software and other proprietary technology rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with employees and third parties to establish and protect our proprietary rights. These measures may not be sufficient to protect our proprietary rights, and we cannot be certain that third parties will not misappropriate our technology and use it for their own benefit. Also, most of these protections do not preclude our competitors from independently developing products with functionality or features substantially equivalent or superior to our software. Any failure to protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business.

        As of December 31, 2003, we had six registered trademarks, three patents and 16 patent applications pending in the U.S and six patent applications pending internationally. There is no guarantee that our pending applications will result in issued patents or, if issued, that they will provide us with any competitive advantages. We cannot assure you that we will file further patent or trademark applications, that any future applications will be approved, that any existing or future patents, trademarks or copyrights will adequately protect our intellectual property or that any existing or future

37

patents, trademarks or copyrights will not be challenged by third parties. Furthermore, one or more of our existing or future patents, trademarks or copyrights may be found to be invalid or unenforceable.

        We are aware of certain uses, U.S. trademark registrations, and U.S. trademark applications for our "eQuality" trademark and its variations that predate our use, and the April 2002 issuance of the U.S. registration for our trademark eQuality®. It is possible that the owner of legal rights resulting from one or more of these prior uses, U.S. trademark registrations, or U.S. trademark applications will bring legal action to challenge our registration of and/or our continued use of the trademark eQuality®, and may also seek compensation for damages resulting from our use of our registered trademark if such challenging party prevails on such a claim. As a result, we cannot assure you that our registration of this trademark will be undisturbed, or that this use will not result in liability for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and/or unfair competition.

        Moreover, the laws of other countries in which we market our products may afford little or no effective protection of our proprietary technology as compared to the laws of the United States. If we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, the proceedings could be burdensome and expensive, would likely divert valuable management and product development resources and could involve a high degree of risk, regardless of whether we win or lose the litigation.

Claims by other companies that our software infringes their intellectual property could require us to incur substantial expenses or prevent us from selling our software or services.

        If any of our software violates the intellectual property rights of others, we may be required to reengineer or redevelop our software, seek to obtain licenses from third parties to continue offering our software without substantial reengineering, or conduct studies of such intellectual property rights so as to evaluate whether such intellectual property rights are valid or enforceable. Any efforts to reengineer our software or obtain licenses from third parties may not be successful, could be extremely costly and would likely divert valuable management and product development resources. Our efforts to study the intellectual property rights of third parties may not be successful and could reveal that such intellectual property rights are valid and enforceable, could be extremely costly and would likely divert valuable management and product development resources. For example, depending on the outcome of our lawsuit against Knowlagent (as described under the heading "Legal Proceedings"), we may be required to enter into royalty and licensing agreements on unfavorable terms, to stop selling or redesign our eQuality® NOW application, or to pay damages or satisfy indemnification commitments with our customers.

        In addition, in the rapidly developing technological environment in which we operate, third parties may have filed a number of patent applications, many of which are confidential when filed. If our software is found to violate these patents when they are issued or any other intellectual property of others, we may become subject to claims for infringement. An infringement claim against us could result in the loss of our proprietary rights and, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation or require us to pay damages or enter into royalty or licensing agreements on terms that are unfavorable to us, if such agreements are available at all. In addition, our customers and other users of our software may become subject to claims if the software they license from us is alleged to infringe the intellectual property of others. Our customers and these other users of our software would likely attempt to hold us responsible for these claims and any resulting harm they suffer.

        If we decide to, or are forced to, litigate any of these claims, the litigation could be expensive and time-consuming, could divert our management's attention from other matters, and could otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, regardless of the outcome of the litigation. Litigation and intellectual property claims against us could also disrupt our sale of software.

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        We expect that we and other participants in our industry and related industries will be increasingly subject to infringement claims as the number of competitors with patent and other intellectual property portfolios in these industries grows. Although patent and intellectual property disputes may be settled through licensing or similar arrangements, costs associated with these arrangements may be substantial and we cannot assure you that necessary licenses or similar arrangements will be made available to us on a reasonable basis or at all. Consequently, if we become subject to an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding or we fail to obtain necessary licenses, we could be prevented from producing and selling some or potentially all of the components of our software. Such a result would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We believe that our future success also depends upon the continued compatibility of our software with the products and other technologies offered by other software and hardware companies.

        Our software must integrate with software and hardware solutions provided by a number of our existing and potential competitors. These competitors or their business partners could alter their products so that our software no longer integrates well with them, or they could delay or deny our access to software releases that allow us to timely adapt our software to integrate with their products. They could thus effectively prevent us from modifying our software to keep pace with the changing technology of their products. If we cannot adapt our software to changes in our competitors' technology, it may significantly impair our ability to compete effectively, particularly if our software must integrate with the software and hardware solutions of our competitors.

        New products may not be compatible with our software, but may be compatible with the products of our competitors. For example, our products must integrate with phone switches made by the telephone switch vendors and computer telephony software applications offered by other software providers. If our products are not compatible with the new technologies offered by other software and hardware companies, it would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If our professional services employees do not provide installation services effectively and according to schedule, our customers may not use our installation services or may stop using our software.

        Our customers ordinarily purchase installation, training and maintenance services, which they typically obtain from our professional services organization. We generate a material part of our total revenues from the provision of these services. Because our software must be installed to work with a number of computer and telephone network systems, installation of our software can be complex. These systems vary greatly from one customer site to another, and the versions and integration requirements of these third-party systems change frequently. We believe that the speed and quality of installation services are competitive factors in our industry. If our installation services are not satisfactory to our customers, the customers may choose not to use our installation services to install our software. In addition, these customers may determine that they will not license our software and instead will use the products and services of one of our competitors. If this happens, we would lose licensing and services revenue from these customers, and it would likely harm our reputation in the industry in which we compete. This could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may make acquisitions or investments that are not successful and that adversely affect our ongoing operations.

        We may acquire or make investments in companies, products, services and technologies which we believe complement our software and services. Because of the increasing use of new customer interaction media such as the Internet and e-mail, we believe that it may be important for us to acquire complementary technology to quickly bring new products to market. We have limited experience in making acquisitions and investments. As a result, our ability to identify and evaluate prospects,

39

complete acquisitions and properly manage the integration of businesses is unproven. If we fail to properly evaluate and execute acquisitions or investments, it may have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. In making or attempting to make acquisitions or investments, we face a number of risks, including:

•

identifying suitable acquisition or investment candidates, performing appropriate due diligence, identifying potential liabilities and negotiating acceptable terms for acquisitions and investments;



•

reducing our working capital and hindering our ability to expand or maintain our business, including making capital expenditures and funding operations, if we make acquisitions out of our existing cash;



•

the potential distraction of our management, diversion of our resources and disruption of our business;



•

retaining and motivating key employees of the acquired companies;



•

managing operations that are distant from our current headquarters and operations;



•

entering into geographic markets in which we have little or no prior experience;



•

competing for acquisition opportunities with competitors that are larger than we are or have greater financial and other resources than we have;



•

accurately forecasting the financial impact of an acquisition or investment;



•

assuming liabilities of acquired companies, including litigation related to the operation of the business prior to the acquisition;



•

maintaining good relations with the customers and suppliers of the acquired company; and



•

effectively integrating acquired companies or investments into the company and achieving expected synergies.

If we need additional financing to maintain or expand our business, it may not be available on favorable terms, or at all.

        Although we believe our current cash and borrowing capacity will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months and the foreseeable future, we may need additional funds to expand or meet all of our operating needs. If we need additional financing, we cannot be certain that it will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities or convertible debt, the ownership interest of our stockholders could be significantly diluted, and any additional equity securities we issue may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to the rights of our stockholders. Also, the terms of any additional financing we obtain may significantly limit our future financing and operating activities. If we need funds and cannot raise them on acceptable terms, we may be unable to:

•

develop and enhance our software to remain competitive;



•

take advantage of future opportunities, such as acquisitions;



•

respond to changing customer needs and our competitors' innovations; or



•

attract and retain qualified key personnel.

        Any of these events could significantly harm our business and financial condition and limit our growth.

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The loss of third-party hardware distributors and suppliers could harm our business.

        A number of customers expect us to be able to source hardware that will facilitate the implementation of our software solutions. We do not intend to continue selling hardware and have transferred the fulfillment of all hardware orders to third-party distributors. Thus, we are largely dependent on third parties for the supply of hardware components, some of which are based on proprietary designs, the assembly of hardware, and the distribution of hardware to our customers. If these hardware distributors or suppliers experience financial, operational or quality assurance difficulties, or if there is any other disruption in our relationship, we may be required to locate other hardware distributors. If our distributors or we are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of materials and components, we will be subject to the following risks:

•

cancellations of orders due to unavailability of hardware;



•

increased hardware prices, which may make our solutions less attractive; and



•

additional development expense to modify our products to work with new hardware configurations.

        Even if we and/or our distributors are successful in locating alternative sources of supply, alternative suppliers could increase prices significantly and with immediate effect. In addition, alternative components may not be identical to previous components and may malfunction or interact with other components in unexpected ways. The use of new suppliers and the modification of our products will require testing and may require further modifications or other remedial action, which may result in additional expense to us, diversion of management attention and other resources, inability to fulfill customer orders or delay in fulfillment, reduction in quality and reliability, customer dissatisfaction, and other adverse effects on our reputation, business and operating results.

Our stock price has been volatile.

        The market price of our common stock has been subject to significant fluctuations in response to variations in quarterly operating results and other factors. In addition, the securities markets as a whole have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations from time to time that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. Any announcement with respect to any adverse variance in revenue or earnings from levels generally expected by securities analysts or investors for a given period could have an immediate and significant adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock. In addition, factors such as announcements of technological innovations or new products by us, our competitors or third parties, changing conditions in the market for products that record and analyze customer interactions, changes in the market valuations of similar companies, loss of a major customer, additions or departures of key personnel, changes in estimates by securities analysts, announcements of extraordinary events, such as acquisitions or litigation, or general economic conditions may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

Terrorist attacks and other acts of war may adversely affect the markets in which we operate, our operations and our stock price.

        Terrorist attacks and other acts of war, and any response to them, may cause instability in financial markets. Armed hostilities and terrorism may also directly impact our facilities, personnel and operations, as well as those of our clients. Furthermore, terrorist attacks or acts of war may result in temporary halts of commercial activity in the affected regions, and may result in reduced demand for our products. These developments could have a material adverse effect on our business and the trading price of our common stock.

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Government regulation of telephone and Internet monitoring could cause a decline in the use of our software, result in increased expenses for us or subject our customers and us to liability.

        As the telecommunications industry continues to evolve, state, federal and foreign governments (including supranational governmental organizations such as the European Union) may increasingly regulate the monitoring of telecommunications and telephone and Internet monitoring and recording products, such as our software. We believe that increases in regulation could come in the form of a number of different kinds of regulations, including regulations regarding privacy, protection of personal information and employment. For example, the State of California recently enacted the Database Security Breach Act, which requires any business that suffers a computer security breach to immediately notify customers in California if personal information has been compromised. The adoption of any new regulations or changes made to existing regulations could cause a decline in the use of our software and could result in increased expenses for us, particularly if we are required to modify our software to accommodate these new or changing regulations. Moreover, new regulations or changes to existing regulations could subject our customers and us to liability. In addition, whether or not these regulations are adopted, if we do not adequately address the privacy concerns of consumers, companies may be hesitant to use our software. If any of these events occur, it could materially and adversely affect our business.

We may face difficulty in attracting and retaining key personnel, which are necessary to effectively manage and expand our business.

        Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to hire, train, retain and motivate a sufficient number of qualified personnel, particularly in sales, marketing, research and development, service and support. We expect to continue to grant employees options to purchase our stock in order to attract, retain and motivate these individuals. When we grant employees options to purchase common stock with exercise prices equal to the fair market value of our stock, this may cause dilution to our stockholders if the market price of our stock increases above the exercise price. However, if we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel or if we experience high personnel turnover, it could prevent us from effectively managing and expanding our business.

        Our future success also depends upon the continued service of our executive officers, particularly our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David Gould, and our President and Chief Operating Officer, Nick Discombe. We have employment agreements with Mr. Gould and Mr. Discombe and limited non-compete agreements with most of our other executive officers. However, any of our executive officers and other employees could terminate his or her relationship with us at any time. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key personnel could materially and adversely affect our business. In addition, if one or more of our executive officers or key employees were to join one of our competitors or otherwise compete with us, it could harm our business.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as Delaware law, may prevent or delay a future takeover.

        Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions which could make it difficult for a third party to acquire us without consent of our board of directors. For example, if a potential acquirer were to make a hostile bid for us, the acquirer would not be able to call a special meeting of stockholders to remove our board of directors or act by written consent without a meeting. In addition, our board of directors has staggered terms which makes it difficult to remove all our directors at once. A potential acquirer would also be required to provide advance notice of its proposal to remove directors at an annual meeting.

        Our board of directors has the ability to issue preferred stock which would significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer. In addition, Delaware law limits business combination transactions with 15% stockholders that have not been approved by the board of directors. In October 2002, our board

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of directors approved, and we have implemented, a stockholder rights plan which has the effect of causing substantial dilution to a person or group that attempts to acquire us on terms not approved by the board of directors.

Item 7A.    Qualitative and Quantitative Disclosures About Market Risk

        The information required by this item is included in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and as listed in Item 7 of Part II of this Report.

Item 8.    Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

        Our consolidated financial statements, together with related notes and the report of KPMG LLP, our independent auditors, are set forth on the pages indicated in Item 15.

Item 9.    Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosures

        None.

Item 9A.    Controls and Procedures.

        Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures.    We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the periodic reports we file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported accurately and within the time periods specified in the rules of the SEC. We carried out an evaluation as of December 31, 2003, under the supervision and the participation of our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, of the design and operation of these disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(c). Based upon that evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective in timely alerting them to material information relating to the company (including our consolidated subsidiaries) required to be included in our periodic SEC filings.

        Changes in internal controls.    There was no change in internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the three months ended December 31, 2003 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART III

        Certain information required by Part III is omitted from this Report in that the Company will file a definitive proxy statement within 120 days after the end of this fiscal year pursuant to Regulation 14A (the "Proxy Statement") for its 2004 Annual Meeting of Stockholders proposed to be held on May 26, 2004, and the information included therein is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 10.    Directors and Executive Officers of Registrant

Code of Ethics

        We have adopted a Code of Ethics within the meaning of Item 406(b) of Regulation S-K. This Code of Ethics applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. This Code of Ethics is publicly available on our website at http://www.witness.com. If we make substantive amendments to this Code of Ethics or grant any waiver, including any implicit waiver, we will disclose the nature of such amendment or waiver on our website or in a report on Form 8-K within five days of such amendment or waiver.

Audit Committee Financial Expert

        Our Board of Directors has determined that at least one person serving on the Audit Committee is an "audit committee financial expert" as defined under Item 401(h) of Regulation S-K. Joel Katz, the Chairman of the Audit Committee, is an "audit committee financial expert" and is independent as defined under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules.

        The other information required by this Item is incorporated by reference from the Proxy Statement under the headings "Election of Directors" and "Executive Compensation."

Item 11.    Executive Compensation

        The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference from the Proxy Statement under the heading "Executive Compensation."

Item 12.    Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

        The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference from the Proxy Statement under the heading "Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters."

Item 13.    Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.

        The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference from the Proxy Statement under the heading "Executive Compensation."

Item 14.    Principal Accountant Fees and Services.

        The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference from the Proxy Statement under the heading "Audit Fees and Services."

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Item 15.    Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules and Reports on Form 8-K

a)

The following documents are filed as part of this report:

b)

Reports on Form 8-K:

        The Company filed the following reports on Form 8-K filed during the fourth quarter of 2003:

(1)

On October 23, 2003, we filed a current report on Form 8-K under Item 7 to report our third quarter 2003 financial results.



(2)

On December 12, 2003, we filed a current report on Form 8-K under Item 5 to report the adoption of a Director and Key Executive Stock Ownership Incentive Policy and to report the repayment of a note payable to Witness by the CEO.

(c)

Exhibits

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46

*

Filed herewith

(1)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-91383)

(2)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-67416)

(3)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2000

(4)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999

(5)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000

(6)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2002

(7)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K on October 17, 2002

(8)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K on November 4, 2002

(9)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001

(9)

Incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2003

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WITNESS SYSTEMS, INC.

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements