Compuware-sponsored Study Finds IT Executives Believe End-user Focused Approach Best Manages Application Service

Clear Financial Benefits Realized From Improving End-user Experience and Troubleshooting

DETROIT--October 31, 2005--Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) today announced the results of a recent study commissioned by the company and conducted by Forrester Consulting. The study, which surveyed 202 senior IT decision-makers from large companies in the U.S. and Europe, focused on the importance of delivering application service to their business and the challenges they face with service management.

An overwhelming 88 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that managing the service of applications is critical to the success of their business. The study showed consensus on how best to accomplish that goal, with 87 percent of IT executives agreeing or strongly agreeing that the best approach measures performance at the end-user level and rapidly resolves significant performance problems.

Business management drives this requirement for application service according to IT executives, with 76 percent of executives feeling increased pressure to improve the end-user experience of business-critical applications. The executives also agreed that improving this experience directly impacts the bottom line.

"Our customers echo these results," said Tommi White, Compuware Chief Operating Officer. "By focusing on the end-user’s perspective-rather than individual infrastructure components-Compuware has supported some phenomenal IT transformations. Not only are end-user-focused IT organizations better able to serve their customers, they are better able to communicate with the business and ultimately contribute to overall business success."

A growing reliance on applications among business users and a drive towards increased efficiency and IT cost-reductions were the leading reasons cited for an increase in the importance of application service management. When asked how the level of importance compared to two years ago, 63 percent of IT executives responded that the level is more or much more important, with only one percent responding that it is less.

While there is agreement on an end-user focus, respondents are facing problems reaching all of their users—specifically those that are remote. Gathering investigative information and data to explore problems and the cost of deploying and maintaining a tool were cited as the main obstacles to doing so. Accessing remote customers, business partners and physical locations were also noted as challenges.

"Compuware recognizes the importance of reaching all users inside and outside of corporate environments," said Bob Barker, Compuware Vice President, Strategic Planning. "To this end, Compuware today introduced a new version of Vantage that provides the industry’s most comprehensive end-user monitoring solution. Compuware Vantage 9.8 expands the scope of monitoring to all users—including remote users via an agentless monitoring device—lowering the cost of deployment and eliminating the need to access remote customers with hardware."

Survey respondents also confront challenges when troubleshooting performance problems, relying on a resource-intensive and manual process. The main reason for involving multiple people to resolve performance issues was identified by 86 percent of respondents as difficulty in isolating the source of performance problems. An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents said they involve multiple people in problem resolution, and a significant 38 percent involve more than six people to resolve problems.

Given the number of resources required to solve performance problems, it’s not surprising that respondents believe improving troubleshooting processes would have clear business benefits. Compuware Vantage provides early warning of performance problems and the critical insight needed to pinpoint the source of problems to the client, network, server, database or the application itself. This information provides financial benefits by reducing the number of people involved in resolving problems. While the study found that the cost of an hour of downtime varied—43 percent said from $10,000 to $100,000 and 35 percent said over $100,000—efforts to avoid or minimize downtime provide unmistakable benefits.

"Compuware offers many ways to help customers improve troubleshooting processes," continued White. "Not only do we provide best-of-breed products, Compuware also announced today a complete set of Vantage Professional Services to help IT more effectively troubleshoot tough performance problems. These Compuware professionals bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise for short or long-term service management engagements. Most importantly, customers can chose the right combination of people, process and product to meet their individual needs."

Compuware Corporation

Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) maximizes the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organization. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organizations, including more than 90 percent of the Fortune 100 companies. Learn more about Compuware at http://www.compuware.com/.