Knoa 5.0 tackles end-user performance

The New York company is rolling out the 5.0 version of its Experience and Performance Manager product this week. The software uses passive monitoring agents to track how users are interacting with products such as Oracle's Siebel customer relationship management (CRM) application, collecting information ranging from application errors to the workflow patterns users execute.

Knoa 5.0 includes a set of templates for collecting data from various enterprise applications and an analytic engine that can derive patterns and trends about an individual user or a group of workers. The results are displayed through a console that can show results in different views: IT support, training, manager and user support. Knoa can add new report definitions for customers who want them, without requiring a system upgrade, according to the company.

Knoa 5.0 also features faster client-server data transmission; improved group-level reporting; and support for displaying multiple languages within the console.

The software may have particular interest for customers with large customer-service groups or call centers -- situations where even a small boost in productivity can result in major overall savings.

Philip McBurney, customer management platform monitoring solutions manager for British Telecom, said the company has been involved with Knoa since November 2006, using it in conjunction with its Siebel implementation.

BT likes Knoa but has found the need to extend it, according to McBurney. "We're working to improve the product in terms of security so it could be used as an auditing product," he said. "Security is built into Knoa, but the level of security required for auditing is completely different."

The company has also customized Knoa to enable field-level monitoring of the content of any forms within Siebel, he said. "That level of data, we didn't have that before."

Overall the vendor has been a pleasure to work with on such customizations, according to McBurney. "Knoa is very responsive to our needs. Our changing needs."

Pricing for Knoa 5.0 ranges from US$45 to $195 per end user, depending upon the application monitored, according to a spokesperson. All prices are for a perpetual license for a named user, the spokesperson said.